Today's Scripture Reading

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 2, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. [1 Timothy 2:2]

From U.S. to Britain to Japan and to almost every countries around the world, often we read in the news that government leaders are so corrupt that some of them ended up committing suicide because they were under investigation. Also, because of the corruptions, some governments got voted out and lose the power to govern. For example, in Japan, over the last few years, the political scandals came one after another like endless tidal waves. The just-concluded national election in Japan saw the government lose its power after having governed the country continuously for over 50 years. A new government from another political party has been installed. The Japanese just got fed-up with the previous government because they have broken the trust and confidence of the people. In China, senior government officials were executed because they robbed the country’s coffer or abusing their authority. In South Korea, one of its former presidents committed suicide because of alleged corruption while he was in office. In Taiwan, a former president was sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzlement of state fund. These are very sad news concerning national leaders and the list could just go on, enough to fill up few pages of this thread!

Singapore, though a very small country and is insignificant in many ways compared to big countries, like U.S., China, India or Japan, is frequently cited by other countries as “the model state” worthwhile to be imitated because of our good governance and our "near-perfect" wholesome social lifestyle. Much of the wealth created in the past was through sheer honest hard work and diligence of its people. However, Singapore is now too at the cross-road of making compromises on its social lifestyle. Two big casinos will begin their operations next year when just five or six years ago nobody would ever believe that Singapore government would permit the gaming industry to “flourish” (or “deteriorate”, depend on which way you want to look at) to this magnitude. Will SINgapore be able to turn to these caSINos to provide its economic wealth is yet to be seen, but one thing is certain – social life will never be the same. Those high-roller gamblers will likely to attract many types of vices like loan-sharking, prostitutions, illicit drugs, pornography, nude dance halls, topless bars, etc. Collectively, they are integrated entertainment outlets (or “integrated resort”, a term preferred by Singapore’s senior officials). Las Vegas in U.S., and Macau, a special administrative region of China, are living proof that these entertainment outlets come as a “package deal”. Will Singapore be like the ancient sin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah which God rained brimstone and fire down to punish the inhabitants (Genesis 19:24-25)? Nobody knows but God’s wrath shows no favour to those who continually sinned against Him.

In the English-speaking countries, notably, the U.S., Britain and Australia, their participation on the “war-on-terror” has caused must resentments among people around the world. Even their own people are against this so-called “war-on-terror”. Since it started, the ‘war-on-terror” has generated more wars, more terrors, more hatred, more revenges, more conflicts, more fear, more uncertainties, and many other more “mores” but all in the negatives! Many people are now questioning what those wars are about and nobody seems to have an answer. National leaders and those who supported these wars tried to justify there actions but, alas, nobody now believes them anymore!

However, if we look into the Bible, we can relate these conflicts and wars that are currently taking place; in fact, most serious Bible-reading Christians are not surprised with these developments at all. They were foretold in the Bible many thousand years ago! The article on “Broken Pride” (from the Tomorrow’s World – September 29, 2009) is about the punishments that God will mete out to nations when their kings and those in authorities disobeyed. Hopefully (and prayfully) this will put godly fear into us because what God does to a nation because of disobedience, He will also do the same to us if we ourselves disobeyed His Commandments. On the other hand, God has promised physically and spiritual blessings to those who obeyed. Although, this article specifically addresses the insolent American and English-speaking leaders, God too will mete out the punishments to those nations if their leaders are also disobedient to God

BROKEN PRIDE​

“We see war upon the heels of war; economic disaster, as the fruits of greed and avarice come to maturity. And the sufferings multiply. Yet, the response of our national government, along with state, county and city governments is remarkably inadequate, often simplistic, misdirected and wastefully ineffective.

Unemployment soars! Production and sales plummet! Well-established businesses – large and small – close. Uncertainty and panic have gripped many in our country. People looking for the silver lining find it tarnished and devalued. With it, the confidence of a nation is shattered.

Looking to our congressional leaders has proved fruitless, as the legislative process has degenerated into petty bickering and infantile rants along party lines.

So, what is a person to do, here or in some other country, while watching all of this play out on the world stage? We can sink into depression and despair, or we can go to the only real source of hope and encouragement for consolation, comfort and confidence. What is that source? The Bible! Now, some will deride this notion. Others will just continue to be bewildered and befuddled about the great issues of our time.

We should not be taken by surprise by these disheartening developments. Anciently, God told His people that if they obeyed His Commandments that He would give them incredible physical blessings. But, in an ominous warning, He also said this in Leviticus 26:14-17: “But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.”

And then He said, “I will break the pride of your power…” (v.19). It is a dull person, one who is particularly unaware of what is happening in the world today, that cannot see that this prophecy is now coming to pass with pinpoint accuracy in the United States of America and to a large extent in the other English-speaking nations.

Our economic, military and moral presence as the only real superpower in the world has been diminished dramatically in recent years and the decline is rapidly accelerating. Our enemies on the world scene openly ridicule us with impunity.

What, then, can a person do on an individual level in this sad state of affairs? We can pray for our leaders, as admonished by the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 2:1-3. Certainly we should also make some provision for emergency situations, but, long term, we must rely on God to straighten out all of this. We can have confidence, real hope, that God will protect His people upon whom the end of the ages has come. That’s right; the Bible addresses the issue of personal protection for those seeking God’s will and His Kingdom.

So, while we see our beloved nation in decline with its power being broken, we can do our part to be good examples by putting His ways into practice now, all the while looking forward to the coming Kingdom of God which is the only genuine answer to the problems of mankind. God speed that day.”

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 3, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. [John 12:25]

Jesus was asked many times the question, “What must I do to inherit the Kingdom of God." Without fail, His answer was always the same – Do not follow the earthly way; change your way of life now and seek the way that God intended for you; let not the world’s pleasure overtake you; pick up the cross and follow me.” Jesus’ answers can be summed up in these few words: We must quit our life the way we do.

When planting a fruit plant, a seed is planted in the ground and dies and it will germinate and becomes new fruit-bearing plant. Unless a seed dies, it will bear no fruit because a new plant will not be germinated. This same principle holds true in our lives. The fruit that leads to eternal life is produced when the individual sacrifices himself to do the will of God. Jesus warned us not to lay the treasures on earth. Instead, pursue His righteousness and readily sacrifice our lives by living right with God in order to enter into His Kingdom.

Because human nature is driven by the impulse that the only way to the things a person deeply desires is through self-centered, assertive, competitive concentration on getting what it wants. We are always preoccupied with the “I”, “me’ and “mine”. As fallen human race, this is the general approach of what life on earth is for all of us. We don’t need to go to attend classes or seminars to learn this. It just simply germinates out of our sinful nature.

Let’s quit our life here and pray for God’s strength to give us a new lease of life and follow Him because His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9).

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 4, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. [1 Peter 1: 7 – 9].

There is a very familiar metaphor of the furnace for gold that we all know about. There are two purposes for which metallurgists apply fire to gold. The first one is to test them, and the other is to cleanse them of the impurity. The fire carries away the dross, burns up the wood, hay and stubble and it makes the pure gold gleam in its luster.

Our life journey is a journey of testing. We face daily problems and challenges. Some of these may be just irritations such someone has belittled us, or has said unkind words to hurt us. However, some of these life challenges can be quite insurmountable to handle such as when we lose our job, or death of a close family member, or when we ourselves are struck with a serious illness. We may feel that we are in the hot furnace.

If we look at the background of church hymns, many of these hymnal lyrics were penned by Christians who had faced great trials. For example, in spite of unimaginable personal tragedies that struck Horatio G. Spafford, he was undeterred and he wrote the great hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” which has become a source of encouragement to many people.

Horatio G. Spafford, a prominent supporter and close friend of D. L. Moody, was a very committed Christian. In 1870, his only son was killed by scarlet fever at the age of four. A year later, a fire destroyed all his real estate on the shores of Lake Michigan which he had invested heavily. But all these did not discourage him and he remained faithful to God. As D. L. Moody needed help for one of his great evangelist campaigns, Horatio, his wife, Anna and their four daughters, planned to assist Moody in his campaign. Because of his business schedule, his wife and four daughters went first on the French steamer “Ville de Havre”. The steamer encountered a tragic marine accident. The French steamer collided with an English vessel and sank. All his four daughters were killed although his wife survived.

While crossing the Atlantic in 1873, near the location where his daughters were said to have drowned, he stared out at the waves, returned to his cabin and wrote the lyrics to this great hymn.

It would be very difficult for any of us to predict how we would react under the circumstances similar to those experienced by the Spaffords. But we do know that the God who sustained them would also be with us. Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13: 5). He is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL​

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blessed assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.​

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 5, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. [Galatians 6:3-4]

One of the distinct features in Chinese operas is wearing of facial makeup masks. (Sometimes we also call Chinese Opera as “Chinese wayang” and the word “wayang” is actually a Malay word). The colours in these masks symbolize the disposition of the character of the roles of the performers. For example, yellow signifies fierceness, ambition and cool-headedness; blue represents staunchness, fierceness and astuteness; white suggests treacherous, suspiciousness and craftiness; purpose stands for uprightness, sophistication and cool-headedness; black symbolizes roughness and fierceness.

How often today do we, even as Christians, find ourselves putting on our masks before we walk out the door? Do we put on a happy and a “holy” face every Sunday morning and carrying our Bible and show to people how “religious” we are? I must admit, I had. After the church service when we walk out of the church door, we put on another mask but this time the real one which truly describes everything about us. We get impatient waiting for our turn to be served in a food-centre; we complained that the food is not good; we selfishly put our personal belongings on the seat when there are people standing and looking around for empty seats but we just ignore their need. Then come Monday, we wear another mask. We are ready to put on another “wayang” show such as pleasing our boss whenever we could but at the same we terrorizing our helpless subordinates; seeking every opportunity to put more feathers on our hat at the expense of our colleagues. We have temporarily kept our “holy” mask in the closet until the next Sunday when we again take out and wear it to the church.

It has to start with us. From time to time we're all tempted to put these masks on, and they're very hard to get off. Yet there is hope for all of us who find ourselves in a relationship with Jesus Christ that he can take away all the hypocritical masks we are still tempted to wear. One of the ways to be healed of this is to understand the God we serve. For he knows who we really are, and he knows we have no power to deal with our own hypocrisy. He states in 1 Samuel 16:7, "For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." But His desire for His children is that they turn to Him for the power to live transparent lives so that when the men and women in their community look at them, they see the wonderful life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The best form of evangelism is to demonstrate the love of Christ through our lifestyle.

So, how would someone like your colleague react when he came to know that you are a Christian? Would he respond: “I know; I can tell from his Christ-character.” Or would he say, “Really, I can’t believe he is a Christian.”

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 5, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. [Galatians 6:3-4]
One of the distinct features in Chinese operas is wearing of facial makeup masks. (Sometimes we also call Chinese Opera as “Chinese wayang” and the word “wayang” is actually a Malay word). The colours in these masks symbolize the disposition of the character of the roles of the performers. For example, yellow signifies fierceness, ambition and cool-headedness; blue represents staunchness, fierceness and astuteness; white suggests treacherous, suspiciousness and craftiness; purpose stands for uprightness, sophistication and cool-headedness; black symbolizes roughness and fierceness.

How often today do we, even as Christians, find ourselves putting on our masks before we walk out the door? Do we put on a happy and a “holy” face every Sunday morning and carrying our Bible and show to people how “religious” we are? I must admit, I had. After the church service when we walk out of the church door, we put on another mask but this time the real one which truly describes everything about us. We get impatient waiting for our turn to be served in a food-centre; we complained that the food is not good; we selfishly put our personal belongings on the seat when there are people standing and looking around for empty seats but we just ignore their need. Then come Monday, we wear another mask. We are ready to put on another “wayang” show such as pleasing our boss whenever we could but at the same we terrorizing our helpless subordinates; seeking every opportunity to put more feathers on our hat at the expense of our colleagues. We have temporarily kept our “holy” mask in the closet until the next Sunday when we again take out and wear it to the church.

It has to start with us. From time to time we're all tempted to put these masks on, and they're very hard to get off. Yet there is hope for all of us who find ourselves in a relationship with Jesus Christ that He can take away all the hypocritical masks we are still tempted to wear. One of the ways to be healed of this is to understand the God we serve. For He knows who we really are, and He knows we have no power to deal with our own hypocrisy. He states in 1 Samuel 16:7, "For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." But His desire for His children is that they turn to Him for the power to live transparent lives so that when the men and women in their community look at them, they see the wonderful life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The best form of evangelism is to demonstrate the love of Christ through our lifestyle.

So, how would someone like your colleague react when he came to know that you are a Christian? Would he respond: “I know; I can tell from his Christ-character.” Or would he say, “Really, I can’t believe he is a Christian.”

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 6, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. [Exodus 20:3]

Just in the last few days, you can see read in newspaper and Yahoo news of well-known celebrities, actors, actresses, famous soccer players, etc. with headlines like: “An attractive Taiwan actress has a skin problem”; “China actress’ boyfriend is a son of a millionaire”; “a Malaysian pop star was arrested for assault”. I believe many youths are busy reading and discussing about the news because these celebrities are their ‘gods’. Treating celebrities as ‘gods’ is not new news. In fact, there were people who committed suicide because the celebrities they loved so much died suddenly and they just couldn't control their grief. They were prepared to die for someone who could sing or act on stage. How could these celebrities have such great influence on the lives of other people? What a tragedy! It has happened in the past. One of the latest craze was the death of Michael Jackson. There was so much publicity; so much outcry; so much adoration. MJ is ‘god’ to many people. Thank God, we have not been told people have taken their own lives because of MJ's death. We pray that this will not happen.

All of us have our ‘gods’. We may not literally craved things out of wood, silver or gold to worship these 'gods', but we all have our ‘gods’. We can spend all of our time, money and other resources just to chase after these ‘gods’ which can be our hobby, our career, our celebrities, our prestige. When we do these, our true God, Yahweh, is not pleased because we can no longer see the real beauty of our true God, the God who created us; the God who created the heaven and the earth. We show Him no respect when we replace Him with our own gods.

Yahweh has warned us that we shall have no other gods except Himself (Exodus 20:3) This is the first of the Ten Commandments and it shows how serious God is about Who He Is. He is one and the only God and there is no other gods. Because He is our Creator and He wants us to know Him but because of the sinful nature of man, we turn to other gods. We are blinded spiritually. We can’t see Him. He has however had a great plan – a plan that will enable us to really see Who He Is. He became flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14). All the attributes of God’s holiness are shown through Jesus. He has repeated the same warning that we must only worship Yahweh, “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). We must pray for God’s deliverance, for His power, for His strength to remove all gods from our lives and to acknowledge Jesus as our living God. Everything must center around Jesus. We must put all our efforts to chase after Him. Outside Him, everything is absurd!

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 7, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? [Exodus 3:10-11]

When Moses was asked by God to be the leader of the Israelites to deliver them out of Egypt, he thought was, “Me? Who am I?”

Just like Moses, we frequently doubted our ability to work for God when God calls us. We feel that we are too small, too insignificant. How could God have chosen me?

Time and again, God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. God has always trained us to be His instrument so that we can be His effective servant to serve Him and others. Sometimes these trainings are done in secret by God Himself so that His glory can later be magnified. This happened to Moses. As a new born baby, he was abandoned at a river but was adopted into the Egyptian royal court and was brought up like any other Egyptian princes. In the process of this upbringing, he understood the art of military warfare; he was exposed to statecraft and law; he was involved with those who run a great nation; he learned the discipline of power; he knew the secret of the desert, its terrain, where to find water, which was the shortest route from point to point. In fact, no other man during that time could be as qualified as Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. But he still doubted his abilities when God called him. God is faithful. Moses became a great general.

This is a great lesson for us to learn. When we are in a very compromising and difficult situation and when He called us into His service, we started to question and doubt His calling. But God is watching over us. What He did for Moses, He too will do for us. He put us in the situation for a purpose. We just need to put our faith and our trust in Him. God is never in the hurry. He will lead us step by step although our first step to His calling could be a very difficult one.

We may worry a lot about His calling and whether we can truly fulfill them but Jesus has told us, "Do not worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34) and also to seek first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness, and all these things will be given to us (Matthew 6:33)". Let Him and Him alone be our Guide, our Planner, our Implementer. We just need to hear His voice and follow Him. It is our great privilege to walk for Him, in Him and with Him. Nothing is impossible for Jesus and He will see us through the rough terrain which we will encounter from time to time. Like a quote I came to know “Nature is never in the hurry but it’s always on time.” So God being the creator of all nature, He will never be late; He is always on time. When its time for Him to intercede, He will do it for us with perfect timeliness.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 8, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. [Romans 7:18-19]

I have read an article which just appeared in a newspaper supplement. The title of this article was: ‘Desire – Good or Bad?’ Thought this article was written from secular philosophical and sociological perspectives, I must admit I did learn something and I could relate to the teachings from the Bible. The writer went on to discuss the Greek philosopher Plato’s taken on the problem of human’s desires. Plato used the figure of a charioteer pulled by two horses, one white, and one dark, to represent human soul. The white horse represents the part of our nature that is motivated by good and sensible desires; the dark horse represents our carnal and brutish desires. More often than not, it is the dark horse that pulls most strongly. Thus, he concluded, that our prudent long-term plans are thrown off-course by short-term carvings and impulses.

Indeed, we have two ‘natures’ – I don’t dispute it. Unfortunately, we have surrendered our good nature to Satan because of the Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. The imputed sinful nature of disobedience to our Creator is now inherited to us from Adam.

Apostle Paul in Romans 7:19 lamented that for those good that he should do, he chose not to but for those evils that he should avoid, he kept practicing them. Inside us, we are like Apostle Paul, we are always struggling between doing good, and not doing evil. If we depend on our efforts, as sure as the sun rises, we are going to fail in such endeavours – fail to the point that we may just give up doing good and instead let the deeds of evils and wickedness become our way of life. This is the road that Satan wants us to go into. He has succeeded in the Garden of Eden and now he wants to succeed doing the same on this earth. Just look around us, in many ways, Satan has succeeded but his success will soon come to an end when our Lord and Saviour comes to claim His throne and be the King of kings and Lord of lords of the universe.

Sadly, no matter how hard we tried to avoid, our mind frequently travels to the side journey that tempts us with visions of earthly joy, happiness and enjoyment that human flesh is yielding so strongly for. But through the power of Jesus, through His precious blood, we must immediately cry out to Him – Jesus, help me! Lead me not into temptation; close the door of this side road right away before I enter into it. Please direct me back to Your pathway.

Besides the power of His blood, we have another very powerful weapon to help us to avoid going into this side road that is led by the ‘dark horse’ - The Word of God. The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). We must read it day and night and not just during our Sunday church service. By reading the Word of God day and night, we are sharpening this weapon.

Let us carry these weapons 24/7, 365 days – the weapons of Jesus blood and of His Word. Never leave home without them! If we fail to carry these weapons, the side road may later become our highway that will lead us to eternal death.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 9, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. [Matthew 24: 21-22]

Over past two or three weeks we have seen calamities of typhoons, floods and earthquakes that swept across several countries in Asia. In Singapore, we are very thankful to Jesus that we are not facing calamities of this magnitude. However, the tremor felt across the island that was due to the earthquake in Sumatra has given us chilling feeling. The tremor was so far one of the strongest recorded and many are asking, ‘could earthquake happen in Singapore?’

Clamities like these are known as natural disasters or ‘the act of God’. As to why God allows this to happen, we don’t know but for one thing we are quite clear, since the fall of humankind because of Adam’s disobedience, man is absolutely not in control of the nature. Physical, environmental and spiritual calamities are very much part of our lives on earth.

Sadly, this is not the worst news if we compare man-made disasters that many are predicting to come. The severities of these natural disasters that we encountered thus far are going to be dwarfed by severities of man-made disasters. We have seen pollution of unimaginative magnitude because of human wickedness. We have recently read in the news of ships loaded with radio-active substances which were supposed to be disposed by the operators using properly method but instead they were intentionally blasted and sunk into the sea. These operators sank the ships because it is much cheaper to just sink the ships than to dispose the radio-active substances with proper methods as prescribed by the scientific bodies. The operators (who are allegedly to be mafias) wanted to generate more profits for themselves. Imagine if these continued the sea will be so contaminated with radio-active substances that all marine animals will not survive and hence one of our key sources of food supply will be destroyed. All the sea-water will be contaminated with highly toxic radio-activity substances. This is just a tiny but gloomy glimpse of the human’s wickedness, greed and perversion. Much more terrifying things will happen and note the word ‘will’ and not ‘may’. The Bible calls this ‘Great Tribulation’ and it is imminent. Jesus said that the events of the Great Tribulation will be the time like never before seen in history. It will be so terrible that Jesus will shorten the time of the Great Tribulation because no human being can survive tribulation of this magnitude for long period (Matthew 24: 21-22).

General Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981), a five-star general of the U.S. Army and the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had said this about our generation: "We know more about war than about peace. We know more about killing than about living. This is our 20th Century's claim to progress - knowledge of science outstrips capacity for control. We have too many men of science, too few men of God. The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. We are a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants."

Take note that General Bradley said these words years before the Sept 11 terrorists’ attacked on the American soil, before the ‘war-on-terror’ started, before Pakistan and North Korea tested their first nuclear bombs and before the war in Afghanistan. In fact, compared to what General Bradley had said and what is happening today, what he said is far too mild but he has made a perfect prophetic view of the world’s on-going wickedness, cruelty and perversion which has no end in sight. In fact, the worst is yet to come!

We must ask ourselves: Where will we be on the day of Tribulation? Where do we want to be? It may be too late to cry out to our Lord to save us on that day. The door of salvation might close anytime soon. Let’s not wait further – call upon His name, the name of Jesus is above all names, repent of our sins and be saved.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 10, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows [1 Timothy 6: 9 – 10]

Just in the last couple of days, we have read in the new of several high profile cases of lawsuits involving money as well as lawsuit to defend one’s 'integrity and honesty'. One closely watched case was a religious monk who has just been convicted for criminal breach of trust. Though the money involved was not as large as the other cases, the witnesses’ revelations (as well as the other cases) tell us the extreme ugliness of humankind. The excesses and the abuses of trust are but the order of the day for many of us.

Money is not evil; it is the love of money. God knows that at times we need it to pay for food, shelter other true necessities. But the verses in 1 Timothy 6: 9-10 point out that the love of money, what we believe about it in our hearts, is the real issue. A heart that trusts in money and wealth for our security and comfort is what leads us down the road of destruction and misery. Do I trust in myself to keep my job? Am I trusting in my company to pay my bills? What a frightening thought that I risk wandering from my faith in God when I put my faith in riches or in my own ability to provide them! Besides, it’s the money issue which will normally create animosity among acquaintances who were once trusted friends.

But do all these surprises you? Certainly, not me. These news are good at best for entertainment and for gossip because we can learn nothing out of it. The oldest known profession in the world is prostitution and if you were to ask me to rank, I would rank cheating as the second oldest profession. Besides money, people cheated others of love, of power, of trust, just about anything and everything that they could find in order to satisfy their evil desires without due consideration of others’ welfare. The only deep regret is that innocent victims are often hurt by these cheaters and sometimes to the point that the victims took their own lives as we have seen in Madoff scandal.

Our lives as follower of Christ, compared to the world, should be as different as day and night. We are called to be brilliant, shining lights in the midst of darkness which is truly reflected by the ugliness of humankind. In Matthew 5.14-16, Jesus said that we are the Light of the world - a brightly lit city on a hill that can't be hidden. You and I have the Light of God burning inside us. Don't hide the Light! Let our light so shine before men, that they may see the awesome works of God through us and glorify our Father in Heaven.

Hence, let us pray earnestly that we can set our life apart from the world and consecrate completely to God because you and I have been divinely chosen and the position to which we've been called is a privileged one.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 11, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. [James 3:17]

King Solomon was very young when he became king after the death of his father, King David. One day in his dream, God asked him what he would wish for. Even though he was already a very wise man, King Solomon still felt that he needed more wisdom in order to rule his kingdom. He then asked God for wisdom and God was very pleased with the request. He was granted great wisdom which was truly manifested in his long and splendour reign of 40 years of his empire as well as in his writing like the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes and the most of the proverbs in the Book of Proverbs. In total, he composed 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. His wisdom earned him a proverbial adage that when someone is very smart and wise, we compliment that person by saying, “You are as wise as King Solomon.” Of course, this is just a compliment. Who can be wiser than King Solomon?

I would like to share from the Daily Bread (Word for Life) the following article which I felt very blessed after I have read it. I pray too that you can be blessed by the reading of this article.

“Our world is crying out for people of wisdom. Thank God that true wisdom has a heavenly source – it cannot be obtained through earthly means alone.

There are two sources of wisdom: heavenly and earthly. The contrast between them is marked. Earthly wisdom, which focuses on our own interests and needs, leads to ‘envy, ‘selfish ambition’, ‘disorder’ and ‘evil practices’ (James 3:14-16). It is not a nice list, but it is the reality of everyday life for many people. Earthly wisdom is therefore by definition ‘unspiritual’ and foolish. In contrast, heavenly wisdom is arrived at by humility and dependence on God. Its qualities are expressed as ‘peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere (James 3:17)’.

It is important to distinguish between cause and effect. The qualities we have listed are the effect of wisdom. But we gain wisdom by humbly surrendering ourselves to Jesus as Lord, for it comes out of our relationship with him and our heart attitude. Earlier in the letter, James has already said if we lack wisdom, we need only to ask God, who is its sources, and he will give generously (James 1:5). The book for James is one of the most practical books of the New Testament, showing that true wisdom equips us for down-to-earth, practical living, which leaves the fingerprints of heaven behind us.”

God never withhold any good things from his children especially when we delight in Him as told by the Psalmist in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” One of the greatest desires of our heart should therefore be praying to God to give us the heavenly wisdom so that we can live our life fully pleasing to Him.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 12, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. [1 Corinthians 14:33]

In other Bible versions, the above verse is also read “For God is not a God of disorder. He is a God of peace.” Besides the above verse, there are dozens of other verses pertaining to the teaching on ‘peace’ that we can find in the Bible. We are indeed living in a world of confusion and disorder that the world has never seen before and every one of us is yielding desperately for peace. Never a day the world has passed by peacefully. Our shout for peace is always ended up in vain and disappointment. Living in peace which is now a luxury is often an active choice of our will. It does not come automatically. We must not take peace for granted and we are required to do our part as well.

To recognize true ‘peace-maker’, the Nobel Prize has a coveted Peace Prize. Each year, it is given to an outstanding person who has made great influence and contribution in bringing world peace or those who have made significant contributions to make "the earth a better place to live". Past recipients include political leaders, religious and community leaders, and those actively ‘fighting’ for human rights.

For the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, many of us are surprised that it has been awarded to President Obama (and ironically he too himself was surprised by the award). It made the mockery out of the Nobel Prize so said some of them which include influential national leaders from both the U.S. and outside the U.S. Negative comments like “how meaningless a once honorable and respected award has become”, “Obama hasn't accomplished enough to deserve the prize” are pouring in.

As we all know about the nature of awards and prizes, they are given for achievements made. The Nobel Peace Prize that just awarded to President Obama seems for very different reasons – to encourage him or put pressure on him to bring ‘peace’ that he has yet delivered to the world and also more of a political choice rather than for real and tangible contributions that he has made. Given him the award now is like given someone 20 years of salary in advance before he begins his work! This is really quite a joke. As a new president for just nine months, many have questioned, what has he done so far to deserve the prize. We see as many wars as there were nine months ago and in fact he is planning to send more troops to Afghanistan. In any case, isn’t it the job of each country leader to bring peace? Perhaps, the Nobel Prize Committee should seriously consider disqualifying all national leaders such as prime ministers and presidents from the peace prize for the very reason that that’s their job to bring peace. If these people are not able, if they could not, if they are unwilling to bring earthly peace, who else can? Aren’t they are the ones we all look to them to do the job of bringing peace to the word and to do it well? All are we supposed to look to the 'terrorists' to bring peace?

To many, like myself, this award is yet another vain glory and achievement (if there is any achievement) of humankind because we all know for sure that true peace will never come as the world is currently ruled by the Prince of Darkness. Time is however running out for the Prince of Darkness. Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, will come soon to set up His glorious Kingdom on earth and on that day there will be only one Lord (Zechariah 14:9). While we are waiting for His return, we are still able to experience His peace as Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I have with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Let not your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Earthly peace will bring disappointment but the peace of God which surpases all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 12, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. [1 Corinthians 14:33]

In other Bible versions, the above verse is also read “For God is not a God of disorder. He is a God of peace.” Besides the above verse, there are dozens of other verses pertaining to the teaching on ‘peace’ that we can find in the Bible. We are indeed living in a world of confusion and disorder that the world has never seen before and every one of us is yielding desperately for peace. Never a day the world has passed by peacefully. Our shout for peace is always ended up in vain and disappointment. Living in peace which is now a luxury is often an active choice of our will. It does not come automatically. We must not take peace for granted and we are required to do our part as well.

To recognize true ‘peace-maker’, the Nobel Prize has a coveted Peace Prize. Each year, it is given to an outstanding person who has made great influence and contribution in bringing world peace or those who have made significant contributions to make "the earth a better place to live". Past recipients include political leaders, religious and community leaders, and those actively ‘fighting’ for human rights.

For the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, many of us are surprised that it has been awarded to President Obama (and ironically he too himself was surprised by the award). It made the mockery out of the Nobel Prize so said some of them which include influential national leaders from both the U.S. and outside the U.S. Negative comments like “how meaningless a once honorable and respected award has become”, “Obama hasn't accomplished enough to deserve the prize” are pouring in.

As we all know about the nature of awards and prizes, they are given for achievements made. The Nobel Peace Prize that just awarded to President Obama seems for very different reasons – to encourage him or put pressure on him to bring ‘peace’ that he has yet delivered to the world and also more of a political choice rather than for real and tangible contributions that he has made. Given him the award now is like given someone 20 years of salary in advance before he begins his work! This is really quite a joke. As a new president for just nine months, many have questioned, what has he done so far to deserve the prize. We see as many wars as there were nine months ago and in fact he is planning to send more troops to Afghanistan. In any case, isn’t it the job of each country leader to bring peace? Perhaps, the Nobel Prize Committee should seriously consider disqualifying all national leaders such as prime ministers and presidents from the peace prize for the very reason that that’s their job to bring peace. If these people are not able, if they could not, if they are unwilling to bring earthly peace, who else can? Aren’t they are the ones we all look to them to do the job of bringing peace to the world and to do it well? Or, are we supposed to look to the 'terrorists' to bring peace?

To many, like myself, this award is yet another vain glory and achievement (if there is any achieved) of humankind because we all know for sure that true peace will never come as the world is currently ruled by the Prince of Darkness. Time is however running out for the Prince of Darkness. Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, will come soon to set up His glorious Kingdom on earth and on that day there will be only one Lord (Zechariah 14:9). While we are waiting for His return, we are still able to experience His peace as Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I have with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Let not your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Earthly peace will bring disappointment but the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).

 

[commoner]

i do read this column sometimes,,,, there is always wisdom somewhere to be learned,,,

to exercise my brain abit, tends to be a critic and spot discrepancies, that I wish people to be more careful with their written and oral intercourse,,,,

how can you say this current world is ruled by Prince of Darkness where The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,,,,,

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 13, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. [Psalm 118.8]

It is said that the center verse in the Bible (King James Version) is Psalm 118.8 which says, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” Whether this is really the center verse of the Bible or not is not really important to me (because if you use different Bible versions, it may give you different result. Furthermore, the ancient Bible texts did not have the chapter and verse numbering which only came much later). The most important point to note, however, is that this is what God has advised us: Trust only In Him and not man. (It is also interesting to note that Psalm 118 is between the shortest Psalm, Psalm 117 which has 2 verses and the longest Psalm, Psalm 119 which has the most verses, 176 verses in total). Besides Psalm 118.8, there are also many verses in the Bible telling us to put our faith, trust and confidence only in Lord Jesus.

In one of the researches by an UK company, it was reported that on the average, a person tells four lies a day. If we take the average life span of a typical Singaporean which is about 70 years, an average Singaporean would have told over 100,000 lies during his or her life-time! And these seem to be under-estimated. Lies like “Nice to see you”, “Sorry I missed your call”, “I'm stuck in traffic really”, "I will call you in a minute", "Our server was down”, "This tastes delicious", and sadly "Of course, I love you", are the most common lies people tell. Although such lies don’t really do harm to anyone, but by God’s standard, lies are lies.

If we go to the business section of the newspaper, we can see that when the stock index is up, the headline will read something like: “American employment shows positive signs of recovery”. But the headline changes almost as quickly as it reported and the same newspaper may report a very different headline the very next day because the stock index has dropped, like: “Retail business in the U.S. is still not improving”. A minute we get a very optimistic economic and financial outlook and in the twinkle of our eyes, in the next minute, it changes to a pessimistic one. General public are so confused these days. Who can we trust? Government, one would say. Really? You might have responded. Investment advisers and banks? You must be crazy! Others might have responded. They are ones who caused sub-prime mortgage crisis, encouraging people to buy irresponsibly and you want to trust them!

In 2 Peters 3:3, we are told that in the last days, scoffers will be walking after their own lusts and Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1-4 also tells us that during the last days people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather that lovers of God. How could then we put our trust on other people when almost every one of us is harbouring such thoughts ? A very simple question for you to ponder: Would you entrust your investment to someone whom you know is a treacherous? Would you listen to someone who is slanderer and boastful? Would you like to make friend with a brutal person? I think your answer is as good as mine.

The Bible is very clear on this – just trust no one, not even our closest friends or relatives but only the Lord. We need to be fed on the Word of God to give us life confidence. When we are at our lowest point and that no one we can turn to, Jesus has invited us to go to Him; He will give us rest (Matthew 12:28). In fact, we should reverse our order when seeking help – always go to Christ Jesus first and pray earnestly for His guidance and counsel before we approach and seek the counsel from other people. Also, let us not wait be at the lowest point of our life to seek His counsel. We must seek His counsel at all time and this should be our daily spiritual duty and habit for God is our refuge and our fortress and in Him we will trust; He will deliver us from the snare of the fowler and from perilous pestilence (Psalm 91:1-2).

 

[Psalm23]

i do read this column sometimes,,,, there is always wisdom somewhere to be learned,,,

to exercise my brain abit, tends to be a critic and spot discrepancies, that I wish people to be more careful with their written and oral intercourse,,,,

how can you say this current world is ruled by Prince of Darkness where The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,,,,,

Thanks for reading my thread.

God has given the authority to Satan (who is also called the Prince of Darkness). But this authority will be claimed back when Jesus comes again. Quite unfortunately (for lack of vocabulary), unless we go into the Word of God in greater depth, writing like this will attract disagreement. Also, please note that this thread is written, by and large, for Christians who I prayerfully hope they too study the Bible more seriously (although I do welcome everyone to read. If they find it offensive, I humbly request them just to ignore the threads).

Jesus was tempted three times as recorded in the Bible (and many Bible scholars believed that He had been tempted many more times but the Bible did not really record every one of His temptations). One of the temptations was when Satan took Him to a very high mountain and told Jesus if only He would worship him (Satan) he would give Jesus all the things of the world. But of course Jesus refused and said "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve" (Matthew 4: 8-10). How can he (Satan) give something when he does not own them? So, it follows that all the worldly things currently belong to him but not for ever. Hence, it is very clear that God has temporarily handed the rule to Satan. Our God is the Creator of all things. He will come and claim all that's His - including the very breathe that we breath.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 14, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. [Genesis 4:8]

To mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the World War II, the National Geographic Channel featured a six-part series of the war. I watched one of the series and in this particular episode, it was about Hitler leading the German army against his enemies like U.K., U.S., and Russia. Like all war crimes and other heinous criminal acts, we can learn nothing out of it because what was shown was all about how to kill as many people in as short the time as possible. History has taught us one great lesson – as far as war history is concern - human being has never learnt from it, and history is going to repeat.

Many people including renowned scientists, politicians and religious leaders are predicting that in this generation we will see the final war of mankind – The World War III. Given the nuclear arsenals that so many countries now possessed, and if WWIII really breaks out, the prediction is going to be anything but true - it’s going to be really the final war because “no flesh can survive” in a nuclear war.

After the flood, God has set a covenant with mankind that the earth and its inhabitants will not be destroyed by the Flood (Genesis 9:15). The rainbow which we commonly see in the sky is a visible sign of the covenant that God will not destroy the earth through flood. However, let’s not be too quick to rejoice. Besides inventing wonderful gadgets and electronic gizmos, man is extremely good in inventing evils. As a matter of fact, the sinfulness and the evilness of mankind have grown by leaps and bound since the Flood. Although God has set a covenant not to destroy mankind through flood, the Bible tells us that mankind will be finally destroyed by fire (2 Peter 3:7-13). There are many speculations how this could happen but the reality is that the combined nuclear arsenals the world currently possessed could destroy all the inhabitants of this earth many times over.

The first recorded murder in the Bible was when Cain killed his brother Abel. It was interesting to note that during that time, the earth was relatively ‘clean’. Sin, though, has already entered into mankind because of Adam’s disobedience by eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it then was not that ‘advance’ as compared to the sins of today. The people there were still living in a near-perfect environment. There was no water pollution from industrial wastes, no atmospheric pollution from factories, no man-made chemicals like petroleum and plastics to pollute the sea. Both Cain and Abel were raised by parents who were created by God Himself. There were perfect parents, so to speak because they were born without sin (which came later after they disobeyed God). Yet, even living in this near-perfect environment and raised by perfect parent, Cain committed the murder, the murder of his beloved brother. We can learn many important lessons from this first murder recorded in the Bible:

(a) Cain's crime had nothing to do with environment as he was living in a near-perfect enviroment. Our attitude is that when we do something that is not right, we usually blame our environment or others. “Because of this; because of that; because he is; because he is that; …... that’s why I did it” are the usual excuses. We don’t take personal responsibility for our own actions.

(b) Godly parents are no guarantee that their children will also be godly. Only our true God can give us the spirit of godliness. Any human form of godliness and righteousnesses are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). The best parents can do are to pray to God to train their children the way they should go and when they grow up they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). (It should also be noted that it is important for parents to be godly so that their children can learn from them. Parents have great influence on their children’s behaviour.)

(c) We try to hide our crimes even though it’s so obvious like Cain said, “Am I my brother’s keeper”. This was Cain’s respond to God when God asked him where his brother was after he had murdered him. We can see that until today, the Japanese government still refuses to fully acknowledge its atrocities during the World War II when the Japanese army inflicted untold sufferings to many people in Asia. The Japanese government gave a lot of reasons to justify those unjust war actions.

(d) The murder committed by Cain was that of his wicked heart. Cain was living just outside the Garden of Eden and with the perfect weather and environmental conditions, he could grow crops of all kinds and enjoy all his great produce. He was not in lack. Rather, it was Cain’s jealousy because God had shown greater favour to Abel. His sin of the jealousy and together with his wicked heart, they manifested into hatred that finally caused him to commit the murder.

(e) In spite of this heinous crime of Cain, God is merciful; He put a mark on Cain to protect him from being killed by others who might want to take revenge on behalf of Abel. This reminds us of how great and merciful our God is! No sin is too great for Him to forgive and He is ready to protect His children. We have His mark and through the blood of Jesus and His imputed righteousness, we are fully protected.

We must all be mindful of those seemingly harmless sins like jealousy, envy, greed. With our corrupted heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), these sins if not duly contained and removed, can be become deadly. They can be manifested into more serious one, and when they are fully grown, they will lead to death (James 1:15). Sins are too powerful for us to conqueror and to gain victory over them. Only by the power of Christ Jesus, we can then be victorious. Call upon His name and His Holy Spirit will help us to win all battles, no matter how difficult they are. They can be some strong temptations, addictions or hatred. Nothing is impossible for Him for He is the God that created us and He knows of our every weakness. The God of the Bible is much more loving and understanding toward our weaknesses than we sometimes give Him credit. Psalm 103:13-14 tells us that "As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust". God understands our human frailty completely and so pities us like a loving father toward his children.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 15, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. [Mathew 26:39]

Have you been short-changed before? For example, when you bought something from the Internet and after you have received the item, you discovered that the item you have purchased was quite different from that was described to you. You discovered that the quality of the item purchased had been compromised. You felt cheated and frustrated but there was nothing you could do because it might not be cost-effective to return the item to the seller and ask for a refund, especially when it was bought from overseas.

In fact, there is a legal maxim in Latin “caveat emptor” (which means “let the buyer beware”) that governs the law of contracts between a buyer and a seller. To put it simply, it means that “buy at your own risk” and it is meant to warn to us to be careful when we buy our purchases.

In God’s kingdom, we can be assured that we will never be short-changed. Jesus has already paid fully the price for us at the cross. We now owe nothing to our Creator who has accepted the blood of Jesus once and for all of our sins – past, present and future.

At the Gethsemane, Jesus cried out not once but three times to “let this cup pass” but each time God was silent. God cannot compromise for anything less than the death of His very own Son. The “cup” was to be filled with the wrath of God because of our sins. When the thought of going to the cross, of the suffering and of the separation from His Father, He prayed so hard that His sweat looked like great droplets of blood (Luke 22:44). When heading to the cross, Jesus was fully man but sinless and He was going to experience the excruciating pains, emotionally and physically. He seemed like He pleaded: “My beloved Father, is there any other ways besides Me going to the cross?” Three times He repeated this pleading and three times the heaven was completely silent on His pleading. The Father must be so sad that no word could just flow out. Though heaven was silent, but the answer from the Father was loud and clear: “My precious Son, there is no other way. This is the only way for You to redeem our children. My precious Son, just go to the cross.”

It must be emphasized that Jesus was not trying to avoid the cross or saying to His Father, “If I have the choice, I will not want to go through it”. Certainly not! The love of Jesus is far too great and He will never, never harbour such a thought, let alone pleading to His Father not to let Him go through the suffering on the cross. Rather the pleading is for all sinful men to know the consequences of sin; to fully understand the destructive power of sin and to know that our sin has caused His death. As God and if He had wanted, He could just leave and let this corrupt world completely destroyed by sin, by Satan and by the fallen angels because we don't deserve His mercy. But by His grace, He chose to stay on to finish the work of His Father. “It is finished (John 19:30)” were the last words He cried out before He gave up His spirit. The silence in heaven is a clear sign that no one can save himself from the wrath of God, not of good work, not the sacrifice of animals’ blood, not to becoming religious. In fact, the heavenly silence is a clear divine voice to us that only the sacrificial death of God’s beloved Son can save us. He cannot and He will not short-change Himself with other sacrifices.

God has offered to us the best deal we ever had - eternal life. No money needed because the deal has already been fully paid by the death of His Son on the cross and God’s redemptive covenant with His children is sealed with His blood. Nothing can break the covenant. Our assurance of redemption is complete. His offer of eternal life is made to us and it is up to us to accept or reject it. Don’t wait for this offer to expire because you do not know what will happen to you tomorrow or even the next hour. What a Mighty God! Praise and glory to Jesus.

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 16, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. [John 12:25]

Jesus was asked many times this question, “What must I do to inherit the Kingdom of God?” Without fail, His answer has always been "Do not follow the earthly way; change your way of life now and seek the way that God intended for you; let not the world’s pleasure overtake you; pick up the cross and follow me.” Jesus’ answers can be summed up in these few words: We must quit our life the way we presently do. If you asked Him the same question now, Jesus is going to give the same reply because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

When you are planting a new fruit plant, a seed is first planted in the ground to die, and the dead see will later germinate and becomes a new fruit-bearing plant. Unless the seed dies, it will bear no fruit because a new plant will not be germinated. This same principle holds true in our lives. The fruit that leads to eternal life is produced when the individual sacrifices himself for God. Jesus warned us not to lay the treasures on earth. Instead, pursue His righteousness and readily sacrifice our lives by living right with God in order to enter into His Kingdom. Just like our earthly parents who will be displeased when we disobeyed their good-intended instructions, God too will be displeased with us when we do things that do not conform to His holy instructions. And just that we will feel miserable when our parents are not pleased with us, our inner soul too will feel miserable when God is not pleased with us. That’s the reason why humankind is so miserable because we often do things that are against His precepts. Additionally, there is nothing attractive in this world. Everyday we are reading news that tell us all the bailouts that are taking place in and around us – bailout from financial bankruptcy of individual, of corporations, and even of states; bailout from natural disasters; bailout from spiritual corruptions. How could we be happy and joyful when we are living in a world with endless bailouts.

Human nature is driven by wicked impulse, and we all know that the only way to the things a person deeply desires is through self-centered, assertive and competitive concentration on getting what it wants. We are always preoccupied with the “I”, “me’ and “mine”. As fallen human race, this is the general approach of what life on earth is for all of us. We don’t need to go to attend classes or seminars to learn this. It just simply germinates out of our corrupt nature. In fact, most management seminars on self-improvement and development taught us how to be even more assertive and more competitive, and how to use the ‘right’ methods to apply to the situations. These ‘right’ methods are never right because they are meant to achieve our selfish desires at the expense of others. I wonder whether any companies would send their employees to attend any management seminars on "How to be meek?"

Let’s quit our current way of life and lay down our life for Jesus. Laying our life for Jesus is a continuous process and we thus need to pray for God’s strength to give us a new lease of life that is fully endorsed by our Him, and to follow Him because His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). He expects us to follow His steps, do what He does, bear what He bears, love what He loves, hate what He hates. Humanly, we know this is not possible, but with God, nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37).

 

[Psalm23]

Today’s Scripture Reading [October 17, 2009]
[All Scripture references are from King James Version]

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. [Ephesians 6:12]

We all admire heroes especially those who fought and died for their countries. Some sacrificed their lives and there were others sacrificed the lives of their own children just to save their countries from falling into enemies’ hand.

There is an ancient Chinese story about one faithful and upright court official who sacrificed his own child to save another child of royal descent. He hoped that one day when the young prince whom he had saved would grow up to expose the evil deeds of a wicked prime minister. The wicked prime minister through his evil manipulation and scheming had wielded great power which he grossly abused it and did a lot of wicked things behind the emperor’s back. One of the victims was a son-in-law of the emperor who refused to submit to the prime minister’s manipulation. Through the cruel scheming, the emperor’s son-in-law was unjustly tried for treason and was executed. The wicked prime minister knew that the emperor’s son-in-law had a very young son and he was afraid that the child might take revenge when he grew up, and so he too planned to kill him. There was, however, an upright court official new about it. This upright court official presented instead his own son to the prime minister and told him that he was the emperor son-in-laws’ child. The wicked prime minister without hesitation took a sword and pierced it into the child in front of the helpless father. The upright official then raised the young prince like his own child. They worked hard and finally succeeded in gaining the trust and confidence of the emperor. With the trust and confidence from the emperor, they then exposed all the evil deeds of the prime minister and he was duly executed. Although the upright official had got his wish fulfilled by exposing the evil deeds of the prime minister and save his country into the wrong hand, it was accomplished at a great cost, the very life of his own son.

As Christians, we are fighting our battle continuously. Our fight is not a physical fight but rather our fight is a spiritual fight because as Christ-followers we face the resolve in today's sin-sick-broken-world in the spiritual warfare where the forces of evil are running rampant in every corner of the world. The Prince of Darkness has wielded great power through gross deceits and manipulations. As one preacher has said, “I see evil here; I see evil there; I see evil in front of me; I see evil behind me; I see evil on my left; I see evil on my right.” He is absolutely right, evil is everywhere because the world is now ruled by the Prince of Darkness. We are fighting against the spiritual darkness (Ephesians 6:12) but in Him we have no darkness at all because God is light (1 John 1:5).

To battle effectively in this urgent hour of world conflict and spiritual darkness, we need first of all to live the gospel and demonstrate its transforming power in our own lives, and then proclaim the gospel - as Jesus commanded us to do. We are to preach, to proclaim and to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone everywhere. Remember, too, if we don't live the gospel, our words are worthless and we may do more to drive people away from Christ rather than draw them to Him. Just like some great war heroes who made sacrifices for the sake of their countries, we too need to make sacrifices for Jesus’ sake and His Kingdom by our godly living. We need to live our life holy so that others can see the transforming power of the gospel and they can have trust and confidence when we share with them the gospel of our living God, Christ Jesus. With the trust and confidence that others have in us, we can then effectively expose the wicked deeds of the Evil One so that we can stop others from being manipulated by the Evil One.