Why Do You Weep O Earth?

What does one do on the day of the Apocalypse?

When the ambitions of humankind are finally revealed to be the falsehoods that they truly are, what shall humankind do?

Shall we weep? Shall we mourn?

Or shall we rejoice?

Many of you will begin to think that I am a fool for writing this. Many of you will dismiss me as a doomsayer, a false prophet, a charlatan, or worse - a madman.

And your reactions will be right.

What will be wrong is what is within your hearts.

The Messiah warned His disciples of the coming age of tribulation, when the earth and the heavens shall be shaken to reveal what is unshakable.

The signs of the times shall reveal the coming of this age, when darkness shall cover all the land.

For the “abomination that causes desolation stands in the most Holy Place.”

If you have continued to read up to this point, then I ask of you, I beg of you, please read further and understand. These are not my words. I did not make these up, for one cannot lay a foundation other than that which was laid. They are the words of truth hidden in the passages of Scripture. Those with a heart and eye for truth will understand.

God exists. He is real.

Though He cannot be seen, He dwells among us.

God is spirit: that unseen force that drives all of creation.

He is wise, intelligent and powerful beyond measure. Humankind in its totality does not even begin to compare to what He is able to accomplish.

For we are but dust in the wind to Him.

And now the dust has risen up to usurp God.

God dwells in the hearts of every living being He has created. And His most Holy Place is reserved in the hearts of humans, whom He has exalted above all other things on this planet.

We who are to be the stewards of His life, have exchanged that privilege for a lie.

Instead of fixing our eyes on God and eternity, we have set our gaze on that which is perishable and meant for destruction and death.

For a lie cannot be sustained. What is not real cannot last.

Our ambitions have severely fallen short of what God has made us for.

And now the very fabric of the universe cries out with our sins.

For instead of God sitting on the throne of life, it finds the lord of deception poised to be revealed to all nations.

The hearts of humankind are filled with his darkness. And how deep that darkness is.

Are you afraid? If so then that is also the right reaction.

For the Day of the Lord is not a day of light, but a day of darkness.

It will be the day of God’s wrath unleashed.

And the dust shall be humbled once and for all.

But for you who are the children of the light; you who continue to live by the truth and have refused to be blinded by the lies of the evil one; you who have remained loyal despite being surrounded by sin; whose love have not turned cold; it will be a day when you will receive your reward.

So do not mourn o Earth. Do not fret ye children of God.

For our King arrives to take His rightful place in our hearts.

He shall drive away the darkness once and for all and destroy those who usurp Him.

Rejoice for He is worthy! He is the shepherd who has given up His own life for His flock. His very blood sanctifies those whom He has called, and who know His voice.

The coming destruction shall pass by those who carry His mark. Those who have cleansed and purified themselves with His blood shall be given life.

But woe to those who have chosen to dwell in the darkness instead of the light.

Woe to those who have kept their hearts shut to the rightful King.

They will go about their day and their evil ways, not expecting anything to happen to them.

The Day of the Lord shall find them like a thief in the night.

Keep your lamps burning. Keep your hearts clean for His return.

For the signs of the times bear witness to His coming. He will come and not delay.

I will gladly bear the shame and humiliation of being proven wrong, if it means that life will be spared.

But these are not my words. These are not my predictions. The foundation has been set long ago. I would be but a fool not to want to meet my King when He arrives.

I pray that all those to whom I send this message that it reaches their hearts in time.

May God bless and keep you all.

The Eyes of God

Recently, I have been reading Miyamoto Musashi’s Book of Five Rings (Go Rin no Sho) as translated and interpreted by Scot Conway of Guardian Martial Arts (available for download here: http://www.guardianacademymembers.com/articlesfiverings.pdf).

In the chapter entitled “Musashi’s Nine Precepts”, the first precept states that “One should not think dishonestly.”

It seems a simple enough precept, especially if you consider Mr. Conway’s interpretation of “Don’t fool yourself.”

It simply means that we always think in terms of truth and reality. We think in terms of what is real and not by what is not real.

I can understand the practicality of this in martial arts, where thinking unrealistically can literally cost you your life. You do not engage a superior opponent for example, without taking a realistic assessment of the opponent’s skills, as well as your own. Many warriors have met their untimely defeat and/or demise at the hands of more skillful opponents simply because they have not taken the time to “think honestly”, and have let pride or some other uncontrolled emotion blind them to reality.

This is interesting because the Bible (especially the New Testament) always refers to sin as being caught in the “powers of darkness.”

I would think it a powerful metaphor to use “darkness” to describe untruth.

Musashi’s fifth precept is related, though a little more specific: “Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.”

This is where things become more interesting.

Again, the simplicity of this statement might make its meaning seem obvious. Humans, as a rule, want gain more than loss. So one would think that humans have a pretty good understanding of what constitutes gain and loss.

Conway explains that apparently, this is not the case at all. What most of us consider “gain” is actually loss, and vice-versa.

One example that he used (which I related to very much), is that of obesity.

Obese people are an example of those people who think in terms of short term gain. They are the kind of people who will eat delicious, unhealthy food now, and worry about the consequences later.

As a person who once reached a maximum weight of over two-hundred pounds at a height of 5”9, I know how it feels to be obese. And I certainly know about having a mindset of an obese person.

I distinctly remember convincing myself that it would be a “waste” not to eat that one last slice of cake, or that one last morsel of meat, or one more scoop of ice cream or some other dessert, or not finishing the rest of the bag of chips.

I have exchanged short term gain (in terms of the pleasure of eating delicious food), for long term loss (in terms of health and back problems due to overweight).

In other words, I have failed Musashi’s fifth precept of being able to distinguish between worldly gain and loss.

But that is not all that I have failed.

The Bible likewise admonishes those who think they have “gained” from living a worldly, self-indulgent life.

The Messiah summed it up in one statement:

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?

(Luke 9:25 NLT)

It is all a matter of how broad one’s viewpoint is.

The phrase “winning the battle, but losing the war” (attributed to Sun Tzu’s Art of War, though I have not seen it written like that in the translations that I have been reading) is an apt analogy for this.

Gaining short term benefits in exchange for long term failures is unacceptable in war. One must always be ready to make sacrifices for the sake of the greater good.

Losing the war is NOT an option.

And what is the Christian life but a war for your own soul?

Scripture says that God is both beginning and end. This is a way of saying that God sees all of the flow of time. God is above time and therefore timeless.

What kind of wisdom does a person who sees all of the flow of time have? Each and every permutation of causality is laid bare. Both good consequences and bad are revealed: nothing is hidden.

If such a thing were indeed possible, then that person would be in the best position to steer all of creation into the best possible scenario for all time and beyond.

Add to that the qualities Scripture attributes to God: that of being a just, loving and merciful Creator.

What a wonderful thing it would be to see, even for just a moment, through the eyes of God!

I look around me and I see people indulging in their own selfishness: people beating the red light to shave off a few minutes of waiting time, at the risk of getting involved in an accident. I see people splurging whole month’s salaries or allowances on things that have no real and lasting value. I see husbands and wives commit adultery for the sake of a few moments of pleasure to the detriment of their marriage and children. I see companies and corporations risk the health of our planet just to harvest that much more resources to make that bigger a profit.

God looked at the world and saw sheep without a shepherd.

And so He sent one, not just to teach His ways, but to live, die and be reborn as an example of what a person who is one with God can do.

As I finish writing this, I have already witnessed the news footages capturing the destruction in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that hit the nation of Japan, Musashi’s homeland and now one of the most advanced countries on our planet.

The world will look at this tragedy and say: “Such loss of life and property! What will be the cost of it?”

Will it only be God who will look and ask, as He had countless times before: “What else do I need to do to catch their attention? When will they turn to Me?”

God has all of eternity to wait for humanity’s answer.

As for us? We have only but time.



Is God Random?

Prior to becoming a believer, I had this notion in my head that God was random in some of His acts.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks like this.

I’ve had a chance to cross swords with my friend Mike Cluzel last night during a conversation among friends. It was not deliberate of course. The conversation just naturally went in that direction.

Mike proposed that God uses randomness as a tool. He explained that God, being a good and just God, could not voluntarily inflict pain and suffering on His creations. So He uses a system of randomness to randomly choose which person to inflict pain and suffering upon.

Riding on his thoughts, I tried to visualize for the group what he meant.

Imagine God holding a pair of dice: one with the name of every single human being on the planet, and the other with every single type of suffering. Whenever God decrees that suffering must exist for one reason or another, He throws these two dice, and whosever name comes up on one die is inflicted with the suffering that comes up on the other die.

In a way, it makes sense because this “exonerates” God from the act of inflicting the punishment Himself.

But I told Mike that I had a problem with this thinking.

My Bible tells me that God is not random.

God is the beginning and the end. He created all things and thus knows all things. There is nothing that He cannot know.

I explained to Mike that randomness, by its very nature contradicts God, for if God relies on randomness, it means that God Himself is subordinate to randomness.

And our Bible is very clear that there is nothing greater than God.

I know that I sound like some cocky student recently graduated from a school of apologetics, but hear me out for a little bit.

Speaking on a personal level, I find it unacceptable that my God who requires that I put all of my faith upon Him, has to rely on something arbitrary to determine certain events or outcomes in my life.

It would mean that ALL of my suffering is randomly inflicted, and that they do not serve any other purpose other than for me to suffer, and for God to be free from the responsibility of inflicting that suffering.

It just doesn’t make sense.

Let me try and put it this way.

As a martial artist, I am taught about pain. Pain is important, because it tells us when something is wrong. It tells us if we’re pushing ourselves too hard, or if we got hit with a really devastating blow and would have to either back away, or give up a match.

Pain is useful because it tells us we have reached our limits.

Once the limits have been set, it then gives us an opportunity to try and overcome those limits.

In other words, pain serves a purpose. It is not some random phenomenon that occurs out of the blue.

There is always a reason for pain.

Suffering for me acts the same way. We suffer because God wants us to realize something.

More often than not, He wants us to know that we’ve reached our limits as human beings, and that we should focus on trying to overcome those limits.

I sincerely believe that this is the way of all meaningful growth.

Now this is where it gets a little tricky.

What if God causes another person important to us to suffer? What if God decides to take away that person?

I would imagine that all of us at one point, will experience this.

We would all eventually be faced with the reality that God does take away life.

And then we would be left with the question: WHY?

Why my son? My daughter? My mother? My father? My wife? My husband? My friend?

Why God?

This is where faith comes in.

If we say we believe in a God that can resurrect the dead, and that this same God is good, merciful and loving beyond our comprehension, then we have to take it on faith that God knows what He is doing when He takes a loved one away.

Unfortunately for us, there is absolutely no way we can be sure of this in this lifetime.

God in His wisdom simply decided that it was not for us to know.

Moses recounts the covenantal relationship of God with the Hebrews in the book of Deuteronomy and concludes that:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. - (Deuteronomy 29:29 NIV)

We cannot know everything. But there are some things which have been given us to know.

We know that we have a Book which tells us that God exists, and that He is a just, loving, and merciful God.

We know that He has set down rules for us to follow while in this life. We also know that these rules are NOT random or arbitrary, but serve a greater purpose.

We know that the rules are meant for our own good.

If we claim we do NOT know these things, then maybe it’s time for us to go back to this Book and check for ourselves what we do and do not know about God.

Otherwise, we’ll all be roaming around in the dark without a light or compass to tell us which way to go.

And that my dear family and friends is a travesty. Nay, it is a sin.

May God bless you all this weekend!

Donaire did NOT win that fight

I know I’m a few days late and perhaps a few words too much. But I would nevertheless like to provide my insights on the recently celebrated win by my countryman, Nonito “The Flash” Donaire against Mexican fighter Fernando Montiel.

There is absolutely no doubt as to who won the match. The results were as clear as day and as incontrovertible as any Biblical Truth.

But the winner in my humble opinion is not Donaire.

Now before you condemn and stone me for my unpatriotic statement, hear me out first.

There is no doubt in my mind that Donaire is a brilliant and gifted fighter. I have not watched him fight as much as I did Pacquiao, but just by watching his fight against Montiel, anyone with an eye for truth can see that “The Flash” is a name well earned.

But I can say the same for Fernando Montiel. He is as fast, as quick and as powerful as Donaire. And looking at the pre-fight promotional videos, it seems that Montiel is the more dangerous fighter: with more devastating knockouts.

Certainly, the records would show experience favoring Montiel. He has fought almost twice as many matches and has almost twice as much wins by KO.

Any Filipino sigurista would tell you that the odds are certainly against the “Flash”.

But again, like many times in the past, appearances will prove deceiving.

In a win that has become an instant national phenomenon, The Flash destroyed Montiel with an accurate left hook to the top of the latter’s head. Montiel’s reactions after he fell to the canvass is testament to the strength of that blow. There was no fighting after that one, regardless of what the referee thought.

So did Donaire KO Montiel? Without a doubt.

But did Donaire win that fight?

Here I humbly beg to differ.

It would be the same as saying that David won against Goliath.

It would be the same as saying that the Exodus-age Hebrews won against the Giants of the Promised Land.

No, it was not Donaire that won that fight.

It was God.

It was He that brought about the conditions for victory.

Donaire threw that left hook no differently than any other that he threw in that match. He threw it with the same speed, power and determination to win. The only difference between the earlier left hooks and the one that scored the knockout was the timing.

And any athlete would tell you that while timing is everything, it is the one thing that is most elusive to attain.

You can train for it of course. But in a middle of something so fluid and unpredictable as a real-life boxing match, the right timing becomes nearly impossible to predict.

Ask Donaire if he knew, pre-fight, that that hook would be the one to end the fight.

If he knew that the fight would have ended on the second round and in that precise moment, then he would not have trained as hard as he did for that fight.

For the Day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. Not even The Son knows when that Day will arrive.

And that fight, dear family and friends, was the Day of the Lord.

He won that fight.

He deserves all the glory.

Let us honor and praise Him for granting our countryman Nonito Donaire a spectacular win against uneven odds.

All of Heaven waits with bated breath at what “The Flash” and the rest of the Philippines will do with that win.

Is Jesus a woman?!

I’ve told my readers just yesterday that I wouldn’t be writing in my blog for a while because of some bigger work that I’m finishing. But the conversation I had this morning with my daughter while driving to her school was just too good not to write about.

We were driving along our usual route when out of the blue, with all of the innocent precociousness of a five-year-old child, suddenly blurted out:

“Daddy! Is Jesus a girl?”

For a moment, I lost all concentration on my driving.

“What?! Why do you ask that dear?”

“Because I think Jesus is a girl!”

Now before you go on and say that my wife and I have been remiss in teaching our daughter the basics of the Gospel, I want to tell you that my wife and I read Bible stories to her almost every night before she sleeps. Her favorites include: the story of Adam, Eve and the Sneaky Snake; Strong Man Samson; David and the Giant; and of course, stories about Jesus.

I tried to think of some reason why my daughter would suddenly question the gender of the Messiah. It was difficult, considering that I was weaving in and out of Vientiane’s now famous morning traffic, and the fact that my male mind was designed to handle one serious subject at a time (my thanks to our pastor who pointed that fact out to our wives this Sunday.)

My thoughts wandered to the lively conversation I had yesterday with three dear friends during the Diplomatic Reception for the Brunei National Day.

Actually, the conversation was mostly between two people. I was just fortunate enough to be able to listen, and throw in a comment or two as the breaks in the conversation allowed (which was not often).

My colleague from the Myanmar Embassy, Mr. Thiha Han, and my friend Mike Cluzel who is the General Manager of Tigo Lao (soon to be changed. The name of the company that is), are two of the smartest, well-read and articulate people that I know here in Vientiane. There is absolutely no way that I, or anyone else that we know in common, could possibly take the upper hand against them in a conversation.

It was the first time I would see these two in a conversation together.

It was like seeing a duel between two old and grizzly samurai. Each of them brandished their knowledge of historical trivia and facts like worn but well-sharpened katana (the samurai’s sword) that has seen many battles.

There is a legend about the greatest Japanese swordsman who ever lived, Miyamoto Musashi, who has won every single duel he has fought, each one to the death. And he has reportedly fought hundreds of them.

The legend says that one day, Musashi encountered another swordsman who was about to cross a small bridge wide enough for just one person. They were both on opposite ends.

Samurai bravado being what it is, both of the swordsmen indicated that he was about to cross to the other by unveiling their cloaks and revealing their daisho (the traditional pair of swords carried by the samurai), and reportedly, bowing their heads.

The bowing of heads was a symbol of respect, and at the same time had a practical use. Making eye contact with a samurai in those days was literally dangerous to one’s health.

Apparently, neither of the two backed down from the other.

They stayed in their respective poses for a time before they both lost patience, and decided to look each other in the eyes.

Time stood still as these two swordsmen revealed themselves to each other through the expression in their eyes.

Some versions of the legend say that they stood like that for days. But that is not what made the legend famous. Nor was it the seemingly inevitable duel between the two.

What made the legend was that the two samurai bowed their heads again, covered up their daisho, and walked away. Without crossing the bridge and in opposite directions.

It is a classic tale that is uniquely Japanese, and yet is pregnant with significance.

And unfortunately for my two prodigal friends, not to be their tale that night.

They circled each other and engaged in their duel without hesitation.

In the midst of thrusts, parries and ripostes, I and my other friend Engin Yasmun, a Turkish National who is the director of Eastern Star School, could only listen and watch helplessly but politely at the two masters.

The conversation seemed to last a lifetime, with neither one gaining the upper hand for long.

Finally, each of them was forced to reveal their secret weapon: gender jokes.

Being all male, the jokes were mostly about women of course.

For the sake of our readers whose gender falls under the category of the fairer sex, I shall no longer discuss here in detail the contents of the direction that the conversation took.

Suffice to say that our laughs were the loudest that night. Which probably was what prompted His Excellency, the Ambassador of Brunei, to take matters into his own hand and uncharacteristically bid each of us farewell long before the reception was fully over.

I came away from that conversation wondering if God would come back at me for having a good laugh at the expense of Eve’s descendants.

And this morning, I got God’s answer, in the form of my daughter’s innocent but determined questions.

I gave my daughter my answer just as we were passing the Buddhist Temple at Simuang Road.

“Dear, I don’t think it matters if Jesus were a boy or a girl.”

My daughter wouldn’t have any of it.

“No daddy! I think Jesus is a girl!”

I realized that there was really no diplomatic way of having this conversation with her.

“Why do you think Jesus is a girl? What made you think that way?” I asked half-exasperatedly.

“Because I love Him!”

And that my friends, is God’s answer spoken through a five-year old girl.

I know Jesus as a man, not just because the Bible speaks of Him as a man, but because I relate to Him as a man.

My daughter decided to know Him as a woman, because she relates to Him as a little girl. This is probably true in the hearts of many women believers everywhere.

My proof? Jesus’ conversation with Mary and Martha.

In those days, it was unheard of for an unmarried man to be in a house alone with two unmarried women. Things like that tended to get you stoned (and not in the “good way”).

But there was Jesus, having a merry and jolly conversation with these two women as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The Bible does not record any other of the male disciples being present there.

Now I don’t know about you, but I find it next to impossible to have a deep, long and meaningful conversation with my wife, let alone with other women. All my conversations with them invariable lead to quarrels or to light joking.

But the magic of Jesus was that He could have a conversation with anyone He chooses to, be it a well-respected male leader of Jewish society, or a woman from the despised Samaritan class.

My question to you is, when did you last have a conversation with Him?

It doesn’t have to be anything serious or doctrinal. Just a simple conversation involving what went on in your day.

And though chances are He knows already, what is important is that you take the effort to make that conversation, not for His sake, but for yours.

Just try it.

Start with something like this:

“Lord, creator of all things, including myself and the members of the opposite sex. This is what my day was like. I know you’re busy being ruler of the universe and all, but I would really like to have this conversation with you if you don’t mind. I’ve had a bad week and I can’t really talk to my wife/husband or friends about it. They can’t understand the pressures that I face at work/home alone. They say You’re everywhere and You know everything so I’m sure You of all people would understand.”

When He answers you, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Who knows? You might end up with a tale worth sharing as well.

God Bless you all my dear family and friends!

AN ODE TO JOY

Here I am.

Broken.

My pieces too numerous to count.

The skill to put everything back together is beyond me.

Beyond anyone.

Except You.

Who but the guiltless deserve Your affections?

But even this thought is a broken fragment of myself.

Which You skillfully weave back.

Broken.

Yet made whole again.

Why do we break?

So that we can be made whole again.

The pieces are still there: they glitter with tears.

But the tears fuse them together.

Holds them together.

Like You do.

I’m broken.

But I don’t care.

Not anymore.

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

(Matthew 6:27 NLT)

Our Birthright

I am in grief.

My heart feels like it will burst from the strain of sorrow.

Of the many things that are passed down from generation to generation, is it possible that grief and sorrow be included with them?

If our genetics only selectively preserves the best attributes suitable for the survival of the next generation, then why should righteous indignation not be one of them?

Yes righteous indignation. Though the words have become associated throughout human history, not undeservedly, with fanaticism, heresy and subversion, it is a basic human truth that modern civilization owes itself to righteous indignation.

It refers to that basic insulting of human sensibility and reason so as to incur an overwhelming reaction. It is a result of something that so goes against common logic and accepted norms of civilized behavior as to require defiance of the highest order.

Righteous indignation is the reaction to the violation and perversion of Truth.

For historians and sociologists, such times indicate the sharp pains of growth and rebirth of civilization.

Or its destruction.

If the whole of human history were a record of our evolution as a species, then righteous indignation is the metric with which that evolution is measured, evolution being that process by which we record the development of our existence from being simple life forms, to more complex organisms.

If evolution is true of our physical bodies, then it should certainly prove equally true of our development as civilized creatures as well.

All of humanity is an organism. We have evolved from the individual, into a family, a community, a nation, a country, a region, a world.

We are now inextricably linked, whether we are aware of it or not. Like the varying parts of our own individual anatomies, we have come to a point where the functioning of the collective whole is severely diminished or outright compromised upon the loss of one part.

I am not saying here that we do away with what makes us individuals. For what is the Divine commandment to honor one’s father and mother other than a command to honor one’s roots? It is the first commandment with a promise: that we would all live long and full lives when we honor our unique heritage.

For it is through our individuality that our collective strength is established. For what is an organism other than a collection of individuals with specialized skills and purposes serving the benefit of the whole?

The development of a society as a living organism therefore is the next logical step in the evolution of humankind and of life in general.

I grieve because as proven so many times throughout our histories, Truth would not find favor in her supposed champions.

We – homo sapiens , “wise humans” – Creation’s current crown jewel on the miracle that is life, still refuse to believe and accept our common destiny and birthright: to become the stewards of life.

What have we exchanged our birthright for?

Like the hairy man Esau, who, in a moment of hunger, exchanged his birthright for a bowl of red stew, we have exchanged our birthright for brief moments of pleasure and satisfaction.

We slave and work to acquire material wealth and worldly power. And like all true vices, wealth and power are incapable of providing lasting satisfaction. We only need look at the wealthiest and most powerful among us to prove that truth: they always crave for more. Always more.

To the detriment of the rest of humanity.

Like the proverbial rich fool, we have become so enamored with our wealth and power that we build fortresses around them, thinking to protect them from those who would take them from us.

But lo! We have taken that even one step further! We seek to beat future thieves and robbers by oppressing and harassing them with the products of our riches: weaponry and technology so advanced that none can hope to overcome them.

We have forged for ourselves a sword so sharp that we have ended up cutting ourselves.

Are we truly beyond reason so as not to recognize the predicament we are in?

Our science is so advanced that we can predict certain physical events with pinpoint accurately, but we cannot predict our own doom?

Truly the Messiah admonished:

' You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don't know how to interpret the signs of the times!

(Matthew 16:3 NLT)

If any fingers are being pointed here, they point primarily to myself, for I too am guilty of falling short of our Creator’s expectations.

Why is it, that out of the billions of stars in our galaxy, we have yet to find other signs of life?

Perhaps we are looking at it from the wrong perspective.

Perhaps we do not find life, because we have not gone there yet.

A promise was given to our supposed forefather Abraham who was once Abram:

Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, "Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have!"

(Genesis 15:5 NLT)

Billions upon billions of stars. Galaxies. Whole solar systems. Uninhabited. Unoccupied.

Waiting.

Waiting for the miracle of life.

What have we exchanged our birthright for?

I carry the grief of generations past. Will there be generations left to grieve when I am gone?