God's messengers and persecution

How long more are we going to persecute each other without eternal reason?

A friend of mine got severely persecuted for singing 3 new songs out of the four one week at youth group, whilst being a youth leader in training. Guess who by? It was none other than three youth pastor himself. This particular pastor has hurt pretty much every one of the youth leaders who have tried to work with him, and every one is trying to put up with him and his dictatorship leading, and always wanting his way, openly rebuking people in front of others for things that don't matter the least bit in eternity and definitely are not even sin (e.g if someone does a sharing that is way too long, the sharer gets scolded, humiliated and condemned like there's no tomorrow, in front of me who just happened to walk by and was actually just trying to look for someone.....).

So anyway this friend of mine got so scarred from the condemnation about the new songs that even now she is locking herself in the house in fear, and told me that she doesn't even want to sing praises/hymns to God now because our was what she got rebuked for.

My sis told me, "sometimes I really don't know how to pray for these people."

I replied... "thunder bolts? Or how about this, Lord, you tie him up, I get the bamboo finger torture device." Sis laughed. "oh no, you're going to start with the brick and barrel analogy again." she said.

"yeah, our how about this, Lord, you brick, I barrel."......."no? Ok ok, how about I brick, and you barrel?"...... "no? how about you brick and barrel, and I'll kick the barrel down the hill......"

Then I remembered in the Bible (almost typed 'barrel' instead...phew), how Jesus said, if you cause Any one of this little ones to fall, it is better for the person to be tied to a huge boulder (rock) and thrown into the sea. ...... That's Jesus for you. See, the brick and barrel analogy wasn't actually too far off, actually......... It might be funny if I say it, cuz it's meant as a joke, but not so funny when the Almighty God says it -- He don't do this sort of crude jokes.....

As it says in the Bible: it is impossible for a prophet to lose his life outside of Jerusalem. I'm not sure if Jesus meant this quote for actual prophets, but if we now talk about those God disciples instead, we indeed have seen many who have died outside of literal Jerusalem, says Eunice. And I replied... "yes, it's possible to die outside Jerusalem, but only if they make it OUT of Jerusalem first. Most don't even make it out of Jerusalem..." Food for thought, isn't it?

How about code words?

how about putting code words into the jing story?

Mathematical equations?

Desire for heaven

how much do we desire heaven?

How much do we fear hell?

How much do we desire God?

If we desire God enough, we will desire God to this extent that we will be willing to die for Him

What do you fill your brain with?

what you fill your brain with, you become. If you fill your brain with junk then you're not going to be able to fill it with anything else good.

If you fill your brain with junk, you're letting your light diminish....

Fairness, Truth and Skepticism together

As Christians who want to stay true to God Himself in these end times where false prophets are everywhere and lots of anti-christ theories and debates and "ism"s (atheism, evolution, religiousity) have and are emerging, we are called to be careful, and not just take in everything the person on the lectern proclaims, but to bring your Bible with you and always compare and contrast anything new or traditional against what is really put forth in all the wholistic principles, teachings, motives and objectives of the Bible and of God Himself.

This act of being careful calls for a little bit of skepticism. As one of the higher educated intellectuals of the world that I would categorise myself as, I am someone who doesn't mind cracking a good nerdy joke about instead of meeting locked in a tower combing my hair in front off the mirror endlessly while waiting for prince charming (the more you comb, the more hair falls off.... very bad for health), I'd rather be out there fighting the dragons using actuarial models such as the Incured Chain Ladder or the PCE (Projected Case Estimates) models; modeling the development factors for dragon fire lengths, frequency and size..... also, one tip with the dragon flames, is that you can always Bornheutter Ferguson (BF) them to get the number you want! It all depends on your BF starting point. Actuaries are fearsome indeed. It's the quiet ones you gotta look out for = P.

So, as you can see, giving the benefit of doubt and a little skepticism can't hurt now, can it? At least with us intellectuals we try to avoid being seen as naive or simple beings anyway (the dragons might outsmart us...). 

 But what I found, when I applied the same principle of skepticism first then talk later to Godly things, is that I get caught up in the tangled web of bitterness and disbelieving of everything that comes my way, and I get very very twisted. Over time, I've come to realize that that state of mind is very bad for health indeed, very bad indeed. It robs me of all the blessings, all the joy and all the peace that comes with being the child of God, and it even robs me of the freedom, the free heart that I have gained in Christ through His salvation! that its because, I realised, that I now reject everything, even those that/who are right. Oh, what horribly unhappy days those were (pardon the language, I'm still in medieval dragon slaying mode....).

Myself aside, some others I know, because of their giving of the benefit of skepticism and not accepting anything while accepting everything at the same time, have fallen into the dangerous trap of imbalancing God's Truth, undermining God's commands, and compromising God's Will. That, my dear friends, is a very dangerous situation and state to be in indeed.

But we can't be naive!

And, in fact, the Christian will find that he/she is not called to be naive. We are called to be shrewd as serpents yet inexperienced in evil like doves (Matt 10:16).

Don't be overcomed by skepticism. Overcome skepticism with good.

When the whole world shakes --- *That* Great Earthquake....

When the whole world shakes, His Kingdom come. As the whole world right down to its foundations shake in that great worldwide global earthquake prophesised by God in Revelation which is to come true, He tells us that His unshakeable Kingdom is come: at that time.

So when the whole of your little world shakes, know that we belong to His unshakeable kingdom, which on a smaller, local scale, is come within you, and keep yourself. have faith in God.

Lately, I'm so sad... So many things happening that makes me feel as if a large part of my whole world has turned on me in terms of the possibility of finding a future partner n being socially in place (not out of place), that I feel like a complete social failure. 

Psalm 31 & 30 helped me a lot today, saying that my future biggest events in my life are in God's hands. 

When your whole world collapses on you, know that God is training you up to be able to take n withstand the great tribulation.

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How to survive persecution

The Lord's taught me how to survive persecution today as I was listening to Pawson's Revelation, part 4--different schools of interpretations of Revelation.

"Wear each persecution as if you are bound with them. Bound with those being persecuted, n as if you are suffering the persecution too. That way, when u get to the real persecution, it will be nothing new to you."

So God reminded me about The Costly Call book 1 and book 2 we recently bought from VOM (Voice Of The Martyrs), and I said, "I'maa go read that." And the Lord said, "you go do that." So I'll go 'head n start reading that tomorrow. Why I was inspired was cuz Eunice passed me the VOM newsletter which had a vietnam feature report on people that our donations got used for. There was a photo of the CEO VOM Australia hugging a Viet pastor who's just come out of persecution, released from prison. The Viet pastor had an almost in tears or maybe in tears expression that was such a radio cry from his heart like he's been through a lot n a lot..... his son had broken leg but too poor to seek medical help but the mum said he never complained.

But don't get worried to such an extent that you are too impaired/paralysed to do anything at all. Just be prepared.

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Hell

Talk/ preach about hell in. story.

The head cannot cope today... Of knowing God cannot tolerate sin n knowing I'm sinful.... Need mercy. need 

 God to be the God of my mind. Need repentance. Need to throw away sin n sinful pleasure though enjoyable n choose God for fear of being cut off, n u know He can do exactly that at any point in time, e.g. right now. Don't wait till tomorrow, cuz God might not even let u live that long. Reminds me of when I first accepted Christ-- was cuz I feared being chucked into hell. Remember how you believed. Not some rosy fluffy idea about Jesus with a cute halo on His head n children n little lamb surrounding.

God is really angry with me. His wrath its simmering, n with every time I deliberately sin n not let go, I'm testing His patience to see how far I can go until He gives up on me. And when He lets go... hell is where I go cuz it's where God isn't, n I chose to be where God isn't. N there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth-- because of frustration, at weeping cuz regret all the chances given to us that we didn't take our cherish n even sneered at, and gnashing of teeth because we're angry at ourselves and at God for the chances we should have got, n for everything. Don't muck around with God's feelings and don't much around with Him, girl, it's so real it's not funny at all...

God, sinners, sin

God loves sinners but hates sin, and if we keep clinging onto soon then God had no choice but to hate us

Christ's love -基督的爱是何等地长阔高深

Nobody ever told me that Jesus is still a human now. Even with the resurrected body, He is now not the same as He was -- He didn't have a body before He incarnated. And now that He did, He can't go back to what He was before. And He choose to do that.

I'm not ashamed of Jesus because He was unashamed to bear the cross for me.
(Check out Lecrae's song Unashamed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah3RMfgGnqk)

He was unashamed as he was walking down that road belittled, carrying the cross in place of me; as He was crucified stark naked n went through hell for me. He could have said: "why the hell am I bearing hell for these people for?" 

"I don't have the neeed to be doing this. At all." But He chose to go through with it all, my noble prince He did, and was unashamed. Even when He will be stuck with the human body irreversibly forever. And by adoption, He calls each of us His brother or sister, and said that He is unashamed to do so.

when You love me like this, it makes me want to repent of my sins n come to You.

Paul said in Romans 1:16-17 n must have thought the same while standing on that main road of Rome in chains, "I am not ashamed of the gospel; because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed -- from faith to faith, just as it is written: “The justified will live by faith."
 

"我不以福音为耻。这福音本是上帝的大能，要救一切相信的，先是猶太人，後是希利尼人。因為上帝的義正在這福音上顯明出來；這義是本於信，以致於更信。如經上所記：被稱義的義人必因這信得生。” （羅馬書1：16-17）

Oh how Christ Himself would have said so too -- "I am not ashamed of the gospel."

當我哥耶穌基督自己當走下那各各他的路，被人凌辱，受盡輕視的時候，也一定是這樣想著：“我不以福音为耻。这福音本是上帝的大能，要救一切相信的。”

祂清楚知道： 父神的旨意就是要將基督的義穿在我們身上，。。。
。。。。好讓我們懂得為自己的一切好行為悔改，是我們發現不論我們做多少善事，雖然幫助了周圍的人很多，但是對於幫助我們進天國是一點幫助也沒有的，所以我們應當脫去我們的自義，看為糞土，穿上基督的義， 因為我們不需要為自己出產任何一點點的義。我們既有了基督的義，就當與罪惡和惡事無份。

基督耶稣自己也一定相信上面的话。祂称他们为弟兄也不以为耻。(希伯來書2）

¹¹ 因 那 使 人 成 聖 的 和 那 些 得 以 成 聖 的 ， 都 是 出 於 一 。 所 以 ， 他 稱 他 們 為 弟 兄 也 不 以 為 恥 ，

¹² 說 ： 我 要 將 你 的 名 傳 與 我 的 弟 兄 ， 在 會 中 我 要 頌 揚 你 ；

¹³ 又 說 ： 我 要 倚 賴 他 ； 又 說 ： 看 哪 ， 我 與 神 所 給 我 的 兒 女 。

¹⁴ 兒 女 既 同 有 血 肉 之 體 ， 他 也 照 樣 親 自 成 了 血 肉 之 體 ， 特 要 藉 著 死 敗 壞 那 掌 死 權 的 ， 就 是 魔 鬼 ，

¹⁵ 並 要 釋 放 那 些 一 生 因 怕 死 而 為 奴 僕 的 人 。

¹⁶ 他 並 不 救 拔 天 使 ， 乃 是 救 拔 亞 伯 拉 罕 的 後 裔 。

¹⁷ 所 以 ， 他 凡 事 該 與 他 的 弟 兄 相 同 ， 為 要 在 神 的 事 上 成 為 慈 悲 忠 信 的 大 祭 司 ， 為 百 姓 的 罪 獻 上 挽 回 祭 。

and now, as the procession comes in and He sits at the right hand of God and from the entrance the soldiers n the salvaged captives now unbounded walk in (both Christ followers), n the enemy prisoners keep rolling in in chains, n the spoils/booty of the enemies roll in, He reigns, and even now, this is still happening, taking its time.

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We expect God to solve all our problems....

...(cont. from title) ... God's not gonna solve all your problems, but for those who overcome, He will wipe away every drop of your tears from your eyes.


This is the message we get from Revelation 7 (part excerpt below):

¹³ Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes —who are they, and where did they come from?"

¹⁴ I answered, "Sir, you know."
And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation (one by one, individually, through dying from the suffering); they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ Therefore,
"they are before the throne of God
    and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
    will shelter them with his presence.
¹⁶ 'Never again will they hunger;
    never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,'^[a]
    nor any scorching heat.
¹⁷ For the Lamb at the center of the throne
    will be their shepherd;
'he will lead them to springs of living water.'^[b]
    'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'^[c]"


what the Christ follower reads from this is -- God's wiping away of our every tear from each of us is conditioned on the working out of our faith -- We gotta conquer and overcome first.

death somehow reveals the real faith or real character of if we are Christian or not...

... and perhaps some of you who are reading this right now... are going through exactly the great tribulation, and I praise God for letting you see what I've written/blogged down, I was thinking of you as I blogged this. Stand strong now, in God and do not falter. Look forward to the joy before you as Jesus had and apostle John did. See God's throne and the colourful rainbow that surrounds it, and the perfectly calm sea without a ripple filled with God's peace. Endure this so that you don't have to give up that! May God keep your name in the Book of Life in His mercy and grace, may He keep mine too, and hope we can meet each other in heaven. =)