The Author

Revelations 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Having an account of the past, the present and the future, whatever God does, that's the way it's going to be, always.

Ecclesiastes 3:14-15 I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him. That which is has already been, And what is to be has already been; And God requires an account of what is past.

But there is one thing that God can not do.

Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,

Aside from the surprising truth that He can not lie, this sinful act of burning the innocents never ever come into His mind.

Jeremiah 19:4-5 “Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents (they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind),

Including the incident when the woman boiled and ate their own son sharing even some of the cooked flesh to others for supper.

2 Kings 6:28-29 Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”

God is the beginning and the end, whatever happens in the middle will not affect or change the conclusion of the Story, perfectly made by the author in to His own delight.

The Unforgiven Sins

The prayer of the faithful will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

1 John 5:16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.

If the sins are committed before we come to the knowledge of the truth, the sins can be forgiven.

Hebrews 5:13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

For even adults are considered babes in faith if they have no knowledge in the word of righteousness.

Hebrews 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

For if anyone who come to the knowledge of the truth and again If we give up and turn our backs on all we've learned, all we've been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ's sacrifice and are left on our own to face the Judgment

Hebrews 10:26-27 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

Those are the sins leading to death - the unforgiven sins!

Matter Of Choice

Celibacy is defined as the lifestyle of someone who is, and is striving to remain, unmarried all his/her life. It is also used to describe a state of life where one chooses to abstain from all sexual activities (also known as "continence"). Often, it is incorrectly used to refer a mixed or an involuntary or even temporary abstinence from sexual relations – celibacy is by definition a freely chosen state of being unmarried and practicing sexual abstinence.

Vegetarianism is the practice of following a diet based on plant-based foods including fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, nuts, and seeds, with or without dairy products and eggs. Vegetarians do not eat meat, game, poultry, fish, crustacea, shellfish, or products of animal slaughter such as animal-derived gelatin and rennet.

Both lifestyle & practice is a matter of choice & enforcing it as a doctrine of faith in order to deceive the faithful is against God & Christ.

1 Timothy 4:1-5 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

In fact, Peter was commanded to kill and eat animals.

Acts 10:12-15 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.”

Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods, are forms of deceitful illusion in disguise to turn away someone from his faith.

Marry or not to marry, eat or not to eat, they are all acceptable. Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks.

Without Blemish

I wonder why the burnt offerings made unto God are without blemish. God is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.

Leviticus 22:19 you shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats.

The offerings are to be eaten by the children of Aaron.

1 Corinthians 9:13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?

Leviticus 6:18 All the males among the children of Aaron may eat it. It shall be a statute forever in your generations concerning the offerings made by fire to the LORD. Everyone who touches them must be holy.

The offerings that comes from the good heart of the giver makes the children of Aaron holy or without blemish.

Matthew 23:19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

All these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

Matthew 5:23-24 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Live such good lives among the unbelievers that they may see your good deeds and glorify God.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The gifts, the giver, the recipient of the gifts must therefore be without blemish to become holy in the eyes of God.

The Poor Rich

Leviticus 23:22 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.’”

Reading this verse, I can't help but to thank God and praise Him.

A poor family like us, have experienced going to the field after peanut harvesters are gone. True enough, inside the soil are ground nuts remnants. We call this process in Ilokano vernacular "Tudtod" (picking of whatever remaining on the ground).

In a fish pond for example, when harvesters are gone, we took possession of the pond and inside those muddy areas we still catch some fish, big and small, enough viand for a day or two.

Well, that is life living far from the City. Here, the poor are entirely dependent on jobs and helps from the government. Even the goods coming from generous heart, local or international, intended for those affected by calamities are not exempted from some greedy people the victims thought to rescue.

Ezekiel 22:29 The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger.

Some Leaders are corrupt. Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. They all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, from his own territory. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world?

Proverbs 22:16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches, And he who gives to the rich, will surely come to poverty.

A Gift From God

We sometimes blame God for the frustrations and disappointments we have experienced in life. The question is, Are bad things really comes from above?

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

A water for example is a good gift coming from above. It is a combination of 2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen (H2O). Taking the hydrogen and mixing it with another kind of elements to form a weapon of mass destruction will then become an invention from man's ingenuity and definitely not from God.

A banana fruit for example is a valuable source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, and potassium. The inner part can be eaten raw or cooked by adding sugar but excessive consumption of sugar has been associated with increased incidence of type 2 diabetes, obesity and tooth decay.

The secret word is originality, thus, adding, mixing, mingling, budding, grafting, deducting anything to it, is often times dangerous.

As good wife comes from the Lord.

Proverbs 19:14 House and riches [are] the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife [is] from the LORD.

Same with religion which is the Church of God.

2 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy [our] brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:

The emergence of different religions, sects and other denomination is a product of man's inventions unmindful of the good and perfect gifts that comes from above.

Deuteronomy 12:32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

Revelation 22:18-19 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Do you know of a perfect gift from above that has been changed by man rather than accepting as it is presented to us?

Left And Right

Matthew 6:3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

Reading this verse, I said, it is very impossible that the right hand would not know what the left hand was doing. Wonder why Jesus taught us this way while He Himself knows even a slight touch of his clothes.

Mark 5: 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”

Luke 8:46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”

I consider Matthew 6:3 as a solid food since it can not be digested by babes in faith.

Hebrews 5:14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Driving for example is a very good example of what I want to convey.

The senses of a new driver does not work well in the beginning but will work well in the long run. Eyes front, ears listening, left hand on the wheel, the right hand on shifting gear, left foot on clutch, right foot on accelerator and brake - Making them all busy is to know not what the others are doing for they work independently. This is the meaning of senses exercised mentioned in Hebrews 5:14.

Clearly, the left hand knows what the right hand is doing only when the left hand is not busy and not doing anything.