In the Old Testament, The Song Of Songs or The Song Of Solomon is a brief book of only 8 chapters. The great message of The Song Of Songs is the beauty of love between a man and a woman as experienced in the relationship of marriage. In its beautiful language, the song praises the mutual love which husband and wife feel toward each other in this highest of all human relationships.
In spite of its brevity, it has a complicated structure that sometimes confuses the reader. For example, there are several different characters or personalities have speaking parts within this long lyrical poem. The 3 main parties with speaking parts in this long poem are: [1] the groom, king Solomon [2] the bride, a woman referred to as 'the Shulamite' ( maid of Shulam ) [3] the 'daughters of Jerusalem.'
These women of Jerusalem may have been royal servants who served as attendants to Solomon's Shulamite bride. In this love song, they serve as a chorus to echo the sentiments of the Shulamite, emphasizing her love and affection for Solomon. In addition, to these main personalities, the brothers of the Shulamite bride are also mentioned in the poem. -8:8-9 - These may have been her step-brothers. The poem indicates she worked under their command as 'the keeper of the vineyards.' - 1:6 -
This beautiful love song falls naturally into 2 major sections of about equal length - the beginning of love - chapter 1 to 4 - and the broadening of love. - chapter 5 to 8 -
In the first section, the Shulamite tells about Solomon's visit to her home in the country in the spring time. - 2:8-17 - She also recalls the many happy experiences of their courtship when she visited Solomon in his palace in Jerusalem. 2:4-7 - She thinks about the painful separations from his love during this time - 3:1-5 - as well as the joyous wedding procession to Jerusalem to become the king's bride. - 3:6-11 - King Solomon also praises his bride-to-be in a beautiful poem on the magic and wonder of love. - chapter 4 -
In the second section of the book, Shulamite and Solomon for each other continues to deepen after their marriage. She has a troubled dream when he seems distant and unconcerned. - 5:2-8 - But Solomon assures her of his love and praises her beauty. 6:4-7:9 - Longing to visit her country home - 7:10-8:4 - she finally makes the trip with Solomon; and their love grows even stronger. - 8:5-7 - The song closes with an assurance of each to the other that they will always remain close in their love.
Traditionally, authorship of the Song Of Songs has been assigned to Solomon, since the book itself makes this claim. "The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's." - 1:1 - Solomon is mentioned by name several times in the song - 1:1,5, 3:7,9,11, 8:11-12 - and he is specifically identified as the groom. The book also gives evidence of wealth, luxury, and exotic imported goods - 3:6-11 - a characteristic of his administration. The groom of the song also assures the Shulamite bride that she is "the only one" - 6:9 - probably a reference by Solomon to his royal harem. At the height of his power and influence, Solomon was known to have 700 wives and 300 concubines. - 1 Kin. 11:3 -
This strong internal evidence clearly supports the traditional view that Solomon himself wrote this song that bears his name. It must have been written early in his reign, probably about 965 B.C.
With his large harem, how could king Solomon write such a beautiful love song to one specific wife? Perhaps, his union with the Shulamite woman was the only authentic marriage relationship which Solomon ever knew. Most of his marriage were political arrangements, designed to seal treaties and trade agreements with other nations. In contrast, the Shulamite woman was not a cultured princess but a lowly vineyard keeper whose skin had been darkened by her long exposure to the sun. - 1:6 - Yet, she was the bride to whom Solomon declared: "What spells lie in your love, my sister, my promised bride! How delicious is your love, more delicious than wine! How fragrant your perfumes, more fragrant than all other spices!" - 4:10 -
This has a real message about the nature of true love. Authentic love is much more than a surface relationship; it extends to the very core of one's being. love like this cannot be bought and sold like some commodity on the open market. Solomon had many wives but the Shulamite may have been the only one with whom he enjoyed a warm, enriching relationship.
The exact meaning of the phrase 'the Shulamite' which has come to be used as a title for the bride in this song are not certain because no city or region known as Shulam has been identified in Palestine or any of the surrounding territories, and also because the poem makes several references to Lebanon. Thus, it is believe she came from this mountainous territory along the Mediterranean coast in northwestern Palestine. - 3:9; 4:8,11,15; 5:15; 7:4 -
The sexual and physical side of marriage is a natural and proper part of God's plan, reflecting His purpose and desire for the human race. This is the same truth so evident at the beginning of time in the Creation itself. God created man and woman and brought them together to serve as companions and to share their lives with one another. - Gen. 2:24 - Like the Book of Genesis, the Song of Songs say a bold yes to the beauty and sanctity of married love.
It also points beyond human love to the great Author of love. Genuine or authentic love is possible in the world because God brought love into being and planted that emotion in the hearts of His people. Even husbands and wives should remember that the love which they share for one another is not a product of their human goodness or kindness. We are able to love because the love of God is working in our lives.
This is the love I mean: not our love for God, but God's love for us when he sent his Son to be sacrifice that takes our sins away. My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another. - 1 John 4:10 -11 -
What the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible passages emphasizes was the truth that God's ideal is for the marriage to be permanent. It is never meant to be provisional.
Marriage ( Sacrament of Holy Matrimony ) is 'Never' meant to be 'Provisional.' Marriage, from the beginning, is always meant to be 'Permanent.'
** Marriage refers to the union of a man and a woman as husband and wife, which becomes the foundation for a home and family.
Page 2
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
The Song of Songs or The Song Of Solomon is an Old Testament book written in the form of a lyric love song. It is believe this song speaks symbolically of the love of God for the nation of Israel and also as a healthy expression of romantic love between a man and a woman. The Song Of Songs or The Song Of Solomon is certainly one of the most unusual book in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. The Song Of Songs implies it was the loveliest and best known of all the songs of Solomon. -1:1 -
Marriage refers to the union of a man and a woman as husband and wife, which becomes the foundation for a home and family. In other words, It is the physical and spiritual union of a man and a woman, in which God created. - Gen. 2:21-24 - The origin of marriage was instituted by God when He declared: 'It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate.' - Gen. 2:18 -
So Yahweh God made the man fall into deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in flesh. Yahweh God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. The man exclaimed:
'This at last is bone from my bones,
and flesh from my flesh!
This is to be called woman,
for this was taken from man.'
This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body. - Gen. 2:21-24 -
What the passages emphasizes was the truth that God's ideal is for the marriage to be permanent.
In the Old Testament, God's desire for His people was that they marry within the body of believers. Marriages between Israelites were directed by law, and all incestuous relationships were outlawed. -Lev. 18:6-8, 20:19-21 - The prohibition of adultery is written in the Ten Commandments. - Ex. 20:14; Deut. 5:16 -
Let them be for yourself alone,
not for strangers at the same time.
And may your fountain-head be blessed!
Find joy with the wife you married in your youth,
fair as a hind, graceful as a fawn,
Let hers be the company you keep,
hers the breasts that that ever fill you with delight,
hers the love that ever holds you captive.
Why be seduced, my son, by an alien woman,
and fondle the breast of a woman who is a stranger?
For the eyes of Yahweh observe a man's ways
and survey all his paths.
The wicked man is snared in his own misdeeds,
is caught in the meshes of his own sin,
For want of discipline, he dies,
and is lost through his own excessive folly. - Pro. 5:17-23 -
Anyone who commit adultery is sinning against God. Marriage, therefore, became the metaphor with which to explain the relationship between God and Israel. - Hosea 3 - The married couple (a man and a woman) was expected to build and develop a bond of mutual love and respect, which they, in turn would pass on to their children.
The New Testament does not contradict the doctrines and teachings about marriage in the Old Testament. Most marriage teaching in the New Testament comes from the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul's. Jesus' first miracle occurred in Cana in Galilee when He and His disciples were attending a wedding. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave His blessing and sanction to the institution of marriage. ( The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony ) On another occasion, when Jesus was asked about marriage and divorce, He quoted Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, two passages from the book of Genesis.
Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body or flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.' Not only did God acknowledge the marriage; He also joined the couple/them. ( a man and a woman ) - Gen. 1:27, 2:24, 5:2; Matt. 19:4-6; Eph. 5:31 -
You know, surely, that your bodies are members making up the body of Christ; do you think I can take parts of Christ's body and join them to the body of a prostitute? Never! As you know, a man who goes with a prostitute is one body with her, since the two, as it is said, become one flesh. But anyone who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
Keep away from fornication. All the other sins are committed outside the body; but to fornicate is to sin against your own body. Your body, you know, is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you since you received him from God. You are not your own property; you have been bought and paid for. That is why you should use your body for the glory of God. - 1 Cor. 6:15-20 -
Authentic love is much more than a surface relationship; it extends to the very core of one's being. Love like this cannot be bought and sold like some commodity on the open market.
In the Old Testament, The Song Of Songs or The Song Of Solomon is a brief book of only 8 chapters. The great message of The Song Of Songs is the beauty of love between a man and a woman as experienced in the relationship of marriage. In its beautiful......
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Marriage refers to the union of a man and a woman as husband and wife, which becomes the foundation for a home and family. In other words, It is the physical and spiritual union of a man and a woman, in which God created. - Gen. 2:21-24 - The origin of marriage was instituted by God when He declared: 'It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate.' - Gen. 2:18 -
So Yahweh God made the man fall into deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in flesh. Yahweh God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. The man exclaimed:
'This at last is bone from my bones,
and flesh from my flesh!
This is to be called woman,
for this was taken from man.'
This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body. - Gen. 2:21-24 -
What the passages emphasizes was the truth that God's ideal is for the marriage to be permanent.
In the Old Testament, God's desire for His people was that they marry within the body of believers. Marriages between Israelites were directed by law, and all incestuous relationships were outlawed. -Lev. 18:6-8, 20:19-21 - The prohibition of adultery is written in the Ten Commandments. - Ex. 20:14; Deut. 5:16 -
Let them be for yourself alone,
not for strangers at the same time.
And may your fountain-head be blessed!
Find joy with the wife you married in your youth,
fair as a hind, graceful as a fawn,
Let hers be the company you keep,
hers the breasts that that ever fill you with delight,
hers the love that ever holds you captive.
Why be seduced, my son, by an alien woman,
and fondle the breast of a woman who is a stranger?
For the eyes of Yahweh observe a man's ways
and survey all his paths.
The wicked man is snared in his own misdeeds,
is caught in the meshes of his own sin,
For want of discipline, he dies,
and is lost through his own excessive folly. - Pro. 5:17-23 -
Anyone who commit adultery is sinning against God. Marriage, therefore, became the metaphor with which to explain the relationship between God and Israel. - Hosea 3 - The married couple (a man and a woman) was expected to build and develop a bond of mutual love and respect, which they, in turn would pass on to their children.
The New Testament does not contradict the doctrines and teachings about marriage in the Old Testament. Most marriage teaching in the New Testament comes from the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul's. Jesus' first miracle occurred in Cana in Galilee when He and His disciples were attending a wedding. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave His blessing and sanction to the institution of marriage. ( The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony ) On another occasion, when Jesus was asked about marriage and divorce, He quoted Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, two passages from the book of Genesis.
Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body or flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.' Not only did God acknowledge the marriage; He also joined the couple/them. ( a man and a woman ) - Gen. 1:27, 2:24, 5:2; Matt. 19:4-6; Eph. 5:31 -
You know, surely, that your bodies are members making up the body of Christ; do you think I can take parts of Christ's body and join them to the body of a prostitute? Never! As you know, a man who goes with a prostitute is one body with her, since the two, as it is said, become one flesh. But anyone who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
Keep away from fornication. All the other sins are committed outside the body; but to fornicate is to sin against your own body. Your body, you know, is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you since you received him from God. You are not your own property; you have been bought and paid for. That is why you should use your body for the glory of God. - 1 Cor. 6:15-20 -
Authentic love is much more than a surface relationship; it extends to the very core of one's being. Love like this cannot be bought and sold like some commodity on the open market.
In the Old Testament, The Song Of Songs or The Song Of Solomon is a brief book of only 8 chapters. The great message of The Song Of Songs is the beauty of love between a man and a woman as experienced in the relationship of marriage. In its beautiful......
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Deaconess refers to a female faithful and believer serving in the office of "Deacon" in a church.
The office of deaconess became a regular feature of church organization as early as the first part of the 2nd century. Notably, in the A.D. 112, Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia, wrote a letter to the emperor Trajan of Rome, indicating that in his investigation of Christians he had tortured two Christian maidens who were called deaconesses.
The office of deaconess in the eastern Church continued down to the 12th century. The widows of clergyman who were not permitted to remarry, often served as deaconesses. Perhaps, Saint Paul's standards for deaconesses in 1 Timothy 5:3-16 - were applied to these deaconesses. No qualifications for the office of deaconesses are specifically given in the New Testament. But tradition indicates that she must not be a lover for money and power, but piety, faith and love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and experience were required of deaconesses.
Be considerate to widows; I mean those who are truly widows. If a widow has children or grandchildren, they are to learn first of all to do their duty to their own families and repay their debt to their parents, because this is what pleases God. But a woman who is really widowed and left without anybody can give herself up to God and consecrate all her days and nights to petitions and prayer. The one who thinks only of pleasure is already dead while she is still alive: remind them of all this, too, so that their lives may be blameless. Anyone who does not look after his own relations, especially if they are living with him, has rejected the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Enrolment as a widow is permissible only for a woman at least sixty years old who has had only one husband. She must be a woman known for her good works and for the way in which she has brought up her children, shown hospitality to strangers and washed the saints' feet, helped people who are in trouble and have been active in all kinds of good work.
Do not accept young widows because if their natural desires get stronger than their dedication to Christ, they want to marry again, and then people condemn them for being unfaithful to their original promise. Besides, they learn how to be idle and go round from house to house; and then, not merely idle, they learn to gossips and meddlers in other people's affairs, and to chatter when they would be better keeping quite. I think it is best for young widows to marry again and have children and a home to look after, and not give the enemy any chance to raise a scandal about them; there are already some who have left us to follow Satan.
If a Christian woman has widowed relatives, she should support then and not make the Church bear the expense but enable it to support those who are genuinely widows. - 1 Tim. 5:3-16 -
Any woman wanted to be called or carried the title of a deaconess, firstly, the woman must not be a lover for money and power. Instead, the women must be respectable, not gossips but sober and quite reliable. - 1 Tim. 3:11 -
The New Testament reference to deaconess as a church office is apostle Paul's description of Phoebe as a deaconess of the Church in Cenchreae. The Greek word translated as deaconess in this passage is, perhaps, rendered as deacon and servant. In fact, the office of deaconess was similar to the office of deacon. Their spiritual responsibility was essentially the same, except that deaconesses probably rendered a ministry exclusively to women, particularly in the early years of the Church.
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchreae. Give her in union with the Lord, a welcome worthy of saints, and help with anything she needs: she has looked after a great many people, my self included. - Rom. 16:1-2 -
While controversy has centered around the ordination of women through the centuries, deaconesses apparently were installed in their office by the 'Laying On Of Hands' just like deacons. However, there is no account of a deaconess ordination in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible.
In early centuries, deaconesses were especially called on to serve women in situations where custom forbade the ministry of the deacon. Deaconesses instructed female candidates for Church membership, ministered to women who were sick and in prison, and assisted at their baptism, especially in the act of anointing. Through the years deaconesses have been assigned various types of educational, charitable, and social service work in their churches and communities.
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
The office of deaconess became a regular feature of church organization as early as the first part of the 2nd century. Notably, in the A.D. 112, Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia, wrote a letter to the emperor Trajan of Rome, indicating that in his investigation of Christians he had tortured two Christian maidens who were called deaconesses.
The office of deaconess in the eastern Church continued down to the 12th century. The widows of clergyman who were not permitted to remarry, often served as deaconesses. Perhaps, Saint Paul's standards for deaconesses in 1 Timothy 5:3-16 - were applied to these deaconesses. No qualifications for the office of deaconesses are specifically given in the New Testament. But tradition indicates that she must not be a lover for money and power, but piety, faith and love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and experience were required of deaconesses.
Be considerate to widows; I mean those who are truly widows. If a widow has children or grandchildren, they are to learn first of all to do their duty to their own families and repay their debt to their parents, because this is what pleases God. But a woman who is really widowed and left without anybody can give herself up to God and consecrate all her days and nights to petitions and prayer. The one who thinks only of pleasure is already dead while she is still alive: remind them of all this, too, so that their lives may be blameless. Anyone who does not look after his own relations, especially if they are living with him, has rejected the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Enrolment as a widow is permissible only for a woman at least sixty years old who has had only one husband. She must be a woman known for her good works and for the way in which she has brought up her children, shown hospitality to strangers and washed the saints' feet, helped people who are in trouble and have been active in all kinds of good work.
Do not accept young widows because if their natural desires get stronger than their dedication to Christ, they want to marry again, and then people condemn them for being unfaithful to their original promise. Besides, they learn how to be idle and go round from house to house; and then, not merely idle, they learn to gossips and meddlers in other people's affairs, and to chatter when they would be better keeping quite. I think it is best for young widows to marry again and have children and a home to look after, and not give the enemy any chance to raise a scandal about them; there are already some who have left us to follow Satan.
If a Christian woman has widowed relatives, she should support then and not make the Church bear the expense but enable it to support those who are genuinely widows. - 1 Tim. 5:3-16 -
Any woman wanted to be called or carried the title of a deaconess, firstly, the woman must not be a lover for money and power. Instead, the women must be respectable, not gossips but sober and quite reliable. - 1 Tim. 3:11 -
The New Testament reference to deaconess as a church office is apostle Paul's description of Phoebe as a deaconess of the Church in Cenchreae. The Greek word translated as deaconess in this passage is, perhaps, rendered as deacon and servant. In fact, the office of deaconess was similar to the office of deacon. Their spiritual responsibility was essentially the same, except that deaconesses probably rendered a ministry exclusively to women, particularly in the early years of the Church.
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchreae. Give her in union with the Lord, a welcome worthy of saints, and help with anything she needs: she has looked after a great many people, my self included. - Rom. 16:1-2 -
While controversy has centered around the ordination of women through the centuries, deaconesses apparently were installed in their office by the 'Laying On Of Hands' just like deacons. However, there is no account of a deaconess ordination in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible.
In early centuries, deaconesses were especially called on to serve women in situations where custom forbade the ministry of the deacon. Deaconesses instructed female candidates for Church membership, ministered to women who were sick and in prison, and assisted at their baptism, especially in the act of anointing. Through the years deaconesses have been assigned various types of educational, charitable, and social service work in their churches and communities.
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Monday, May 23, 2016
Deacon refers to a disciple, servant, or minister; an ordained lay faithful and believer of the Lord Jesus Christ. The general concept and understanding of deacon as a disciple, servant, or minister is well established in both the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible and Church history.
But the exact nature of the office is difficult to define because of changing concepts and varying practices among Church bodies through the centuries. Another problem is that the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible verses, passages associated with deacons are interpreted differently by various church groups.
About this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenist made a complaint against the Hebrews: in the daily distribution of their own widows were being overlooked. So the Twelve called a full meeting of the disciples and addressed them, 'It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God so as to give our food; you, brothers, must select from among yourselves seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and with wisdom; we will hand over this duty to them, and continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.'
The whole assembly approved of this proposal and elected Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolaus of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
The word of the Lord continued to spread: the number of disciples in Jerusalem was greatly increased, and a large group of priests made their submission to the faith. - Acts 6:1-7 -
Apparently and evidently, Stephen ( the deacon ) was the first "Christian" martyr. - Acts 6:8-15, 7:1-60, 8:1-3 - It was at Antioch that the disciples were first called "Christians." Acts 11:26 - Although these men were not called deacons at that time, the Greek word used to describe their work comes from the same Greek root word.
The Greek word diakonos from which it is taken, and in most cases diakonos is translated as 'servant' rather than 'deacon.' In the Greek world, diakonos was used to describe the work of a servant - a person who waited on tables or ministered as a religious official. When the office of deacon was established in the New Testament, Church, it may have paralleled the function of the Jewish synagogue assistant - an official who took care of the administrative needs of the assembly.
While these disciples, servants, ministers, or 'table servers' were appointed to relieve an emergency and their assignment may sound somewhat menial and unimportant or insignificant. If God's willing, these men may possessed the highest moral and spirited credentials. They are usually described as 'men of good reputation' full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. - Acts 6:3 -
As a result of the selection of these seven, harmony was restored in the congregation and the Church continued to grow in number and spirit. Thus, the later evangelistic work of two of these original "deacons" Stephen and Philip, serves as a role model for the spiritual ministry of deacons today.
Those who had escaped went from place to place preaching the Good News. One of them was Philip who went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them. The people united in welcoming the message Philip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he worked or because they saw them for themselves. there were, for example, unclean spirits that came shrieking out many who were possessed, and several paralytics and cripples were cured. As a result there was great rejoicing in that town. - Acts 8:4-8 -
From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, together with their presiding elders and deacons. We wish you the grace and peace of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ. - Phil. 1:1-2 -
The work of Stephen and Philip confirmed that gifted deacons became a permanent part of Church outreach to the world very early in its history. [New Testament] So convincing were Stephen's words and miracles that they were not able to resist the wisdom and Spirit by which he spoke. While some responded in faith, Stephen's zeal for Christ Jesus stirred up powerful enemies. Undaunted by false witnesses, Stephen glorified the Lord Jesus Christ even as he was put to death for his convictions.
Philip's was also an evangelist who preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, after preaching to eager crowds in Samaria, Philip witnessed to a solitary Ethiopian in the desert and baptized him.
The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, 'Be ready to set out at noon along the road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza, the desert road.' So he set off on his journey. Now it happened that an Ethiopian had been on pilgrimage to Jerusalem; he was a eunuch and an officer at the court of the kandake, or queen, of Ethiopa, and as he sat in his chariot he was reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, 'Go up and meet that chariot.' When Philip ran up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' 'How can I' he replied 'unless I have someone to guide me?' So he invited Philip to get in and sit by his side. Now the passage of scripture he was reading was this:
Like a sheep that is led to the slaughter-house,
like a lamb that is dumb in front of its shearers,
like these he never opens his mouth.
He has been humiliated and has no one to defend him.
Who will ever talk about his descendants,
since his life on earth has been cut short!
The eunuch turned to Philip and said, 'Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?' Starting, therefore, with this text of scripture Philip proceeded to explain the Good News of Jesus to him.
Further along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, 'Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptised?' He ordered the chariot to stop, then Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water and Philip baptised him. But after they had come up out of the water again Philip was taken away by the Spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Philip found that he had reached Azotus and continued his journey proclaiming the Good News in every town as far as Caesarea. - Acts 8:26-40 -
In the early years of the Church, a difference of opinion arose about the role of deacons. Some church officials argued that no spiritual function had been assigned to deacons. But others insisted that deacons were a vital part of a church's ministry, with official duties to perform. Through the centuries deacons generally have served as assistants to the clergy in the service of the sanctuary.
In the modern Church deacons exist as a distinct lower order of the clergy in the Universal Church, and deacons are ordained laymen or laity who carry out a variety of practical and spiritual ministries that assist the Bishop or Priest. Deacons are often given administrative and financial duties, such as budgets and recommending Church programs and personnel.
Here is a saying that you can rely on: To want to be a presiding elders is to want to do a noble work. That is why the president must have an impeccable character. He must not have been married more than once, and he must be temperate, discreet and courteous, hospitable and a good teacher; not a heavy drinker, nor hot-tempered, but kind and peaceable. He must not be a lover for money. He must be a man who manages his own family well and brings his children up to obey him and well-behaved: how can any man who does not understand how to manage his own family have responsibility for the church of God?
He should not be a new convert, in case pride might turn his head and then he might be condemned as the devil was condemned. It is also necessary that people outside the Church should speak well of him, so that he never gets a bad reputation and falls into devil's trap.
In the same way, deacons must be respectable men whose word can be trusted, moderate in the amount of wine they drink and with no squalid greed for money. They must be conscientious believers in the mystery of the faith. They are to be examined first, and only admitted to serve as deacons if there is nothing against them. In the same way, the women must be respectable, not gossips but sober and quite reliable. deacons must not have been married more than once, and must be men who manage their children and families well. Those of them who carry out their duties well as deacons will earn a high standing for themselves and be rewarded with great assurance in their work for the faith in Christ Jesus. - 1 Tim. 3:1-13 -
I wanted you to know how people ought to behave in God's family - that is, in the Church of the living God, which upholds the truth and keeps it safe. Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is very deep indeed:
He was made visible in the flesh,
attested by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed to the pagans,
believed in by the world,
taken up in glory. - 1 Tim. 3:15-16 -
So, all those who are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and learn and observe all the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ are citizens like all the saints, and part of God's household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on Him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord Jesus Christ; and you too, in Him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit. Amen!
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
But the exact nature of the office is difficult to define because of changing concepts and varying practices among Church bodies through the centuries. Another problem is that the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible verses, passages associated with deacons are interpreted differently by various church groups.
About this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenist made a complaint against the Hebrews: in the daily distribution of their own widows were being overlooked. So the Twelve called a full meeting of the disciples and addressed them, 'It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God so as to give our food; you, brothers, must select from among yourselves seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and with wisdom; we will hand over this duty to them, and continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.'
The whole assembly approved of this proposal and elected Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolaus of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
The word of the Lord continued to spread: the number of disciples in Jerusalem was greatly increased, and a large group of priests made their submission to the faith. - Acts 6:1-7 -
Apparently and evidently, Stephen ( the deacon ) was the first "Christian" martyr. - Acts 6:8-15, 7:1-60, 8:1-3 - It was at Antioch that the disciples were first called "Christians." Acts 11:26 - Although these men were not called deacons at that time, the Greek word used to describe their work comes from the same Greek root word.
The Greek word diakonos from which it is taken, and in most cases diakonos is translated as 'servant' rather than 'deacon.' In the Greek world, diakonos was used to describe the work of a servant - a person who waited on tables or ministered as a religious official. When the office of deacon was established in the New Testament, Church, it may have paralleled the function of the Jewish synagogue assistant - an official who took care of the administrative needs of the assembly.
While these disciples, servants, ministers, or 'table servers' were appointed to relieve an emergency and their assignment may sound somewhat menial and unimportant or insignificant. If God's willing, these men may possessed the highest moral and spirited credentials. They are usually described as 'men of good reputation' full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. - Acts 6:3 -
As a result of the selection of these seven, harmony was restored in the congregation and the Church continued to grow in number and spirit. Thus, the later evangelistic work of two of these original "deacons" Stephen and Philip, serves as a role model for the spiritual ministry of deacons today.
Those who had escaped went from place to place preaching the Good News. One of them was Philip who went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them. The people united in welcoming the message Philip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he worked or because they saw them for themselves. there were, for example, unclean spirits that came shrieking out many who were possessed, and several paralytics and cripples were cured. As a result there was great rejoicing in that town. - Acts 8:4-8 -
From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, together with their presiding elders and deacons. We wish you the grace and peace of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ. - Phil. 1:1-2 -
The work of Stephen and Philip confirmed that gifted deacons became a permanent part of Church outreach to the world very early in its history. [New Testament] So convincing were Stephen's words and miracles that they were not able to resist the wisdom and Spirit by which he spoke. While some responded in faith, Stephen's zeal for Christ Jesus stirred up powerful enemies. Undaunted by false witnesses, Stephen glorified the Lord Jesus Christ even as he was put to death for his convictions.
Philip's was also an evangelist who preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, after preaching to eager crowds in Samaria, Philip witnessed to a solitary Ethiopian in the desert and baptized him.
The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, 'Be ready to set out at noon along the road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza, the desert road.' So he set off on his journey. Now it happened that an Ethiopian had been on pilgrimage to Jerusalem; he was a eunuch and an officer at the court of the kandake, or queen, of Ethiopa, and as he sat in his chariot he was reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, 'Go up and meet that chariot.' When Philip ran up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' 'How can I' he replied 'unless I have someone to guide me?' So he invited Philip to get in and sit by his side. Now the passage of scripture he was reading was this:
Like a sheep that is led to the slaughter-house,
like a lamb that is dumb in front of its shearers,
like these he never opens his mouth.
He has been humiliated and has no one to defend him.
Who will ever talk about his descendants,
since his life on earth has been cut short!
The eunuch turned to Philip and said, 'Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?' Starting, therefore, with this text of scripture Philip proceeded to explain the Good News of Jesus to him.
Further along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, 'Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptised?' He ordered the chariot to stop, then Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water and Philip baptised him. But after they had come up out of the water again Philip was taken away by the Spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Philip found that he had reached Azotus and continued his journey proclaiming the Good News in every town as far as Caesarea. - Acts 8:26-40 -
In the early years of the Church, a difference of opinion arose about the role of deacons. Some church officials argued that no spiritual function had been assigned to deacons. But others insisted that deacons were a vital part of a church's ministry, with official duties to perform. Through the centuries deacons generally have served as assistants to the clergy in the service of the sanctuary.
In the modern Church deacons exist as a distinct lower order of the clergy in the Universal Church, and deacons are ordained laymen or laity who carry out a variety of practical and spiritual ministries that assist the Bishop or Priest. Deacons are often given administrative and financial duties, such as budgets and recommending Church programs and personnel.
Here is a saying that you can rely on: To want to be a presiding elders is to want to do a noble work. That is why the president must have an impeccable character. He must not have been married more than once, and he must be temperate, discreet and courteous, hospitable and a good teacher; not a heavy drinker, nor hot-tempered, but kind and peaceable. He must not be a lover for money. He must be a man who manages his own family well and brings his children up to obey him and well-behaved: how can any man who does not understand how to manage his own family have responsibility for the church of God?
He should not be a new convert, in case pride might turn his head and then he might be condemned as the devil was condemned. It is also necessary that people outside the Church should speak well of him, so that he never gets a bad reputation and falls into devil's trap.
In the same way, deacons must be respectable men whose word can be trusted, moderate in the amount of wine they drink and with no squalid greed for money. They must be conscientious believers in the mystery of the faith. They are to be examined first, and only admitted to serve as deacons if there is nothing against them. In the same way, the women must be respectable, not gossips but sober and quite reliable. deacons must not have been married more than once, and must be men who manage their children and families well. Those of them who carry out their duties well as deacons will earn a high standing for themselves and be rewarded with great assurance in their work for the faith in Christ Jesus. - 1 Tim. 3:1-13 -
I wanted you to know how people ought to behave in God's family - that is, in the Church of the living God, which upholds the truth and keeps it safe. Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is very deep indeed:
He was made visible in the flesh,
attested by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed to the pagans,
believed in by the world,
taken up in glory. - 1 Tim. 3:15-16 -
So, all those who are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and learn and observe all the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ are citizens like all the saints, and part of God's household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on Him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord Jesus Christ; and you too, in Him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit. Amen!
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Thursday, May 12, 2016
When I am asked what the Church means to me, I answer it is the Temple of Life in which I am a living stone; it is the Tree of Eternal Fruit of which I am a branch; it is the Mystical Body of Christ on earth of which I am a member. The Church is, therefore, more to me than I am to myself; her life is more abundant than mine, for I live by union with her. She could live without me, for I am only a cell in her body; but I could normally live without her. I live only as a part of her, as my arm lives only as a part of my body.
So absorbing does she become that her thoughts are my thoughts; her ideals are my ideals. I consider sharing her life to be the greatest gift God has ever given to me, as I should consider losing her life the greatest evil that could befall me.
Dependence is the very essence of my creature existence, for no person is sufficient unto himself. I am not a speck in a moral void, nor a wanderer without a home, nor an isolated unit in creation. Rather, I am dependent on the God appointed destiny whereby I share my love of God with others who love God in the unity of the Mystical Body of Christ. In that Body which is the fullness of Christ do I find the spiritual environment for my spiritual life. In her I live and move and have my being. From out her seven fountains I draw the waters of everlasting life. From out her book of the Seven Seals I learn the secrets of the Lamb. From out her tabernacles I draw the Bread of Life and the wine that germinates virgins. My life is her life; my being is her being. She has my love, my service, as I myself have the entire devotion and service of my hand. She is the living organism, but I am an organ. She is the body, but I am a member. She is Life, I am the living thing. She is the Spouse of Christ, I am but a feature. She is the Vine, and I am a branch.
Abide in me, and I am in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit: For without me you can do nothing. - John 15:4-5 -
We must not think, because the fullness of our spiritual life is in the Church, that she absorbs us and leaves no room for our individual development. Just as in the natural order the individual cell has its own growth even though it dwells in the body, so in like manner the individual Christian has his own personal development even though a member of the Mystical Body.
There is only one sun to shine upon all the flowers of the world, and hence all flowers are members of the kingdom of the sun. But their mutual dependence on the sun does not prevent the sun from drawing out of each flower its own particular beauty, and its own peculiar perfume. So does the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling in the Church give life and beauty to all who receive Him, yet to each individual soul the Mystical Body gives its special life and beauty. So much so, that there is consummated under the bowers of the Church the union of the soul and its Divine Beloved, which death does not part but seals in everlasting bliss.
The body is made up of many members and countless cells - each with its own personality, though all draw upon a common life and are animated by a common soul. There is no legitimate natural twist or bent or leaning of any personality in the world that cannot find its outlet in the organism of the Church.
While living his historical life our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ did not destroy the personalities of His twelve apostles because they were one with him. Nor did He destroy the passion of a Magdalene after her conversion. He merely changed the direction of their inclinations, making them flow upward instead of downward, transforming an impetuous Simon to a daring Peter, a hating Saul into a loving Paul, a flesh-loving Magdalene into a spirit-loving Mary. Now that He has ascended into heaven and sent His Spirit into His Mystical Body the Church, He continues to draw all souls into the common life of that Body without destroying their property as a member or a cell of the Body.
The simple girl of Lisieux did not cease to be a Little Flower because she became a Carmelite in the Mystical Body of Christ. Ignatius was a soldier both before and after he became the founder of the Jesuits. ( Society of Jesus ) Louis IX was a king even though he was a subject of the king of kings. And, in like manner, each and everyone of us may continue to live our distinctly different lives in the office, in the field, at the machine, and at the university, in the humble duties of a routine world and in the lofty position as leaders of others, just as Thomas a Becket could wear the purple on the outside to please his people and the penitential chain on the inside to please himself.
There is no destruction of nature by grace, but only its elevation to another order. Tears are a common fountain for joy and sorrow. Passions, too, are common outlets for virtue and vice. It is not a different passion that makes a person a saint, from that which makes him a devil. It is the same passion going in a different direction. The Church, then, in embracing our lives within her common life does not destroy our personalities - she does not even destroy our most wicked passions. She transmutes them by the magic of her Sacraments, provides new outlets, fixes new goals, and digs new channels.
The heroes of the world are not different from the martyrs. The same natural courage which would make a man die for Caesar on a battlefield, the Church would transmute into a supernatural courage which would make that person die for the Lord Jesus Christ. The bigots are all potential missionaries, for the same zeal that makes them unwittingly serve falsehood can be elevated by the Church to make them serve Divine Truth. The great scientists are all incipient theologians, for that same curiosity, which drives them to a knowledge of secondary causes, the Church transmutes by leading them to a knowledge of the First Cause which is God. We would not say that the hero who became a saint, nor the bigot who became a missionary, nor the scientist who became a theologian, lost their personalities once incorporated into Christ's Body, any more than we lost our personalities once we became citizens of a nation.
But we would say that in their union with that common life of grace they had found the sublimation of their distinct selves. They would see, as we see, that Christ's Mystical Body is like a beautiful garden, formed by the blossoming of individual flowers each in its own beauty, but in its varied beauty blending into one harmonious, rapturous delight. Each flower of that garden has its own beauty revealed as in no other flower, yet each flower grows in beauty by contrast and by blending with the other flowers all rooted in a common soil and lighted by a common sun.
So it is in the mystical life, where the Lord Jesus Christ dwells in His Church, revealing Himself anew in each individual soul, and never in two wholly alike - here manifesting Himself in a Peter, there in a Paul, here in a Martha, there in a Mary, here in a lover of His infancy, there in a lover of His Cross, here in a rose with thorns, there in a flower without them, and yet all growing more beautiful by their fellowship with other saintly flowers because all rooted in the same Christ-life and all lighted by the same Christ-truth.
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN ( 1895 to 1979 )
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
So absorbing does she become that her thoughts are my thoughts; her ideals are my ideals. I consider sharing her life to be the greatest gift God has ever given to me, as I should consider losing her life the greatest evil that could befall me.
Dependence is the very essence of my creature existence, for no person is sufficient unto himself. I am not a speck in a moral void, nor a wanderer without a home, nor an isolated unit in creation. Rather, I am dependent on the God appointed destiny whereby I share my love of God with others who love God in the unity of the Mystical Body of Christ. In that Body which is the fullness of Christ do I find the spiritual environment for my spiritual life. In her I live and move and have my being. From out her seven fountains I draw the waters of everlasting life. From out her book of the Seven Seals I learn the secrets of the Lamb. From out her tabernacles I draw the Bread of Life and the wine that germinates virgins. My life is her life; my being is her being. She has my love, my service, as I myself have the entire devotion and service of my hand. She is the living organism, but I am an organ. She is the body, but I am a member. She is Life, I am the living thing. She is the Spouse of Christ, I am but a feature. She is the Vine, and I am a branch.
Abide in me, and I am in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit: For without me you can do nothing. - John 15:4-5 -
We must not think, because the fullness of our spiritual life is in the Church, that she absorbs us and leaves no room for our individual development. Just as in the natural order the individual cell has its own growth even though it dwells in the body, so in like manner the individual Christian has his own personal development even though a member of the Mystical Body.
There is only one sun to shine upon all the flowers of the world, and hence all flowers are members of the kingdom of the sun. But their mutual dependence on the sun does not prevent the sun from drawing out of each flower its own particular beauty, and its own peculiar perfume. So does the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling in the Church give life and beauty to all who receive Him, yet to each individual soul the Mystical Body gives its special life and beauty. So much so, that there is consummated under the bowers of the Church the union of the soul and its Divine Beloved, which death does not part but seals in everlasting bliss.
The body is made up of many members and countless cells - each with its own personality, though all draw upon a common life and are animated by a common soul. There is no legitimate natural twist or bent or leaning of any personality in the world that cannot find its outlet in the organism of the Church.
While living his historical life our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ did not destroy the personalities of His twelve apostles because they were one with him. Nor did He destroy the passion of a Magdalene after her conversion. He merely changed the direction of their inclinations, making them flow upward instead of downward, transforming an impetuous Simon to a daring Peter, a hating Saul into a loving Paul, a flesh-loving Magdalene into a spirit-loving Mary. Now that He has ascended into heaven and sent His Spirit into His Mystical Body the Church, He continues to draw all souls into the common life of that Body without destroying their property as a member or a cell of the Body.
The simple girl of Lisieux did not cease to be a Little Flower because she became a Carmelite in the Mystical Body of Christ. Ignatius was a soldier both before and after he became the founder of the Jesuits. ( Society of Jesus ) Louis IX was a king even though he was a subject of the king of kings. And, in like manner, each and everyone of us may continue to live our distinctly different lives in the office, in the field, at the machine, and at the university, in the humble duties of a routine world and in the lofty position as leaders of others, just as Thomas a Becket could wear the purple on the outside to please his people and the penitential chain on the inside to please himself.
There is no destruction of nature by grace, but only its elevation to another order. Tears are a common fountain for joy and sorrow. Passions, too, are common outlets for virtue and vice. It is not a different passion that makes a person a saint, from that which makes him a devil. It is the same passion going in a different direction. The Church, then, in embracing our lives within her common life does not destroy our personalities - she does not even destroy our most wicked passions. She transmutes them by the magic of her Sacraments, provides new outlets, fixes new goals, and digs new channels.
The heroes of the world are not different from the martyrs. The same natural courage which would make a man die for Caesar on a battlefield, the Church would transmute into a supernatural courage which would make that person die for the Lord Jesus Christ. The bigots are all potential missionaries, for the same zeal that makes them unwittingly serve falsehood can be elevated by the Church to make them serve Divine Truth. The great scientists are all incipient theologians, for that same curiosity, which drives them to a knowledge of secondary causes, the Church transmutes by leading them to a knowledge of the First Cause which is God. We would not say that the hero who became a saint, nor the bigot who became a missionary, nor the scientist who became a theologian, lost their personalities once incorporated into Christ's Body, any more than we lost our personalities once we became citizens of a nation.
But we would say that in their union with that common life of grace they had found the sublimation of their distinct selves. They would see, as we see, that Christ's Mystical Body is like a beautiful garden, formed by the blossoming of individual flowers each in its own beauty, but in its varied beauty blending into one harmonious, rapturous delight. Each flower of that garden has its own beauty revealed as in no other flower, yet each flower grows in beauty by contrast and by blending with the other flowers all rooted in a common soil and lighted by a common sun.
So it is in the mystical life, where the Lord Jesus Christ dwells in His Church, revealing Himself anew in each individual soul, and never in two wholly alike - here manifesting Himself in a Peter, there in a Paul, here in a Martha, there in a Mary, here in a lover of His infancy, there in a lover of His Cross, here in a rose with thorns, there in a flower without them, and yet all growing more beautiful by their fellowship with other saintly flowers because all rooted in the same Christ-life and all lighted by the same Christ-truth.
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN ( 1895 to 1979 )
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Religion is said to be on the increase. We actually overheard one woman say that this was evident from the "increased interest in opera." Apart from this rather silly justification, there is no doubt that there is more talking and writing about it. But would the situation be any different if it were said that there is an increased interest in ethics or morality? Christianity identical with a growth in moral beauty and a more profound interest in right and wrong? When others and Christianity are lined alongside one another, it appears, at first view, that the difference between them is only one of taste or degree, but not of kind, all being systems of right and wrong.
In order that religion may be discussed intelligently, it must be borne in mind that Christianity is not a natural religion. Its claims are totally different. The difference between Christianity and all other religions is like the difference between organic and inorganic. As Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ said: "He who is born of the flesh is flesh; he who is born of the Spirit is Spirit." In all other religions, human beings moves to God as the first of all movements; in Christianity, God moves to human beings and then human beings responds to that first impulse. No other religion except Christianity even makes this claim. The difference then between all natural world religions and ethical systems is the difference between seashells and crystals; the difference between them and Christianity is the difference a crystal and the living cell. The others are philosophy; Christianity is a spiritual biology.
A basic law of physics is that a body continues in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless deflected by an outside force. The mineral in the earth remains mineral until life seizes it and transmutes it; the natural or the human man remains natural or human until a Divine Life outside of man seizes him and elevates him to a dignity which he cannot achieve of and by himself. This was the whole purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ becoming man: "I come that you may have life." Hence, through the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible there is a division of men into the living and the non-living: "You call yourselves living, but yet you are dead." This means that some have a natural life; they breathe and walk and talk and feel but, from a Divine point of view, they are lifeless; they lack that God-given life in comparison to which all else is dead.
The morality of Christianity, therefore, is not a mere crystallization of psychological, emotional and ethical norms; it is rather the possession in the soul of a Higher Life Principle called Charity or Divine Love. In the Christian order, as in the scientific, there is no spontaneous generation: Life must come from life; God-life must come from God. Hence, as the soul is the life of the body, so the God-life is the life of the soul.
There is no such thing as a man becoming more and more generous, less and less selfish, and then suddenly finding himself a partaker of the Divine Life. The seashell cannot grow and grow until it becomes an elephant. As Our Lord Jesus Christ said: "Unless you are born again... " It is important to know this in all discussions about religion, just as it is important to know the difference between chemistry and physiology.The present tendency to identify Christianity with Freud, labor unions, playing at benefits, tolerance and social service takes the heart out of the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion of this kind may be becoming popular even under the name of Christianity. But whether Christianity will ever be popular is another matter. I doubt it, for Our Lord Jesus Christ said: "I have taken you out of the world; therefore the world will hate you."
Page 1
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN ( 1895 to 1979 )
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
In order that religion may be discussed intelligently, it must be borne in mind that Christianity is not a natural religion. Its claims are totally different. The difference between Christianity and all other religions is like the difference between organic and inorganic. As Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ said: "He who is born of the flesh is flesh; he who is born of the Spirit is Spirit." In all other religions, human beings moves to God as the first of all movements; in Christianity, God moves to human beings and then human beings responds to that first impulse. No other religion except Christianity even makes this claim. The difference then between all natural world religions and ethical systems is the difference between seashells and crystals; the difference between them and Christianity is the difference a crystal and the living cell. The others are philosophy; Christianity is a spiritual biology.
A basic law of physics is that a body continues in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless deflected by an outside force. The mineral in the earth remains mineral until life seizes it and transmutes it; the natural or the human man remains natural or human until a Divine Life outside of man seizes him and elevates him to a dignity which he cannot achieve of and by himself. This was the whole purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ becoming man: "I come that you may have life." Hence, through the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible there is a division of men into the living and the non-living: "You call yourselves living, but yet you are dead." This means that some have a natural life; they breathe and walk and talk and feel but, from a Divine point of view, they are lifeless; they lack that God-given life in comparison to which all else is dead.
The morality of Christianity, therefore, is not a mere crystallization of psychological, emotional and ethical norms; it is rather the possession in the soul of a Higher Life Principle called Charity or Divine Love. In the Christian order, as in the scientific, there is no spontaneous generation: Life must come from life; God-life must come from God. Hence, as the soul is the life of the body, so the God-life is the life of the soul.
There is no such thing as a man becoming more and more generous, less and less selfish, and then suddenly finding himself a partaker of the Divine Life. The seashell cannot grow and grow until it becomes an elephant. As Our Lord Jesus Christ said: "Unless you are born again... " It is important to know this in all discussions about religion, just as it is important to know the difference between chemistry and physiology.The present tendency to identify Christianity with Freud, labor unions, playing at benefits, tolerance and social service takes the heart out of the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion of this kind may be becoming popular even under the name of Christianity. But whether Christianity will ever be popular is another matter. I doubt it, for Our Lord Jesus Christ said: "I have taken you out of the world; therefore the world will hate you."
Page 1
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN ( 1895 to 1979 )
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Monday, April 25, 2016
Saint Paul's testimony - Acts 9:1-9 - and Saint Augustine of Hippo 'Confessions' boasting of God's glory are some of the example of God's greater glory. Their testimony, and being the Lord Jesus Christ special witnesses, and their conversion to Christianity are indeed awesome and extraordinary. Thus, in all honesty, I can never be able to systematically or orderly shared and boast about God. Thoughts, Words, and Deeds are indeed, the creative force. In fact, our every thinking, saying, doing, and action are the result of our encountered and experienced with God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the three things that last: Faith. Hope. Love. are our spirited virtues.
In other words, 'Conversion' involves the surrender of emptying oneself, in spirit, body, mind, intellect, faith and love to God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Before anyone can fully comprehend or understand why he and she became a Christian convert, he and she is required to testify because the practice of boasting and sharing the joy of one's conversion to Christians has been regarded the tradition. An encounter and experience with God is always a personal event, an answer that is by its nature, a person's free act in response to the gift of Faith, Hope, Love.
Historic events or natural phenomenon which appear to violate natural laws and accomplishment that brings welcome consequences are refers to 'Miracle.' Miracles in the Old Testament are connected especially with the great events in Israel's [Jacob's] history. That is, the call of Abraham, the birth of Moses, the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Law, and entry into the promised Land. These miracles are for salvation but God also acts in history for judgement.
The plagues of the Exodus showed God's sovereign power in judgment and salvation. In parting the water, God showed His love and protection for Israel as well as His judgment on Egypt for its failure to recognize God. During the wilderness journey, God demonstrated His love and protection in supplying the daily food, 'Manna.' Another critical period in Israel's history was the time of prophet Elijah, the champion of Israel. Elijah controlled the rain and successfully challenged the pagan priests of Baal.
In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself as Lord over nature, as Saviour of Israel, and as Judge of the nation's enemies. Miracle, like these were not as frequent during the days of the writing prophets. But one unusual miracle was the recovery of prophet Hezekiah as well as the miracles in Jonah and Daniel. In fact, prophecy itself can even be interpreted as a miracle, and God revealed Himself during this time through the spoken Word.
As with the Old Testament, the New Testament miracles are essentially expressions of God's salvation and glory. Why did Jesus perform miracle? Jesus answered this question Himself. When in prison, John the Baptist sent some of his disciples to Jesus to see and check if Jesus was "the one who is to come" - Matt. 11:3 - Jesus told them to inform John the Baptist of what He had done: "Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor; and happy is the man who does not lose faith in me." - Matt. 11:4-5 -
With these words, Jesus declared that His miracle were the fulfillment of the promises of the Messiah's kingdom as foretold by prophet Isaiah - 24:18-19; 35:6; 61:1 - Jesus' miracles were signs of the presence of the kingdom of God. - Matt. 12:39 - This theme of the miracles pointing to the kingdom of God was developed and deepened especially in the Gospel of John. Apostle John presented the miracles of Jesus as 'signs' and 'spiritual truth.' - John 2:1-11; 4:46-54; 5:1-18; 6:1-21; 9:1-41; 11:1-57 -
Every miracle phenomenon or story was a sign that God's salvation was present. But not only did the kingdom come; it came in great power, because the dead were raised and Satan was bound.
Your dead will come to life,
their corpses will rise;
awake, exult,
all you who lie in the dust,
for your dew is a radiant dew
and the land of ghosts will give birth. - Is. 26:19 - Luke 7:11-17; 17:11-19 -
Jesus was casting out a devil and it was dumb; but when the devil had gone out of the dumb man spoke, and the people were amazed. But some of them said, 'It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils that he casts out devils.' Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, 'Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? Since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils.
Now if it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out? Let them be your judges. But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.
He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.
'When an unclean spirit goes out of a man it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and not finding one it says, "I will go back to the home I came from." But on arrival, finding it swept and tidied, it then goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they go in and set up house there, so that the man ends up by being worse than he was before.'
Now as Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, 'Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!' But he replied, 'Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!' - Luke 11:14-28 - Mark 3:22-30 - Matt. 12:22-32 -
'Make a tree sound and its fruit will be sound; make a tree rotten and its fruit will be rotten. For the tree can be told by its fruit. Brood of vipers, how can your speech be good when you are evil? For a man's words flow out of what fills his heart. A good man draws good things from his store of goodness; a bad man draws bad things from his store of badness. So I tell you this, that for every unfounded word men utter they will answer on Judgement day, since it is by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words condemned.' - Matt. 12:33-37 -
Witness is used in connection with the distinctively religious message of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. God witnesses to the believer about His assurance of salvation: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. - Rom. 8:16 - In other words, a person who loves God and who believes that God has guided his and her life's most important decisions are considered model of God's witnesses. Apostles, prophets, and all those whom God loves are the Lord Jesus Christ special witnesses. However, the command to witness in Acts 1:8 has great implications for all believers.
Jesus replied, 'It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.' - Acts 1:7-8 -
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
In other words, 'Conversion' involves the surrender of emptying oneself, in spirit, body, mind, intellect, faith and love to God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Before anyone can fully comprehend or understand why he and she became a Christian convert, he and she is required to testify because the practice of boasting and sharing the joy of one's conversion to Christians has been regarded the tradition. An encounter and experience with God is always a personal event, an answer that is by its nature, a person's free act in response to the gift of Faith, Hope, Love.
Historic events or natural phenomenon which appear to violate natural laws and accomplishment that brings welcome consequences are refers to 'Miracle.' Miracles in the Old Testament are connected especially with the great events in Israel's [Jacob's] history. That is, the call of Abraham, the birth of Moses, the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Law, and entry into the promised Land. These miracles are for salvation but God also acts in history for judgement.
The plagues of the Exodus showed God's sovereign power in judgment and salvation. In parting the water, God showed His love and protection for Israel as well as His judgment on Egypt for its failure to recognize God. During the wilderness journey, God demonstrated His love and protection in supplying the daily food, 'Manna.' Another critical period in Israel's history was the time of prophet Elijah, the champion of Israel. Elijah controlled the rain and successfully challenged the pagan priests of Baal.
In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself as Lord over nature, as Saviour of Israel, and as Judge of the nation's enemies. Miracle, like these were not as frequent during the days of the writing prophets. But one unusual miracle was the recovery of prophet Hezekiah as well as the miracles in Jonah and Daniel. In fact, prophecy itself can even be interpreted as a miracle, and God revealed Himself during this time through the spoken Word.
As with the Old Testament, the New Testament miracles are essentially expressions of God's salvation and glory. Why did Jesus perform miracle? Jesus answered this question Himself. When in prison, John the Baptist sent some of his disciples to Jesus to see and check if Jesus was "the one who is to come" - Matt. 11:3 - Jesus told them to inform John the Baptist of what He had done: "Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor; and happy is the man who does not lose faith in me." - Matt. 11:4-5 -
With these words, Jesus declared that His miracle were the fulfillment of the promises of the Messiah's kingdom as foretold by prophet Isaiah - 24:18-19; 35:6; 61:1 - Jesus' miracles were signs of the presence of the kingdom of God. - Matt. 12:39 - This theme of the miracles pointing to the kingdom of God was developed and deepened especially in the Gospel of John. Apostle John presented the miracles of Jesus as 'signs' and 'spiritual truth.' - John 2:1-11; 4:46-54; 5:1-18; 6:1-21; 9:1-41; 11:1-57 -
Every miracle phenomenon or story was a sign that God's salvation was present. But not only did the kingdom come; it came in great power, because the dead were raised and Satan was bound.
Your dead will come to life,
their corpses will rise;
awake, exult,
all you who lie in the dust,
for your dew is a radiant dew
and the land of ghosts will give birth. - Is. 26:19 - Luke 7:11-17; 17:11-19 -
Jesus was casting out a devil and it was dumb; but when the devil had gone out of the dumb man spoke, and the people were amazed. But some of them said, 'It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils that he casts out devils.' Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, 'Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? Since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils.
Now if it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out? Let them be your judges. But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.
He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.
'When an unclean spirit goes out of a man it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and not finding one it says, "I will go back to the home I came from." But on arrival, finding it swept and tidied, it then goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they go in and set up house there, so that the man ends up by being worse than he was before.'
Now as Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, 'Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!' But he replied, 'Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!' - Luke 11:14-28 - Mark 3:22-30 - Matt. 12:22-32 -
'Make a tree sound and its fruit will be sound; make a tree rotten and its fruit will be rotten. For the tree can be told by its fruit. Brood of vipers, how can your speech be good when you are evil? For a man's words flow out of what fills his heart. A good man draws good things from his store of goodness; a bad man draws bad things from his store of badness. So I tell you this, that for every unfounded word men utter they will answer on Judgement day, since it is by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words condemned.' - Matt. 12:33-37 -
Witness is used in connection with the distinctively religious message of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. God witnesses to the believer about His assurance of salvation: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. - Rom. 8:16 - In other words, a person who loves God and who believes that God has guided his and her life's most important decisions are considered model of God's witnesses. Apostles, prophets, and all those whom God loves are the Lord Jesus Christ special witnesses. However, the command to witness in Acts 1:8 has great implications for all believers.
Jesus replied, 'It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.' - Acts 1:7-8 -
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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