Are We Susceptible to verbal attacks?

 

Not long ago I heard this story on the radio: A middle-aged man was reading his Bible while traveling in a plane when a young man who saw it told him he was reading the wrong book, and that he should read more about “Science” which was the most important subject for life today. Then he gave him a speech to back his assertion which made him seem as a very smart guy. The mature man only smiled and gave him his business card which said he was the Science Department Chair of a main university.

Some people use that kind of harassing speech to make others feel impoverished only because they think they know better. Yet a great philosopher, Socrates said once: All I know is I know nothing. And the Scriptures says: But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (I Corinthians 2.14)

Many people think “they know better” because they are convinced of their point of view due to someone’s criteria, someone whom they like for some reason and not for logic or experience. Perhaps their “logic” might have some truth in it, but it is not completely open. I remember the allegation of the serpent who tempted Eve and told her that her eyes would be opened like a god, and that she would not die. Well, the first was true, more or less, but the second, the consequence which was death, did not happen immediately, but eventually. A person who was created to live eternally, for her disobedience, she marked herself and her descendants, the human race. And for that we must pay the price: ETERNAL DEATH.

Thanks God Jesus was born to pay that price for us: For God so loved the world, He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him does not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3.16)  God made that plan to save us from the malignant; he who tempts us all the time and makes us fall in order to perish because he envies God who deserves all the worship. Remember how he even wanted Jesus to worship him, in the desert, and He would not, saying: It is written “You shall worship the Lord, your God and serve Him only.” (Luke 4.8b)

Jesus is the only link we have with the heavenly Father and He himself was praying all the time; that is why He was strong against the enemy, and that’s how we ought to be. Some, who think themselves “right” might try to make fun of us maybe calling us fanatics to make us feel susceptible, but they are the ones who really do not know how we really feel, because they can’t comprehend the joy we feel having the Holy Spirit dwell inside us and whatever we speak, if lead by the Spirit, is wise, something that the apostle Paul explained well:  Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;  the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND WHICH  HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” (I Corinthians 2.6-9)  And isn’t that great enough to be jumping up and down no matter how much the “smart” people laugh? “Hope the Lord has pity on them.” It’s my everlasting prayer.

And so this is Christmas, the birth of Jesus, God with us. The presentation of the greatest story of LOVE ever known and I’m pretty sure that was what the Science professor of the story was reading on his Bible, even though they did not say it: 1^st Corinthian 13, because we can be the smartest there are, but if we have NO love, even for the ones who mock us, we are nothing.

Jesus came to pay the price our misfortune deserved. The human race lived in darkness as the Prophet said: The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. . . For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9.2,6)

 

Merry Christmas everyone and God Bless you all!

Who are we working for: Good or Evil?

Once a police officer stopped a car whose driver was carelessly operating it. The driver looked untidy and reeked of alcohol. Yet, before the officer could ask him for his identifications or anything the protocol calls for, the driver spoke in a drunk manner: “D-do you know who I am?. . . I‘m your boss. . . the one wh-who. . .pays your salary.” The officer just looked at him and opened his eyes widely.

  The police officer had probably not recognized him without the uniform. What do you think went through his mind? If he thought in the “goodness of the department” he might have thought in covering the boss’ fault since he had the choice of giving the ticket or not, and nobody would find out that the one enforcing the rules to them was at fault himself. But would the incident be not known, ever? Would someone, who’d happen to realize anything that denounces it, be silent like him? What if people incriminated him as an accomplice of something worse if he kept silent? What if the boss was trying to bribe him with the threatening question? What would happen if he denounced him? The officer’s choice could bring him good or bad results so he must think on the best thing to do, based on his principles. And even so he can have problems with the unsatisfied, but at least not with the Creator.

People who happen to be above us in life do not know what their negligence can do to us. Every time we get blessed with an important position, we must act accordingly and not make other people suffer, because they are victims of our choice. Evidently, we cannot blind ourselves with a position, a uniform or anything that might give importance to a person because a person is flesh and blood like all the rest of the people and subject to make mistakes, no matter how “significant” the circumstances make him, or the idolatry of the people who think he is superior.

It is obvious that we represent the person we work for.  And if we really do, we must be proud of the way he handles things out. In the case of the story, the boss might have been a good leader, but in a bad moment he blew it, because we, people, are NOT perfect. Only God is perfect and that is why we should be constantly praying, asking for forgiveness, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3.23) and pleading for wisdom.

   We, Christians, are pleased with the way God works things out. Sometimes we might not like it, but we know that He is the One who knows it all, and why things should happen like they do, and we trust Him. He never fails because when the circumstances seem to fail, God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him. (Romans 8. 28). And there are many of us who do love Him, and are always inviting others to enjoy the same fate for it is great to know we will live happily forever, but the ones who reject Him will not, unless they repent of their ignorance. God is the father of all who love him and if you are the head of a family, you know how hard it is to please everyone or to agree, even in a time for partying; but God’s time is perfect, and so will our fate be. If God is REALLY the boss in our life, we represent Him wherever we are. We can make mistakes, because we are not perfect, but if we keep doing the opposite of what our “position” calls for, then we are NOT being faithful to it and are representing the contrary. The “World” as God made it was perfect, but in our free will we decided to be nosey and believe the one who was also a creature and not the Creator, and we blew it. And we’ll keep on doing it as long as we keep on “honoring” one who is not venerable for his wrong behavior, unless he repents and asks for forgiveness to God and to the people he offended.

As people who want to do good things, we venerate the man established institutions until they become an enemy of our integrity as God’s children. We must respect them, though, even when we may not like them. We should pray to God for a change in the institution or in the one who directs it. I am sorry to say there are many who procure those positions for many reasons other than the ones they were created for, but don’t think God will forget their mistakes if they don’t try to erase them with genuine repentance, even if they are religious institutions (the ones who have studied the Word of God know that the first half of the tribulation time will be directed by a religious institution under the command of the antichrist until he gets tired of it and eliminates it). There will be judgment in heaven and if we do not choose the best advocate now, we are going to mess up. We should be seeking for the only one redeemer who paid the price to adopt us for His glory. He promised it and until now all of His prophesies have been fulfilled.

The prophet Isaiah (The “prince of prophets) wrote:

 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek JUSTICE. Reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. “Come now and reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” Truly the mouth of the Lord has spoken. How the faithful city has become a harlot. She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, but now murderers. (Isaiah 1. 16-21)

This was written for the people of his time, but there’s nothing more fitting to the people of today who only care of their own glory than God’s. Especially the ones who presume to represent Him should remember the only thing that will free us:

1-      SOLA SCRIPTURA.

2-      SOLA FIDE.

3-      SOLA GRATIA.

4-      SOLUS CHRISTUS.

5-      SOLI DEO GLORIA.

If we do not believe that we do not represent God.

 

Are We Worth Saving?

“Saving?. . .from who, from what?” somebody used to ask me. Somebody who did not know the consequences of our sins because some people think all of those are something normal. Yes they are normal. In a home where everybody is sick, it is very common to see a bottle of medicine laying around but that is not normal in one where no one is ever sick; yet that doesn’t exist NOW because we ALL get sick. Why? Because we inherited that from our progenitor who decided, when prompted, to try something forbidden that would “open eyes” according to someone who was supposed to be under the man’s rule (Genesis 1.26), and sinned by disobeying God’s order. That’s why we are ALL sinners . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3.23). So I would say NONE of us are clean.

We, the people of today, certainly cannot tell the difference for we have not ever lived it, but our progenitors who chose to sin did realize the change of their stay in the world and how their children would suffer, as a consequence, as we do now. Anything that we now consider a bother did not exist before sin, yet this gave way to the Curse (Genesis 3.14-19). The couple had to leave Paradise and live like sinners until death (which they didn’t know before). That’s how the deterioration of everything started until things got intolerant. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth (like today’s). . .He was sorry that He had made man on the earth. . .and said: “I will blot out man from the face of the land, from man to animals, to creeping things and to birds from the sky for I am sorry I have made them.” (Genesis 6.5a-6a-7) He did away with everything for no one was worth saving. Only Noah found favor in His eyes for obedient. Yet after the Flood and the new Covenant blessing that came with the Rainbow (to remind us of the everlasting Covenant is from God, not man) and His sorrow for destroying everything on account of man, this one started sinning again, because men inherited death due to sin. From then on there came confusion of the languages after Babel (the tower man wanted to build to heaven to be famous) and they were scattered around the world.(When man dares to defy the Creator, drastic things happen) Nonetheless ever since, man has not stopped wanting to conquer “the world,” and today we are not different, because we are still sinners, therefore  not worth living in peace. Generations passed and there came Abraham, a descendant of Shem son of Noah; father of the Arabs, the Jews and the three main religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

The first two Millennia ended. Not many behaved in accordance to God’s rules. At the very beginning it is said that God spoke to the people like when He asked Cain (son of Adam and Eve) why was he angry which is a result of sin, and that he should master it. Yet, Cain let his envy beat him so he killed his brother. Later on, God spoke to Noah and then to Abraham, to Joseph in dreams. Much later, in the second two Millennia He spoke to Moses, Samuel child, and some others like all the Prophets who prophesied about many things that happened then and also now, and some others that will happen in a near future. Now we are living the third two Millennia which started with the birth of Jesus, son of the virgin Mary as the Bible says and so many other things which reveal Jesus as the Messiah in God’s redeeming plan to make us worthy of living with Him forever and ever. That is why He came into this world. Today God speaks to us through His word: The Holy Bible. If we want to really know the truth we should study it, thoroughly.

We were probably not worth saving for our wickedness and weakness in our free will, but God in his everlasting Love and Mercy, having created us to His likeness, knew how to make us worthy in spite of them.  For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3.17)

That means that NO MATTER how wicked we had been in the past, if we decide we do not want to die eternally and live in goodness in the future we can repent and ask God, in the name of Jesus to cleanse us, and He will. All we have to do is believe and He will save us. His blood in the cross has already made us worthy of being saved. And we know we do not have to stand in trial before God when we die because we know what Jesus told Nicodemus:

He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has already been judged, because he has NOT believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3.18)

 

Do we have a reason to celebrate?

We are going through very hard times in which nobody feels like celebrating anything with this pandemic killing people, dictators doing away with their people’s rights while the world turns their face the other way to not see what’s going on, people in power who can’t differentiate what’s good or bad, famine which terminates people’s lives, all kind of terrorists who are doing great at their scaring people who are vulnerable to anything that paralyzes them. And that’s how we feel: terrified; scared stiff of going out and being with other people, or going anywhere at all. And what’s happening? The Adversary (or whoever represents him) is simply sitting in his recliner laughing at all of us while we are dying of horror. We cannot give in to his tactics for if we do, we lose. I am NOT saying we should go crazy and behave carelessly, No.  We just should observe all the precautions but don’t panic at all. All of what’s going on is part of the life we choose to live and what we let the evil one get away with. And we do this when we do not follow the directions that Jesus taught us in His word. He said: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. (John 13.34)  And, what does “love” have to do with “fear”? Well, most of the good things we do when we want to imitate Jesus, we do out of Love, and when we love, we do not hate, or feel envy or practice any of the deeds of the flesh. (Galatians 5.19-21). Because, when we truly love, we are not afraid of anything as John said in his first letter: There is NO FEAR in Love, but perfect love cast out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is NOT perfected in love. (I John 4.18)  To me, it means that if I love my neighbor as I do myself (golden rule) I will not harm anyone and if they harm me, they must deal with my heavenly Father: “Truly I say to you, to the extent you did it to one to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” (Mathew 25.40b)

We must be moved by love and not by fear. We have many more good things to celebrate than we have to mourn about. Why? Because we messed up and sinned, but our merciful Father came to our rescue sending His only begotten Son Jesus so we would not have to pay for it and die eternally, by just believing in Him. And everything that happens to us is for our own good (Romans 8.28); even death. Death is the sudden help for the suffering ones (when it comes from God, though.) Did you know there will be a time when people are going to wish to die and won’t be able to? I think that is scarier than death itself. But I don’t want to be afraid so I choose to give thanks to Christ and celebrate everything.

Life is beautiful, like the guy from that movie said, and the best thing is that He gave us free will to act, yet if we do not act well and make mistakes that may cause damage, our Creator can forgive us if we repent, and that is called GRACE:  For by Grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2.8-10)

We should celebrate, and by that I mean to be thankful for, every new day we are able to live and solve problems for ourselves and others, because whatever we do to help others is a credit in our assets sheet in heaven. It will NOT save us if we do not believe, but if we do, it will count, just like the bad deeds count against those who serve the Adversary.  We should celebrate the Sun still shines, the rain falls, and that we can breathe air and sing and dance. We can smile when we see and hear something funny, and when we see or hear something sad, we can pray for blessings for that person and our heavenly Father hears us because He knows us; we are good friends and talk to each other every day.

If you follow my page every month, you probably know about the cancer my youngest daughter had. I told you about it back in Nov. 2020. Well, she was operated, finally, of her lung where it started and she’s doing great so I am celebrating that and thanking all of you for your prayers. We would’ve not been able to celebrate without them. I am also celebrating my 70 years of life and thanking God He has been able to use me for His purpose. That was one of my life’s dream since very young. My mother and my father, both, invested on that for which I’m thankful today.

Every time I hear bad news in which so many are hurting because of the bad people who don’t care to love one another or learn of Jesus’ gospel I am sad and pray for them so they can be saved. But, somehow the Holy Spirit cheers me up and make me happy.

 When my father celebrated his 60 years of a medical career (and still working) I dedicated him part of this Psalm I love:

                How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path      of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. (PSALM 1.1-3)

My father lived 97 years with no pain. My mother in law also lived to 97. I could serve them both to their last minute and I celebrate that too.

God blesses us when we love and celebrate.