Demonizing Anything New

It's man's tendency to always fear the unknown. Or, he may get curious, check it out but later screw up. That curiosity is often just a branch of fear, anxiety that cannot be pacified unless you get to the bottom of things---though you already have a ready conclusion before you get to the bottom of things. That's fear, fear of accepting the truth.

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This fear of the unknown---or fear of accepting the truth---makes us demean or vilify anything new or strange to us. Like learning that salvation is solely by believing in Jesus after people have, for centuries, been doing good religious works and sacrifices to please God so he'd somehow overlook our sins. Some people curiously checked this out in the bible, not to objectively know the truth, but to prove that salvation through faith in Jesus alone is wrong. That's fear. 

"...anyone who believes in HIM should not perish 

but have everlasting life."

Now, it also applies to medicine and technology when what people mistake to be "faith" (but is actually fear) collides with new finds in science. Galileo was condemned and prosecuted by the church when he maintained that the sun was the center of the solar system, not the earth (heliocentrism).  Also, a lot of Christians demonized Covid vaccines as some precursor of the mark of the beast, if not the mark itself. The Y2K virus was feared as the end of the world. What most church people do not understand they quickly label as demons.

And now, AI is the anti-Christ. 😅

There were also accusations of some products being demonic and patronage of the same meant backsliding or apostacy. If you buy coffee from Starbucks you're financing Satan (not realizing giving money to man's church finances Satan). When you lack spiritual discernment---I mean, the real thing---you will use your carnal judgment and just accuse anything new to you or what you cannot understand. 

Pray for the impossible. Ask for the miraculous. 

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Paul for instance, boarded a ship that had two idols perched in front of it as protection. He bought tickets for him and his companions, so that made him "finance" Satan? He understood that children of God cannot be harmed or affected by cults or the occult, even he boarded a ship dedicated to their gods. 

11 After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island—it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux.

[Acts 28]

The Pharisees and law teachers fought everything Jesus said and did with full force simply because of their fear of the unknown, or the new and strange things Jesus did. That spirit of fear still lives today in a lot of churches, even those claiming to be born again, resenting anything that their denominational doctrine doesn't recognize, even fearing and denouncing the very move of God in these times.

Some claim to be doing radical and strange things, too, which traditional Christians find apprehensive. But these are really nothing like what Jesus, the apostles and prophets did in the bible. They're merely things they got or copied from the world and try to apply in their ministries. They call that "radical." But it's still on the level of the earthly. It's nothing supernatural.

The general idea is to work hard to produce more. 

But some experts are saying the opposite is true. 

When you relax more and are less busy, you come 

closer to success than busy people. For more on this, go here.

When something new and strange makes an appearance, it's best to ask the Holy Spirit for spiritual discernment to test every spirit. Everything you see or everything that happens has a spirit behind it, even things material or utterly mundane. Even everyday activities like commuting, working, schooling, doing groceries and the like, you encounter spirits controlling or hiding in things or people. What more in mysterious and eerie things?

Be sure that genuine children of God can never be harmed by anything demonic. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, remember? No curse can work. This is what we have as sons and daughters in Christ, being co-heirs with Jesus.

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

[Isaiah 54.17]

Stop demonizing everything you find different, unusual, scary or too off tangent from your church doctrine. Relax. Even if it is demonic or harmful in anyway, you are protected by the blood of Jesus---if you are a true child of God. A lot of genuine moves of God in the bible were scary and ominous. The chosen people of God were dead scared about how Mt Sinai looked when God descended there. The Passover where all the first-born found outside the protection of the blood of the lamb were slain---that was scary, even looked evil. Not to mention the Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. 

The important thing is to be deep in the Word and the Holy Spirit, and not be paranoid.

Social Stature: Something about Leadership Seminars

They're also good, but I find something misleading about the idea of "leadership" seminars. Everyone wants to be part of leadership--in church, secular or whatnot. But I wonder if anybody would be as interested about "followership" seminars? The kind that will empty you of yourself and make you the least, a faceless nobody in a dimly lot corner in the background?

The kind that will often put you on mute.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash.

Don't get me wrong. You're NOT a "nobody" if you're really in Christ. In fact, the Word says, "do not throw away your confidence" because "it will be richly rewarded." But this is Jesus confidence, not the self confidence or arrogant pride of the world. And what exactly is "Jesus confidence"? He was very confident that he emptied himself and took the form of a slave. Only extremely confident folks (non-joiners) can risk something like that. Insecure individuals will hold on to their ego.

To me, there are no leadership seminars except in the twisted minds of fallen man. Real leadership, as Jesus demonstrated, stems only from real, down-to-earth followership. In other words, you learn true leadership only if you become a real follower. Jesus obeyed the Father, an "obedience unto death." He literally subjected himself to the worst and degrading treatments as the Father wanted him to. He didn't attend seminars or conferences or read books. He actually emptied himself. Zero. Nada. Pfft.

Same thing with his apostles. He didn't make them attend seminars and get certificates. He made sure they saw his kind of followership and told them to do the same--"pick up your cross daily and follow me."  Jesus' followership has two components:

1. Pick up your cross daily. Spiritual crosses kill the flesh. These crosses punish and starve the flesh and ego to strengthen the spirit. Part of Jesus' own cross was how he kept quiet when persecuted or belittled, how he restrained himself from proving to Satan that he is the Son of God (when you're challenged to prove your worth, that's Satan telling you. So don't.), became low profile and waited for the Holy Spirit to announce and promote him, and touched what people dared not touch (lepers, the sick, the unclean). Wondering what cross you can start with carrying? How about cleaning dirty toilets secretly? To me that's real leadership training.
   
   Then volunteer to care for the invalid aged and clean their butts after they poop. Clean up their mess and give them baths. These are good starts. Don't tell anyone.
   
   
2. Follow Jesus. The way you pick up crosses must be exactly the way Jesus did it. Jesus picked up his in exactly how the Father wanted him to. Jesus was innocent as a dove but wise as a serpent. Remember, when some people (especially in church) see your humility, they'd want to make you carry crosses they've designed for you, exactly how the Pharisees tried to design crosses for Jesus. Don't.

Finally, a lifestyle of meekly following will mold you into a true leader, the kind the Father wants you to be. And yes, I quickly add here a lifestyle of doing things for God in secret and letting the Holy Spirit make people see your good deeds, not you. The Word says, let your light shine, not "make" your light shine. It should be HIM alone who promotes you. 

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Social Oppression: Wrongly Provoked Persecutions

I like the idea of being persecuted for Jesus and the Gospel. It's among marks of true spiritual growth (I wouldn't say marks of a "true believer" because many true believers are not yet ready and still being prepared for it, but they will be persecuted in due time), and persecution is an opportunity for improving, maturing and empowering you for the next level.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash.

All of us will meet tribulations in this world. But cheer up, Jesus in us has overcome them.

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

[2 Tim. 3.12]

But some believers trigger their own persecutions. They provoke people to it through their own efforts and ideas. They look for persecution and set it off. But remember, everything in a genuine Jesus ministry should be Spirit led. Nothing (zero) should be by self effort or leaning on one's insight. Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own insight. Persecutions should be Spirit instigated from start to finish.

The Holy Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness to be tempted (or taunted or persecuted) by Satan. Jesus didn't think up the idea or plan it. He was "led" there. He even said he could "do nothing" except what the Father told him to, or what God had arranged for him. Anything man-made or any effort by man with his bright ideas, no matter if he is "born-again," is zero (nada) in the spirit realms. What is born of flesh is flesh. Starting with flesh (self effort) will never end up in spirit. 

“Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. [John 5.19]

Thus, triggering your own persecutions doesn't count in the spiritual realms. Wala kang pogi points ke Lord. So why do it at all? And anyway, if you're a true believer, it will happen. Just wait for it. God will make it happen in His ways and timing. Then you get rewarded in the Spirit realms.

Don't challenge other beliefs or religions. You are not called to do that. You're called to make disciples. Don't provoke people to arguments to make them persecute you. Jesus never went to the Pharisees or law teachers to challenge their religion or faith. Instead, the religious leaders went to him to question him. The provocation came from them.

Paul had the habit of debating the Jews when he was a new convert. He was persecuted, but through his own effort. When the disciples found out, they sent him away from Jerusalem to Tarsus. When they did this, the Gospel advanced more effectively because the Holy Spirit was now the one making things happen, not human effort.

29 Saul talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. [Acts 9]

Self-effort in ministry actually hinders progress in the spirit realms, although it may appear "spiritual" because of the impressive results, like the persecution triggered in this case. Flesh-base activities can receive warm applause from undiscerning people due to their self-sacrificing nature, but the Holy Spirit will not move unless all man's efforts are taken out of the way. 

Man's ways can produce spectacular results, but only in the earthly or physical realms. And that has absolutely no bearing or implications, whatsoever, for God's glory or spiritual warfare. They have no use in the spirit.

“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness (or glory) is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.” [Isaiah 40]

God's breath is supposed to bring life, but only to what He Himself has done. Like when he formed man from dust and blew into his nostrils. Or when Ezekiel prophesied God's Word on the dry bones so that they were given flesh and formed a great army and the breath of the Lord put life in them. But man's glory, being like the grass in the field, withers and it's flower (glory) falls "because the breath of the Lord blows on them."

Instead of having life from God's breath, man's effort or anything man-made, withers and falls. Why? Because what is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of spirit is spirit. When God blows on things man-made, they are destroyed. That includes wrongly provoked persecutions that are done through self effort, not the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Because You Really Have Nothing

We think we got it made and it's all because of our hard work---though we deny it for pretended humility. We say it's God's grace, though somewhere back in our minds we whisper it's more than grace, it's our talent and hard work. High status and material possessions are rewards for our efforts, the right to what we think we own, trophies we show off and brag about as the "fruit of our labor." Our success, we assume, is due to the same. I often hear successful folks say how they worked hard for it. 

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.

We have to understand some things about life before we congratulate ourselves with our successes which we're apt to do, no matter if we know we're failed creatures---fallen. We know we're fallen, but we admit it only when we warn others about judging us, saying "nobody is perfect." To save face when we screw up. But after we overcome the humiliation and start achieving things again, we assume greatness and take credit for everything. If we really understand life, it should make us entirely dependent on GOD for everything. I mean, ENTIRELY DEPENDENT, and not claim any credit for our successes.

Even the verse saying "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" is crystal clear that the capability is Christ's not ours, It's only through HIM. We have not added or contributed anything, we deserve no credit, so we have nothing, zero, nada. It's all GOD. Even Jesus emphasized that all the powerful things he did were credited to the Father. "Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work," [John 14.10].That was the human in Christ speaking.

All that we have accomplished you have done for us. [Isaiah 26.12]

The Pride of Life

Which means, we don't have anything to do with any form of success because it's all solely by God's grace and mercy. A hammer used by a carpenter cannot, in any way, claim anything for itself. But we claim credit anyway, because of our stubbornness and imagined greatness. And pride. The same pride Lucifer had which he also used to deceive Adam and Eve when he lured them of the prospects of becoming like God.

Nonjoiners always remember 1 John 2:

15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. 

15Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 

The pride of life is the root of all misjudgment, aside from other wrong assumptions. When you think your success is due to your hard efforts and ability (worse is if you think you've become better than anyone because of them) you start using that measure when relating with or sizing up people. Eventually, everything will boil down to the money-value system. Self-pride promotes it. You look down on people you think are not successful just because they have no money or are losers---because money has become the measure of success. The pride of life is grounded on "pride in our achievements and possessions," says first John. 

But regular, close communion with GOD will not just teach you genuine meekness but impart Jesus' own brand of meekness to your spirit. Iron sharpens iron. Without intending to, you become merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful, and his criteria on who deserves his mercy is different from how proud people view mercy. They have their own standards of who deserves their mercy, and it's a stringent and exclusive one.

Understanding God's mercy makes it crystal clear that you really own nothing and all credit belongs to Jesus alone. That's basic knowledge among true nonjoiners. You treat people as God treats them with his inclusive grace and mercy. Your grace and mercy even include those deemed "worthless" because they fall short of people's standards and expectations, especially churchy people. 

God gave us the biggest help we needed and which we didn't deserve, when Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. We should, instead, extend a helping hand even to those we think do not deserve it. Why? Because we realize we really have nothing in life that is not given us out of mercy.

This Pride Sets You Apart from the Crowd

Generally, pride sucks. Aside from being dead weight, it's invisible rust that eats at your character like gangrene without you realizing it, until it's too late and you don't know what ate you up. Pride often denies it's there and masks itself as humility--disguised humility that's humbler than real humility itself. But I cannot advice you to get rid of pride totally.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: www.pexels.com

Why?

In real life, you need to be proud of something. GOD designed it that way. And especially so if you're a genuine non-joiner. Non-joiners are proud people but it's not the kind of pride that denies it's presence, like it never existed in you, masquerading as humility. Non-joiner's pride is the kind that boasts of something or someone outside itself. Carnal pride is selfish or self-centered. Non-joiners' pride is selfless. It boasts of others.

Selfless pride gives the following advantages.

1. It points away from you. In fact, it keeps you a great distance from the object of pride. It hides you somewhere in the remote backgrounds or in dimly lit corners. The advantage is, you remain anonymous while being so loud and proud. You're kept safe from conceit.
2. You enjoy peace and quiet while fulfilling a basic emotional need God put in all of us--pride. Self-centered pride can never be satiated so you struggle to stay in the center of everything, even steal others' limelight or moments. But selfless pride need not feed the self or ego because it's selfless or egoless, yet emotionally fulfilling. It's not just less ego but zero ego.
3. It's extremely rewarding now and will be rewarded more in the future.
4. It sets you apart from the crowd. The crowd hates this pride.
5. GOD approves of it.

Jeremiah's Pride

Yup, you heard it right. GOD approves of this pride. He himself said it to his prophet Jeremiah. GOD wants you to have pride. Thus, Jeremiah was proud. Pride fulfills life. 

...but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. [Jeremiah 9.24]

God "delights" in this pride--pride in the "understanding to know me, that I am the Lord." What kind of understanding? The pride of knowing that he "exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth." Anyone who likes to be proud should take pride in this, says the Lord. 

Kindness is the riches of his grace. It closely relates to God's justice. God is just so he judges us fairly, and fairly means we all should go to hell. Our kind acts are filthy rags to him. Our religions are garbage. But because of his kindness, he declares us righteous if we believe and fully surrender our lives to Jesus. All of us should boast about this all our lives.

...in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. [Ephesians 2/7]

Paul's Pride

When Apostle Paul discovered how all his achievements were garbage (I fervently wish we all discover this, too), he became proud in treating them all garbage and throwing them out. And he took triple pride in this: 

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. [Philippians 3]

Unless we finally learn that all our human efforts and achievements are garbage, we will never gain Christ. What counts is God's effort in us alone. No wonder many churches still don't have Christ despite their imagined accomplishments. And here's Paul's triple pride:

10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

How do you know you're proud of Jesus and not of yourself? Simple. If that pride keeps you farther back and lost in the background, that's selfless pride for Jesus. But if it keeps you in the limelight, it's idolatrous self-pride---unless it's God who keeps you there, making you shine, not as a superstar, but as lead man in the procession of fools for him.

9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 10 We are fools for Christ...

[1 Corinthians 4]

Be Proud in Christ

Meekness is really boasting in the Lord--and making sure nothing of the boasts spills over to you--unless the Holy Spirit does it, like how the Son was glorified so he could glorify the Father. “

Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. [John 17]

Jesus knew that he couldn't glorify himself. It had to be the Father--and understandably the Holy Spirit--doing it. If that's the case with Jesus---the SON---how much more us? When we glorify Jesus and boast of him, God often takes us to where we are least obvious. And believe it or not, being least and low-profile is genuine glory. When HE puts us where our ego dies--unnoticed, persecuted, ill treated, belittled and sometimes even suffering lack--the Father is glorifying us so we can glorify the Son who glorifies the Father. Only the cross can achieve true glory.

27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” [1 Corinthians 1]

The Pride God Hates

Just remember, watch out that you do not have the "pride of life," which means pride in what you have and can do--pride in your human efforts and accomplishments. Even pride in your local church or denomination. Don't be misled to attribute glory to man's church. 

For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. [1 John 2.16]

Here's a more revealing version: 

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. [NLT]

Mind Setting on Another Jesus

We've been shortchanged. Through the years they have been giving us a misleading mindset on Jesus, specifically introducing us to another Jesus, the one Paul warned about in his letter to the Corinthians. It's a mindset based on the fake Jesus but which made a lot of "sales" for decades. Bumenta ng malakihan! Even today, this other Jesus is worshipped widely among churches. They're still buying the idea. Scam goes on big-time.

For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. [2 Corinthians 11.4]

Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash. 

A Jesus from Man's Gospel

They introduced to us a Jesus from man's gospel, derived from the bible but adjusted to make him interesting to the flesh. They didn't want to show the true Jesus because HE will turn a lot of people away from the church, and that's not good business. No church income there. Man's church is aimed at getting more membership because that spells more income. They don't believe in prosperity gospel but that's what it is.

Leave the Land of Spiritual Slavery. Know the True Jesus

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First and basic of all, Jesus was non-denominational. Many may mock at this, especially those whose minds have been boxed in denominationalism, but Jesus pushed for a "complete unity" of all believers, the same unity the Father and Son have, according to John 17. The Father cannot have a different doctrine from the Son. But a majority in church do not believe this. 

Today's "builders" reject this vital emphasis that Jesus made, not realizing rejecting means rejecting the Stone that has become the chief Cornerstone. And God has been causing this spiritual blindness since the time of the Pharisees to today's Pharisees in church.

Jesus said unto them, “Did ye never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? [Matthew 21]

As long as you reject Jesus and any of his teachings, you reject the chief Cornerstone that people in ministry need to be God's genuine builders. True believers are not church people or church leaders or church planters who choose only portions of the bible to believe in, but those who cling to Jesus and GOD's entire Word. True believers or disciples hold tightly to HIS teachings.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. [John 8.31]

Jesus was Not Nice

Of course, Jesus was Godly and holy, but that didn't make him nice--the way the world understands "nice." Nice to them is agreeing with their set church standards--or what they expect from you or how you comply with their requirements or designs--just like the Pharisees wanted Jesus to be nice according to their terms. But Jesus demolished all that. He was mindful only of what the Father wanted. Period. Sometimes, it made him look snobbish, arrogant, sarcastic or even rude, unconcerned about how his teachings would affect the standards people were accustomed to.

But Jesus was (and is) nice--heaven's kind of nice. The genuine nice as God designed it which the worldly and carnal will never understand.

Once he told people to "gouge your right eye" if it caused them to sin. Or "cut your right hand," if it did the same. He never bothered to say, "Guys, that's just a figure of speech. Don't take it literal."  Can you imagine if people took all this literally (because Jesus didn't warn them that it was all figurative)? 

You do this in your preaching today (not saying that it's all figurative and not to take them literally), you'd earn a lot of critics in church. You're accused of misleading the flock with irresponsible preaching. Or if you spit on dirt and put the mud on a blind man's eye. Or if you send 2,000 demons into 2,000 pigs, totally wrecking an entire swine industry. 

If you're honest, you'd see this. Jesus wasn't nice. Jesus disregarded their traditions, policies and protocols, demolishing them without showing any pangs of guilt, regret or misgiving. Instead of gently assisting the blind or paralytic, he commanded them to "get up, take your mat and walk!" Imagine telling the disabled or seriously sick to "get up!" without helping him. We'd kindly extend a hand or support him by his arm and softly say, "Try to get up. Can you? Do you think you can do it? Okay, slowly. Easy now."

Nope. Jesus said, "GET UP!"

He told a royal official who begged a miracle from him that, "You people will never believe unless you see a miracle." Then he dismissed what the official requested (he asked Jesus to go visit his home where his child was sick in Capernaum) and told him to just "go, your child will live." We would have dutifully accompanied the official to his home, grateful and feeling "blessed" (we'd probably post it on FB) that a royal official, no less, attended our worship service and asked us to his mansion to pray for his kid. We'd probably have it videoed and posted on FB, too. 

But curiously, you'd see Jesus being kind and nice to the poor and marginal--to the nobodies--like the poor widow who put in two small copper coins. Or the widow who lost his son in Nain. Or poor Lazarus in Jesus' parable. Plus the blind and lepers and the paralytics.  

Servant, Not Domestic Help 

He taught a lot about servanthood, but he didn't run errands. Never sya nagpa-alila. He was not employed, never had a boss and was never paid monthly salaries. Many pastors today are. So they have a boss to please--their congregation. Or church board. Once, a man asked Jesus to divide the inheritance between him and his brother, but Jesus did not oblige, retorting instead, "Man, who appointed me a judge or arbiter between you?" He's not someone you can just order around. 

His mother once insinuated him to do something about a wedding feast running out of quality wine. He should've obliged, being a servant, but he told his mother: "Woman, why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come.” See? We should learn real servanthood from His examples.

Being a self-proclaimed servant, he should've served as an arbiter to pacify a sibling rivalry. That would've even promoted his claim to being peace-maker. But he didn't. He also should've complied to his mother's wish. That would show him an obedient son. A real servant. But he refused even his mother. 

Wine is Bad

And turning water into wine? We've been taught in church a long time that drinking wine was bad. But here was Jesus turning water into wine. Why did he turn water into something "bad" if it was indeed bad? And Jesus drink wine, too. He served real wine during the Last Supper. If you point this out, the church Pharisees today will say table wine is good because it's not really wine but grape juice. Really?

Well, it says in the bible Jesus turned water into the best kind of wine. And that surely isn't just grape juice. It's high quality wine, like those aged in oak barrels. You can never say high quality wine is just nonalcoholic grape juice, unless you're a jerk. What's funnier is when they use Coke or powdered grape juice for their Communion and feel righteous about it.

What the bible identifies as sin is getting drunk with wine. Not drinking wine per se.

They Decide for God

These smart Alecks think they can decide what's right or wrong for God. That's what they come up with their "systematic theology." That's what you get when you don't get direct supernatural revelations from the Holy Spirit. You rely on your own understanding, or what they call "systematic theology." They decide whether things in the bible are worth believing as they are, or if they need some adjustments or doctoring to suit their own standards. They water down, hide or kill a lot of truths in the process so that church today is a far cry from what Jesus or the apostles had. 

So What Kind of Servant was Jesus?

Remember the time when the Pharisees told him to leave Jerusalem to escape Herod's ire? Instead of either humbly complying or kindly refusing, he said, "Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.'" That didn't speak well of a supposedly humble servant. Imagine referring to your national leader as, "that fox." Is that how servants should speak? Where's the humility?

So what kind of servant was he? What servanthood was he promoting? 

He also taught about quickly and humbly reconciling with your enemy who is taking you to court. That should speak well of a servant of God. A humble one. But when he was charged with a serious offense and taken to court, he never reconciled with his accusers. He simply kept stubbornly mum. Why didn't he apply what he taught? 

He Washed the Disciples' Feet

But then he washed his disciples' feet as a gesture of servanthood and humility. And many take this today as the reason to be everybody's domestic help ("utusan") if you're a believer or pastor. So they do everything (or find ways) to please everybody, which Jesus never did. Then why did he wash the disciples' feet? Why do such servile act?

First, the disciples didn't tell him to wash their feet. That's a vital point. It was the Father who did. It was not indicated verbatim in the story, but it's safe to assume HE did. Anyway, we can get some hints here; "Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist." 

The Word on washing the disciples' feet came from the Father, not from men. Get it? So true servanthood is one that comes as a Word straight from God's mouth. HE tells you when, where and how. So you need to be able to hear HIS voice. Jesus didn't let people tell him how to be a servant or what to do. We should have the same brand of servanthood and not be everybody's baby sitter.

"Go the Second Mile"

Jesus also taught his disciples to go the second mile. If someone forced you to go one mile, go a second mile. But Jesus never did that to anyone who "forced" him. Nobody told him what to do. He never obliged to anyone who did that. It never happened, except when humble people begged him to do something, like the Centurion's request to heal his dying servant. Yeah, they had to beg. They had to pursue after Him and ask earnestly, though he was so easily approachable if they had the right heart. We have to learn a lot from that. We have to be like that, too--like Jesus.

We can assume that Jesus did this--heal the Centurion's slave because he heard from the Father. He didn't comply from a command or forced instruction. It's not indicated in the story that the Father issued a command on this, but it's safe to assume HE did. It's a mistake to think Jesus did it because of men's prodding or begging. It's all because the Father released his grace. Period. All our prayers are answered according to HIS will, not ours, though having the right heart counts a lot. But not an assurance. This is why our faith should agree with HIS will.

So what's Jesus' servanthood? It's not service as man desired or thought it to be, but as the Father told him to. We should do the same. We do nothing unless the Father says so. It's not based on needs (even so-called "spiritual" needs), wants, etc. Everything should be based on what the Father tells or reveals to us. Everything is by divine revelation.

See Who Really Jesus Is

We have to re-study who Jesus really is and the words he said and the acts he did--minus the inventions of religion and the biases of church denominations. Minus the distortion that  man's "systematic theology" have been doing. Jesus himself said God's Word can only be understood correctly when the Holy Spirit reveals it to us, not through any other means. Especially not man's smart ways and thoughts. 

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 

And real knowledge of Scriptures comes only when Jesus reveals the Father to us. 

No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

See? I don't see anywhere Jesus saying something about man's systematic theology or it's role in true understanding of Scriptures. It's another scam.

Simple but Powerful Way to Prepare for a Big Task

Are you preparing for a big corporate presentation or project undertaking? About to take the board exam? Running for a top position? Deciding to risk big with stocks, forex or cryptocurrency? Are you a mom deciding what to cook for lunch? All these are big, vital tasks that help make the world go round.

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash.

And it's smart to take on a big task with an equally big preparation. So you'd do everything necessary, even exert and spend extra, to prep yourself up to meet the taxing demand and win. Perhaps pursue your masters and doctorate, earn as many titles and degrees. All these are good and needful. But did you know there's something more powerful to gain success than all these combined? 

And what do you think is the biggest task or venture ever? 

Not Just a Global Task

Saving the whole world. Specifically, saving the lost soul of everyone who ever lived. What could be more daunting and important? And it's not just the whole world, mind you. It's more than just a global challenge like Covid or climate change. It involves saving the entire creation, too. The whole universe. When man fell, all creation fell with him. Jesus Christ died for all these. No doubt it was a gargantuan task, more than anything man (even presidents) ever had to accomplish in all history. 

All creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation itself looks forward to being set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. [Romans 8]

So, how did Jesus prepare for this big task? And how did he also prepare for the role of becoming the Messiah, the coming King of kings? 

Odd Preparation

The queer thing was that, Jesus didn't go to any school or university for these tasks. He didn't think earning titles and degrees was necessary, although he had to conquer the hearts and minds of every individual born on this planet--among them philosophers, scientists, artists, experts, the super rich and powerful, dictators and tyrants, atheists and the religious, and yeah, smart Alecks. 

Here's the picture. Everybody was busy attending school and university during Jesus younger days, getting all the high credentials possible. But Jesus did something else. Everybody was headed towards the city's best learning institutions for the best education while Jesus alone went the opposite direction, heading for mountain sides, lakes and remote places. I can imagine Herod, Pilate, Annas, Caiaphas and the rest of the gang stressing themselves out in the best universities for their topnotch careers, but Jesus never took the route.

Mother Worried about Her Son's Schooling

I can also imagine Mary, Jesus' mother, getting worried about his son's career, prophesied to be the coming King of Israel. It had been foretold in Scriptures that a King will come from Bethlehem (of all places) who'd also be the Messiah, as the prophet Micah (Chap. 5) had announced long before. This was later confirmed by Herod's bible experts:

"When Herod had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 'In Bethlehem in Judea,' they replied, 'for this is what the prophet has written: 

"'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.'" (Matthew 2:4–6).

Moreover, Mary also knew that her child was the Son of God!

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35).

With all these big-time responsibilities, you need to be educated and trained only in the best educational institutions of the world, right? I imagine Mary thought the same. But she looked and there was her son, waking up early in the morning to head for the wilderness, doing what he said was vital to be "about his Father's business." Mary was beginning to worry. Her son was to be king and there he was wasting time in the backwoods, hinterlands and remote places.

Lessons

I'm not telling you to quit school or stop pursuing your career. These are all good. But one thing is markedly obvious here. Jesus pursued success a different way and we should all follow his example. In the Father's eyes, no one's more successful than Jesus, completing the cosmic work of redemption, among many others, with high flying colors. And he did it, not through the usual channels, but solely in God's ways:

1. He spent quality time with the Father.
   "He grew up before Him as a tender shoot." [Isaiah 53.2] This was how Jesus spent his childhood, teenage and young adulthood. He prepare for his Messiahship and Kingship by soaking himself in the Father's Presence.
   
   
2. He valued prayer. 
   It was his habit to spend quiet times alone with his Father.
   "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." [Luke 5.16]
   
   
3. He lived the Word of God.
   "I have not come to abolish them (Law and Prophets) but to fulfill them." [Matthew 5.17]

Aside from the usual preparation, never neglect the three above.

Rich Jesus, Poor Jesus

Though really rich, Jesus emptied himself and gave up all he had. He may have appeared poor in men's eyes but he never had money issues and knew in his heart that he possessed all things. 

Rich but poor. Clearly, that's the life Jesus chose to live on earth. It must be an important thing, otherwise HE wouldn't have done it. Everything Jesus did and showed in the Gospel has meaning and relevance to us. And Him being our sole Model, it should tell us something about how we should live life. Because He is the Life. Being followers, we must also be rich yet poor--and though poor, we're rich. Here it is.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. [2 Corinthians 8].

Photo by Keenan Beasley on Unsplash. 

God's will is our riches. He wants us to be rich. The passage context is on giving to the needy and how it actually leads to material prosperity (especially in 2 Corinthians 9.11) so we can give more. Get this Kingdom principle--God makes us rich, not so we can become millionaires with great wealth and possessions and keep them and showoff, but so we can lose them by giving more. Being rich ought to be balanced with this principle below, which is Jesus' challenge to all disciples.

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. [Luke 12] 

Thus, we are rich but poor. Though Jesus is rich, he opted to "look" poor to make us rich, so we in turn may imitate him and become rich yet poor. But we are rich 😏. So get rid of that poverty mentality if you're a true believer of Jesus, along with the idea that it's bad to be rich or make big money. But you must remain poor in spirit especially when you have become materially rich. Paul did warn Timothy about the desire to get rich:

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

But this doesn't mean God wants us to be squatters or among the indigent or beggars. Jesus never begged. The context is on contentment. "It's enough to have food and clothing. Godliness with contentment is great gain," Paul said. If you take the whole picture (the entire bible idea about riches, connecting other relevant passages) you'd see that God wants us to be rich, not to get greedy about it and lose contentment (neither get rich for selfish ends), but to give everything up for the work of ministry. First and foremost, giving to the needy. This is the reason for getting rich.

All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along. [Galatians 2.10]

Reality is, ministry involves big money. This is why in the Acts church, believers were selling their goods (products) and properties and laying the money at the apostles feet. Imagine selling properties! Our concept of "properties" today is 200 to 500 sqm. But back then, properties were in acres or hectares. Nobody talked about square meters. They sold big properties--entire vast lands--and donated the sales to the apostles who distributed them to "anyone who had need." Church money didn't go to any building project. They didn't keep it for themselves to build mansions and buy cars or rent posh condo units. The church was rich but not one individual became a millionaire because of it. See? Because they gave up everything.

Rich but poor. But they were rich. Yet they were poor. But actually, they were rich.

Another purpose for getting rich is evangelism. And it's not about costly programs or setting up concerts where we rent the venue, decorate the stage, use expensive instruments and sound systems, pay the preachers or guest speakers, pay for tarpaulin streamers or banners or hire vehicles. It's for blessing people, even financially. Below, Paul didn't say that being rich was bad but a tool for evangelism.

17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. [1 Timothy 6]

And Jesus himself said:

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves (meaning, to evangelize), so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.[Luke 16.9]

The church should stop soliciting or sending out letters for begging. Or asking for donations from non-Christians. It should be in business as the Acts church was, selling their "goods and properties." It should also stop using tithes for projects or missions or evangelism expenses or paying for offices they rent. Or even paying for the electric and water bill of their church building. Or buying properties for the denomination. All these should be sold and the money given to the poor. "Sell your possessions and give to the poor."

Tithes, according to the bible, is used mainly to support the priests (ministers) in the temple. Period. And giving to orphans, widows and foreigners (in our day, perhaps the homeless).

Even Malachi says tithes and offerings should be given back to God "so there may be meat in my house." You see the purpose? Meat or food in his house. Who ate the food? Was it God? Nope. His servants, the priests, did. Nothing was used to build or repair the temple. They had a separate fund for that, called temple tax.

Guilt And Conviction

There's a thin line separating guilt from conviction. And many times opportunists and manipulators take advantage of it. Or bigots out to preserve their self-serving beliefs. [Picture by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay].

Generally, guilt is when you feel you have violated something, like a norm or standard. Conviction is when you're sure of it, not just a feeling or hunch or impression or suspicion. Well, the two words are used widely and have various meanings depending on the usage, but we limit ourselves in this article to how we react after we think we have violated something.

Man-Invented Wrongs

Guilt is often imagined and triggered when we are made to believe we have violated a rule, but is actually an artificial one. They just made it up. Specifically, it's people giving us a guilty conscience, not necessarily because we did wrong, but because they felt what they cherish was violated. So they make you guilty of it to preserve their rule in you. But really, the rule is garbage.

Here's an apt definition from Google dictionary: "make (someone) feel guilty, especially in order to induce them to do something." 

Conviction, on the other hand, is knowing you violated a real rule, in fact a law. Particularly, God's law. It dawns on you and you realize it. It's not something forced subjectively by someone who just wants to impose his standards on you. Here's a definition from Google dictionary: "a formal (and I add, objective) declaration that someone is guilty of a criminal offense, made by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of law."

Sometimes they can also work together. Conviction leads to guilt and vice versa. Though often, even the firmest convictions can be purely subjective, and it's sad if it's merely emotionalism. Then wrong guilt leads to convictions gone haywire. This is why the safest is to be convinced or convicted only by God, if you have developed sensitivity to his leading--which again can be abused if we mistake man's rules and standards as God's.

Often, that's what manipulative people do--and what church does--make you guilty of breaking their "Sabbath law." It's bible-based (so it seems right) but they have exploited it with their own designs. And that's to control. They make it sound as if your guilt in defying their standards is God's voice--the Holy Spirit's conviction. But it's just their voice.

God's and Man's Voice

You have to differentiate between God's and man's voice. I see lots of folks feel guilty about breaking man's rules. I'm not referring to rules in establishments or those made by government or the like which are designed to keep peace and order. But rules made by men to manipulate you and make you subscribe to their beliefs--mostly rules by the religious. They create false guilt and people "repent" from it.

I used to be a victim, but one day God engaged me in a "real talk." One of the passages he used was the old and young prophets in 1 Kings 13. The old prophet tricked the young prophet by challenging the latter's conviction with a sense of guilt. His conviction was God's Word which said he shouldn't stop anywhere in Samaria or go back the way he came from. But the old prophet told him something else. Here's what the Old prophet said.

He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.

See that guilt effect? You'd appear too arrogant if you trashed a word like that from a veteran prophet who heard straight from the angel of God. Who did you think you were? This was probably the guilt conscience the young prophet felt. So he gave in, thinking it was God's voice and that he was being convicted by God. Well, it made him abandon the truth and killed him later.

Fabricated guilt is meant to control. Remember that. The best antidote is to deepen in God's Word and genuinely hear his voice. Nothing more, nothing less. Then you can expose religious people who try to inject false guilt in people. Manipulation like that is the demon of witchcraft, not the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

The Pharisees tried it on Jesus. "Why don't you and your disciples follow the traditions of the elders?" They made it sound like the rules of the elders were God's rules. Satan tried it as well. 

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

See that tricky rule? The devil shows how it's biblical and then you, as a believer, should comply. That manufactured guilt can wreck your conscience if you don't submit. And if you do submit, it gives you a false sense of being "forgiven." You feel good about your conscience being "freed." But Jesus knew better. And we must know better because there are a lot of religious holier-than-thou manipulators especially in church who wants to control you.

Unteachable Spirit

And these users accuse you of having an unteachable spirit if you don't comply. They'd say you're too proud and conceited, you need to humble down to the "conviction of the Holy Spirit." Yup, they sound so spiritual and righteous like that and believe they're being used by God. But it's nothing but props. 

Be teachable, but you should know from whom you accept teachings, advice, or rebukes. Not everyone can do this. Don't allow just anybody to have this authority on your life. Or else people would gladly devour you. Most people are just aching to control another and "guide them to the right path." People like this are sure to be lost. The blind leading the blind until they both fall into the pit.

God Uses Guilt

But don't get this wrong. God also uses guilt to bring a person back from error and to a firm conviction coming from the Holy Spirit. God uses someone to correct you and the Word that someone releases from God makes you guilty and convicted. God used Samuel to make Saul guilty of his disobedience about what he should do to the Amalekites. 

But Samuel replied:

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.”

24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. 25 Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”

Well, Saul wasn't really that serious when he said this because in the end he continued with his sin so God punished him.  

Beware of Misguided Prophets

Anyway, the thing is, God uses someone he trusts to make you guilty of a real sin and give you a chance to repent. But stay away from misguided prophets. They're not really false prophets--the old prophet mentioned above was a real prophet of God--but some are misguided due to their religious pride and self importance.

So, how do you pinpoint a misguided rebuker? It's simple. 

1. They try hard to appear spiritual. But you know in your spirit that their spirituality is not natural. It is pretended or a showoff. For instance, most of them post nothing but spiritual stuff on Facebook. They sometimes hide behind this disguise to create an aura of righteousness. They also try to say nothing but spiritual things. Their "spiritualization" of everything is not natural and glorifies them more than it does God.

2. They look and sound so nice. They talk unnaturally, faking kindness and politeness and using a modulated voice to mask their true way of talking. They talk like declaimers and poets, especially behind the pulpit. It's ridiculous how they sound differently when doing religious things, like sharing the Gospel or praying in public, than when they're in a casual conversation. They have dual personality. 

3. They love to check and rebuke people who they think have erred from the way. In short, they're holier than thou. They're also fond of giving unsolicited advice and interfering into private lives and conversation.

4. They can't laugh anymore because of their grandiose image of themselves, nor smile naturally because they're used to faking almost everything. I note, too that they sometimes lose their sense of humor. They think that funny and light stuffs are sin or unspiritual. So they judge funny people as worldly and those who are always serious, formal and never laugh out loud as "truly Godly."

As a rule, I stay away from people who look and sound too nice or sound and look too spiritual. Or those too talkative yet looking pleasant, trying to make you feel good (to keep you off guard) and then slyly building themselves up at the same time. There's something unnatural about them that alerts me. Nice is not among the fruit of the Spirit. But Satan sounded nice to Eve when he persuaded her to eat the fruit.

Covid Lockdown: Where is All This Leading to?

Picture by Nick Bolton, Unsplash.

You may be wondering what the Covid crisis is coming to. Would it really slow down on May 15 or in September or December this year so General Community Quarantine (GCQ, a milder quarantine form) could be safely put in place and life can slowly go back to normal--or would it just trigger a second wave?

What do we do if government says it's safe to go out? Do we believe it even if the number of positive cases are still on the rise (or doesn't show any downward trend), or do we opt to quarantine ourselves further? If we do, will that solve the problem for good? If we make it the "new normal" will it guarantee our safety?

I know a lot of questions are running in people's minds.

Where is God?

Would God intervene soon and stop it to save us--as if Covid were the work of the devil and God would soon rebuke him for it and come to our rescue? Or is this the direct work of His hand? Why does God seem to be quiet and doing nothing? Doesn't he know that many are already afflicted or dying?

No doubt this crisis is known to heaven--I mean God is well aware of it. It's not as though he's been caught unaware and is just now preparing some remedies for it, like what governments are doing. Nope, all this has been on heaven's drawing table, being long planned and prepared for. In fact, this is all his handy work. God wants everything stopped, especially the church. 

This is nothing new. He had done it a lot of times in the Old Testament. He stopped worship in the temple of Jerusalem by having it razed to the ground to ashes and willed that his people be exiled to Babylon. Worship was stopped a long time. He also planned against Israel (the northern kingdom) to have it fall into the hands of Assyria, exiled there and never to come back. Not a single northern Israelite survived that exile.Worship was stopped for good.

When his people no longer do what pleases him, God rejects them. This character of God has been observed several times in Scriptures and he will never change. He will always do it when his people disobeys. Church has become too comfortable with the ways of this world. It has been doing ministry in man's effort and in the ways and standards of the world. Nothing about it is supernatural. There is no manifest Presence accompanying it, unlike how the manifest Presence was always there in Jesus' and the apostles' ministries. Always. 

God's Ministry

Evangelism and signs and wonders were inseparable partners. You see it plainly in the bible. God's work cannot be done faithfully unless in God's ways alone--the way Jesus did it. Man's effort and ways may seem to do it, but it builds nothing but man's empire made to look like God's Kingdom. This is why genuine church--the church Jesus talks about which is without spot or wrinkle--does not exist yet. That's the only genuine church. The rest are garbage. That church existed awhile in the book of Acts in its fledgling form but was aborted when man's religion took over.

Just having the bible does not mean you are in the right. A lot of the lost are bible bearers and pride themselves in being bible-based. James said, be doers of the Word and not just hearers, deceiving yourself.

What we see are poor imitations, fakes even, mere religious organizations that drift farther from God as they grow in number. As long as ministry is not done in the supernatural ways of Jesus, it is garbage, even if it uses the bible. The rebellious Israelites in the Old Testament and the religious order in Jesus' time all had the Scriptures but they were rejected. 

So God is also putting a stop to church today because it is rejected. It's no accident that Covid 19 is here and has halted almost everything on earth. Now we see the church unable to do anything--even hold a church service on Sundays. Much less do any mission or church planting. It can do nothing, zero, and let no one underestimate what God is doing. He wants church stopped and if you defy that by continuing to meet together physically, you will suffer the consequence. Many are asking why some pastors and Christians were hit by Covid 19 when they held church. Wasn't their faith supposed to protect them from the virus? 

The Israelites also did not believe Jeremiah when he said that anyone who stayed in Jerusalem would die or be taken prisoner. But they didn't believe that God would let it happen because they were his people and God's temple was in Jerusalem. But what they didn't realize was that God had rejected them. They also didn't understand when Jeremiah told them that God's will was for Israel to surrender to the enemy. They thought the right thing to do was stay and fight. They didn't realize that their unwillingness to surrender was a direct disobedience of God's will. 

Don't Go Back the Way You Came From

And those who dare go on doing church as usual will suffer the same things because they are defying his will. These are crucial times. These are the last days and God will no longer let human effort reign in church. No more man's religion and standards. God wants man's church to stop and anyone who goes against this defies his will. What we need to do is retreat back to our homes and enclose ourselves, do nothing but reflect on God's Word and ourselves and ask God what he really wants. 

I remember the old and young prophets in 1 Kings 13. God specifically told the young prophet never to go back the way he came but to go on ahead. But the old prophet tricked him so that he went back and took the same way he came from. He died. 

There are times God tells us never to go back the way we came from. Don't do the same things because he's leading us somewhere we haven't been before--and especially when he is opening us up to a new level of faith, to new dimension of the Spirit. To the "new normal" of a supernatural, end-time ministry. But the lure and trick of old traditional ways will always lure us to go back doing the same old things God has trashed away.

Dead Works

All their live streaming and online preaching and worship are useless. They're just doing the same things again which God wants stopped. Do you think God closed the church so we can do church again online? He closed it because he wants us totally undistracted by church noise and busyness so we can focus on his Word and hear his voice clearly. We have to wait for the Word to be released from his mouth, the Now Word for this season. Like how the apostles waited for the gift of the Father and didn't do anything until it happened. That's what the church needs to do, not do live streaming or showoff online. We have to stop and be still to know HE is GOD.

When he releases it, the church should move forward. It will involve tremendous radical faith to do so in these crucial times, and for sure it has nothing to do with church as usual. It has to do with turning the world upside down. It will be supernatural.

Medical Force

People see how nothing works today. Medical science seems to fail, winning battles only here and there, but unable to come up with a sure remedy except claim a vaccine is on its way. When exactly, they can't say. Everything seems as good as guess work. Nothing's definite. And we see doctors and nurses themselves falling victim to Covid. DOH itself worries that we might severely lack medical professionals and staff soon, or if any would be left to man the hospitals. 

This is serious. This is dead serious. And when will it all stop? Or will it? 

Government

The government is also lost. It's losing a lot of funds and apt facilities to put the sick and the dead. The crisis is clearly outrunning it and they cannot cope. It doesn't know what else to do. Even its officials are testing positive--and those supposed to have been cured are again testing positive. The virus can recur. 

Government has nothing to offer at this time as remedy. They have no answer and are themselves wondering if there is an answer. They just try to look confident in public to prevent panic. But you can sense what's really happening if you just have honest common sense.

The Church's Situation

So now, here's the situation of the church. It has been dependent on what man can do, relying on medical science and government for too long for its ministries. However, church has not learned how to depend on God's supernatural ways or how to operate in it. They don't know how to tap on that resource but has mastered how to network with medical practitioners and government. 

But now, these two seem to be losing the battle. Government and the healthcare sector don't know what exactly is happening much less deal with this mysterious disease. Where would the church turn to now? And as the situation worsens, people would look for someone or something to turn to when they see that medical and government institutions are no longer dependable. 

They'd turn to the church as a last resort.

But what can church do for them? Fact is, it does not also know where to turn to? It can pray, but its prayer has long been powerless. It often cannot even effect healing for simple colds and fever or headaches or toothaches. It's own pastors are mostly sickly and depend on maintenance medicines. And doesn't it also turn to doctors, medicines and the government when helping sick people? 

Church can share inspiration to desperate people using the bible, but people desperately need more than that in these critical times. Pastors can talk about how Jesus helped the needy and the sick, but when was the last time church made the lame to walk or the blind to see again using God's power alone? When did it multiply bread and fish to feed thousands? It needs donors for its feeding programs and medical missions (it does not know Jesus' supernatural way of multiplying resources), but where can you find donors when everyone is either catching the virus or hiding from it? When was the church really Jesus-like miracle-wise? 

Learning the Hard Way

Church never invested serious time learning the supernatural ways of God but instead invested in developing networking and coordination skills with institutions and accessing material resources for ministry. Now that everything that can be shaken is being shaken, it cannot access God's supernatural provisions. It's at a loss how or where to start.

The church will find itself helplessly in a corner, with nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to--which is exactly where God wants it to be now. Cornered and helpless. Desperate and with no answers. Imprisoned in a box and able to do nothing (church folks love claiming they're not confined in a box. Well, they are now, and God is making it clear to them). Church is kept where it has no other option but to seek God and His supernatural power ALONE.

When your plan A, plan B and plan C have all failed and become useless as garbage--and you find yourself at a dead end--you turn to God finally. FINALLY! You beg him and never stop until you get a powerful breakthrough. You wait and wait until you get the Word straight from his mouth, the Word that will trigger awesome signs and wonders and heal Covid 19. And you stop doing church as usual, which is man's ideas about church and worship. This is what we must do. Seek God with all our hearts and seek his hand. Seek his supernatural signs and wonders.

Then we will know that HE is GOD. We will understand deeper that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God!

How Far Are You Willing to Go with Change?

Picture by Christopher Lemercier, Unsplash.

Lately I've been seeing FB posts on change and repentance--or how the so-called, new normal, would change everything in this Covid crisis. The posts on repentance come mostly from the religious and "spiritual." It's good to see things like this, but I just wonder how far they're really willing to go with change and repentance.

Often, they think about doing better at religion (or in church or ministry) and being nicer to people when they talk of change and repentance. And I believe they're willing and sincere to go that far with it. In fact, they showoff their relief operations, good deeds and other ways of extending help to the needy. These are all good.

Except that they don't involve the kind of change and repentance we really need today--the kind that God requires. God wants our hearts to radically change and this means giving up everything we have and are doing--especially everything we boast about.

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. [1 John 2.16]

God wants us to give up our religion. Our "church ministries," as it were. Are you willing to do that? It's not just improving on what we're doing or what we have. It's giving them all up. It's not just sin, worldliness, love of money, idleness and other religious issues.

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. [Luke 14.33]

In Revelation, the fault of the Ephesus church was forsaking its first love. It was not about doing better for God or achieving this or that. Another church's fault was being full of programs and activities that it looked so alive but it was really dead. Among the solutions was to go back to the things they did at first. And it was about radical change.

Our church and ministries are supposed to start radical life changes in people. A new creation in Christ--the old is past, the new has come. Instead, we just see church membership transfers as people in church just go on doing the religious things they did in their former churches. Worst of all is their drive to increase membership to up their income.

They still have Easter, Seven Last Words, Lent, Valentine's, Halloween fellowships, Christmas trees and seriously observe them like they're consequential in the spiritual realms--like, the devil would tremble in fear if he sees you decorating your Christmas tree or preaching about "I Thirst."

Yet you see nowhere in church the things that Jesus actually did in the bible. Absolutely nowhere. Like genuine signs and wonders. Even evangelism and discipleship have completely different meanings today than it did in Jesus' time. Everything is done simply to propagate the church denomination they belong to.

And this is among sins we need to radically repent from. It's idolatry of the heart. We need to become genuine servants of God serving in the Kingdom of the Son. We need to usher people to Jesus and disciple them to get used to the Jesus and Kingdom life, not to our denominational local churches to be taught the doctrine, policies and culture of our denominations.

As it is, church has produced only denominational Christians, not genuine Kingdom people familiar with the ways of the King and the protocols of His Kingdom--exactly like Jesus is. We have to radically change all what we do in church and repent from our own ways like we're throwing away menstrual cloth. Are you willing to go this far? If not, you're just doing religious things, only on a higher level.

Real Face Surfaces During Crisis

Picture by Finan Akbar, Unsplash.

It's like a disease. A lot of Christians are showing off their relief operations by displaying what they do on social media. And they sincerely believe it's God's will, utterly disregarding Jesus' words about not announcing our good deeds. Obviously, they don't believe that anymore.

Anyway, they look more like NGOs than Jesus and his apostles. In Acts, there was a time when the Roman world suffered famine and Jerusalem was heavily hit. The churches outside Jerusalem did a relief operation but the whole thing was confined to the church. It was not broadcasted in public or any social platform available at the time.

The Genuine Church is Different

Moreover, their relief operation was sparked by a supernatural word of prophecy that Agabus, the church prophet, declared. After they heard the prophecy, the church acted accordingly. It's clear that their action was inspired by the spoken Word of God, not just their good intentions or compassion. So it was clearly God led.

28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. [Acts 11]

The church today is led by social media. Anything it does is based on what they see in the world or what's trending or what seems effective or needful. It is led by the flesh, not the Spirit. They do not act as a result of God's revelation. They may say that we don't need supernatural revelation to understand national or global emergencies and how we should help the needy. You just need common sense. But not everything obvious is God's will. King Jehoshaphat learned that.

Not Everything Obvious is Obvious

It was obvious that the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel needed to unite. Moreover, Samaria needed help to recover Ramoth-gilead. So Jehoshaphat thought it was a good idea to join forces with Samaria and fight her battles. But Jehu the prophet rebuked him after the joint venture failed miserably.

Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the ungodly and love those who hate the Lord and in doing so bring wrath from the Lord on yourself? [2 Chronicles 19]

And look at Judas, He had "compassion" for the poor so that he protested against a prostitute wasting costly oil perfume on Jesus. That's what he displayed on public--compassion for the poor. But God's Word revealed him for what he really was--a thief. He may have looked good in public but Jesus knew better. He didn't support Judas' pretended compassion.

How about God's Word to Jeremiah, "not to pray for this people"? It's good to pray for everyone, right? We know it's God's will. But even in this truth we need to be sensitive to God's leading--because not everyone should be prayed for. In fact, John said in his letter that we should not pray for sins that lead to death.

There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. [1 John 5]

Going back to Jeremiah, God didn't want him to pray for HIS own people because of their shameless idolatry. When even his own people are doing things against his Word, God doesn't want any part of it. He shuns them. If Churches continue to trash his Word about the need for secrecy with their good deeds and instead blatantly defy his Word by justifying their hypocrisy, they will get the same treatment.

Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress. [Jeremiah 11.14]

No wonder their Ashtoreth shrines (church buildings) have been closed in this Covid crisis.

The Nicolaitans and Balaam

The teachings of the Nicolaitans centered on dominating people. At least that's what the Greek meaning of the name suggests. Nikos means subduing and laos means people. Balaam, on the other hand, was a prophet who enticed the Jews to sexual immorality and idolatry. Put them together and we get a glimpse of why God hates their teachings--spiritual sexual immorality (or unfaithfulness) that leads to idolatry, plus mentally subduing people with wrong ideas derived from them.

Sexual immorality is having sexual relations with someone not your spouse. You pledge love to your spouse but actually cheat and do sex with someone else. Spiritually, it's professing a relationship with Jesus but not believing and doing his words. Instead, we believe and do someone else's words. Like how many "Christians" today believe in divorce, unnatural sexual relations, unbiblical gender identification, and proudly display their good deeds. They love to be seen in public saying prayers and brag about their worship.

They believe others' words (or their own words) rather than God's Word alone. In other words, they eat food offered to idols. They crave for other foods. We should eat only the Bread that comes down from heaven. We are restricted to that.

The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! [Numbers 11.4]

Okay, So Let's Say We Help

Now, granted that God wants us to help in this Covid crisis. How do we do it? Collect relief goods and distribute them? The NGOs, cause-oriented groups and government do that--and it's all good, praise God. But the church is expected to do something else, not just duplicate what men are already doing. There's no real glory for God in that. I mean, all the other religions can also do that and it does not make our God any different from their gods.

I can't imagine Jesus collecting relief goods and distributing them to people in a time like this. I can't imagine him doing that to feed the 5,000 and then the 4,000 men. I can't imagine him calling the doctors and nurses to heal the multitudes of sick people and then dole out free medicines. These are all good, but Jesus didn't lead a supernatural ministry so his church can be like NGOs.

Church should be doing what Jesus did to glorify God and show that what they're doing is not of man but of God. Church has been copying from the world for decades and even centuries, and these last days God will not allow it anymore. The Book of Revelation says the upcoming move of God will be supernatural. The ministries of Moses (uncommon Word insights) and Elijah (supernatural signs and wonders) will merge when the Two Witnesses are sent to the world to display God's awesome powers.

This is the hint to the church. We should be moving in this direction and forget about looking like ordinary NGOs. The Two Witnesses are really two powerful ministries of the Holy Spirit which will be given the remnant church as a powerful witness for God. They will not only preach but also use God's awesome powers that always accompanied evangelism in the Gospel and the Book of Acts.

So what should the church do now in this urgent crisis? We should seek God and seek his power and authority. We should spend time alone with God and worship Him like never before. We should deepen in the Word with the supernatural revelation of the Holy Spirit, not with man's theologies, philosophies, denominational doctrines and hermenuetics.

We should desperately seek to be imbued with God's power to speak like HIM and do his powerful signs and wonders.

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, [Ephesians 3.10]

In short, the church should repent and obey!