Eternal life is the highest quality of life. According to the Apostle/Saint Augustine of Hippo and Apostle/Saint Paul, it is freedom from sin, holiness and a positive relationship with God. This is in contrast to spiritual death, which results from a life of sin. In St. Augustine's classical expression: "These two cities were made by two loves: the earthly city by the love of self unto the contempt of God, and the heavenly city by the love of God unto the contempt of self." (Book 14, c. 28) The earthly city glories in its own power, the heavenly in the power of God.

"When you were slaves of sin, you felt no obligation to righteousness and what did you get from this? Nothing but experiences that now make you blush, since that sort of behaviour ends in death. Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life. For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 6:20-23 - The meaning of life appears frequently in the Gospel of John.

Christianity is unique among all the religions of the world. Most of them or if not all non-Christian emphasize the life of the founder, but Christianity is based on or about the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not only is the death of Christ absolutely essential to Christianity. So is Jesus Christ Resurrection and Ascension.

It was at Antioch that the disciples were first called 'Christians'. - Acts 11:26 - In each instance, the word Christian assumes that the person called by the name was an adherent or a follower of Christ. The designation of the early followers of Christ as Christians was initiated by the non-Christian population of Antioch. 

OMNISCIENCE - a theological term that refers to God's superior knowledge and wisdom, His power to know all things. God is the Lord who knows our thoughts from afar. He is acquainted with all our ways, knowing our words even before they are on our tongues.

"Yahweh, you examine me and know me,
you know if I am standing or sitting,
you read my thoughts from far away,
whether I walk or lie down, you are watching,
you know every detail of my conduct.

The word is not even on my tongue,
Yahweh, before you know all about it;
close behind and close in front you fence me around,
shielding me with your hand.
Such knowledge is beyond my understanding,
a height to which my mind cannot attain." - Psalms 139:1-6 -

"The word of God is something alive and active: it cut like any double-edged sword but more finely: it can slip through the place where the soul is divided from the spirit, or joints from the marrow; it can judge the secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing can hide from him; everything is uncovered and open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves." - Hebrews 4:12-13 -

"God/He needs to consult no one for knowledge or understanding.
Who could have advised the spirit of Yahweh,
what counsellor could have instructed him?
Whom has he consulted to enlighten him,
and to learn the path of justice
and discover the most skillful ways?" - Isaiah 40:13-14 -

"He is all knowing Lord who prophesies the events of the future, including the death of His Son and the return of Christ at the end of this age when death will be finally overcome." - Isaiah 53 -

Only the all-knowing and all-powerful God can guarantee real freedom from sin, decay and death.

"Yes, even today, whenever Moses is read, the veil is over their minds. It will not be removed until they turn to the Lord. Now this Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." - 2 Corinthians 3:16-17 -

"Make no mistake about it; if anyone of you thinks of himself as wise, in the ordinary sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As scripture says: The Lord knows wise men thoughts; he knows how useless they are; or again; God is not convinced by the arguments of the wise. So there is nothing to boast about in anything human; Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life and death, the present and the future, are all your servants; but you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God." - 1 Corinthians 3:18-23 -

OMNIPRESENCE - a theological term that refers to the unlimited nature of God or His ability to be everywhere at all times. God is not the manufactured idols which are lifeless and non existence or any hand made objects. God reveals Himself in the origin of the world and of mankind through creation and in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible as the Lord who is everywhere. God was present as Lord in all creation and there is no escaping Him. He is present in our innermost thoughts, even as we are formed in the womb, God knows all the days of our future.

"Where could I go to escape your spirit?
Where could I flee from your presence?
If I climb the heavens, you are there,
there too, if I lie in Sheol.

If I flew to the point of sunrise,
or westward across the sea,
your hand would still be guiding me,
your right hand holding me.

If I asked darkness to cover me,
and light to become night around me,
that darkness would not be dark to you,
night would be as light as day.

It was you who created my inner most self,
and put me together in my mother's womb;
for all these mysteries I thank you:
for the wonder of myself, for the wonder of your works.

You know me through and through,
from having watched my bones take shape
when I was being formed in secret,
knitted together in the limbo of the womb.

You had scrutinised my every action,
all were recorded in your book,
my days listed and determined,
even before the first of them occurred." - Psalms 139:7-17 -

God sees in secret and rewards in secret, as Jesus taught His disciples; He looks not only on outward actions but especially on the inner attitudes of a person's heart.

"Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice; by doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win men admiration. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right hand is doing; your alms giving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to your private room and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,
may your name be held holy,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.
And do not put us to the test, but save us from the evil one." - Matthew 6:1-13 -

"When you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces to let men know they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you." - Matthew 6:16-18 - 

"Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moths nor woodworms destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." - Matthew 6:19-21 - 

Because God is the Creator and Sustainer of time and space, He is everywhere. Being everywhere, He is our great Comforter, Friend and Redeemer.

OMNIPOTENCE - a theological term that refers to the all-encompassing power of God. The almighty God expects human beings to obey Him, and He holds them responsible for their thoughts and actions. Nevertheless, He is the all-powerful Lord who has created all things and sustains them by the Word of His power.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there were darkness over the deep and God spirit hovered the water. God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light. God saw that light was good, and God divided light from darkness. God called light 'day', and darkness he called 'night'. Evening came and morning came: the first day. God said 'Let there be a vault in the waters to divide the waters in two'. And so it was. God made the vault, and it divided the waters above the vault from the waters under the vault. God called the vault 'heaven'. Evening came and morning came: the second day. God said.......... - Genesis 1, 2-..

"In the beginning was the Word:
the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came to be,
not one thing had its being but through him.
All that came to be had life in him
and that life was the light of men,
a light that shines in the dark,
a light that darkness could not overpower." - John 1:1-5 -

"At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son, the Son that he has appointed to inherit everything and through whom he made everything there is. He is the radiant light of God's and glory and the perfect copy of his nature, sustaining the universe by his powerful command; and now that he has destroyed the defilement of sin, he has gone to take his place in heaven at the right hand of divine Majesty. So he is now as far above the angels as the title which he has inherited is higher than their own name." - Hebrews 1:1-4 -

God reveals that He is all-powerful and in the final sense is the ruler of nature and history. 

"See, the nations are like a drop on the pail's rim, they count as a grain of dust on the scales. See, the islands weigh no more than fine powder." - Isaiah 40:15 - 

Yet, He has so fashioned humankind that He graciously appeals to every person to return to Him.

The narrative of the Tower of Babel appears in - Genesis 11:1-9 - as the climax to the account of early mankind found in Genesis chapter 1 to 11. It is an ancient tower symbolizing man's pride and rebellion that was built during the period after the FLOOD. The geographical setting is a plain in the land of Shinar. - Genesis 11:2 - Shinar probably refers to Babylonia. The tower was constructed of brick, because there was no stone in southern Mesopotamia.

In Genesis 11 is told with irony and with a negative attitude toward the people involved. Men delight in bricks and it is known that these are an inferior substitute for stone. - Isaiah 9:10 - To men the tower is a skyscraper, - Deuteronomy 1:28 - but to God it is so small that He must come down from heaven to catch a glimpse of this tiny effort. The construction of the tower and city is described as an act of self-glorification by the builders. Men seek for their own security in community life and culture, independent of God. This is human initiative apart from God. - Psalms 127:1 - As such, the activity is evil and sinful.

The account moves from a description of a sin to a narration of the punishment. God has to step in to prevent men from seizing yet more power for themselves and going beyond the limits of their creature hood. - Genesis 3:22 - Their communication with each other to advance their efforts is frustrated because they begin to speak different languages. Finally, they abandon the building of the city and go their own way, becoming scattered over the earth. The climax of the story occurs when the city is identified with Babel, the Hebrew name for Babylon. This nation's sophisticated culture and power deliberately excluded God. Just as the Old Testament prophets foresaw the future downfall of Babylon in spite of its glory, - Isaiah 13:19; Revelations 18 - this downfall is anticipated in Genesis 11: the end corresponds to the beginning.

God rejection of the nations symbolized by the Tower of Babel is reversed in - Genesis 12:1-3 - by the call of Abraham, through whom all nations would be blessed. Ultimately the sinful and rejected condition of mankind, which is clearly shown by the diversity of human language and territory described in this account, needed PENTECOST as its answer. On this day the Holy Spirit was poured out on all people so they understood one another, although they spoke different languages. - Acts 2:1-11 - Therefore reconciliation of the Jews and the pagans with each other and with God are possible. The barriers that divide men and nations were thus removed.

Do not forget, then, that there was a time when you who were pagans physically, termed the Uncircumcised by those who speak of themselves as the Circumcision by reasons of a physical operation, do not forget, I say, that you had no Christ and were excluded from membership of Israel, aliens with no part in the covenants with their Promise, you were immersed in this world, without hope and without God. But now in Christ Jesus, you that used to be so far apart from us have been brought very close, by the blood of Christ. For he is the peace between us, and has made the two into one and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, actually destroying in his, own person the hostility caused by the rules and decrees of the Law.

This was to create one single New Man in himself out of the two of them and by restoring peace through the cross, to unite them both in a single Body and reconcile them with God. In his own person he killed the hostility. Later, he came to bring the good news of peace, peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near at hand. Through him, both of us have in the one Spirit our way to come to the Father.

"So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors; you 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, and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit." - Ephesians 2:11-22 - Amen! Amen!

THE CITY OF GOD - By Saint Augustine of Hippo -The real value of this book, then, is not to be found in the help it may offer in solving immediate problems of policy in the world. What it offers us is something far more important. It opens our eyes to the deep and vital view of history which is the Christian and mystical view, the vision of Apostle/Saint Paul and of the Evangelists who knew that Christ had come into the world to "draw all things to Himself" - John 12:32 - and who saw that "all things worked together for the good of them that love God" - Romans 8:28 - because all the good and evil of history, all the prosperity and adversity which come upon the saints in this life serve only to forward the growth of the Mystical Christ "unto a perfect man and unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ." - Ephesians 4:13 -

This eschatological view of history contemplates with joy and running out of the sands of time and looks forward with gladness to the Last Day that will make manifest the full and final glory of the "Whole Christ." The City of God, for those who can understand it, contains the secret of death and life, war and peace, hell and heaven. Amen! Amen!

Saint Augustine traces the history of this divided city of conflict and hate through all history from the fall of Adam to the end of time and even into eternity. But at the same time he contemplates and exposes to our gaze the history of that other City, planned by God to repair the work that Adam's sin could not be allowed to ruin. It was in the "new Adam," Christ, that man was to be raised again to the friendship and vision of God - not indeed the contemplation Adam had enjoyed in Eden, still less the clear vision of beatitude: but heaven was to begin on earth in faith and love/charity. God would be "seen" but only in darkness and man would be united in "one Body" but only at the cost of struggle and self-sacrifice.

The whole of history since the ascension of Jesus into heaven is concerned with one work only: the building and perfecting of this "City of God". Even the wars, persecutions, and all the other evils which have made the history of empires terrible to read and more terrible to live through, have had only this one purpose: they have been the flails with which God has separated the wheat from the chaff, the elect from the damned. They have been the tools that have fashioned the living stones which God would set in the walls of His city of vision.

The difference between the two cities is the difference between two loves. Those who are united in the City of God are united by the love of God and of one another in God. Those who belong to the other city are indeed not united in any real sense: but it can be said that they have one thing in common besides their opposition to God: each one of them is intent on the love of himself above all else.

In St. Augustine's classical expression: "These two cities were made by two loves: the earthly city by the love of self unto the contempt of God, and the heavenly city by the love of God unto the contempt of self." (Book 14, c. 28) The earthly city glories in its own power, the heavenly in the power of God.

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function, so the body grows until it has built itself up, in love. - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

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Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

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/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.