Review "Into the Wild"

There are those films which I wish I had never seen in the first place, “The Dawn of the Dead”, “The Reaping” and the most recent one “Into the Wild”.
Each of these films left me feeling worse than when I first stepped into the cinema. And I think “Into the Wild” has the biggest impact, because it is based on a true story.
When I saw the interview of the author, the director and the actor on Oprah Show, it really pushed my desire to watch this film. On the interview, a lot of emphasis was given to the process of the filming, how real the whole experience was to the actor, how he had to put himself into a kayak and actually paddle down the roaring river; how he was floating in the icy-cold water, how he nearly lost his life during the process.
The actor actually specifically mentioned it was once in a life time experience-in a positive way, he got to experience a lot of the things Christopher did; he got to see all the beautiful natural sceneries of the continent of North America; though on the other hand, don’t forget, beautiful sceneries as such, often seem challenging, and remind us just how powerless we are as human beings.
I knew finally Christopher died, and I thought I was ready to handle seeing the dead body of Christopher in the film, but apparently I wasn’t.
The story happened in the early 1990s, when I just started to learn how to write pinyin and basic Chinese characters, started to learn basic numeracy, when I did not know anything.
Christopher grew up in a dysfunctional family, family life was a torture to him and his sister, he excelled in his studies, but contrary to other graduates which the same grades, he did not start to seek employment, and he did not go straight into Harvard Law. Instead, he took this drastic move, he chose to run away. In his own eyes, though at least, in his words, he did not admit he was in escape, he just wanted to live for just once; he wanted to retreat, but to retreat to the “real life”, he wanted liberation, liberation from the materialism of the society, he wanted simplicity, a life where money is no longer meaningful, and people don’t need to be cautious.
“20 or so years olds who don’t believe in Communism don’t have a dream, and those above 40 who still believe in Communism are foolish.”
Christopher wanted a life without all the strives he had witnessed in the society, so he sought a life all on his own in the wild Alaska.
On his way, he spent time with the Hippies. I don’t know if Hippies was still a fashionable thing by then. But really, watching the Hippies made me feel weird, made me feel hopeless, disoriented, it poses a life without a direction. Pure rebellion, a community that was totally unrelated to the value of the main stream American society, but they themselves were seeking, via different means, including drugs and Eastern mysticism.
Christopher was so disgusted with the American dream, that he felt more at home with the Hippies value; he was never brought up in that system, but this word family seemed so revolting to him, that it drove him further and further away from what his parents attempted to form him into.
Christopher went on with his “Great Alaskan Adventure”, and finally in Alaska, he tried to survive under the toughest conditions, he never wanted to die, he wanted to “live”, yet he knew there were a lot of risks that he had to take if he even wanted to “survive” in the wilderness all on his own. He took no map, limited supplies, refused to get oriented with the landscape before he set his food in the thick snow. He wanted to feel strong, at least, once in his lifetime.
All the beautiful natural sceneries could constitute an unforgettable, even pleasant (albeit extremely harsh) journey. But it ended a tragedy.
Having eaten poisonous plants, he literally had to watch himself die. It’s one thing to be struck by lightning, and another thing to starve to death as a result of poisoning.
Before he died, he penned down “happiness is real when shared”; he though he was happy, he felt happy in his “Great Alaskan Adventure”, but at the final moments, he found out, he’d rather reward his parents’ evil with a smile and a hug. But I know, it could never have become possible, he had his “principles”, he had his own set of values, and he would not bow down his head before the materialism he so despised and his parents who represented the value of the American society, the embodiment of the American dream.
An adventure ended in a fatal tragedy. It’s hard to watch someone die. I felt extremely uncomfortable listening to the accelerating heart beat of Christopher and then its sudden end.
He did realize he he had been running away from reality, though in his own words “seeking the truth”, instead of facing what had been his nightmare.
Having enjoyed the nature of America, it became the last page in his life, and all was too late, no more chance to face the reality, and to deal with it, to come up with a solution, or at least, some improvement.
Movies like this naturally make me think of my own life; we are all going to die, in our last minutes, if we are conscious, how will we evaluate our whole life, will we regret, be sorry and wish we could get another chance?
King Solomon’s wisdom still amazes me just when it’s least expected.
He said:
Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these [things] God will bring thee into judgment. (Ecc 11:9)
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; Also [when] they shall be afraid of [that which is] high, and fears [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all [is] vanity... And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books [there is] no end; and much study [is] a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil. (Ecc 12)

Love life, and live it to the full, even do go on journeys of unforgettable adventure, traveling around New Zealand sounds like a cool idea. Bu treasure it, treasure life, take necessary steps to protect yourself, take a map, keep in touch with family and friends; because we only get to live this life once, and there is no repeat if we fail ourselves.
“Happiness is real when shared”

Initial 03.12.2007
Revised 04.12.2007

Blogged with Flock

Worried about Myanmar

Peaceful demonstration, people's support; the government's crack down.

All seem so familiar, and all seem so scary.

It has reminded me of the Tian'anmen Square Massacre 18 years ago; students protesting against the government peacefully, demanding the punishment of the corrupt officials, and the government sent tanks into the city, it is estimated 2000-4000 civilians were killed.

Will this be the outcome of this pro-democracy demonstration in Myanmar?

I don't want a massacre like the one in Beijing to ever happen again anywhere in the world; I deeply feel for the Burmese people, and I wish them a soon coming democratic Myanmar.

Eyes of a King

Eyes of a King
NKJ Exodus 33:18-20—And he [Moses] said, “Please, show me Your glory.” Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”

Moses was truly a man of God, he was a prophet, and a leader Yahweh has chosen for Israel. Of the whole Israel, if anyone were qualified to see Yahweh, it would have been Moses-or so we suppose. But the verse above seems to indicate that even Moses could not see God face to face. Why? Is it because God's face is like a top secret that whoever has seen it would be killed afterwards? Or was God's face so ugly that we just cannot bear it?

Regardless, it is however interesting to see another verse that is somehow related to this verse.

Hebrews 12:22-29
22But ye have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the Jerusalem that is in heaven; and to the assemblies of myriads of angels; 23and to the church of the first-born, who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all; and to the spirits of the just, who are perfected; 24and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant; and to the sprinkling, of his blood, which speaketh better than that of Abel. 25Beware, therefore, lest ye refuse to hear him who speaketh with you. For if they escaped not, who refused to hear him who spake with them on the earth, how much more shall we not, if we refuse to hear him who speaketh with us from heaven? 26Whose voice then shook the earth; but now he hath promised, and said, yet again once more, I will shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27And this his expression, Once more, indicateth the mutation of the things that are shaken, because they are fabricated; that the things which will not be shaken, may remain. 28Since, therefore, we have received a kingdom that is unshaken, let us grasp the grace whereby we may serve and please God, with reverence and fear. 29For our God is a consuming fire.

This paragraph says Mount Zion is the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and where myriads of angels dwell. Zion means he peak, the most elevated place, Zion is the top, the crescendo, the zenith, the high point, and the Bible calls you and me to Mount Zion. But the problem is, in verse 22 we are called to come to Mount Zion, up up up, yet in verse 29, we encounter a God who is a consuming fire, we encounter the most solemn of all realities; we are called to encounter a consuming fire.

There are other Mount Zion verses in the Bible.

Psalm 48:2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of all the land, Is Mount Zion, in the recesses of the north,—The city of a great king.

Psalm 84: 1-7
1To the Chief Musician. On "the Gittith." For the Sons of Korah. A Melody. How lovely are thy habitations, O Yahweh of hosts! 2My soul, longeth—yea even languisheth—for the courts of Yahweh,—My heart and my flesh, shout aloud for a Living GOD. 3Even the sparrow, hath found a home, And, the swallow, a nest for herself, where she hath laid her young, Thine altars, O Yahweh of hosts, My king and my God! 4How happy are they who abide in thy house,—Still are they praising thee. Selah. 5How happy the men whose strength is in thee, Festive processions are in their heart. 6Passing through the balsam-vale, A place of fountains, they make it, Yea, with blessings, is it covered by the early rain. 7They go from strength to strength, Each one appeareth before God in Zion.

What a passion, what a longing, for those who have made their pilgrimage to Mount Zion to appear before a consuming fire! And not only that, they equated Mount Zion to the nest of swallows, they felt perfectly at home on Mount Zion.

But why is Mount Zion so attractive? Because God is beautiful, God is delightful.
Psalm 27:4 One thing, have I asked of Yahweh, That, will I seek to secure,—That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh, all the days of my life, To view the delightfulness of Yahweh, And to contemplate in his temple.

Psalm 99:1 Yahweh, hath become king, Let the peoples, tremble, He is enthroned on the cherubim, Let the earth, shake. 2 Yahweh, in Zion, is great, And, high, is he over all the peoples.

Our God who dwells in Mount Zion is high above all people, and we are called to ascend the hill of Yahweh, we are called to move to an elevated direction towards Him.
And there is an awakening truth awaiting us on Mount Zion, we are more and more deeply impressed with how beautiful God is, yet, there is fire there, between the cherubim, there is glory, at a level of brightness that is illuminating, that everything becomes open and exposed, becomes clear in that light.
Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw My Lord, sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and, his skirts, did fill the temple, 2Seraphim, were standing above him; six wings severally, had each one,—With twain, he covered his face And with twain, he covered his feet And with twain, he did fly. 3And they continued crying out one to another, and said, Holy—holy—holy, is Yahweh of hosts,—the fullness of the whole earth, is his glory. 4And the foundations of the porch, were moved at the voice of him that cried,—and the house, was filled with smoke. 5Then said I—Woe to me!—for I am undone, Because a man of unclean lips, am, I, And in the midst of a people of unclean lips, do I dwell,—For the King. Yahweh of hosts, have mine eyes seen!
In the presence of Yahweh's glory, we suddenly become keenly aware that we are out of harmony, seeing God, apart from seeing His perfect brightness, we also see ourselves in a crystal clear way, that our heart, our thought, our intention, they are all exposed to ourselves, with no part hidden.
Some verses indicate that our God is unapproachable, but we are called to approach; but cautiously, not with arrogance, no chest uplifted, but with humble boldness before the throne of grace, with confidence that is overwhelmed, with a sense of worthlessness there, boldness no less, confidence no less.
However, interestingly, though the Bible tells us sinners shall die, woe are we when we see the face of God, it does not say God will smite them.
NKJ Revelation 6:15-16—And the kings of the earth, the great men,
the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb.”
Have you ever seen an angry lamb? There is truly nothing terrifying in a lamb, but why are they all terrified? That a lamb caused them to run? Yahshua here does not appear as the lion of Judah, but the lamb that was slain, ever so humble, ever so non-condemning. It's because before the consuming fire, they see themselves clearly, and they become intensely uncomfortable in the presence of God, seeking to relieve themselves.
Isaiah 33:17-18—Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; they will
behold a far-distant land. Your heart will meditate on terror.
Proverbs 28:1—The wicked flee when no one is pursuing.
The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, the people are afraid of the Lamb, when the Lamb was not pursuing, when they are smitten by their own conscience. But it is at the same moment when these people are molten by their terror, the other people welcome the arrival of their God, with open arms, they, the pilgrims to Mount Zion, finally feel perfectly at home in the presence of God.
If God is not holding a condemning attitude, why do we run away from Him then?
This started from all the way back in Genesis.
When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they realized what they had just done; they thought God was condemning them; we might also imagine that, but if we take a closer look at the story, God asked them, where are you. Can you imaging His tone? Suppose if His tone was harsh and condemning, they wouldn't have answered Him, would they? The very act that they dared to answer God and told Him they ate the fruit was a sign God was not asking them in a judgmental tone. Yet why did they still try to push their responsibility away? Because even being questioned by God in a caring manner, the feeling of being condemned was still in their heart.
If you are a clean freak, I would not let you into my room, as it is very messy. Unless we are very close friends. You may not actually say anything about my room, but internally I would feel inferior, I would think, My goodness, what would he think about my room, especially compared to his own room. I would just be so embarrassed to let you see my room.
But this is just on a microscale level.
When we talk about the wicked, we most often talk about what's going on with their body, the physical loss. We focus on the physical burning; yet have you noticed, when you are experiencing internal conflicts, sorrows, heartache, it actually hurts more?
For example, why are there self-injurers? One of the reasons people cut or hit themselves is, they are experiencing intense internal pain, emotional and psychological pain, that one way for them to divert their attention is to inflict physical pain so they would feel better.
And sometimes, internal suffering causes external results; if an old lady with a heart condition suddenly loses her only child, there is a greater likelihood for her to have a heart attack as well.
The reason the sinners tremble in the presence of God's glory is not so much of a condemnation from God, but when they see God, and in His brightness they see their own sins, all in a nanosecond they see all the things they have ever done in their whole life, compared to God's perfect beauty, they feel they are undone, they feel they are totally out of harmony with God, what they will experience is like me letting a clean freak taking a tour of my room, I would feel so embarrassed; and what the sinners will experience is even larger, they will feel the intense shame, guilt, self-condemnation. These emotional and psychological torments are so intense that they will cause them to shout to the mountains and rocks to fall on them, to hide them from God.
But it is another story if we know we are perfectly loved by God, that he absolutely will never stop loving you, if you know that God's love for you is fully unconditional, is not based on who you are or what you do, but solely on the fact that God is love; then He can talk to you, you can feel, you can respond to His embrace.
Let's look at the woman caught in adultery, brought to Yahshua.
What would have she felt in front of Yahshua? What would she have felt about God's attitude towards her?
Being brought up in a Jewish society, she would have thought, now I'm finished, they'll all stone me, and God hates me, God must have forsaken me, and I'll be cut off.
Yet, Yahshua standing before her, God Himself standing in front of the woman, and His very first words were “I don't condemn you”. What does Yahshua mean? It means, Yahshua has forgiven her, He doesn't hate her, He is not angry, We might focus more on the “go and sin no more”, but ignore the forgiveness which empowers us to go and sin no more. Before, her image of Yahshua this man, followed by crowds, respected as a Rabbi, a man of God, would execute justice towards her, and be the first one to stone her; now her image of God was changed. When everyone wanted to represent God to terminate her life, God His very self stood up, having forgiven the woman before she ever repented yet, protected her, released her, gave her assurance that she is much more valuable than how she thought of herself. Now the woman will start her journey to a place where she will feel at home in the house of Yahweh.
Ephesians 5:13All things, however, when reproved by the light, become manifest, for, all that of itself maketh manifest, is, light; 14Wherefore it saith—Up! thou sleeper, and arise from among the dead, and the Christ will shine upon thee.
What God is like exposes what we are like, it reveals how we are unlike Him; when we see God selflessness, we realize our selfishness; when we see God's generosity, we see our meanness, when we see God's long-suffering, we see our inpatience...
Have you ever wronged someone, then found it difficult to make eye contacts with them? Because you were feeling intensely guilty before them? If we would experience in front of people, let alone that we have wronged God, and when we see Him, see his selflessness, love, mercy, greatness, we just become keenly aware of what we have done.
And we would experience guilt, shame, emotional and psychological torment, under which, we cannot bear the weight, we are crushed. That is why God is so beautiful, and the Bible does call us to Mount Zion, the Mountain of Yahweh, but even the prophets could not see God face to face, lest they see their own sins all in a nanosecond and the self-condemnation, shame and guilt, emotional and psychological torments would crush them right there and then.
God is beautiful, He is so beautiful and He longs to show His beauty to us; but He knows if we could see His face, we would be overwhelmed and die. That was why in the sanctuary, there was a courtyard, the holy place and the most holy place, and God dwelling in the most holy place, unapproachable by the common people, yet revealing indications of His glory through all the details regarding the sanctuary, serious rituals, through His design of the sanctuary.
God reveals Himself to His children as the rising of the sun, gradually, leading us closer and higher, showing His glory which is His character, so that we are not blinded by the light, but become in tune with His characters; so that we are not dead in His immediate presence, but gradually we come to a point that even our faces would reflect God's glory as if our faces are shining.
In the sanctuary, Yahweh dwells behind the courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place; He veiled Himself mercifully, but painfully, because He is so willing to reveal Himself to us bright and beautiful, reveal Himself in His full glory, but He knows we would perish if we see His perfect characters, and our own imperfect characters, we shall vanish.
So we can take measured steps, slowly taking in, steps by steps towards him, until finally we are perfectly at home right in the immediate radiance of His glory.
God does not warn us against sin because sin is fun, and He does not want us to have pleasure; But because sin produces guilt and shame and all the emotional and psychological torment. Angels hang around with God and they do not die; if all in a sudden we can see all our sins, they would be too much, and overwhelm us.
Genesis 2:17 in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shelf die.
God is not saying, if you eat the fruit, I will kill you; He was portraying a mere cause and effect, if you eat the fruit, death will be a natural consequence.
Herb was caught smoking by his mother, and his mother warned him, “if I ever catch you smoking again, you don't need to worry about lung cancer, because I'll kill you.” Herb never smoked again, initially because of his fear of being caught by his mother; because when he was trying out smoking, lung cancer seemed so far away, what his mother was doing was to bring the consequence of his smoking closer to him, to remind him that the final consequence of smoking was death, he might not have been able to see that, so she was there to let him know. After Herb became an adult, he still chose not to smoke, though his mother was not physically capable of killing him now, but now Herb realized what would kill him was not his mother, but smoking; now not for the fear of mom, but the consequence of smoking, he is wise enough not to smoke. His mother did not want to kill him, and did not want Herb to quit smoking due to his fear of her, but that he would understand the reason behind it, so he would have the wisdom to make such a choice that was best for him.
There are a lot of instances in the Bible when God warned people that if they continued in sin, He would scatter them, or He would smite them.
Harsh language.
But isn't that similar to what Herb's mother was doing to Herb? It may seem that God just wants to punish us when we do wrong, but really, it is the sins that will finally kill us, yet, when we are in the temporary pleasure of sin, we cannot see the future result of our sinning, we think we are having fun, making some choices that are good for us; so now God needs to step in, and bring the consequences of our sinning forward, in hope that we could realize it, and grow up, become mature enough not to sin, and not for the cause of fear of God, but that we shall know sin is our enemy, not God.
God does not say all the fun stuff are wrong, and all the boring stuff are good; He knows what will truly bring us pleasure.
Yahshua came to save us from our sins, but not from an angry God.
Hebrews 9:14—How much more, then, will the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God,
cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may
serve the living God!
The blood of Christ is not to inspire God to forgive us, nor is it to cleanse God's heart from His anger towards the human race; rather, as plainly stated in this verse, it is to cleanse our consciences from our own sins.

And when we realize, and experience that God is a consuming fire, He is hot, yet to some, the word “hot” means attractive; to the others, it means burning. Nevertheless He is not the one who is hostile towards us; it is merely such a consequence of our sins, that if we cannot feel totally at home in His immediate presence, our conscience will torment us, the condemnation we have towards ourselves will devour us. God does not change, He holds the same love for each one of us, what is different is our perception of Him, finally, the destruction of the wicked is better described as suicide.
Come to Mount Zion, where our God dwells, where His glory and beauty shine, step by step, “Behold your God”, and “by beholding, we become changed.”

WHY DID GOD ALLOW THIS?

WHY DID GOD ALLOW THIS?
Sometimes I hear preachers say, the word “love” is used so often in this society that this word has lost its weight, its significance. Christians still tell people that God loves them, sometimes vague, sometimes specific; and some people ponder on what the words mean, and become angry, some respond with an “amen”, while there are some others just ignore what we are telling them.
Sometimes, I believe, those who respond with anger are more honest than those who say “amen”.
Once, my while my favorite preacher encountered a woman after one of his presentations. She walked straight towards him, with a look that seems to indicate that she wanted to slap him.
Then she said “Don't you dare to tell me that God loves me. If God loves me as you said He does, why did He allow me to be sexually abused by my father who was a Christian minister?”
What are you thinking? What are you feeling in your heart? Do you feel a tension in your heart, or a sense of sadness reading what had happened to this woman?
Her question is valid, isn't it? And surely I believe it does not deserve to be ignored.
I actually believe, there are a lot of people holding the same question. They wonder, if God really loves me, and I hope He does, why has He allowed so many tragedies to happen to me? A lot of them still believe that God exists, they still want to continue to believe in God, so they withhold this question in their heart, but they would not ask, dare not to mention what they are really thinking and that they are hurting, though seems as if they have ignored this concern, the question is simply buried underneath layers of other concerns, but still affecting the person's heart, mind and their daily life. They dare not ask people this very important question, and even if such a question was asked, we might tend to shun away from it; because both parties are worried that questions like this would shaken our faith.
“I want to believe th God loves me just the way you say He does, but why did God allow me to be raped.”
“I had 5 friends, and we were the best friends; and in one day, all 5 of them died in different incidences. If there was a God, I could not see how He could allow things like this to happen.”
These are genuine concerns.
The Bible actually does not promise that we will all live a wonderful life, though it has stated clearly that this world was created by God. We will all get hurt to some degree, in fact, I believe all of us have experienced hurts more than enough; though, the Bible also tells us that is not the way the world was intended to be when God was creating the universe.
One of the greatest obstacles for people to feel, and not just to intellectually know that God loves them is, they look at their lives, the things gong on in their lives, the things going on in this world, and the tragedies, they either see God as the responsible one, or they say, I can't see how there could be a God allowing all these to be happening, there isn't God. For those who still believe that there is a God, whether He allowed or caused the sad things to happen, it doesn't matter to them, they hold God accountable.
We may tell people we love them, we care for them; but if we do nothing for them, would they believe our words? Action or words, which speaks louder?
When one parent abuses the child, the other parent knows what's happening, has the power to help the child, but stands by; is there any difference between these 2 parents in the eyes of the child?
I'd figure no.
So, though intellectually, most of us Christians might know Satan is the great propeller behind all these tragedies, we don't blame Satan or the people who have chosen to do bad things, we blame God: Why are You allowing him to do this to me?
And underlying our reaction is a mindset, a way of thinking:
If God wanted to prevent something, He would or He could, if He didn't prevent something, it mens He must have wanted it to happen.
When when something bad happens to us, we ask God, “Why did You want this to happen to me? I thought You loved me!”
But if this line of thinking was true, then everything that happens in this world, God has wanted them to happen, and we would say, everything happens is God's will; and then we would say, everything happens for a divine reason or a divine purpose.
But I want to throw you a few words, and think about these words, in the context of a God of love, that these are His will, He has a purpose for all these happening.
Rape.
Child molestation.
Terrorist attacks.
Organ harvesting.
The Holocaust.
Could a God of love will these to happen for a divine reason?
If this is not true, then logically we come to the conclusion that there are things happening in this world that are not willed by God. And therefore, there isn't a purpose for these things to happen.
In the Lord's prayer, we pray, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
From this part of the prayer, we learn that God's will is currently carried out in Heaven, but it is not so on earth, or we would not need to pray that God's will to be done on earth.
Luke 7:30 “...the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel ('will' used in the stead of 'counsel') of God against themselves...”
According to this verse, is it possible for us to reject the will of God? Yes.
But, in Christian history, there was one man, who shaped Christianity, across Catholicism, Orthodox Church and even Protestant churches, like no other person but Yahshua; and his name was Augustine. He taught, nothing happens unless the divine will wanted it to happen.
Scriptures like Luke 7:30 brought to him, and he would say, in rejecting God's will, they fulfilled the will of God, because it was God's will for them to reject His will.
And this also leads to the conclusion that God wills some to be lost.
So did they reject God's will or fulfill God's will?
Why don't we just let the Bible speak for itself?
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is ... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
The Bible indicates us that God wills all to be saved, Augustine, however, taught God wills some not to be saved.
Process this for a minute, and we'll come back in a few lines.
Is it possible for us to delay, to reject God's will?
Is it possible for us to prevent God's will from happening? According to the scripture we discussed earlier, it is absolutely possible.
But is it possible for us to prevent God's will from ever taking place through the ceaseless age of eternity?
Think about it.
I can sense a controversy.
Well, does God will everyone to be saved? Will there be some people who prevent that from ever taking place through the ceaseless age of eternity?
Will all be saved? Is God's will for all to be saved? Will there be some who will never be saved?
And I think the answer is quite obvious.
So there are some aspects of God's will that we can even prevent from happening through the ceaseless ages of eternity.

Now, we say God is all powerful, El Shadai meaning God Almighty, we say God is omnipotent. So can God do absolutely anything?
Titus 1:2 “...God, that cannot lie...”
So, at least, there is one thing that God cannot do; He cannot lie.
Can God make a round triangle?
Some may say yes, and I'm not going to ask you how. But look at the definition of a triangle, it has three straight sides; and if you make it round, it becomes a circle, it's no longer a triangle.
There are things that even God cannot do, yet it's not saying God is not really all powerful, it's to say, there are certain things, that by their very definition and nature, even God cannot do.
Can God make you love Him?
I'm not asking will God make you love Him, I'm asking, can He make you love Him?
Let's imagine there was a computer chip that, once installed behind someone's ear, could manipulate his brain wave so he can love the one who controls the computer chip. Imagine a man has installed this computer chip behind the ear of his wife, and he now could make his wife willing to do anything for him. Now, can you say, now, his wife is loving him? I don't think so. Because really, it's not his wife loving him, it's the computer chip, and who is using the computer chip, the man himself. So it's the man loving himself. But we learned earlier, love by definition must starts with one, and ends somewhere else, if it starts with one, and ends with him, then we cannot even call it love, because now it is not other centered, but self centered.
If God made us “love” Him, it's not even us loving Him, but He is “loving” Himself, and it's not even love now.
So God cannot even make us love Him.
To apply force to the subject of love, the source of that ove and the recipient of the love becomes one and the same, and it ceases to be love any more. God made us for love, love cannot be forced, the capacity to love requires something in order for it to happen.
It requires freedom.
2 Cor 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
God has given us freedom, it's His principle. He will do anything to ensure that we are free.
Because only in freedom, can love exist. Since at the very moment He makes us “love” Him, it ceases to be love; the only moment we can love Him is when there is no force. When we can freely choose whether or not we will love Him.
But if we are free, that means, there are times when we can say No to God.
A lot of people think, God is in control of everything going on in this world, but the Bible tells us:
The heaven, even the heavens, are Yahweh's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. Psalm 115:16
So, we are the legal managers of this earth, and God has given us the freedom to choose if we will let God's will to be done on earth or not; and God respects this freedom He's given us.
Now, I would like you to imagine a scenario.
If a man controls everything his wife does, when she gets up, when and what she makes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, when she does grocery shopping, what friends she can make, he even sets up bathroom break times for her. Would you call him a loving husband?
I think not.
Another point I want to make is, for freedom to be meaningful, it needs to be irrevocable.
What does it mean?
It means, if I give you 2 options, I really really want you to choose A, but if you choose B, I can't do anything to make you choose A. All because of the freedom you have.
Ecc 9:11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
This verse tells us, things can go wrong, there are chances.
Acts 10:38 God anointed Yahshua of Nazareth ... healing all that were oppressed of the devil...
Yahshua healed ALL that were oppressed of the devil, and I think we can see His attitude towards all.
I can say with confidence that He wants to prevent all rapes, all murders, all child molestations, all holocausts...
But there are times that He just cannot.
One Sabbath, a lady gave a testimony, giving thanks to God because the Friday before, she prayed for her child's safe arrival back home, as it was his first time driving that long. And he arrived home safely. But another lady stood up, and walked out of the church. When the preacher asked her what was going on, she said, she, too was praying for her daughter's safe arrival, but she was hit by a drunk driver, and she was in hospital. She asked, was she so much a sinner that God would not listen to her prayers?
I don't think it's fair to have God exclusively in this picture.
Maybe the driver was drunk was because he felt depressed, he felt depressed was because he just lost his job, and he lost his job was because of the downsizing economy, which is so complex that it is affected by multiple factors.
But really, whatever God can prevent, He always will.
Remember, the earth is given to the sons of men. He has given us freedom, but freedom takes risks. And we are the residents of this earth, we can exercise our freedom to invite God to participate in what we do, or we can choose to follow Satan.
When we pray, we align ourselves with God's will, but the problem is, we are not the only residents on the earth, right now there are more people choosing to let Satan in.
That's when we need to balance out by praying, by giving God permission.
You may argue, I'd rather have a world that's secure but not risky, without all the freedom and the complications.
Well, there is a place where the people do get 3 meals a day, they have a bed to sleep in, they have a job to do, with minimal pay, they may even have a gym to work out; but they have no freedom.
What is this place?
The jail.
It's only in freedom can love be generated, therefore we can truly experience the pleasure of love.
You ask, what about the freedom of the victims?
Well, true, it's scientifically proven, a theory called 6 degrees of separation, which means, name one person in this world, anyone, would know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows you. We all do things everyday, may be good, may be bad, and they do not only affect ourselves, they affect people who we cannot even name them. And the Bible doesn't tell us that what we do to each other is always fair, but what God does is always fair.
In Daniel 10; it tells us a story of Daniel asking God for the interpretation of a vision. He prayed for 21 days, before he heard the interpretation from the angel sent to him.
We might tend to think, if by day 10 there's no anything happening, probably God doesn't want me to pray about it.
But Daniel persisted, and on the 21st day, he saw the result.
Surprisingly to us though, is, God did not wait until the 21st day to answer Daniel's prayer; He immediately sent the angel to answer Daniel's prayer, but because the enemy tried to stop God's will being carried out, it took that long for Gabriel to reach Daniel.
Imagine if Daniel stopped praying on the 18th day, Satan would have had another accusation against Daniel, telling Yahweh, Daniel doesn't need You any more, he's not interested in the interpretation any more.
A final word.
We are suffering, a lot of the times caused by other people. When bad things happen, we cannot call them good, because
Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
But the Bible does promise, God first of all is suffering with us.
Matt 25:42-45
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Never has a woman been raped, a child been molested, a man been murdered, that God was not raped, molested or murdered.
The Bible also tells us, though the bad things are bad, God can heal us, like the story of Joseph, he was sold to Egypt, his brothers meant evil, but God delivered him.
God also promised
Rev. 21:4
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
It may take days, weeks, months, years or even decades for Him to wipe away our tears with His gentle hand, not to force us to abandon our emotions, but to truly experience His healing, and no matter how long it will take, we will be healed.

Finally, investors risk their investment depending on the payout, the more payout there could be, the more money they are willing to invest, to risk.
God took a risk, He gave us freedom, knowing we could misuse this freedom against Him, but He also fully knew only on the foundation of freedom, can He get our love.

To Love and Be Loved

Look deep into your heart, what are you looking for? What's your deepest desires? What do you think can satisfy you?
Think deep.

Have you found what you are looking for? And have you found satisfaction?

Psalm 63:1—My soul thirsts . . . , my flesh yearns . . . , in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
How often do I feel the same way? How often do you feel the same way? How often do we feel the same way that King David felt? Do we feel the thirst, the yearning for God in our soul, in our flesh?
The world tells us there are a magic 3 that can guarantee us satisfaction.
Money is the big one, the more the better, and if you've got money, you will live a life that's the envy of others. The second one is power. The third one, sex.
They tell us, if we just can have these 3 things, we will be happy.
But it's interesting, because King David penned these words, his soul thirsts, his flesh yearns, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Did he have money? Did he have power? Did he have women? As a king who possessed all these things, in modern days, we would say, they've got a life that we can only dream of, they must be very happy. But wait, why was King David still longing for something more?
What did not satisfy King David, we think they will satisfy us. What King David was longing for, which is God, the society shuns away from Him, having this phobia of God, that we just do not want to talk about Him.
I don't really think it's because God is so boring, but that we hold a wrong image of Him. If we can see Him as He truly is, everything else will seem pale. Just like the famous Hymn, turn your eyes upon Jesus and look in His wonderful face, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim.
Psalm 63:1—A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of
Judah. O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul
thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where
there is no water.
King David was saying, my flesh is not yearning for money power and sex, but my flesh is yearning for God.
Psalm 145:15-16—The eyes of all look to You. . . . You open Your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
Do you believe what this verse is saying?
Do you believe right now, the eyes of all are looking to God?
Yes? No?
The world doesn't seem like a place where everyone is being a totally devout Christian, right? But the Bible still says, the eyes of all, even right now, are looking to God.
But, do they know it? Most of them do not. They may think they are looking for money power and sex, but what are they really looking for? They are looking for God.
BBE Psalm 145:16—By the opening of Your hand, every living thing
has its desire in full measure.
Whatever your desire is, in God you will find the full measure.
Do you feel a resistance to that? Do you feel hard to believe it?
If so, I would like to suggest, it really is not because there is something wrong with God, that God is not fulfilling, but because there's something defects in our perception of Him.
"Every time a man knocks on the door of a brothel he is looking for God." G. K. Chesterson
Agree? Don't agree?
What is a man looking for when he goes to a brothel? I would say, he is looking for love, but he is just looking for it in a place that is not capable of giving him true love.
The Bible, however, tells us that love comes from God because “God is love”.
Religion has painted God lots of dark pictures of a God who is not defined by love. But if we could see God as He truly is, we will find, actually, the eyes of all, right now are looking to God. And in Him, we will find full measure of all our desires.

Isaiah 6:8—Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I
send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
When we talk about “I”, how many people are there? One, it's singular. But wait, “who will go for US?” Why did it become a plural?
It seems that God can refer to Himself as an “I”, He can also refer to Himself as an “Us”.
I will call God a Singular Plurality.
Genesis 2:18—Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to
be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Why did God say, it is not good for man to be alone? Was it because there was some defects with Adam that God needed to create someone better?
Because there are good things that are by nature impossible for one to experience all alone. Like, telling jokes and laugh; like back massage; like giving surprises...
Like love.
It is impossible to experience love all by yourself.
You may say, you could love yourself.
But pay attention, love by definition, is something that begins with one, and finishes somewhere else. Love is a relationship, and love is other centered.
When you talk about love, if it begins with me, and ends with me, call it something else, but don't call it love. It's self respect, or self worth, but it is no love. And if it is other centered, it requires more than one person.
1 Cor 13 “Love... seeketh not her own things”
The Bible says, God is love.
Did God create love? No, love is not what God made, love is the identity of God, love is what God is. Has God always been existent?
Yes.
And if God is love, has love always been existent?
Sure.
Can you find a reason why God exists?
I don't think so.
Can you find a beginning for God?
No.
So can you find a beginning for love?
Impossible I would say.
Can you find a reason why love exists then?
The same thing.
Crystal asks Herb “Why do you love me?”
That question plagues Herb, because he reasoned in his heart, “If I say, it's because of your beautiful eyes, then what if one day she has a car accident and loses her eyes? If my love is based on her eyes, if her eyes fail, my love will fail. If I say, it's because of your winning personality. What if one day she just becomes grumpy? If my love is based on her personality, and her personality fails, my love will also fail. If I say it's because of you character, what if one day she has a moral failure, my love would fail with her moral failure.
But look at 1 Cor 13.
“Love, at no time, faileth”.
The definition of true love does not permit love to fail; that would mean, true love cannot be based on something that can fail.
Herb says, “If I can give a reason why I love, it would prove that is not true love. Because there is no reason for the existence of love.”
Let's take this concept back to God.
Why does God love you?
How many of us try to create reasons why God should love us?
“I've done this, I've done that; if only I can do this, I can have the assurance that God loves me.”
Does God love you because of who you are or because of who He is?
God loves you not because you are loving, but because God is loving. God is nice to you, not because you are a nice person, but because God is nice.
Many times, has religion painted a different picture of God?
But let's throw away what religion has painted, rather, let's just look at what the Bible portrays of God.
So stop trying to find reasons why God should love you, just accept the fact God loves you.
For love to be existent, there must be more than one person.
Has love always existed? Then has there always been an existence of more than one?
Yes, and the Bible paints them as this:
Matthew 28:19—“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 13:14—The grace of the Lord Yahshua the Messiah, and the love
of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
So the Bible seems to indicate the God whom we call a singular plurality is one, but made up of 3 also.

Imagine, back to the time before any creation. There was God and God alone, and yet He was not alone. The Father was living for the Son and the Spirit, the Son was living for the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit was living for the Father and the Son.
They were simultaneously loving while being loved by each other.
Imagine you were married to the most unselfish person in the world, your marriage was really wonderful. What adjectives would you use to describe you marriage?
How about “pleasurable”, would you say it is a pleasurable relationship?
We say “a pleasure to have this chat with you”, or “pleasure to be here”; but have you noticed how often we use this word to describe our relationship with God?
In Christian history, traditionally, spending time in the morning with God is called a discipline, or a Christian duty.
But imagine telling your loved one, spending time with you is a discipline and a duty.
We won't normally do that, right? But we do that with God.
Why?
We have a wrong picture of God. If your experience with God is filled with duty and discipline, instead of pleasure, you still do not see Him as He truly is.
God is the most unselfish person in the universe.
When we experience pleasure, what do we want to do?
Do we want to share it?
God, 3 persons, while loving and simultaneously being loved, were experiencing tremendous pleasure, and they had only one desire, they decided to share love with others.
He looked around in the universe, and no one else was there, so He decided to create free moral beings with the capacity to experience love.
Why are you here in the world today?
Not because God needed someone to worship Him-if that was God's motive, He's self-centered; but because He wanted you to experience pleasure of unselfish love.
God made you for pleasure. Pleasure! Not duty and discipline.
Why do we human beings long for love, to love and to be loved above everything else? Because we were made for it. And nothing can satisfy your heart like love can. If you think you've experienced love with another human being, wait till you experience love with God. Not just on an intellectual level, but experience His love for you.

What does a marriage become if love is taken out from it? Would you still get married if there was no love?
What we see determines what we think, what we think determines what we feel, what we feel determines how we behave.
Choose to believe that God loves you, period; and how you feel about Him will change.
We were made for love, we fell from it by believing lies about God's characters. Yahshua came to restore us back to love, by revealing us what God is like.
John 17: Righteous Father! And so, the world, came not to know thee
There was idolatry, there was adultery, there was robbery and all other things back then, but Yahshua was saying “the problem of this world is not idolatry, adultery, robbery, violence... but it's they don't know You, Father, who You are. They need to know You as You are.”
If we would just know God, we will experience true love, and we will be satisfied.
Do you want it?

To Love and Be Loved

Easy Promises?

We give a lot of easy promises to others while trying to evangelize to them, we say they will start to experience an abundant life once they become Christians.
And they are bewildered.
Because we don't tell them what Christianity is really about; or perhaps the reason we don't tell them what our religion is about is because we ourselves are not very well aware of it?
So people from other religious backgrounds might tend to bring in their ideas formed while in their original religion.
When I first became acquainted with Christianity, the religion in my mind was like a list of DOs and DON'Ts; nothing personally intimate was present, and because I was convinced the intellectual stuff the Bible contained was all correct and accurate, I needed to do things I was supposed to do, and to avoid things I was told to shun away from.
I thought, now it's time for me also to experience the abundant life promised.
But no, nothing joyful happened, my religious life became more miserable.
John 17:25-26
O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
John 8
38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
41-42 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Yahshua here is not just talking about atheism or paganism, I actually believe He was talking about primarily Jewish people. Atheism, though has been existing throughout the history, but it had always been quite a minority until the French Revolution. And Yashua spent most of His life in Israel, lived among Jewish people.
Over and over again, Yahshua rebuked the religious leaders in Judaism, but not so much about the pagans.
In that day and age, wasn't Israel the nation closest to the one true God? They had the Tanakh, they had prophets, they had the Torah, the 10 Commandments, it was like they were all doing the right things, so were not they supposed to be given compliments?
Not so.
They might have known which God they were worshipping, or what was in the 10 Commandments.
So why did Yahshua say they were doing the deeds of the devil?
I think, it was because the people thought they were worshipping the one true God, but because their heart was darkened, and they did not have a right picture of God, for the mean things they were doing, they thought they were doing a service for God, they were doing the right things, and that God loved them doing the same things.
They were very religious, just like the parable Yahshua gave of 2 men praying, the self-righteous man was keeping all the laws, paying 1/10 of everything, fasting regularly, and other religious regulations. He thought God must have loved what He was doing; but Yahshua said, the other sinner asking for God's mercy was more favorable in the eyes of God.
In fact, being religious but not loving, not having love in one's heart for God and other people can be really dangerous, because that makes one really mean.
In Exodus Exodus 19:8, 20:19
And all the people answered together, and said, All that Yahweh hath spoken we will do...

And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.


These people were saying, we will do everything God says, but we don't want to hear Him speaking. We want to have a distant relationship with Him that is not a relationship at all.
This was later proven a recipe for disaster. It was this attitude, they were focused so much on doing doing doing the right things, avoiding the wrong things.
And look at their record in the Bible how they departed from God repeatedly. But in fact, I tend to say, they were not enjoying the time, the fellowship with God in the first place.
Shouldn't that tell us something, a list of things to do and not to do do not bring us closer to God.

"Ye search the Scriptures, because, ye, think, by them, to have, life age-abiding; and, those Scriptures , are they which bear witness concerning me:"


The people thought they could find eternal life in the Scriptures, but Yahshua told them, the Bible was actually not about eternal life, but it was concerning Himself, and only He can give us eternal life.

Easy steps to an abundant life?

I won't doubt it that a lot of Christians are wondering where the promised abundant life is after they became Christians. It seems that they are all doing the right thing, reading their Bibles, saying prayers, even doing the "work of God". But somehow, they do not feel right inside their hearts, sometimes, even while sitting in a church, they feel there must be something more than what I'm currently experiencing.
In bookshops, they sell books like, 5 steps to a debt free life; or 6 steps to long term weight loss; but I don't really think the same formula applies to Christian life.
Because there have been lots of Christians attended such seminars, read such books, but no, they have not found the abundant life yet.
Shouldn't it be natural that as soon as we know the Messiah, we accept Him as our Savior, we would just start to experience the abundant life He promised naturally?
But real life experience doesn't seem to confirm it.
Why?
I think, the vital point is, is the Christ we think we know the same as the true Christ? Are the characters we perceive that He has truly His?
We can run all the campaigns and seminars giving a list of things to do and to avoid to become successful Christians, but if the picture of God is not right, it will only still remain a religion centered around us.
If we ask Christians today, how did humanity first fall? I think most of them would answer, because our ancestors ate a piece of forbidden fruit.
But look closely, we know that before someone does something, he needs to have a motive.
What was their motive of eating that fruit?
You may say, because they had jealousy and pride, and they wanted to become like God.
But pause a second, where did they get this idea that when they eat the fruit, they would become just like God?
Did Yahweh say that? No, God only told them the reason He did not allow them to eat the fruit was to prevent them from death. It was the devil who made up this lie, deceiving them to believe if they eat the fruit, they would become as wise as God.
What the devil was saying was, God told you if you eat the fruit, you'll die, but let me tell you the truth, you won't die, but you will become like God. God lied to you, the reason He doesn't want you to eat the fruit is because He doesn't want you to become like Him, because then, His supremacy will be threatened, He doesn't want the competition, He wants to be above everyone else; so the only excuse He could make up to prevent you from eating the fruit is telling you you will die. So, look at God again with me, He is selfish, jealous, and a liar! Don't believe in Him, believe me!
And so, Eve believed it.
Don't say we human race fell by eating a piece of fruit, because then we would be focusing on our deeds which lie on the surface; but I believe the root needs to be addressed; and the root of our rebellion is a wrong, twisted picture of God. We don't see Him as who He is, then it becomes inevitable for us to rebel against Him.

Switch of My Attitude

Right now, while I am waiting for my hearing at the tribunal, it seems to me that this period of time is a time to test my faith, how big faith I really have when I face troubles in my life; will I be dismayed, or will I trust that Heavenly Father cares for me.
2 Peters 5:7 says, Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.
When I see this verse, I realize, there are things that even God cannot do, but whatever He can do to help me, He will do. And as for the things He cannot do, there's no use for me to worry.
I also found a switch in my attitude towards how I should pray for my appeal.
My prayer has included me telling God all the reasons why I should stay in Australia instead of going back to China, though I know fully well that God knows all these, but the focus was pretty much "I" centered. Though those concerns are legitimate, like, I want to worship God freely in this country, and that I still need to go to Living Waters and other services that by no means will become available in China, and that I can receive the healing ministries so much more freely here, and I truly need the healing ministries; but it was still primarily focused on me.
But now, I have shifted my focus.
I have started to pray that God will reflect His image through me, that His beauty may be seen through me; and that when the tribunal questions me, they may see Yahshua through me, so that it's not simply that intellectually they will be convinced I'm a genuine Christian, but that they will see with their eyes, even with their hearts of the beautiful character of God, so I may bring glory to Him.

The True North Verse

The Book of Psalms is my favorite book in the Bible, because I get enormous comforts and encouragement from all the Psalms the psalmists, especially King David, a man after God's own heart wrote.
Sure, a lot of Christians would list John 3:16 as their favorite verse, that, seems like a logo verse of what Christianity is about; but for me, Psalm 27:4 is the central of my spiritual system. It is what one of my favorite preachers Ty Gibson calls, the true north scripture.
Ps 27:4 One thing, have I asked of Yahweh, That, will I seek to secure,—That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh, all the days of my life, To view the delightfulness of Yahweh, And to contemplate in his temple. (Rotherham translation)
Keywords, ONE THING, SEEK TO SECURE, VIEW THE DELIGHTFULNESS.
One Thing, not 2 or 3; this was his number 1 priority, his one agenda, and Seek to Secure says, he was not just pondering on that, but truly he needed it so desperately that he had to secure it; what was he seeking to secure? To dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of his life; why? For the streets of gold, pearly gates, luxurious mansions? never getting sick or old? Apparently, these were not why King David wanted to dwell in the house of Yahweh. He wanted to dwell in the house of Yahweh was because he wanted to view (behold) the delightfulness of Yahweh.
In KJV, the word in the place of delightfulness is beauty.
Either way, King David knew that God is delightful, and that's why he loved God so much; that's also why he was called a man after God's own heart.
The question we have to ask ourselves today is, does God seem delightful to us?
For us Christians, it is not even a question whether we should follow God or not. Of course, we need to follow God, but beneath it, what is it that lies there?
Do we feel we have to do what God says just because He made the universe and that we have to do it or He'll get us; so I'd rather be up there in heaven instead of the hot place? Or maybe we do what He says is truly because we have realized God is truly amazingly, astonishingly beautiful?
But my next question is, how many of us, how often do we actually see God as delightful?
I can say with confidence, not a lot, not very often.
Then does it mean God has changed? Or maybe He relates to David in a way, but treats us in a different way? Or perhaps, it's simply we do not know God well enough to experience the same feelings and longings King David had; that we do not know God as who He truly is?
Therefore, when God's picture seems rather gloomy to me, I need to learn to examine my heart first and see what is it that twisted God's image, so I can wipe away the fog on my glasses, so I can see God's true characters better.
It's easy for us Christians today to preach a "gospel" of prosperity, or a "gospel" of going to heaven instead of the hot place, or giving prophecy seminars to prove that the Bible is accurate in its prediction of world's history and future... But when it comes to the beauty of God, we tend to run out of words after a few sentences. Even talking about God His very self may cause discomfort; probably deep inside our hearts we still hold some resentment against Him, but because we want to "be saved" and go to heaven, we need to keep our mouth shut.
In our evangelism, we need to present an accurate picture of God, so people are drawn to Him not just because someone has proved the accuracy of Bible prophecies, or the health principles, or other stuff, but because these people themselves have truly been amazed by the DELIGHTFULNESS of God. And that they would be extremely happy to find their one true love, and His name is Yahweh.
Now, before anyone can present them such an authentic delightful picture of God, they need to first experience a transformation first, they need to correct their old misconception of God, so their messages will be wholesome instead of broken.
I totally believe a revival will only come when we start to shift our attention from "ministries", Bible knowledge, prophecies to Yahweh Himself and the personal relationship between Him and us. Only when we know who He truly is, and have fallen love with Him, can we introduce an authentic Yahweh to people.
More to come, and please come and join me in a journey of the discovery of God's beauty.

讀王鼎鈞 第一天 Day 1 of reading Wang Dingjun

<開放>
這個概念,自己過去沒有多想過;不敢說自己做人一直是很封閉,但是至少沒有主動去接觸周圍的人.在有新鮮人的場合,通常自己都會縮在角落裡,或者就是和自己已經認識的人聊天.自己會怕羞,或者是覺得自己真得夠不上主動去與他們交流;覺得說自己有什麼特質,可以同他們做朋友呢?或者有時認為自己所能貢獻的太少,對別人不會有用,他們有怎麼能夠重視我呢?
可是看起來我是真得忘記了孔子說的,三人行必有我師焉;三個人中每一個人都有值得其他兩個人學習的地方.
當我看到很開放的人,自己會羨慕,但是卻很少想要嘗試著讓自己也變得開放一些.
聖經上說,聖靈給每一個基督徒恩賜,每一個人的恩賜不一樣,但是每個人都有.我不應當懷疑,反倒應該仔細思考默想這句話對我意味著什麼.它意味著我可以為周圍的人帶來一些好處,成為上帝的祝福流通的管道.
我自己不可以,但是讓我學著說,靠著主耶穌,我凡事都能做,尤其是在自己生活中通過一點一滴把天父的愛表達給他們看.


Open
I have not thought much about this concept of being open; I can't say I've always been very closed in, but at least, I have not been very proactive in my interaction with people around me. In the presence of new people, usually I would get myself in a corner, or just to hang around with the people I know. I would be shy, or I would feel I don't have what it takes to start a meaningful conversation with them; I would fel I don't have the qualities to befriend with them. Sometimes I think, I have so little to offer, would be of no use to other people, how can they value me?
Really, it seems I had forgotten what Confucious said, when there are three people, there must be someone who can be my teacher; each one of the three people has some qualities that the other two can learn from.
When I see very open people, I would wish I could be like them, but hardly would I try to make myself to be like them.
The Bible says, every Christian receives gifts of the Holy Spirit, our gifts vary, but we all receive some gifts. I should not doubt, but to medidate what this means to me. It means I can bring benefits to people around me, to be a tunnel that the blessing of God flows through.
I can't, but let me learn to say, with Yahshua, I can do all things; especially to express the love of Heavenly Father to them, through every little thing I do, or say, or show them.