(3) - Moses led the people toward Mount Sinai, in obedience to the word of God spoken to him at the burning bush. - Ex. 3:1-12 - During the long journey the desert, the people began to murmur because of the trials of freedom, forgetting the terrible trials of Egyptian bondage. Through it all, Moses was patient, understanding both the harshness of the desert and the blessings of God's provision for them. In the Wilderness of Shur the people murmured against Moses because the waters of Marah were bitter. The Lord showed Moses a tree.When Moses cast the tree into the waters, the waters were made sweet. - Ex.15:22-25 -

In answer to Moses' prayers, God sent bread from heaven - Manna and quail to eat. - Exodus 16 - In the Wilderness of Sin, when they again had no water, Moses performed a miracle by striking a rock, at a place called Massah (Tempted) and Meribah (Contention) and water came out of the rock. - Ex. 17:1-7 - When they reached the land of Midian, Moses' father-in-law Jethro came to meet them. He gave Moses sound advice on how to exercise his leadership and authority  more efficiently by delegating responsibility to subordinate rulers who would judge the people in small cases. - Exodus 18 -

When the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai, Moses went up into the mountain for 40 days. - Ex.24:18 - The Lord appeared in a terrific storm - "thundering and lightnings, and a thick cloud." - Ex. 19:16 - Out of this momentous encounter came the covenant between the Lord and Israel, including the Ten Commandments. - Ex. 20:1-17 - In giving the Law to the Hebrew people, Moses taught the Israelites what the Lord expected of them - that they were to be a holy people separated from the pagan immorality and idolatry of their surroundings. Besides being the lawgiver, Moses was also the one through whom God presented the TABERNACLE and instructions for the holy office of the priesthood. Under God's instructions, Moses issued ordinances to cover specific situations, instituted a system of judges and hearings in civil cases, and regulated the religious and ceremonial services of worship.

When Moses delayed in coming down from Mount Sinai, the faithless people became restless. They persuaded Aaron to take their golden earrings and other articles of jewelry and to fashion a golden calf for worship. When he came down from the mountain, Moses was horrified at the idolatry and rebellion of his people. The sons of Levi were loyal to Moses, however; and he ordered them to punish the rebels. - Ex. 32:28 - Because of his anger at the golden calf, Moses cast down the two tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments and broke them at the foot of the mountain. - Ex. 32:19 - After the rebellion had been put down, Moses went up into Mount Sinai again and there received the Ten Commandments a second time. - Ex. 34:1-29 -

After leaving Mount Sinai, the Israelites continued their journey toward the land of Canaan. They arrived at 'Kadesh Barnea' on the border of the Promised Land. From this site, Moses sent 12 spies, one from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, into Canaan to explore the land. The spies returned with glowing reports of fruitfulness of the land. They brought back samples of its figs and pomegranates and a cluster of grapes so large that it had to be carried between two men on a pole. - Num. 13:1-25 - The majority of the spies, however, voted against the invasion of the land. Ten of them spoke fearfully of the huge inhabitants of Canaan. - Ex. 13:31-33 -

The minority report, delivered by Caleb and Joshua, urged a bold and courageous policy. By trusting the Lord, they said, the Israelites would be able to attack and overcome the land. - Num. 13:30 - But the people lost heart and rebelled, refusing to enter Canaan and clamoring for a new leader who would take them back to Egypt. - Num. 14:1-14 - To punish them for the lack of faith, God condemned all of that generation, except Caleb and Joshua, to perish in the wilderness. - Num.14:26-38 -

During these years of wandering in the wilderness, Moses' patience was continually tested by the murmurings, grumblings, and complaints of the people. At one point, Moses' patience reached its breaking point and he sinned against the Lord, in anger against the people. When the people again grumbled against Moses, saying they had no water, the Lord told Moses to speak to the rock and water would flow forth. Instead, Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Apparently because he disobeyed the Lord in this act, Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land. - Num. 20:1-13 - That privilege would belong to his successor, Joshua.

When Moses had led the Israelites to the borders of Canaan, his work was done. In 'the Song of Moses' - Deut. 32:1-43 - Moses renewed the Sinai Covenant with the survivors of the wanderings, praised God, and blessed the people, tribe by tribe. - Deut. 33:1-29 - Then he climbed Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah and viewed the Promised Land from afar and died. The Hebrews never saw him again, and the circumstances of his death and burial remain shrouded in mystery. - Num. 34:1-8 - After his death, Moses continued to be viewed by Israel as a servant of the Lord. - Josh. 1:1-2 - and as the one through whom God spoke to Israel. - Josh. 1:3, 9:24, 14:2 -

For that reason, although it was truly the Law of God, the Law given at Mount Sinai was consistently called the Law of Moses. - Josh. 1:7, 4:10 - Above all, Joshua's generation remembered Moses as the man of God. - Josh. 14:6 - This high regard for Moses continued throughout Israelites history. Moses was held in high esteem by Samuel - 1Sam. 12:6-8 - the writer of 1Kings - 1Kin. 2:3 - and the Jewish people who survived in the times after the Captivity. - 1Chr. 6:49, 23:14 - The psalmist also remembered Moses as the man of God and as an example of a great man of prayer. - Ps. 99:6 - He recalled that God worked through Moses - Ps. 77:20, 103:7 - realizing that the consequence of his faithfulness to God was to suffer much on behalf of God's people. - Ps. 106:16,32 -

The prophets of the Old Testament also remembered Moses as the leader of God's people. - Is. 63:12 - as the one by whom God brought Israel out of Egypt - Micah 6:4 - and as one of the greatest of the interceders for God's people. - Jer. 15:1 - Malachi called the people to remember Moses' Law and to continue to be guided by it, until the Lord Himself should come to redeem them. - Mal. 4:4 - Jesus showed clearly, by what He taught and by how He lived, that He viewed Moses' Law as the authoritative for the people of God. - Matt. 5:17-18 - To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus expounded the things concerning Himself written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and other writings of the Old Testament. - Luke 24:27 - At the TRANSFIGURATION, Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus and talked with Him. - Matt. 17:1-4; Mark 9:2-5; Luke 9:28-33 -

In the message before the Jewish Council, Saint Stephen included a lengthy reference to how God delivered Israel by Moses and how Israel rebelled against God and against Moses' leadership. - Acts 7:17-44 - The book of Hebrews spoke in glowing terms of the faith of Moses. These and other passages demonstrate how highly Moses was esteemed by various writers of the Old and New Testament.

It was by faith that Moses, when he was born, hidden by its parents for three months; they defied the royal edict when they saw he was such a fine child. It was by faith that, when he grew to manhood, Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter and chose to be ill-treated in the company of God's people rather than to enjoy for a time the pleasures of sin. He considered that the insults offered to the Anointed were something more precious than all the treasures of Egypt, because he had his eyes fixed on the reward. It was by faith that he left Egypt and was not afraid of the king's anger; he held to his purpose like a man who could see the Invisible. It was by faith that he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood to prevent the Destroyer from touching any of the first-born sons of Israel. It was by faith they crossed the Red Sea as easily as dry land, while the Egyptians, trying to do the same, were drowned. - Heb. 11:23-29 -

The New Testament, however, shows that Moses' teaching was intended only to prepare humanity for the greater teaching and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What Moses promised, Jesus fulfilled: "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received-
yes, grace in return for grace,
since, though the Law was given through Moses,
grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ. - John 1:16-17 -

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By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
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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 -

Moses was a leader who is able to build a united nation from a race of oppressed and weary slaves. The Hebrew prophet who delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and who was the leader and lawgiver during their years of wandering in the wilderness. He was the son of Amram and Jochebed, the great-grandson of Levi, and the brother of Aaron and Miriam. - Ex. 6:18-20; Num. 26:58-59 -

In the covenant ceremony at Mount Sinai, where the "Ten Commandments" were given, Moses founded the religious community known as Israel. As the interpreter of these covenant laws, he was the organizer of the community's religious and civil traditions. His story is told in the Old Testament - in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Moses' life is divided into three major periods: (1) The Forty Years In Egypt, (2) The Forty Years In The Land Of Midian, (3) The Forty Years In The Wilderness.

(1) - The Hebrew people had been in slavery in Egypt in some 400 years. This was in accord with God's words to Abraham that his seed or descendants, would be in foreign land in affliction for 400 years. - Gen. 15:13 - At the end of this time, God began to set His people free from their bondage by bringing Moses to birth. He was a child of the captive Hebrews, but one whom the Lord would use to deliver Israel from her oppressors. Moses was born at a time when Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, had given orders that no more male Hebrew children should be allowed to live. The Hebrew slaves had been reproducing so fast that the king felt threatened by a potential revolt against his authority. To save the infant Moses, his mother made a little vessel of papyrus water proofed with asphalt and pitch. She placed Moses in the vessel, floating among the reeds on the bank of the Nile River.

By God's providence, Moses - the child of a Hebrew slave - was found and adopted by an Egyptian princess, the daughter of the Pharaoh himself. He was reared in the royal court as a prince of the Egyptians: "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds." - Acts 7:22 - At the same time, the Lord determined that Moses should be taught in the earliest years by his own mother. This meant that he was founded in the faith of his fathers, although he was reared as an Egyptian. - Ex. 2:1-10 -

One day Moses became angry at an Egyptian taskmaster who was beating a Hebrew slave; he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. - Ex. 2:12 - When this became known, however, he feared for his own life and fled from Egypt to the land of Midian. Moses was 40 years old when this occurred. - Acts 7:23-29 -

(2) - Moses' exile of about 40 years was spent in the land of Midian (mostly in northwest Arabia) in the desert between Egypt and Canaan. In Midian Moses became a shepherd and eventually the son-in-law of Jethro, a Midianite priest. Jethro gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. - Ex. 18:3-4; Acts 7:29 - During his years as a shepherd, Moses became familiar with the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula, learning much about survival in the desert. He also learned patience and much about leading sheep. All of these skills prepared him to be the shepherd of the Israelites in later years when he led them out of Egypt and through the Wilderness of Sinai. Near the end of his 40 years sojourn in the land of Midian, Moses experienced a dramatic call to ministry. This call was given at the 'Burning Bush' in the wilderness near the mountain of Sinai. The Lord revealed to Moses His intention to deliver Israel from Egyptian captivity into a 'land flowing with milk and honey' which He had promised centuries before to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord assured Moses that He would be with him, and that by God's presence, he would be able to lead the people out of Egypt.

God spoke to Moses from the midst of a burning bush, but Moses doubted that it was God who spoke. He asked for a sign. Instantly, his rod, which he cast on the ground, became a serpent. - Ex. 4:3 - In spite of the assurance of this miraculous sign, Moses was still hesitant to take on this task. He pleaded that he was 'slow of speech and slow of stutterer or a stammerer. God countered Moses' hesitation by appointing his brother, Aaron to be his spokesman. Moses would be God's direct representative, and Aaron would be his mouthpiece and interpreter to the people of Israel. Finally, Moses accepted this commission from God and returned to Egypt for a confrontation with Pharaoh.

Soon after his return, Moses stirred the Hebrews to revolt and demanded of Pharaoh, 'Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.' - Ex. 5:1 - But Pharaoh rejected the demand of the God of whom Moses and Aaron spoke: 'Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go?.' - Ex. 5:2 - He showed his contempt of this God of the Hebrews by increasing the oppression of the slaves. - Ex. 5:5-14 - As a result, the people grumbled against Moses. - Ex. 5:20-21 - But Moses did not waver in his mission. He warned Pharaoh of the consequences that would fall on his kingdom if he should refuse to let the people of Israel go. Then followed a stubborn battle of wills with Pharaoh hardening his heart and stiffening his neck against God's commands. Ten terrible plagues were visited upon the land of Egypt, the tenth plague being the climax of horrors. - Ex. 7:14 to 12:30 -

The ultimate test of God's power to set the people free was the slaying of the firstborn of all Egypt, on the night of the PASSOVER feast of Israel. - Ex. 11:1 to 12:30 - that night Moses began to lead the slaves to freedom, as God killed the firstborn of Egypt and spared the firstborn of Israel through the sprinkling of the blood of the Passover lamb. This pointed to the day when God's own Lamb would come into the world to deliver, by His own blood, all of those who put their trust in Him, setting them free from sin and death.

Remember, the ransom that was paid to free you from the useless way of life your ancestors handed down was not paid in anything corruptible, neither in silver nor gold, but in the precious blood of a lamb without spot or stain, namely Christ; who, though known since before the world was made, has been revealed only in our time, the end of the ages, for your sake. - 1Peter 1:18-20 -

After the Hebrews left, Pharaoh's forces pursued them to the Red Sea, threatening to destroy them before they could cross. A PILLAR OF CLOUD AND FIRE, however, stood between the Israelites and the Egyptians, protecting the Israelites until they could escape. When Moses stretched his hand over the sea, the waters were divided and the Israelites passed to the other side. When the Egyptians attempted to follow, Moses again stretched his hand over the sea, and the waters closed over the Egyptian army. - Ex. 14:19-31 -

                                                                      Page 1
If you wish to donate. 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 -

Solomon succeeded David his father as king of Israel. Solomon became Israel's king because God had told David that Saul's heirs would not follow him to the throne. One of the first things Solomon did as a king was to go to Gibeon to offer sacrifices to the Lord. God appeared to the new king at night and asked him, "'Ask what you would like me to give you.' Solomon replied, 'You showed great kindness to your servant David, my father, when he lived his life before you in faithfulness and justice and integrity of heart; you have continued this great kindness to him by allowing a son of his to sit on his throne today. Now, Yahweh my God, you have made your servant king in succession to David my father. But I am a very young man, unskilled in leadership. Your servant finds himself in the midst of this people of yours that you have chosen, a people so many its number cannot be counted or reckoned. Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between good and evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great?' It pleased Yahweh that Solomon should asked for this..." - 1Kings 3:4-15 -

Solomon is usually remembered as a wise man. His Proverbs and his "Song of Songs" demonstrate his deep knowledge of the natural world (plants, animals,etc.) He also had a profound knowledge of human nature. - 1Kings 3:16-28 - Solomon's concern with the ethics of everyday life is evident in his Proverbs. They show that Solomon loved wisdom and was always trying to teach it to others. They also indicate he was a keen observer who could learn from the mistakes of others. Solomon's saying in these Proverbs are so true that they sound almost trite today. Their clarity sometimes hides their depth. During his lifetime, Solomon's fame as a man of wisdom spread to surrounding lands, and leaders came from afar to hear him speak. - 2Chr. 9:1-12 -

One of Solomon's first feats was the construction of the 'Temple' in Jerusalem as a place for worship of the God. The task was enormous, involving much planning and ,many workmen. The building was completed after seven years. The Temple was famous not for its size - since it was relatively small - but for the quality of its elaborate workmanship. - 1Kings 6 to 7 -

After the Temple was completed, Solomon planned an elaborate program of dedication. He invited the leaders of all twelve tribes to attend as he presided over the ceremony. THE ARK OF THE COVENANT was brought into the most sacred place in the Temple as a cloud filled the room to hide God's presence. King Solomon then blessed the crowd, recounted the history of the building of the Temple, and offered long prayers of dedication while standing at the altar. This reveals the admirable spirit of devotion in Solomon's heart. The dedication ceremony lasting seven days was followed by observance of the Feast of Tabernacle. - 1Kings 8 to 9 -

Immediately after the dedication, the Lord appeared to Solomon once again. He assured the king that his prayers had been heard and that the Temple had been blessed. God also warned Solomon that the divine favor and protection which had been bestowed upon Israel would continue only if their faith remained uncorrupted by other beliefs. If idolatry should be introduced, Israel would be punished and the Temple would be destroyed. - 1Kings 9:1-9 -

Solomon's reign brought changes not only to Israel but also to his own life. He made Jerusalem one of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world. Sadly, Solomon's contribution to the nation of Israel is figured largely in material terms. The tragedy is that after building of the Temple, Solomon neglected and did very little to promote the religious life of the peoples. Near the end of his life, the king Solomon lost the ideals of his youth, becoming restless, greedy, disobedience and unsatisfied.

And unfortunately, he falls into Satan enticement and temptations that go along with a long life of luxury. Solomon's dishonor his vow and promised that he would walk in the steps of his father, David that is, follow God's way, keeping of the discerning judgment for himself, God's laws and commandments, as his father, David followed them. His writings in the book of Ecclesiastes, proclaiming that "all is vanity" support the view that the world's wisest person had become a pathetic figure in the absence of God.

Be in no hurry to speak; do not hastily declare yourself before God; for God is in heaven, you on earth. Be sparing, then, of speech:
Dreaming comes from much worrying,
foolish talk from a multiplicity of words.

If you make a vow to God, discharge it without delay, for God has no love for fools. Discharge your vow. Better a vow unmade than made and not discharged. Do not allow your words to bring guilt on you, nor tell your angel afterwards it was unintentional. Why should a word of yours give God occasion to be angry, and destroy what your hands have worked for?
For every dream, a vanity to match;
too many words, a chasing of the wind.
Therefore, fear God. - Eccl. 5:1-6 -

Solomon's greatest sin was his loss of devotion to God and the Hebrew peoples. In this, he fell victim to his own trade agreements. By custom, beautiful women were awarded to the most powerful member of a treaty to seal the covenant. The constant influx of wives and concubines in Solomon's court led eventually to his downfall.

Thus, Solomon broke the Mosaic Law and violated the warning not to stray from the path of his father, David. The large number of foreign women in Solomon's court made many demands upon the king. He allowed these "outsider" to practice their pagan religions. The result was that Jerusalem, and even its holy Temple, was the scene of pagan practices and idol worship. - 1Kings 11:1-13 - Eventually, he approved of, and even participated in, these idolatrous acts. The example he set for the rest of the nation must have been demoralizing. And it was a severe blow to the security of Solomon throne and to the nation he had built.

Years before his death, Solomon's heavy taxation of the peoples brought unrest and rebellion. The result was a division of Solomon's 'united kingdom' into two separate nations - the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. Solomon's reign in Jerusalem over all Israel lasted forty years.

                                                                  Page 1
If you wish to donate. 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 -

Divine wise souls often infuriate the worldly-wise because they always see things from the Divine point of view. The worldly are willing to let anyone believe in God if he or she pleases, but only on condition that a belief in God will mean no more than belief in anything else. They will allow God, provided that God does not matter. But taking God seriously is precisely what makes the saint. As Saint Teresa put it, "What is not God to me is nothing." This passion is called snobbish, intolerant, stupid, and unwarranted intrusion; yet those who resent it deeply wish in their own hearts that they had the saint's inner peace and happiness.

And so this question of whether God is hard to find puts the answer solely up to us. Most of us are like the man who had lain at the Pool of Probatica for thirty-eight years and was not cured. His excuse was that, when the waters were stirred, there was no one to put him in: He needed healing, but he really did not want it. There are many like him, who remain just as they are, blaming others for their condition. But when Our Lord appeared, He told this man to do the very thing he had thought was impossible, namely, to take up his bed.

What had been wanting was his will. He was moribund because he did not want to be better. So many failures in life are, like this, avoidable, needless; they persist only because no effort is made to remedy the condition. We today say we do not want war; but we want the things that cause war. In the same way, there are many who say they want to be happy, but they refuse to want that which will bring them happiness. "You seek me, and shall find me, when you shall seek me with all your heart." - Jer. 29:13 - The basic reason why people are unhappy in this life is because they do not truly desire happiness.

In all literature, there is nothing so expressive of the inescapable presence of God as Psalm 138. The argument seems to be that we can escape from anything that is finite: Space and time are the environment of every escape, but the inescapable is the Infinite. To take one's life offers no escape, for the suicide falls into the hands of the living God. Self-destruction is possible only because one can contemplate another "state" preferable to this, even though he calls it non existence. Death through any other cause is still no escape, for He, from Whose hands we came, awaits to take us back, bearing with us the responsibility of all our deeds. Atheism, which rejects this majestic fact, is not the knowledge that God does not exist, but the wish that He did not, in order that one could sin without reproach or exalt one's ego without challenge. The pillars upon which atheism mounts are sensuality and pride. An atheist may be moral in the popular acceptance of the term, but he is not humble. As Franz Werfel says,  "The atheist primarily and always betrays his own psychology when he thinks he is unveiling the mystery; and his denial unwittingly becomes the proof of God by confirming, against his own troubled will, the tremendous and vital importance of the metaphysical content of perception."

As atheism offers no escape from God, neither does darkness, whether it be the dark of a cave or of our own unconsciousness. We may drive God out of our minds, argue against Him, but we know that if He did not exist, we should be stupid indeed for spending our energy fighting against the non existence. "Whither can I go to hide from Thy Face?" implies that someone is an escapist: He would never seek to fly from a God Who approved his way of thinking, living, and acting. Such a God would be according to man's own image and likeness and therefore something to be embraced.

If we fly from God, it is because His Goodness is our reproach and because union with Him demands disunion and divorce from evil. We cannot long stand a God Who looks into our soul and sees its ugliness without falling to our knees; even the flight from Him witnesses to our need of beauty, our love of the Beautiful. As light reveals all things and yet is not a part of that upon which it shines, so do God's Powers, Wisdom, and Love suffuse us, for in Him we live and move and have our being. We know Him, but few want to be known by Him. We love created things because He put some of His love in them; otherwise they could not be lovable. Yet few want to love Him, because He loves too much. He wants us to be perfect, and we do not want to be perfect, we are driven back to it in our discontent with the mediocre, our weariness of the ordinary. God is all-wise, therefore our condition is revealed; God is ever-present, therefore our hidden sins are seen. There is no escape from God.

Yet ever since the days of Adam, humanity has been hiding from God and saying, "God is hard to find." The truth is that, in each heart, there is a secret garden that God made uniquely for Himself. That garden is locked like a safety deposit vault: It has two keys. God has one key, hence the soul cannot let in anyone else but God. The human heart has the other key; hence not even God can get in without man's consent. When the two keys of God's Love and human liberty, of Divine Vocation and human response, meet, then Paradise returns to a human heart. God is always at that Garden Gate with His key.

We pretend to look for our key, to have mislaid it, to have given up the search; but all the while it is in our hand, if we would only see it. The reason we are not as happy as saints is because we do not wish to be saints.

BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN  ( 1895 to 1979 )

                                                                    Page 3
If you wish to donate. 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 -

( 2 ) We want to be saved, but not at too great a cost. - The God Who dungs His fields with sacrifice to bring forth the Vine of Life always frightens the timid. The rich man went away sad from the Savior, because he had very great possessions. Felix was only willing to hear Paul "at another time" when Paul spoke of judgment and the giving up of evil. Most souls are afraid of God precisely because of His Goodness, which makes Him dissatisfied with anything that is imperfect. Our greatest fear is not that God may not love us enough but that God may love us too much. As the lover wants to see his beloved perfect. As the musician loves the violin and tightens the strings that they may forth a better tone, so God submits us to sacrifice to make us saints.

This fear that God's love will make exorbitant demands accounts for the many learned men and women who have come to a knowledge of God, yet have refused to venture in His sheepfold. The world is full of scholars who speak about extending the frontiers of knowledge but who never use the knowledge that has already been acquired; who love to knock at the door of truth but would drop dead if that door ever opened to them. For truth implies responsibility. Every gift of God in the natural as well as in the supernatural order demands a response on the part of the soul. In the natural order, people refuse to accept the gift of friendship because it creates an obligation. God's gift likewise involves a moment of decision. And because accepting Him demands a surrender of what is base, many become bargain hunters in religion and dilettantes in morality, refusing to tear false idols from their own hearts. They want to be saved, but not at the price of a cross; there echoes through their lives the challenge of old, "Come down from the Cross and we will believe."

( 3 ) We want to be saved, but in our own way, not God's. - Very often one hears it said that people ought to be free to worship God, each in his own way. This indeed is true, so far as it implies freedom of conscience and each person's duty of living up to the special lights that God has given him. But it can be very wrong if it means that we worship God in our way and not in His. Consider an analogy: The traffic situation would be tangled and desperate if we said that the American way of life allowed every person to drive a car in his or her way and not according to the traffic laws. Catastrophe would result if patients began saying to the doctors, "I want to be cured in my own way, but not in yours" or if citizens said to the government, "I want to pay my taxes, but in my own way and not in yours." Similarly, there is a tremendous egotism and conceit in those popular articles and lectures entitled "My Idea of Religion" or "My Idea of God." An individual religion can be misleading and uninformed as an individual astronomy or an individual mathematics.

Persons who say, "I will serve God in my way, and you serve God in your way" ought to inquire whether it would not be advisable to serve God in God's Way. But it is precisely this prospect of a stable, universally true religion that frightens the modern soul. For if his conscience is uneasy, he wants, instead, a religion that will leave out hell. If he has already married again against the law of Christ, he wants a means that a person wants to be saved, not in God's way, but in his. In thus refusing to moult his vain desires, he misses the flight to that "Love that leaves all other beauty pain."

If many souls fail to find God because they want a religion that will remake society without remaking themselves, or because they want a Savior without a cypress crown and a cross, or because they want their own blueprints and not God's, it remains to inquire what happens to a soul when it does not respond to God. Among many other effects several may be mentioned.

First, such a soul passes from a state of speculation to submission. It is no longer troubled with the why  of religion, but with the ought. It wishes to please, not merely to parse Divinity. There is a world of difference between knowing about God through study and knowing God through love - as great as the difference between a courtship carried on by mail and one by personal contact. Many skeptical professors know the proofs of the existence of God better than some who say prayers; but because the professors never acted on the knowledge that they had, because they never loved the God Whom they knew by study, no new knowledge of God was given to them. They liked to talk about religion but did nothing about it, and their knowledge remained sterile as a result.

With the God-responsive soul on the contrary, a little knowledge about God was received with love. As a result, new portals of wisdom and love were opened. In such souls, the love of God brings a knowledge of God that in its certitude and reality surpasses the theoretical information of the professor. The sublime truth is expressed in Sacred Scripture: "If any man love God, the same is known by him" - 1Cor. 8:3 - (The woman at the well was an early skeptic: Wanting to keep religion on a purely speculative level, she raised the question as to whether one should worship in Jerusalem or Samaria. Our Blessed Lord took the discussion out of the realm of theory by talking about her five husbands, reminding her that she had avoided making the moral amendments that true religion demands.)

The God-responsive soul thinks of religion in terms of submission to the will of God. He does not look to the Infinite to help him in his finite interests but, rather, seeks to surrender his finite interests to the infinite. His prayer is "Not my will, but Thine, be done, O Lord." No longer interested in using God, he wants God to use him. Like Mary, she says, "Be it done unto me according to Thy Word" or like Paul he asks, "What will you have me to do, O Lord?" or like John the Baptist he says, "I must decrease, He must increase." The destruction of egotism and selfishness so that the whole mind may thus be subject to the Divine Personality does not entail a disinterest in the active life; it brings a greater interest, because the person now understands life from God's point of view. Because of his unity with the Divine Source of energy, he has greater power to do good - as a soldier is stronger under a great general than a poor one. "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will and it shall be done unto you. In this is my Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit." - John 15:7-8 - It is hard for self-centered creatures to realize that there are some souls that are really and truly passionately in love with God. But this should not be so hard to understand; whoever loves the light and heat of the candle should surely love the sunlight even more.

Life for God-responsive souls now begins to move from a circumference to a center. The externals of life, such as politics, economics and its daily routine, matter less, while God matters more. This does not mean that humanity is unloved, but only that it is loved more in God. The now-moment becomes a servant to the Eternal-moment. The uninteresting, the unreal, is now what is not used or cannot be used for God's purpose. There is no dart in the quiver of a Godly soul for anything but the Divine Target.

The very reproaches the egotists hurl upon the saintly are devices for covering up their own self-reproach - they suspect they ought to understand. Yet they scoff, as sometimes people say of human loves, "I cannot understand what he sees in her." Of course not - for love is blind! It is blind not only to defects in the beloved; it is also blind to all but the beloved. Love has its own eyes. All others but the lover see only with the eyes of the body and wonder what there is to love. But the lover sees through the eyes of the heart and finds in the other a sweetness and a love that blind hearts do not perceive. Lift this analogy to the Divine level, and one understands why the uncovered souls think Divine Love is foolishness; they cannot see what a saint can see in God.

The secret of our happiness is centeredness. The God-responsive soul becomes deaf to the promptings of the senses, for to him God is everything. Like great cosmic dynamos these souls generate energy by which other souls on the circumference can live. Pope Pius XI, speaking of the contemplative souls, said, "It is easy to understand how they who assiduously fulfill the duty of prayer and penance contribute much more to the increase of the Church and the welfare of mankind than those who labor in the tilling of the Master's field. For unless the former drew down from heaven a shower of Divine graces to water the field that is being tilled, the evangelical laborers would indeed reap from their toil a more scanty crop."

The truly God-centered soul is not governed merely by its own habits of goodness or even by its virtues; it is moved directly by the Spirit of God. There is a difference between a person rowing a boat and the same person being driven by a sail full of wind; the soul that lives by the Gifts of the Spirit is swept forward directly by God, rather than by its own reason. Such a soul has a wisdom that surpasses all book learning, as was the case of young Catherine of Alexandria, who confounded the philosophers. Such a soul is endowed with a prudence and a counsel that is wiser than anything derived from its own experience.

Philosophy explains this in greater clarity. Every mind has two sides, a speculative side, which studies theory, and a practical side, which directs and guides human affairs. A sinful life does not destroy the first; that is why an evil person can be as good a mathematician as can a saint. But an evil life ruins the practical intellect; hence a learned mathematician who turns to writing on moral s and religion is often a bundle of confusion. The God-directed person, because his practical intellect as well as his speculative intellect is illumined by God, is capable of guiding and directing others better than persons who know more, but in a purely theoretical fashion.

Not everyone can give guidance - the divorced cannot guide the married; the teacher or psychologist whose heart is not purified cannot guide the young. "If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit." - Matt. 15:14 - Counsel involving right and wrong should never be sought from someone who does not say his prayers, even though he or she might know a thousand times more about a ganglion or a thyroid than the person of prayer. As the eye with the telescope can see the stars better than the naked eye, so the faith-illumined reason understands reality better than the naked reason.

Divine wise souls often infuriate the worldly-wise because they always see things from the Divine point of view. 

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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 -

IS GOD HARD TO FIND?  GOD IS NOT HARD TO FIND, for He may be quickly discovered through His Creation and attribution, and by reason, or by our striving, or by His own gift.

Saint Thomas tells us that our reason looking out upon the order of the universe immediately concludes there is some governor behind it. As the mind concludes to a watchmaker on seeing the watch, so, too, it concludes to a Divine Mind on seeing the order of the cosmos. This immediate knowledge of God, however, is not clear and distinct; that is why a more refined study is necessary to bring out the nature of God. The distinction between this confused knowledge of God and the reflex-refined knowledge that comes with the formal proofs for His existence is very much like the difference between the knowledge that most people have of water and the knowledge that the chemist has of it as composed of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen.

Reason clearly used can prove that there is a Power behind the universe, which made it, a Wisdom directing its laws, and a Will to make all things attain their goal. God is closer to us than we know, "For in him we live, and move, and are." - Acts 17:28 - Saint Teresa once said, "Some unlearned people used to say to me that God was present only by His grace. I could not believe that because as I was saying, He seemed to me to be present Himself. Finally, a learned man delivered me of his doubt for he told me that He was present in the world and in us and how He communed with us, and this was a great comfort to me."

Francis Thompson, the poet, elaborating on the idea of Saint Thomas that God is in all things intimately wrote,
O world invisible, we view thee,
O world intangible, we touch thee,
O world unknowable, we know thee,
Inapprehensible, we clutch thee!

God is easy to discover in at least a confused and primitive sort of way through every striving and aspiration of our will and our heart. For the great difference between an animal and a human is that an animal can have its desires satisfied but a human cannot. All that any animal wants is to have its immediate needs granted; man wants their immediate needs granted too, but wanted more and much, much more. This is never the case with man. Man is animated by an urge, an unquenchable desire to enlarge his/her vision and to know the ultimate meaning of things. If man were only an animal, he/she would never use symbols, for what are these but attempts to transcend the visible? No, man is a 'metaphysical animal' a being ever longing for answers to the last question. The natural tendency of the intellect toward truth and of the will toward love would alone signify that there is in man a natural desire for God. There is not a single striving or pursuit or yearning of the human heart, even in the midst of the most sensual pleasures, that is not a dim grasping after the Infinite. As the stomach yearns for food and the eye for light and the ear for harmony, so the soul craves God.

There are many who mistake the nature of this Infinite and seek to satisfy the craving elsewhere than in God, just as there are those who know that food is necessary for the stomach and nevertheless ruin their stomachs by constant diet of gin. Many a soul is like a magnetic needle that quivers first here, then there, seeking at morning when it flees at night, and then, finding all the other compass points to be fraud, it comes at last to rest in God alone.

God is not hard to find, because He gives Himself to us as the Divine Gift. Natural life is a gift. The soul has to come into the body from without, directly as a gift from the hands of God. And the supernatural life, too, is given to us from without. The whole meaning of Christianity is contained in the simple phrase of the creed, "He descended from Heaven." To each single soul, Our Lord addresses the words He spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well: "If you knew the gift of God, and it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." - John 4:10 - As Saint Paul told the Romans, "The grace of God, life everlasting, in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Rom. 6:23 - And later on, to the Ephesians, "By grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God." - Eph. 2:8 -

God presented simultaneously through the Sacred Scripture as both the Gift and the Giver, for such is the nature of Love. No one can buy the Divine Gift (though one may sell it, after it had been received, as Judas did) If God's gift were truth alone, some feeble minds might shrink from seeking it. If the gift were justice alone, our sins might arise and frighten the gift away. But when God's gift is love, then there should be none who would not take His Heart as theirs.

If, then, God is so easy to find and can be discovered either through the beauty of the stars or in every tiny pleasure of earth, which like a seashell speaks of the ocean of Divinity, why is it that so few souls come to Him? The fault is on our side, not God's. Most souls are like people living in a dark room during the daytime and complaining that the light is hard to find - when all that they need to do to discover it, is to raise the blinds.

God is the most obvious fact of human experience. If we are not aware of Him, it is because we are too complicated and because our noses are lifted high in the air in pride, for lo! He is at our very feet. We need only to "turn a stone and start a wing." The grace of God comes to us in just the degree that we open our souls to it; the only limit to our capacity to receive Him is our willingness to do so. Some thirsty hearts open up once only a crevice, while others, with complete abandon, surrender their empty cisterns to be filled with the waters of life. A few souls suffocate, locked in their own unconscious minds with their loathe-some frustrations and fears, refusing to open the door and let in the refreshing air of God's grace."Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." - Rev. 3:20 -

The latch is on our side and not on God's, for God breaks down no doors. We bar His entrance. Sometimes we even run away from Him, like chicks in flight from a mother hen. "How often have I desired to gather your children together as hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!" - Matt. 23:37 -

Why do we behave so? It is hard to believe, but we have the Divine warrant for it that some people "love darkness rather than light." The added tragedy of sin is that after we do wrong we may not let God help us to do what is right and good. We smash the bow so that He cannot play on our violin. We keep Him at arm's length because we refuse to be loved. We are drowning and will not clutch at His helping Hand because in our pride we say that we must "work this thing out for ourselves." The truth of the matter is, not that God is hard to find, but rather that we are afraid of being found. That is why we so very often hear in the Sacred Scripture the words "Fear not." At the very beginning of Divine life in Bethlehem, the angels found it necessary to warn the shepherds, "Fear not." In the midst of Our Lord's public life He had to tell his frightened Apostles, "Fear not." And after His Resurrection He had to preface His words on peace with the same injunction, "Fear not."

Our Lord finds it necessary to warn us not to fear because there are three fears that keep us away from God: ( 1 ) We want to be saved, but not from our sins. ( 2 ) We want to be saved, but not at too great a cost. ( 3 ) We want to be saved, but in our own way, not God.

( 1 ) We want to be saved, but not from our sins. - The great fear that many souls have of Our Divine Lord is for fear He will do just what his name, "Jesus" implies - be "He Who saves us from our sins." We are willing to be saved from poverty, from war, from ignorance, from disease, from economic insecurity;, such types of salvation leave our individual whims and passions and concupiscence untouched. That is one of the reasons why social Christianity is so very popular, why there are many who contend that the business of Christianity is to do nothing but to help in slum clearance or the development of international amity.

This kind of religion is, indeed, very comfortable, for it leaves the individual conscience alone. It is even possible that some peoples are prompted to courageous reforms of social injustices by the very inquietude and uneasiness of their individual consciences: Knowing that something is wrong on the inside, they attempt to compensate for it by righting the wrong on the outside. This is also the mechanism of those peoples, who, having accumulated great fortunes, try to ease their consciences by subsidizing revolutionary movements.

The first temptation of Satan on the Mount was to try to induce Our Lord to give up the salvation of souls and to concentrate upon social salvation by turning stones into bread - on the false assumption that it was hungry stomachs and not corrupted hearts that made an unhappy civilization. Because some people think that the primary purpose of Divinity is to relieve economic adversity, they go to God in the moment of trial and then rebel against God because He does not fill their purses. Sensing a broader need for religion, others are willing to join a Christian sect so long as it concentrates on social "uplift" or the elimination of pain but leaves untouched the individual need of atoning for sin. At the average dinner table people do not object to the subject of religion being introduced into a conversation - provided that religion has nothing to do with the purging of sin and guilt. Thus many frightened souls stand trembling at the gate of bliss and dare not venture in, "fearful lest having Him they have naught else besides."

 ( 2 ) We want to be saved, but not at too great a cost. - 

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If you wish to donate. 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 -

Saint Luke is a 'fellow laborer' of the apostle Paul - Philem. 24 - and the probable author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles. By profession he was a physician. - Col. 4:14 - During one of Paul's imprisonments, probably in Rome, Luke's faithfulness was recorded by Paul when he declared, "Only Luke is with me" - 2Tim. 4:11 - These three references are the only direct knowledge of Luke in the New Testament.

A bit more of Luke's life and personality can be pieced together with the aid of his writings - Luke and Acts of the Apostles - and some outside sources. Tradition records that he came from Antioch in Syria. This is possible, because Antioch played a significant role in the early Gentile mission which Luke described in Acts of the Apostles, chapter 11, 13, 14, 15, 18. Luke was a Gentile - Col.4:10-17 - and the only non-Jewish author of a New Testament book. A comparison of 2Corinthians 8:18 and 12:18 has led some to suppose that Luke and Titus were brothers, but this is a guess.

Apostle Luke accompanied apostle Paul on parts of his second, third, and final missionary journeys. At three places in the Acts of the Apostles, the narrative changes to the first person ("we"). This probably indicates that Luke was personally present during these episodes. On the second journey (A.D. 49-53). Luke accompanied Paul on the short voyage from Troas to Philippi - Acts 16:10-17 - On the third journey (A.D. 54-58). Luke was present on the voyage from Philippi to Jerusalem - Acts 20:5 to 21:18 - Whether Luke had spent the intervening time in Philippi is uncertain, but his connection with Philippi has led some to favour it (rather than Antioch) as Luke's home.

Once in Palestine, Luke probably remained close by Paul during his two year imprisonment in Caesarea. During this time, Luke probably drew together material, both oral and written, which he later used in the composition of his gospel. - Luke 1:1-14 - A third "we" passage describes in masterful suspense the shipwreck during Paul's voyage to Rome for his trail before Caesar. Each of the "we" passage involves Luke on a voyage, and the description of the journey from Jerusalem to Rome is full of observations and knowledge of nautical matters.

Luke apparently was a very humble man, with no desire to sound his own horn. More than one-fourth of the New Testament comes from his pen, but not once does he mention himself by name. He had a greater command of the Greek language and was probably more broad-minded and urbane than any New Testament writer. He was a careful historian, both by his own admission and by the judgment of later history.

Seeing that many others have undertaken to draw up accounts of the events that have taken place among us, exactly as these were handed to us by those who from the outset were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. I in my turn, after carefully going over the whole story from the beginning, have decided to write an ordered account for you, Theophilus, so that your Excellency may learn how well founded the teaching is that you have received. - Luke 1:1-4 -

Luke's gospel reveals his concern for the poor, sick, and outcast, thus offering a clue to why Paul called him "the beloved physician." - Col. 4:14 - He was faithful not only to Paul, but to the greater cause which he served - the publication of "good tidings of great joy."

The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified, but the angel said, 'Do not be afraid.Listen, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.' And suddenly with the angel there was a great throng of the heavenly host, praising God and singing:

'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to men who enjoy his favour.' - Luke 2:9-14 -

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If you wish to donate. 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 -

Saint Paul's is an influential teacher of Christianity. Apostle Paul was given the opportunity to set forth and explain the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, and because Paul was called to teach Gentiles rather than Jews, he was in the unique position of confronting and answering problems which could only be presented by those completely unfamiliar with Jewish traditions. Saint Paul knew that the one who appeared to him on the Damascus Road was the risen Christ; "and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it." - 1Cor. 15:8 -

Saint Paul seems to have entertained no doubt of the validity of the appearance or of the words, "I am Jesus" - Acts 9:5 - Both the appearance and the words validated themselves in his later life. His whole Christian outlook on the world, like the Gospels which he preached, stemmed from that "revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ". "The fact is, brothers, and I want you to realize this, the Good News I preached is not a human message that I was given by men, it is something I learnt through a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ." - Gal. 1:11-12 - Jesus Christ was, in a unique sense, the Son of the living God.

Apostle Paul's learned that it was no longer by keeping only the law that a person was justified in God's sight, but by faith, hope, and love. And since faith, hope, and love in Christ provided acceptance with God, then Gentiles might enjoy that acceptance as readily as Jews. This was the implication of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ which gripped Paul's mind. He assured that he himself had received that revelation in order that he might proclaim Jesus Christ and His salvation to the Gentile.

Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them. - 1Cor. 12:31 -

If I have all the eloquence of men or the angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but without love, it will do me no good whatever.

Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offense, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

Love does not come to an end. But if there are gifts of prophecy, the time will come when they must fail; or the gift of languages, it will not continue forever; and knowledge - for this, too, the time will come when it must fail. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect; but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will disappear. When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me. Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.

In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love. - 1Cor. 13:1-13 -

                                                                Page 1
If you wish to donate. 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 -

My travels take me all over the continent and sometimes beyond and put me in contact with people from almost every walk of life. From every corner of our society I hear four words spoken more often today than any other phrase: "Is there any hope?" I'm asked that question by people from all walk of life, rich and poor, young and old, black and white, male and female, married and single.

I realize that it's a tough world we live in. At some time in our lives we each must face despair, whether it be the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, the breakup of a marriage, or unbearable financial burdens. There are times in a person's life when he wakes up and realizes that he's not the success he'd always planned to be. Problems seem to pile upon problems, worries upon worries, and fear begins to dominate his life. Tears flow more frequently. Sleep comes less easily. And he may begin to wonder why God doesn't seem to care, if God is really listening, or if God is even there at all.

I know these feelings because I've been there, too. I've known great days when I could hardly wait to get up so that I could enjoy the challenge and opportunity of making things happen. On the other hand, I've experienced desperate times as well. I've known days when sleep would not come, day when I had to fight to hold back the tears, and days when I wasn't sure I could meet the payroll or pay the bills. They have been times when I wasn't certain that I was loved or cared for the times when I questioned if God was near or if God was even real. Those are the tough times in life, the testing times in life.

Maybe you've been there as well. If you haven't, you will be. History tells us that every person, at some point in life, must look into the dark valley. Maybe you feel that you're in just as much trouble as the people you hear about. Perhaps, you've lost your job or are going through financial difficulties. Maybe you've lost a loved one or have problems with a troubled child. Or perhaps you were born with a birth defect or have experienced devastating illness or injury that has left you permanently disabled. Maybe in desperation you've turned to drugs or alcohol and can't seem to get out from under your oppressive burden. There may have been a time when you wanted to run away or actually contemplated suicide.

I've learned that everyone must face his or her own Gethsemane. Everyone must come to a point of testing - a time that can make a person either bitter or better. When some people reach this point they simply accept defeat and give up; others refuse to allow the tough times to defeat them and persevere to overcome their difficulties? How can you get up when you've been knocked down? What can you do when all hope seems lost? Why do some people manage to turn their problems into possibilities? Why do some seem to grow through the tough times, learn from them, and overcome overwhelming odds to step back on the path of success, happiness and hope?

I believe the answers to these questions lie in one simple, yet basic, truth: It's always too soon to quit! Whether you emerge from trouble a better person or a bitter person depends not on what happens to you, but how you react to what happens to you. I hope to prove this truth to you by sharing stories of people who have faced defeat, despair, and discouragement. Each of these remarkable people seems to deeply and fervently believe that failure is never final. Their stories tell of courageous people who have been knocked down, but refused to stay down - who have been willing to dream great dreams, take great risks, suffer great hurts, and yet rebound to great heights. You can draw strength from these wonderful people, learn from them, and - I hope - be inspired to become like them.

I want to find the faith and persevere in the tough times. I want to share steps by which you can make your own "breaks" in life and enjoy success in everything you do. And I sincerely hope that after you read this book you will be able to draw strength and comfort from the knowledge of a living and loving God. He is a source of unconditional love, uncompromising acceptance, and unlimited power - power that can lift you up out of your valley, bring you through the tough times, and set you on the path of hope.

Finally, it is my fondest wish that someday you will be one of the people I tell stories about - people who never gave up their hope or lost their courage, people who have faith in themselves, in God, and in the truth that it's always too soon to quit!

BY LEWIS R. TIMBERLAKE

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If you wish to donate. 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 memory of the death of Egypt's firstborn and the divine protection of Israel's firstborn in connection with the Exodus, God placed a special claim on the firstborn of man and beast. - Ex. 13:11-13 -

This meant that the nation of Israel attached unusual value of the eldest son and assigned special privileges and responsibilities to him. Because of God's claim on the first offspring, the firstborn sons of the Hebrews were presented to the Lord when they were a month old. Since the firstborn was regarded as God's property, it was necessary for the father to redeem the child from the priest. - Num. 18:15-19 -

Early Hebrew laws also provided that the firstborn of beasts belonged to the Lord and were turned over to the sanctuary. The clean animals - those that could be eaten under the law of Moses - were sacrificed to the Lord. The unclean beasts were either destroyed, replaced, or redeemed at a price set by the priest. - Ex. 13:1-2, 11-16, 34:19-20; Lev. 27:26-27 -

In Israel, the firstborn son was loved in a special way by his parents and inherited special rights and privileges. His birthright was a double portion of the estate and leadership of the family. As head of the home after his father's death, the eldest son customarily cared for his mother until her death, and provided for his unmarried sisters until their marriage. He was the family's spiritual head and served as its priest. The inheritance rights of the firstborn son were sometimes transferred to a younger brother, Jacob, for example, stripped Reuben of his firstborn rights because of his incestuous conduct and transferred the birthright to his son Joseph. - Gen. 48:1-22; 1Chr. 5:1-3 -

In figurative language, the term firstborn stands for that which is most excellent. This expression is applied to Jesus in several New Testament passages. All of them point to Jesus' high standing and His unique relationship to His Father and the Church. Jesus is described as the "firstborn over all creation" indicating that He existed before creation and actually participated in the creation process. The virginal conception of Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. It is depicted by the expression, "brought forth her firstborn son".

He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came be,
not one thing had its being but through him. - John 1:2-3 -

He is the image of the unseen God
and the firstborn of all creation. - Col. 1:15

Now all this took place to fulfill the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call him Immanuel,
a name which means "God-is-with-us". - Matt. 1:22-23 - Luke 2:7 -

The phrase, "firstborn from the dead" refers to Jesus resurrection, which assures victory over sin and death to all who trust and love Him with all their soul, heart, strength, and mind.

Before anything was created, he existed,
and he holds all things in unity.
Now the Church is his body,
he is its head. - Col. 1:17-18 -

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the Firstborn from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. - Rev. 1:5-6 -

Apostle Paul's description of Jesus Christ as "firstborn among many brethren" refers to His exalted position as head of the Church - Rom. 8:29-30 - and the author of Hebrews foresees a joyful gathering with the whole Church in which everyone is a "firstborn son" and a citizen of heaven. - Heb. 12:22-23 -

                                                                    Page 1
If you wish to donate. 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 -