Test All Spirits

The saying goes that “you can’t believe everything you hear” and “things aren’t always what they seem”. Those two phrases cannot be truer today. There's much deception in this world. Even worse, there's deception within the Church. With so many Christian denominations, which one is right? Granted, no single church congregation is perfect, for we are all human at the end of the day, but there are churches at least strive to do their very best to stand strong in the Lord.

As it says in 1 John 4:1, King James Version, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. With the way the world is today, we cannot be so naïve, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. As aforementioned, within Christianity, there are so many denominations, which one is true? To avoid division, we cannot put the particular denomination that a believer associates with to be above all others. Jesus warned against this when one of His disciples told Him that they forbade someone who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name [Luke 9:49]. 

In Acts 17, while Paul was in ministry, he went to preach in a church of Berea and the congregants were wise in verifying his speech by searching the Scriptures (Old Testament).

As Jesus also did forewarn, that we have to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves [Matthew 10:16] because there are many false prophets out in the world. I’ve come to believe that it’s worse for someone’s heart to be turned away from God but in whatever that person is doing still believes that they’re serving God than for one to be turned away and convert to other religions all together. 

We even have to test what is preached in our own churches. We have to be aware of things like “prosperity gospel” and “replacement theory”. Prosperity gospel is teaching that one just has to believe and tithe a whole lot to “get rich quickly” in a sense, that all of one’s natural needs will be met through faith. The prosperity gospel’s underlining message is that one’s natural needs, namely money/wealth & health, are above worshiping God for who He is; putting natural/earthly blessings above spiritual blessings.

Sadly, I believe that all parties involved in prosperity gospel are victims: the congregation for tithing & offering in order to obtain blessing above having an intimate relationship with the Lord and the “pastors” that teach on this. The congregants are the obvious victims because they are being fed a false doctrine and believing that faith alone will get them rich. The pastors are victims in a spiritual sense. Jesus said that what comes out of a man defiles the man [Matthew 15:20; Mark 7:15] and therefore are defiling themselves and risking eternal damnation. Their preaching of “prosperity” ends up feeding their own and not their sheep. 

We’ll get to replacement theory in another blog.

Now, maybe you’re church isn’t preaching on this but sometimes what you hear in a Sunday morning sermon just doesn’t sit right with your spirit. Don’t be afraid to do some biblical research on it or even ask the preacher on it.

The Truth about Repentence

What is repentence? Repentence is asking to be forgiven of your sins; it's coming to terms with them and true repentence resutls in NEVER going back to that sin. People would often ask for forgiveness, and are forgivene, but then would fall again. That doesn't happen with true repentence, which results in newness of life (Acts 11:18). It's the goodness of God that leads us to that repentence (Romans 2:4), since He is just a God of love & mercy.

Though repentence is a New Testament doctrine, the best Old Testament expample us Psalm 51, where David repents for his ilicit relation with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of his best generals, Those events can be read in 2 Samual 11.

Being Thankful

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving isn't about turkey, stuffing, or food coma. We should be grateful for the food we have, but that's not the focus. We should just be thankful for what we have, no matter how little it may be. Let's not only be thankful for our materials things, but also for the fact that we have life, that we have salvation through Jesus! Salvation through Jesus Christ alone is the most important thing to be grateful for.

When we pray to the LORD our God, we have to enter His presence with thanksgiving (Ps. 100:4). Praise Him in every situation as well (1 Thess. 5:18). And don't just be thankful at the end of Nov, but everyday be thankful for His grace & mercy, which is new every morning (Lam. 3:22-23). Take some time out everyday to thank Him for life, for love. It can be a simple prayer of thanks or it can be a song. The first song in the Bible was the Israelites praising YHWH for delivering them from the bondage of Egypt (Ex. 15). It was sung literally after the waters closed upon Pharaoh and his army. They simply couldn't help themselves after receiving this type of salvation. That was a foreshadowing of the salvation Christ would bring to the people of Israel. We were once oppressed and now we had been delivered from that oppression. What's not to be thankful for?

One WTC Opened for Business

Well, the Freedom Tower, aka “One World Trade Center” opened for business on Nov 3rd with its first tenants being publishing giant Condé Nast. A few days before its opening, I kept repeating in my mind “conde nast” or “conde nash”, never hearing that name before. A day or two after 1WTC’s opening, I realized why I was hearing “conde nast” over and over again.

It also reminded of something I heard from God, or what I believed to be the Lord, earlier this year when I was in downtown Manhattan, while I was looking at the tower, that it would fall again. This was one of the few times that I would gaze at it and not see a plane coming at it. It scared me at first because I wanted to be like Gideon and confirm what I heard. But, somehow, I knew deep down that something will bad will happen to that building and i would be around to see it ever since it was reported that 1WTC was opened for business.

That “freedom” tower is a ticking time bomb. To be honest, I wasn’t as traumatized by the events of 9/11, but I feel ever connected to it, like the other 8+ million New Yorkers who lived to remember it.

There’s more to the story of those events and I’m going to find out what, so stay tuned for more details.

And if you’re wondering why I called One World Trade Center a “ticking time bomb”, read pick up a copy of the book The Harbingers by Jonathan Cahn. On top of that, just about two weeks in operation, 1WTC already had some issues: two window washers were rescued from the 68th floor of the building after the scaffolding they were on malfunctioned. The two were each attached to a harness, attached to the platform, which would have killed them had it fallen, according to amNY. Firefighters were able to cut a door-sized hole on the 68th floor, which is still under construction, to bring the two men in, who were eventually treated for hypothermia.

Abide in the Father

1 John 1:6-10 KJV

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

2:15-17 KJV

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

I've seen a few times in social media that a Christian can't serve God while holding hands with ghr devil. I recently read the above passages and that's when I realized nothing can be further from ghr truth.

We can't say we love God while consciously living in sin. Let's put the phrase actions speak louder than words in this situation: if you're a Bible-believing christian, yet you're hitting up the clubs on Friday and Saturday, hooking up with a different person each time. What part do you have with God, living unrepentant? You're not walking in His truth when you're living for yourself.

You cant it both ways, as the righteous God, YHWH, the Light, mix with unrighteous darkness. Walk in the light, as we are children of the light.

Don't walk in your own righteousness, either. Don't think of yourself as above sin, like your sinless and/or have never sinned. Jesus is the only sinless person that has walked this earth, hence His qualification for being the perfect sacrificial lamb to redeem us from our sins. At ghr end of the day, we are imperfect human beings, prone to sin, saved or not. Christ is the only One who helps us overcome and avoid sin, as long as we walk in the Word (for He is the Word - read John 1).

I'll leave you with this note: 1 John 2:15-17 warns us to not love the world. Verse 16, in particular, describes the three types of sins:

1. lust of the flesh
2. lust of the eye
3. pride of life

Beware of sins as it'll come in either of these three forms. It was through these three sins that man fell in the garden.

Halloween for Christians: Yea or Nay?

God bless! I have a CBN profile and after looking at it again since two or three years ago, I found something I blogged that I also want to share with my Blogger audience :) 

As we are now in the month of October, you see department stores' seasonal sections filled with Halloween decorations, costumes, etc. Halloween is the second most celebrated holiday in the US (Christmas being the first). In a nation founded by Christians, how did this statstic come about? Why do so many parents allow their children to ring people's doorbells, after dark, and hold out small baskets or bags to get candy from strangers? Parents, especially Christian parents, I encourage you to NOT allow your children to trick-o-treat. Don't even dress them up. Halloween has a very pagan and demonic background, originating from the witches in England and pilgramming here, along with persecuted Christians. I have no children, nor am I married yet, but I know this is something I would not do with my children. Instead, I would like to teach them to pray on the 30th & 31st of Oct - praying for those children trick-o-treating, for their parents who may or may not be with them, and any youth who plan to reak havoc on their neighborhood.

I also encourage my brethren in Christ to 1) do research on the history of Halloween, because we cannot defeat an enemy we don't know much about, and 2) to gather with a few people in your church and pray for trick-o-treaters, children, parents, youth, belivers or not, that their eyes will be opened to celebrating this holiday of idolatry.

I did a little more research on Halloween, like does the Bible really condemn it. Well, within the Torah, it is forbidden to consult with mediums or those with "familiar spirits". That particular Scripture was pointed out to me while I was attending a Pentacostal church. I had stopped attending my original home church for a while and once I learned about Halloween, I looked at my original church much differently, knowing they hold alternative "harvest parties". I had also recently looked up Halloween on this site called gotquestions.org, which answers a lot of questions that seem to be often asked by baby & mature believers alike. So, when it comes to Halloween, we first have to understand its pagan origins and let the Spirit shows us what we should do.

How to win a Muslim for Christ

There's no specific way to win anyone for Christ. We just have to preach His word and display His love. But if you want to win someone of another religion, such as Islam, you would have to know a thing or two about it -- namely, it "holy" text, the Qur'an.

Our brother in Christ does a great job in proving to the Muslim who questioned this brother's preaching of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the true Savior. The Christian brother quotes both the Bible & Qur'an by stating that only Jesus has the ability to atone for man's sins, being sinless, while Mohammad was sinner like everyone else.

Enjoy & God bless :)

WTC 7 - Rethink911.org

Rethink911.org has this ad campaign going on in Times Square at 42nd St and 8th Ave about World Trade Center tower 7. I know man saw the Twin Towers fall either in person or on TV, while WTC 7 was a televised collapse, being it was 5:20 in the afternoon. This I saw on TV, at the tender age of 12, and instant with what these folks are saying. I'm just spreading the truth about that particular building as they are.

The Shemitah

L'shana tova!!! It is now the Jewish year of 5775. The year 5775 also happens to be a year of the Shemitah, or a year of release. What is that, you ask? The Shemitah is the Sabbath Year (7th year) outlined in Leviticus 25:1-7 and Deuteronomy 15:1-6. During that year, the land would rest, meaning no one was to sow nor reap. No one would have to do so because God would give such abundance the previous year, there would be plenty to last for a few years (Leviticus 25:21-22). Why? Because He's YHWH-jireh, El Shaddai. Not only was it a rest for the land, but also debts were forgiven and Hebrew bondservants would be get free. But, what had happened was there were 70 Shemitahs that were never executed, which, along with all other of ancient Israel's sins, resulted in their captivity Babylon (then eventually Persia) for 70 years so the land could rest. Israel had be urged many times to repent, but that's another blog.

But why does the Shemitah matter now? Because it's God's sovereign law. But what does this mean for America? When America was founded, Washington and the other founding fathers dedicated this country to God Almighty, as Solomon did with Israel once the first temple was finished. Washington dedicated the nation on the very ground we were attached on Sept 11, 2001. That happened to be towards the end of a Shemitah. This Sabbath year actually ended Sept 17, 2001, when the markets plummeted and people lost money, just a week after folks at the New York Stock Exchange slowly started coming back to work. All debts would be "released" and forgiven, right? Then, the same thing happened, but worse in Sept 29, 2008, the end of that proceeding Shemitah, what's known as the Recession of 2008. Why these Sept dates? Because the Jewish calendar is the one to follow when studying this. But these dates were 29 Elul 5761 and 5768, respectively.

For more information on the Shemitah, be sure to get te new book The Mystery of the Shemitah by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, as well as The Harbinger.

Every Christian needs Prayer

Every Christian needs prayer. Not the prayer where s/he is reciting something to God or for others to see and hear, not the prayer that asks God for something, and that's it, but the prayer that brings spiritual intimacy with God. Prayer should be a conversation between you and God; it's a two-way street. Prayer is the spiritual communication that binds and strengthens your relationship with God, as natural communication keeps earthly relationships strong.

We, as believers and children of the Most High God, must make time to spend with Him each and every day. This, I know I'm guilty of not doing lately. This conviction came upon me while reading a Bible plan via The Bible App (developed by YouVersion) called Prayers of Jesus. Though Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, King of kings and Lord of lords, He still needed prayer during His earthly ministry. He often "went to a private place and prayed", away from the multitudes, and away from His discilpes. Not only did He need His space, sorta speak, He needed to spend time with the Father.

We all need to spend time with out Heavenly Father. Let's make a point to do so every day.

"FREE PALESTINE" Protest in NYC

As I was walking to the Times Square train station for the R to meet a friend downtown, I came across this pro-Palestinian protest along 7th Ave, almost like a march, going towards Times Square. There were police barricades and everything. Most of the folks there were Muslims and some non-Muslim people who have believed the deception that "Palestine" is occupied by the Jews. As you see in the photos and video, some of the Muslim men were even in prayer during this march/demonstration.  

After my experience at the 9th Annual CUFI Summit in Washington, DC, I learned much more about the situation there. This event is almost in July what a time for this event to occur! It was on God's timing to have that event in July! I learned what Israel is really doing: Israel is defending its own, the US as well as innocent Palestinian civilians that Hamas continues to use as human shields.  

Much more info will come in a later blog, so for now, here are the photos I took on the streets of New York's most popular tourist spots. 

We Will to Suffer as Christians

We have to suffer as children of the Most High. The suffereing we have in this present life nothing compared to the glory of heaven (Rom. 8:17-18). When someone is ill, are we to pray for healing? Yes. Are we to be all that Isaiah 61:1-3 describes? Absolutely. But, at the same time, who are we to go against God's will? If someone is ill and it is for the glory of God for that person to be healed either immidetely or a month or a year from that time of pray, then we have to be the ones to spiritually discern that.

No matter what's going on, let us just focus on Him; on building our relationship with the Almighty Father. He uses trials and tribulations for His children to grow closer to Him, as they are a test of faith, and we can call the blessings/promises of God "side effects", if you will. We just have to focus our heart & mind on the Creator.

Persecution is a prime example of these trials. Jesus said it Himself in Luke 21:12, 17 that we will be persecuted for His name's sake. Not that we may, but that we will. This fact is reaffirmed in 2 Timothy 3:12 and Peter adds to this in his first epistle, 4:16, that whoever "suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." Persecution can be open, meaning a natural manifestation of the spiritual war like what's happening in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia & Southeast Asia now, "religious liberty" court cases in the West, or even just our battle with our indwelling sin. Focusing and strengthening our relationship with our Savior will help us stand in His armor (Eph. 6:12).

And, to close, let's not go looking to be persecuted.

My Dream is to reach out to Muslims for Christ

I dreamt last night that I was in some cafe (possibly a Starbucks), where there were a few Muslim girls, and two in particular stood out to me -- they were reading Bibles! The two girls, each looking about 10 & 17 years old, had different colored hijabs, one dark pink to red and the other light blue. I started talking to the younger and ask her either why she was reading the Bible or if she knew who Jesus was. From there, I started to tell her about the salvation that Jesus offered for us on the cross. Then I looked over to the other girl, sitting at another table, but this time her hijab was off, around her neck, with her curly blond hair out and hanging over the scarf that was around her neck. I started a conversation with her about Jesus, as well, and then I woke up.

Ever since I started reading about Islam and researching the "Islamization of the West", I grew a fondness to reach the average Muslim-American, which I'm sure are mostly moderate, with the gospel. I've begun to believe that the only way to combat Islam rising in the West, after getting the word out about it, was to bring the gospel to any Muslim who would litsen, any Muslim who is searching for truth. So many of them have come to know Christ by seeing Him in a dream/vision, a Christian telling them about His everlasting love, or both by one way confirming the other.

The truth is, there are Muslims out there that are genuine people -- just wanted to live out their lives like everyone else, to be happy. We can't label them all as "terrorist". Granted, the vast majority of the world's terrorists are Muslim, but the vast majority of Muslims are terrorists.

Therefore, if you, as a believer & redeemed of the Lord, are asked by a Muslim about the truth of Christ, lovingly tell them. Display Christ and rememeber, we love Him because He loved us first (1 John 4:19).

God bless :)

Do not give evil for evil

See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Bible.com/app
1 Thessalonians 5:15 NKJV

This verse really spoke to me this morning. In a world where one takes vengence on another for a wrong-doing, even within the Church sometimes, you probably would ask yourself, where is the love in forgiveness? That's why it's more important every day to show the love of Christ. Let us not render evil for evil, but show love & forgiveness to those who have wronged you, just as Christ has forgiven us. Whether that person has asked for your forgiveness or not, hold no grudge. Jesus did say that if we cannot forgive another person, He will not forgive us.

Who's the Terrorist?

I read in the amNY paper this morning, then again on DNAInfo.com, that a Muslim teen girl was threatened and spat upon while riding the Q88 bus to school Tuesday morning. Her bag accidently brushed up against a middle-aged, white man, who then proceeded to call her "terrorist". To him, her hijab was a dead giveaway. What makes this situation even worse was that no one bothered to stop him. Who's the terrorist in this situation?

Reading that this morning gave me a flashback of watching a YouTube video of a social experiment performed by Yousef Saleh Erakat a.k.a fouseyTUBE. It was done this past Dec and ever since I saw it, I could imagine what would happen if that social experiment was done in my home city of NYC. Well, this news story shows that such an experiment isn't needed.

If you'd like to watch the experiment, it's below.

Active vs. Passive Faith

It troubles me that many have what I would like to call "passive faith". I'm troubled by the fact that many Christians think that God is just going to take care of everything and they can just sit back. That isn't always the case, though. Yes, there will be situation where there is nothing we can humanly do to change it, but many lack the wisdom to discern when those situations arise. For example, someone may have inoperable cancer where doctors can no nothing, where it's out of human hands. Praying for healing, believing for that healing, and walking as if you have been healed will bring the healing. That is the spiritual active part of having faith for something to happen. We all can have that spiritually-active faith but when it comes to situations like finding a job in a slow economy or a married couple trying to have a child, one needs to have that active faith but spiritually and naturally. One cannot pray for a job and NOT look for one online, in the classified in the newspaper or even applying in-person, resume in hand. One cannot pray that s/he passes his/her final for their Master's WITHOUT studying. A married couple cannot pray for a child WITHOUT being physically intimate (i.e., Abraham & Sarah) and/or looking into adoption.

While praying and believing for a miracle is great, there's an underlining factor -- believing in the One who gives the miracle. Many believe on the name of Jesus of Nazareth as Savior but don't always walk in His ways in their daily lives, just on Sundays. One cannot save the souls of the household, workplace, etc., if one does not live in Christ (meaning following His teachings). One cannot say to another: "hey, can I tell you about Jesus?" when they aren't even rooted in Jesus themselves. Passive faith in Jesus is praising Him in church on Sundays (if you have the desire to go) but being angry and miserable, neither praying nor reading the Bible Monday through Saturday. Active faith in Jesus is praising Him in church on Sundays, including while you're getting ready to go, on the way there, and when you leave, AS WELL AS living in His joy & love while praying and reading His word (and doing what it says) Monday through Saturday. Think about that phrase "actions speak louder than words". If you want someone to come to faith in Jesus, let that person see your actions and joy as a true worshiper of Christ and tell them what He had saved you from. If you wish to have others in your household to know the Savior, be sure your actions DO speak louder than your words.

Now I just want to leave you with this: Romans 12:2 says "do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that ye may prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Psalms says "as a man thinks in his heart, so is he." The Bible also says to "put on the mind of Christ.:" Therefore, if we are to think and ponder on His ways constantly, we are transformed in Him. Let us also "walk by faith and not by sight," meaning, in a way, to walk with our faith in Jesus and not by what we see in this world. You will not only discover the truth about yourself but also of Christ Jesus. Call upon Him and He will show you (Jer. 33:3).

God Bless!

PS, for more biblical teaching on active faith, read James 2:14-26