A pilgrim's thoughts

Death

2011-10-08T11:37:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago, Jenny a coworker, passed away from a long struggle with cancer. It made me realize that we should be grateful for our lives. Even if non-Christians do well and consider their advances as the fruits of their labor and their talents (and it is true that our labor and talent will affect how well we advance in our careers), we should look to gratitude to God as the giver.

Steve Jobs died last week. It is amazing to think that despite all his billions and having the best medical care in the world, no one could extend his life by a single minute. Steve Jobs was a Zen Buddhist and unfortunately, lived a very selfish life - according to what we read about him by those who knew him. The words of Jesus come to mind. Jesus said, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?"

Another coworker was telling me that he lost his parents, and a friend, within the space of an year. I asked him a leading question, "What happens to us after we die?". And he answered with a straight face, "It depends on what you believe". I was dumbstruck. If I were to jump off a building, my beliefs would have no effect on what would happen to me.
But there is truth to what he said - we all take the after-life on faith. Even Christians are unsure whether we go straight to heaven, or stay in the ground until Christ returns. I have no clue.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17)

and contrast with...

We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8)

Regardless, we put our trust in him.
As in the song below, "...your name is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and are saved"

Steve Job's death

2011-10-08T10:21:00.004-05:00

Steve Jobs was a Zen Buddhist and unfortunately, lived a very selfish life - according to what we read about him by those who knew him. The words of Jesus come to mind. Jesus said, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?".

Father and baby

2011-08-27T11:47:00.001-05:00

When I interact with my baby, it is real to me how our relationship to God our father is;

we love to show him things that we do in our daily lives. Opening the fridge, pouring water, turning on the lights, brushing the dog, eating and drinking...

When God shows us hitherto unseen things in the Bible, through the Holy Spirit, it is the same dynamic happening.

once I placed him on his tummy on the couch and he was shrieking in fear, anger, thrashing his arms and overwhelmed with fending for himself. It seemed silly to me because I was right there. I stroked his head and spoke to him encouragingly - but did not lift him out of his predicament. He should have clung to the comforting truth the I was there and he need not fear.

When we go through hardships and hard times, it is natural to feel alone and deserted by God. We shriek in pain and anger and thrash about and also soothe with pleasurable sins. If we stop and exercise faith and reach out to God, then we have real confort.

we love how the baby delights to see us and longs for our presence and wants us to be with him all the time. This is how the believer should be with his or her heavenly father, delighting to be in God's precence and luxuriating in it. Of course, it is harder for us because we cannot see God but must sense him in our spirit and 'see' Him by faith.

Tired of Yahoo's brainwashing? Switch to i-Google

2011-06-26T08:22:00.001-05:00

Anyone else tired of Yahoo's brainwashing?
My yahoo email has remained constant in the past 13 years even though we have moved physical address many times. However, their articles on the main page, which are the gateway to checking email, are plain propaganda. They are liberal, pro-gay, Democrat and conversely, are anti-Christian and anti-Republican.
Switch to i-Google. Keep your homepage to a more balanced news source like the BBC. You can install a plugin on the page to access your yahoo email.

The problem with the Willow Creek model for churches

2011-06-05T17:56:00.004-05:00

The Willow creek model is essentially a business model. Attract people in, then get them to tithe and volunteer and attend classes. No one is allowed to speak in the services, but the staff.
Result: Lots of money from the old testament practice of tithing + free labor of volunteers + tight control of the microphone + keep members at the spiritual teenager level by keeping them busy in endless classes.
This is true of all the pastor directed churches I have seen in America.
As a result, we are not really different from the Roman Catholic Church, which we evangelicals despise as spiritually defective.

Of kings and a King - what an uncommon king!

2011-05-01T16:25:00.001-05:00

The Royal Wedding of William and Kate, reminded me of kings and royalty down the ages. Kings and leaders have tended to glory in how many people bow down to them. People lying prostrate before them. Absolute power and control over lives. With a few commands, sending people who offend you, to be jailed, tortured or even executed. The pharaohs of Egypt when they died, had slaves and wives killed and buried alongside. To this day in West Africa, chieftains have their slaves killed and buried alongside them. Being waited on hand and foot. An entire life devoted to your service.

Kings have special robes, crowns and thrones, all designed to distinguish themselves from the rest. Their wealth is worn on their bodies. Their homes are called palaces. Their chairs are thrones. Their carts are chariots and palanquins. Their names are titles. They have warriors to guard them - "bodyguards".

Not satisfied with one wife, they showed their prowess by accumulating girls for their harem. Often, these girls were forced into this sexual servitude - not a "One night with the King", romantic movie falsehood. Emperor Akbar of 16th century India, had 5000 women in his harem! I am certain he did not sleep with most of them :).

Their ultimate expression of self-dom is to claim divinity - to claim that they have intrinsic superiority - that they are God.

Orinary people still take great effort in trying to meet a person of power.

In contrast, Jesus came to serve common folk. His miracles were of compassion. To heal and feed people - to meet their needs. He went out looking for people who were divinely appointed to meet him. He trudged roads and paths, his feet got dirty, sweated and was tired. He ate the same foods as the local folk. Stayed in their humble homes. To demonstrate this principle, He even washed his disciples feet! He was sinless and pure. Instead of taking, He gave. Instead of demanding sacrifices, He sacrificed His life for the sins of the world. Instead of appropriating power for himself, he gives us his power to spread the gospel and His kingdom on earth.

Android Developers newsgroup post on Christmas

2010-12-25T11:50:00.002-06:00

I was amazed to find this post yesterday on the Android Developer newsgroup, obviously from a sincere Hindu, completely ignorant about Jesus and Christmas. I hope he reads this explanatory link http://goodnewsforyou.tripod.com/
Anil

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: saurabh sinha
Date: Dec 24, 9:50 pm
Subject:
To: Android Developers

Hi

there is bitter truth behind christmas which I felt personally when
jesus was on earth nobody cared him
even he was punished by some bad people on cross sign including some
innocent people

but while dying he said to everyone I am dying for all of you and
today everyone missing him
its just a formality of doing and celebrating christmas

I mean to say when we have anything near we dont care but after
missing that same thing we start caring

well by the way this christmas inspiring to us we should care everyone
and never make any difference
it does not matter who is big or small matter should be good for others

but you know everyone celebrating no body think what are the main
reason behind this celebration

I thought deeply and paid homage to that great man who came on earth
and was good human being that is JESUS

Anil Philip's blog: Jesus touches a leper!

2010-12-21T22:34:00.000-06:00

Anil Philip's blog: Jesus touches a leper!

Jesus touches a leper!

2010-12-21T22:31:00.010-06:00

When I was growing up in Bangalore, my grandmother had to walk up a hillock, cross the railway tracks to go to the market (see map). One day, she came back shaken. The leper who used to beg near the hillock, had apparently tired of life and one night, went and lay down on the tracks. The train came through and chopped him up into pieces. My grandmother saddened, wondered at how he must have despaired of life. she had tossed him coins, and exchanged a few words (I don't know if she gave him the gospel).

At school, we learned that leprosy was incurable. That one's skin became desensitized to pain and fingers, noses, arms and legs gradually rotted away. I used to be scared at the thought of contracting this dreaded disease, and would hold my breath passing by one of 'them' so as not to breathe in the virus. If I tossed one a coin, it would be from afar. Lepers were usually beggars and pushed themselves on small wooden carts with trundle wheels where they begged at train and bus stations and markets. They were shunned by society and had no family, wandering instead in groups. People avoided them. (picture of leper and also here)

With this background, I was amazed when I read this sentence in the passage:

¹² While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
¹³ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.
¹⁴ Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
¹⁵ Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5)

Jesus touches a leper! For a Rabbi, this was unthinkable. It made Jesus ceremonially unclean according to Old Testament law in the Torah.
But think of why he did this. He could have healed the man with a single word as he did on so many occasions. Jesus did not need to touch the man. Yet he did.

To be touched is a universal human craving. Some years ago, Romanian orphanages found babies died mysteriously even when they were well fed. It was found that they were fed but left alone by themselves. When they were picked up and held and carried, the death rate in these orphanages diminished.

The man craved contact from another healthy human being. Being shunned from society meant that only another leper could touch him. People recoiled and shrank in horror when he approached; he had to loudly announce his presence in advance calling out, "Unclean!". The wound inside his soul was deep. Not just his rotting flesh, but his wounded soul needed healing. Being touched by Jesus even when he was diseased meant he was accepted and cared for.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5)

Furthermore, I believe that Jesus did not simply give him a light tap. I believe that Jesus really placed his hand on the leper's body so that the significance sunk into the psyche of the man.

Yet another arresting instance of the compassion of Jesus.

The birth of Jesus

2010-12-05T09:26:00.001-06:00

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. (Luke 2:6-7)

When I read these lines, I had to stop. The thought struck me. I had the mental picture of a baby, all wrinkled, eyes half open and wrapped in rough cloths and placed among some straw. Weak, vulnerable and defenseless (although there were invisible angels guarding him). Jesus ate the same food and shared the discomforts of his poor working class family.

Satan is Real. And, a man should have the courage to lay down his life for his family.

2010-11-09T16:01:00.001-06:00

I was outraged and shocked, reading the details of this horrific crime. Here are details of this home invasion and brutal murder of a family by two white men, Hayes and Komisarjevsky.

However, the more I chewed it over in my mind, the more agitated I was at the husband, Dr Petit.

1) He did not act like the leader of his family. He could have marshaled them together to fight the intruders, call 911, anything...
2) After he was tied up, he got free, and simply ran away to a neighbor's house - which is why he survived.

On the other hand, his wife went back to the house and was assaulted and killed. She had more concern for her family, if not foolishness in not waiting for police at the bank to catch Hays who was with her.

Satan is real. He enters a person granting them temporary invincibility to do monstrous evil. This happened wth Judas Iscariot in the Bible, Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and to evil criminals like these two murderers.

The other striking thing is, if you are not under God's protection - under the blood of Jesus - you are vulnerable. The Bible says that Satan "prowls like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour".

Our society brings us up to think of survival of ourselves. A man should have the courage and recognition ahead of time, that he will lay down his life for his family. Dr Petit should have fought to the death. I pray that when faced with such a situation, I shall make the correct choice.

In fact, I was anguished to find that the killer said exactly that in a journal,

Hayley was the fighter of the family, according to Komisarjevsky, who claimed the father was "passive" toward saving his family.

"If you don't want to defend your family, then take your chances with the criminal while police sit outside and follow protocol," wrote Komisarjevsky
"Mr. Petit is a coward, he ran away when he felt his own life was threatened," Komisarjevsky wrote. "Time and time again I gave him the chance to save his family."

William Petit, who has attended every day of the the court hearings, sat stoicly through the accusation.

May pastors start exhorting men to be leaders in their homes. May pastors preach correctly that self-defense and defending your loved ones is required in the Bible.

Idea: progress bar for eBooks

2010-11-03T15:36:00.006-05:00

Watching video or listening to audio, you have a progress bar or time line. Reading a book, you can hold the book sections in your hands to get a feel for your progress. Even a cassette tape player has a progress window. Unfortunately, with an eBook, there is no progress bar for a chapter.
Why not have a new widget - a progress bar for Wordprocessors? MSWord, Acrobat...
In the header, simply put a progress bar widget for the chapter. So if a chapter has 100 pages, each sheet has a progress bar ----->------------ Of course, the '>' represents your position in the chapter.
Or how about --------34---------100
If that is hard to generate, then simply write (say) "page 34 of 100"
Another way would be to have the scroll bar set to the size of the chapter (and not the entire book).

Hmm... I dont find a 3rd party plugin here (http://www.adobesystems.ca/special/acrobat/pluginfinder.html) - perhaps I should write my own?

Was the Cross from God, or Satan?

2010-11-02T09:58:00.002-05:00

As an icon among Catholics, and even in evangelical Christian worship songs, the Cross is venerated and held dearly.
However, I believe that the cross as the means for Jesus' death may actually have been from Satan. Here are some supporting reasons, and one opposing.

The Cross was from Satan:
God abhors cruelty.

The entire book of Nahum in the Old Testament was a condemnation of Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria. God condemned them for their extreme cruelty in war. My NIV Bible text note says that they would erect piles of chopped heads of the inhabitants of the cities they conquered. They would torture the leaders to death.

[TODO add more verses to support:]

The cross was an instrument of torture. It was a slow and painful death stretching over hours. Before crucifixion, Jesus was flogged with a Roman cat-o-nine tails. This multiple pronged whip contained shards of metal and glass and shredded a victims flesh and often itself caused death. On the cross, the victim was nailed at the forearms and shins to the wooden beams. To breathe, the victim had to raise himself (or herself) on his nailed arms and legs. Every breath was agony. Eventually he or she was exhausted and died of suffocation.
Jesus was the lamb of God who died for the sins of the world. In Jewish custom, the Passover lamb was slain humanely by slitting its throat. It was not tortured to death. God would have picked a humane way for his Son to be sacrificed.
When you read the book of Job in the Bible, you see Satan wanting to test Job's devotion to God. God allowed Satan to choose the means of testing. Satan used evil means including killing Job's children in a storm. Yet, God imposed boundaries on Satan - limits on what evil he could choose to do. God is not the author of evil.
Many of the Old Testament books of the Bible pointed to the Messiah and his experiences. I believe the book of Job points to Jesus' crucifixion. Just as Satan was allowed to choose the instrument in Job's disasters, so was Satan allowed to choose the instrument for Jesus' death.

The Cross was from God:
God prescribed stoning as a means of execution. I do not know why He allowed it because it seems cruel and horrific to me - yet, God is not a cruel God. Perhaps God hated sin so much that He prescribed this as a deterrent.

The Church should preach Z-Giving, NOT Tithing

2010-10-16T13:23:00.003-05:00

My pastor has been preaching a sermon series on spiritual warfare.
In this series he mentioned that it is a ploy of Satan for us to "ignore the subtle". Another week he mentioned that we are tempted by Satan to compromise the truth.

I observed that many pastors in churches we have attended, preach tithing and that it should be at least 10% of one's gross income.

However, in 2 Corinthians 9:7 it clearly states, "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver". There is nothing anywhere in the NT that says it should be 10% or more. In other words, when God says "free-will giving", are pastors tempted by Satan to fudge the truth and say "at least 10% tithing"? Shouldn't also pastors trust God to supply their need rather than be tempted to "ignore the subtle" (a ploy of Satan). Aren't they being tempted to compromise the truth?

I observed that these same pastors are often angered or refuse to discuss the truth about tithing. Last month I was working in Atlanta and visited Victory church in Norcross (8/29/2010). The senior pastor Dennis Rouse preached a blistering sermon on tithing The senior pastor Dennis Rouse preached a blistering sermon on tithing He preached against those who were sitting in the pews and consuming and not giving, against those who pass the offering bucket without dropping anything in, against those who did not contribute to the building fund. He also preached that those who gave less than 10% of their gross income to his church were robbing God. Finally, he said that he wanted non-tithers to leave his church.
I went to him afterward and said, "I have no problem with giving to the church. I used to give 11% of the gross and now it has dropped to 10% of the net. I have studied this topic and believe in the NT, 2 Corinthians 9:7 applies", and quoted it. Whereupon he got enraged, stepped into me, literally breathing into my mouth and jabbed me in my side with his finger and said angrily, "Listen, Everything in the OT remains and became more in the NT". Then he walked away saying he would not argue this topic.
I feel such strong reactions come because they secretly know the truth and are guilty.

As a result, they pull out the Tithing sermon once or twice a year hammering the congregation with Malachi 3, accusing them of "robbing God" and "cursed with a curse".
The rest of the year, they are afraid to talk about money lest the congregation get fed up.

Not Tithing, does not mean Not Giving.

From other passages, Giving should be generous, regular, a percentage of income, cheerfully. "As he has decided in his heart" does not mean whimsical or sporadic based upon mood. In other words it should be disciplined and regular.

I wonder what would happen if pastors preached thus. They should regularly preach this kind of, let us call it, Z-Giving. When they do not hint at 10% but leave the percentage up to the person and God, then it allows God to work in their heart to give generously and cheerfully. The closer they grow to God, the more they want to give.

When their Z-Giving is dependent upon how close they are to God, then as the pastor does his good work, it can only grow and be joyous and generous.

The OT required obedience from the congregant to give 10%. The NT requires obedience of the pastor to faithfully preach Z-Giving and to get the people close to God.

When you tie your self-worth to your standard of living, you will always be poor.

2010-10-13T13:17:00.009-05:00

When you tie your self-worth to your standard of living, you will always be poor.

Let's say you want to drink coffee. You can choose between Starbucks (upper class and expensive), Panera Bread (slightly less expensive) and McDonalds (cheapest).
If going to the McDonalds makes you feel embarrassed, and lower class, then chances are, you tie your self-worth to your standard of living.
So let's say you go to the Starbucks and instead of $1 for a coffee in McDonalds, you spend $2.79.
In other words your standard of living has been raised in order to make you feel good.
Now multiply this effect across the hundreds of spending decisions you must make over the period of a month.
For every buying decision you make, if you pick the premium option, your bills at the end of the month will be a lot larger than necessary. You will either land heavily in debt if unrestrained,
or if you force yourself to pick cheap, you will feel unworthy and miserable.

Take another example. Let's say you have $2500 to buy a car. You can choose to buy an old car, say, a 11 year old Toyota Corolla for $2500 OR a new Honda CRV SUV costing $23,000. You are embarrassed to drive the Corolla - it has some rust spots and looks worn. Most of all, it is below your standard of living! So you pay the $2500 as a down payment, and buy the spanking new SUV. The payments are only $600 a month...

Do you see my point? The cumulative cost of all these 'minor' decisions will soon engulf you!

When you tie your self-worth to your standard of living, you will always be poor.

Dont buy a TomTom GPS. Tax cheats.

2010-09-27T08:52:00.000-05:00

They are trying to evade US taxes. So they send emails offering $30 off TomTom XXL550. I purchased it for $176 and found additional charges. They did not tell me that it is a foreign currency transaction. It was listed in US dollars. My credit card company has charged me an additional $5.30 as foreign currency fees.

They have billed it to their Netherlands office even though they are registered in Massachusetts.

I want to return the product for a full refund but they make it impossible to do so. If the package has been opened, they charge 15% restocking.

I have complained to the Federal Trade Commission - they are doing this to evade US taxes. This is cheating.

I want everyone to be aware of their illegal actions.

Pastor-driven churches are an Old Testament model.

2010-09-25T12:49:00.001-05:00

In my 15 years in America, I have been a regular attender at 4 churches, of different denominations, all of them pastor-driven. I have also visited a further 8-10 churches.
It seems to me an Old Testament model, where the pastor is like Moses (or David), the praise and worship team is like Miriam.
The congregation is only expected to tithe and volunteer (serve). This is because the anointing was only on the chosen few.
So in the Old Testament, the leader was the go-between between man and God.
However in the New Testament, we are all anointed because we all have the Holy Spirit.
We are all priests. (numerous passages).
We are Living Stones in the Temple. (1 Peter 2:5).
It is participatory. "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. " 1 Corinthians 14:26
We are the Body of Christ. (numerous passages).
Yet, in our services, there is such tight control. It is exactly like the Old Testament.
The congregation is only expected to tithe and volunteer (serve), to sing in praise and worship, and make up the numbers.
Where there is tight control, there is also manipulation - for money and power.
Only one person teaches. The elders seem like titular figureheads.
The body of Christ is like a teenager - constantly attending classes and stuck between baby and adulthood.
Gifts are not exercised.
When I asked a visiting leader (and pastor) about this situation, I have been told that it is in the small group that one exercises one's gifts.
However this seems like putting your child in the sandbox (or the family room) where he can safely get dirty, make noise, without disturbing the adults in the living room (main sanctuary).
The leader also told me that this was to ensure decency and order as in 1 Corinthians 14. However, this goal of orderliness can still be achieved in a participatory congregation.
A pastor-driven church does not reflect the New Testament model of the body of Christ.
Pastor-driven churches gradually become pastor-centered and from then on, degenerate into corruption and abuse.
The Reformation fought to remove the Papacy with its abuses and wrong model. However, this itself seems like a new papacy.
Is this tight control reducing the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit?

Stephen Hawking says, "God did not create the universe"

2010-09-02T15:01:00.001-05:00

News report:

God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.
In "The Grand Design," co-authored with U.S. physicist Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking says a new series of theories made a creator of the universe redundant, according to the Times newspaper which published extracts on Thursday.
"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," Hawking writes.
"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."

So do the laws of Physics exist independently of and outside the Universe? and where did these laws come from? I wonder if anyone will ask him.

Why did Jesus use spit to heal a blind man?

2010-09-02T10:49:00.000-05:00

In all societies, human spittle is disgusting, contaminated and germ-laden. Spitting on someone is a grave insult and shows that you consider him despicable. When someone is spat upon you can be assured that he will become very angry.

John 9:1-7
¹As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
³"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. ⁴As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
⁶Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. ⁷"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

I have heard some strange theological explanations: that it was a symbolism of the creation time in Genesis, that it was a medicinal (huh?) poultice.

For a clue to the answer, have you wondered why he insulted this Samaritan woman who asked him to heal her son?

Matthew 15:21-28
²¹Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²²A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
²³Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
²⁴He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
²⁵The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
²⁶He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
²⁷"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
²⁸Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

A dog in eastern cultures is despised and unclean. So why did Jesus insult her?
The answer is simple: Jesus was asking every one of them,

"Are you willing to give up your dignity in exchange for a miracle?"

Notice that they had a choice to feel insulted and leave, or to remain, press closer and obey. This is also seen in an Old Testament healing where the prophet Elisha asks Namaan the general of Syria who had leprosy to wash in the lowly, muddy Jordan river - not once, but seven times. Again the question:

"Are you willing to give up your dignity in exchange for a miracle?"

Finally, Jesus himself was faced with that question.

"Are you willing to give up your dignity in exchange for a miracle?"

Jesus was spat upon, beaten, mocked, insulted, whipped, and crucified. His final dignity was removed when he hung naked on the cross. He did this in exchange for the miracle of salvation for you, and for me.

A lesson from the life of Barnabas: Avoid becoming bitter in a doctrinal dispute.

2010-07-13T14:41:00.004-05:00

A lesson from the life of Barnabas. We never read of him after his bitter dispute.

Acts 15. 36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

He did not survive this spiritual/personal conflict. Even though he was in the right!
Perhaps he became bitter (later he chose Peter's wrong doctrine over Paul's correct and "was led astray").
Paul was unaffected.

Barnabas handled it well externally, but poorly internally; Paul was the opposite.

Perhaps he also felt that Paul had himself received great grace and now was not repaying the same - like the servant in Jesus' parable who had a great debt (here murder) but after he was forgiven, would not forgive a tiny debt that he himself was owed (here, desertion).

It is certain that Barnabas may have had brothers and sisters in christ if not actual family who were killed through Saul.

A quarrel stunted his great spiritual potential. He could not achieve further spiritual greatness after this parting.

We must keep our hearts from bitterness even in our doctrinal disputes.

(Galatians 9:13)

Barnabas was a disciple before Paul. When he was distrusted and shunned by the suspicious disciples, he verified Saul's Damascus road experience so that they accepted him.

(Acts 9:27)
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

Barnabas nurtured Paul for one year. He searched for and discipled Paul so he flourished; did not ignore him and let his gift die out. Deliberate, conscious steps.

The church gave prophetically sending their gift through Paul and Barnabas.

Barnabas recognised the move of God before others did. This was when he saw the new gentile believers and also earlier when he affirmed Saul's vision.

Barnabas was not jealous of other's spiritual prosperity. "He was glad and encouraged them to remain true to the Lord".

"He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith"

(Acts 11:22-30)

22 Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. 23 When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. 24 For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.

25 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. 26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

27 And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. 29 Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. 30 This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

My reasons not to carry a cell phone

2010-07-10T09:17:00.005-05:00

When they first came out, my father mislabelled them as 'cellophones'. I gave mine to my wife and refused to carry one for 9 years. I recently caved in and bought two for myself (I really need to write an Android program on the device). Before I become too assimilated and forget Why, here are my reasons for resisting thus far:

Avoid Group Think and brainwashing. Have you noticed that people's views are congealing into just two or three viewpoints? It is not coincidence. These electronic connecting devices are the neurons of our collective consciousness. But even so, this connectedness hammers away at your individuality. and makes you think more like the group you chatter away with - be it friends, employer or social group. It is far easier now to be brainwashed by the media. Going to Yahoo to check my email (to remain connected!), I can't help but stop by to read their often biased articles.
Cut the Electronic Leash. You can be reached at any time. Your freedom is gone. When people call you on your cellphone, they have the expectation of being able to talk to you immediately and at any time of the day or night. Disappoint this expectation more than a few times, and you will irritate the relationship. for example, how long can you refuse to take the call or not immediately call back your spouse, employer, important client even when they call at uncivilized hours?
The Contract. Phones are so expensive, that you have to agree to a 2 year contract to get one. So you spend - at a minimum, $50 a month for two years. Now what happens if you lose your job? You pay a big penalty and return your phone. Furthermore, as long as you are in a contract, customer service treats you poorly.
Another valuable bauble not to lose. A $400 piece of jewelry that you cannot afford to lose; it sits on your mind - as if you did not have enough to worry about! "where is my phone, did I leave it at the gym... did I drop it while walking the dog...".

I can think of only one reason to carry one. When you are away from a landline - to reach a loved one, or call for help in an emergency.

Why is this World Cup different?

2010-07-10T08:52:00.001-05:00

It is. At least to an observer in the USA. There is almost as much enthusiasm, fervor as in the follow up to the Super Bowl!
My reasons:

team USA performed the classic inspirational comeback win, and more than a few times, to reach the top of their group and the round of 16.
broadband is in 65% of homes. One can watch the action free if you have AT&T DSL, on the internet.
mobile has become to us now, what ball point pens were to us during the 80s. An accompanying suite of applications to keep us all "connected" has helped unify our interests and emotions. These applications Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Gmail need no mention.
Consumerism and the global middle class sector has compelled advertisers and sponsors to join with FIFA and bring this revenue-generating spectacle to us. TV networks including ABC in the USA show it for free.
Time zones fit well. 9 am, 1:30 pm and 2:30 pm in the USA especially on weekends - though not prime time - is convenient.
Wars are tucked away and forgotten. American troops are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, but this succession of presidents, Obama and Bush have ensured that their pro-Islam stance has led the American people to become confused and deceived over what we are fighting, and why we are fighting. As a columnist wrote in the Washington Times, people paid more attention to whether the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would kill sea life, and ignored the fact that 7 troops died in Afghanistan on that same day.

A thought on marriage

2010-06-30T11:12:00.000-05:00

We found that if each of us gives 75%, then it covers the gap when the other cannot give 50%. This applies to every area of marriage - money, chores etc.. If you give half (50%) and expect them to do their share (50%), then it becomes a business relationship. It will have frequent friction because you will always be watching to see if the other is doing his/her fair share. But if each gives 75%, then there is plenty to save into your 'love account' - especially to withdraw from to tide through the lean times when the other cannot contribute. The Bible says, 'Love covers a multitude of sins'. Furthermore, it fosters a spirit of generosity and grace.

On judging and the child abuse scandal

2010-06-30T11:11:00.001-05:00

Several people have denounced those who judge the Catholic church for its cover up of child sex abuse by priests. They quote from the Bible, "Judge not that you are not judged".

On child abuse:

Luke chapter 17 (google the Bible reference)
"Jesus said to his disciples: Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves."

When Jesus says, "little ones", He is speaking of children who are molested.

--
On Judging:

Here is are some good thoughts by :

http://kgov.com/docs/JudgeRightly.html

Jesus repeatedly taught men to judge rightly, insisting they “judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24) and He praised a man who “rightly judged” (Luke 7:43). Paul shamed the Corinthian Christians because no one among them was willing to “judge the smallest matters” (1 Cor. 6:2). As the Apostle wrote, “He who is spiritual judges all things” for “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:15-16).

Where did we get the notion that men should never judge? Should child-molesters escape condemnation? Should rapists be free from criticism? Should society refrain from judging those arrested for murder? And why would anyone judge others for judging?

bbc story - Would you walk on by?

2010-06-30T11:06:00.000-05:00

BBC article here. I have not had the opportunity to help people in such dramatic encounters, but have helped in small situations. It is a lie that people are not scared. "The more obvious possibility, that people are simply too frightened to intervene, is discounted by psychologists". Another case of Experts Talking Rubbish. The truth is, everyone at the scene who has the thought of intervening, feels fear. In order to help, one takes action in spite of the fear.

news report: North Korea threatens more punishment for American

2010-06-30T11:04:00.000-05:00

Aijalon Mahli Gomes went as a Christian and the US media is anti-Christian. He is black. The others were white or oriental. Racism is very strong including in that region. The North Koreans likely despise him and will easily kill him without compunction. The other two women who were set free were journalists, darlings of Oprah, ABC, CNN - and Bill Clinton who set off to free them. Poor man. He has only God to help him.

Forgiveness without Repentance?

2010-05-29T10:49:00.113-05:00

Q. When Jesus prayed on the cross, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do", did God immediately forgive mankind for rejecting and killing his Son?
A. No

It has become popular to tell victims to "simply forgive". Thus the Catholic church for decades told its victims to forgive and not demand punishment of the priests who had sexually molested them. At the other end of the spectrum, pastor Brian Zahnd writes in Charisma magazine (May 2010 page 48) that the church of the 21st century should, "position ourselves on a platform of radical forgiveness", "lay down our rights and in love, simply pray, 'Father, forgive them' ". This is partly good but when there is no mention of repentance of the perpetrator nor justice for the victim, then it is a distorted Christianity. In his latest book, "Unconditional?" he even goes so far as to re-label Justice as Retaliation and Revenge.

In fact, when anyone says, "simply forgive", then it is sometimes a sign that they themselves are complicit in a cover up or have not come clean on their own sins. God is angered by abuse and atrocity. Righteousness and Justice are the foundations of His throne (Psalm 89:14). It takes courage and risk to demand justice for the victim, to insist on repentance from the perpetrator.

It seems to me that there are three stages in forgiveness. I do not know whether the original Greek 'recognizes' the subtleties, but I think that there are distinctions in how the word is used.

Willing To Forgive stage: personal willingness to forgive; the victim is able to say mentally and in his heart, "I forgive you".
Justice stage: society seeks justice for the victim. society punishes the wrongdoer.
Transactional Forgiveness stage: forgiveness as a transaction. the perpetrator repents. He goes to the victim and asks for forgiveness. the victim says, "I forgive you" to the wrongdoer. The wrongdoer experiences forgiveness as a transaction.

Biblical proof that repentance is required:
1) In the question above, God did not automatically forgive mankind for murdering His son. Remember this point: Jesus is the second person of the Trinity and also that God always answered Jesus' prayers.

He answered Jesus' prayer by rending the veil in the temple that separated God and man. Then in Acts through the Holy Spirit, the disciples set out to preach the gospel. Observe what the gospel is:

Acts 2:38

"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins..."

Acts 3:19

"Repent then and turn to God so your sins may be wiped out.[forgiveness]".

Acts 5:31

"that He might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel."

Acts 8:22

"Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you."

God did not say, "Everyone gets a free pass to heaven - I forgave everyone at the cross". We preach that without repentance, a person's sins are not forgiven, he is unsaved and goes to hell. God sends people to hell even though he was willing to forgive at the cross.

2) Jesus famous parable on forgiveness:
(Matthew 18 23-35)

"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents[g] was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. "The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

If you notice, each time the phrase, "he begged" is used of the indebted. This is repentance.
The king did not automatically say the first time, Ok, I forgive him his huge debt - go tell him he doesn't need to repay me. Each time, there was a begging for mercy - or repentance. Only then, Transactional Forgiveness happened.

3. Luke 17:3-4. Jesus himself said: “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
Observations

Jesus' parable is entirely consistent with God's forgiveness of sins - that repentance precedes forgiveness and transactional forgiveness is different from willingness to forgive.
It is important to realize that the Willingness To Forgive stage must be reached by the victim otherwise there will be no forgiveness from your heart when the perpetrator repents.
Also, being offended (wounded pride) is not the same as offense (crimes and offenses) which are sins.
Forgiveness means reconciliation. How can you have reconciliation when the villain does not acknowledge wrongdoing?

What constitutes repentance. a mere display of sorrowful emotion? I dont think so. With John the Baptist and the Pharisees, he asked them to bring actions ("fruits") that demonstrated repentance. With Zaccheus the tax collector whose life was transformed after meeting Jesus, he determined that he would repay anyone four-fold whoever he had wronged. In other words, Repentance is genuine willingness to accept the punishment for a sin; it is not a show of contrition to escape punishment!

Two further questions:

Q:
1) If my wrongdoer does not admit wrong, should I still have a relationship with him, pretending as if nothing happened?
2) What about justice? Can one forgive and still demand justice?

A:
1) Proverbs says, "Love covers a multitude of sins". "A sensible man ignores an insult.". Many times, it is best to overlook or ignore when someone sins against you. But if you are grieved or your loved ones are harmed and the matter cannot be put to rest, then one follows Matthew 18. It is clear that if the wrongdoer does not admit wrong, then he is out of relationship - an outsider or outcast.

(Matthew 18)

15"If your brother sins against you,[b] go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'[c] 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

A 2) Justice is executed by the system that society institutes. God requires this regardless of whether the victim forgives or the wrongdoer repents. It seems to me that the victim can still press for justice and yet have "willingness to forgive" in his heart, as long as there is no repentance.
Here is where I am uncertain:
Can a victim be willing to forgive yet demand justice?
However, Society may allow for room for leniency if there is forgiveness by the victim - however scriptural backing for this is unclear to me.

update: finally it seems that Pope Benedict - after personally facing the risk of arrest and prosecution for crimes against humanity for his role in the abuse cover-up is seeing the light. He said, "Forgiveness cannot be a substitute for Justice". Yesterday, he begged God and his victims for forgiveness for "the sins of the priests".
update 08-22-2010. Unfortunately it seems this was short-lived; When police raided the bishop's offices in Belgium to investigate child-abuse claims, the pope issued a condemnation of the justice department's action and made an outcry.

Fine Israeli film - "For My Father"

2010-05-12T18:12:00.002-05:00

Just watched "For My Father" directed by Dror Zahavi. It is a somber Israeli-Palestinian love story, sad but beautiful. Tarek is a Palestinian soccer player - who in a macabre twist of logic - sets out to restore his father's reputation by becoming a suicide bomber. His father was suspected of being an informer because he got passes for his son to attend soccer training in Israel. So he was brutally beaten up by the Tanzim - the Palestinian militants.
Tarek, his son, crosses over into Tel Aviv but the bomb fails to explode due to a faulty timer.

Warning Spoiler Ahead!

Tarek finds an eccentric electrician, Katz whose son was killed in the Army, to repair the timer. Then he meets and falls in love with Keren a girl who is hiding from the Orthodox Jews who are outraged at her piercings, dress and out-of-wedlock pregnancy. She is also hiding from God whom she believes made her have a miscarriage. Tarek helps all of them and all of them help him in turn. But he cannot escape from the militants who have rigged him with a cell phone that can be manually activated to explode his bomb jacket if he loses his will. It is booby trapped so he cannot take it off and is given a cell phone to remain in contact with them.
Tarek spends the night at the beach with Keren. Surprisingly uncharacteristic for an Israeli movie, there is no sex - perhaps because removing the bomb jacket would have reduced the film to a farce! The militants call him and he is ordered to stand at the entrance of the market at Carmel and explode his bomb the next day. Tarek's dilemma is that he does not want to harm anyone yet has to redeem his father. So he finds a deserted spot and is about to explode it when Katz walks up to him and refuses to leave him. Meanwhile the police are onto him and sharpshooters ring the rooftops. Katz persuades Tarek to give it up and come with him when a sharpshooter shoots Tarek. The bomb explodes, killing him. Strangely enough, no one is killed - there are no shrapnel injuries. The scene cuts to Keren who is sleeping on the beach. She wakes up to find Tarek gone and a bag of nails nearby. Tarek had remove the shrapnel so no one else would be hurt.
This was a fine movie which humanized at least a few suicide bombers.

The jewish actor who played Katz lost his own son to a suicide bomber in real life.

This was a birthday treat!

New Supreme Court justice a lesbian?

2010-05-12T15:10:00.001-05:00

"Why are people pretending that Elena Kagan is not a lesbian. She’s not out but that does not change her sexual orientation. She has a female partner. This is an open secret at Harvard Law School among students and faculty. I cannot speak for the broader legal community yet, but I’d have to believe her professional colleagues know as much or more than the students and professors she works with. The real irony would be if she did not get the nomination because she is not open, when the conventional wisdom has always been she has tiptoed through life in the closet for the very sake of winning a confirmation."

(New York Times)

Unfortunately, the legitimization of gay marriage started with New Life pastor Ted Haggard's downfall.
Christian opposition to homosexuality and gay marriage is all but over. As a result of pastor Ted, we do not know what to think.

My entry for the GJJ tshirt contest

2010-01-17T10:47:00.000-06:00

Have supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit (tongues, miracles, healings) ceased? A rebuttal

2010-01-02T18:10:00.001-06:00

Some Christian denominations like the Baptists and Brethren and prominent anti-charismatics like Hank Hanegraaf and John MacArthur believe that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer valid and have ceased. They are known as Cessationists.
(for example see page 21-22 of Uplook magazine August 2008 issue http://uplook.org/images/pdf/2008_08.pdf).
However, there is no biblical foundation for this doctrine. In fact, this doctrine means disregarding large parts of the Bible.
Some of the points below are from my personal studying.

1) They use the argument that tongues was mentioned in Acts in only three places, and so it was not widespread in the church.

Rebuttal: Using absence of mention as a proof of lack of occurrence is a logical fallacy.
There are 3 instances in Acts where tongues are recorded.
Jerusalem (Acts 2), Caesarea (Acts 10:46), Ephesus (Acts 19:6).
Yet it is not mentioned in the respective letters to the believers in Jerusalem or Jews - Hebrews, James nor Ephesus - Ephesians.
However tongues certainly did exist in Corinth from the letter to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 12-14).
Yet in Acts 18:11, when Paul passed lived in Corinth for 1.5 years, there is no mention of tongues in any of the evangelism there.
Furthermore, Paul said that "I speak in tongues more than any of you" (1 Corinthians 14:18). However in the description of his conversion experience in Acts 9:17-31 or later, there is no mention that he spoke in tongues.

2) Cessationists say that miracles, and healings were mentioned fewer and fewer times after Pentecost. They also point to illnesses mentioned by Paul who wrote to Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach ailments, left Trophimus a believer sick at Miletus. They also point to Paul's mention of a 'thorn in the flesh' and claim it is a physical illness.

Rebuttal:
The Kingdom of Heaven is being established here on earth. That is why we pray, "Your kingdom come".
Only when Jesus walked on earth, did miracles and healings happen 100% - because Jesus is God.
So the kingdom of heaven on earth is inconsistent with advances and setbacks being made all the time. When Jesus returns again, it will be 100% consistent. This is per the doctrine of the Vineyard church which I agree with.
Furthermore, throughout church history, miracles, healings and other gifts have been recorded.

3) 1 Corinthians 14:39 clearly commands, "Do not forbid speaking in tongues". Amazingly, we never hear cessationists quote this verse!

4) They quote 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 "whether there be tongues, they shall cease. For we know in part and prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears" or in the KJV, "we shall see clearly". They say that when the Bible was completed, then the need for gifts of the Spirit ceased.

Rebuttal:
If "when perfection comes" meant the Bible, then why are we debating this issue and others? The correct interpretation would be obvious to all - 'we would see clearly' as one. As a Jewish unbeliever sarcastically said to me, "Christianity has split up into 3000 different religions".
It is clear from an honest and plain reading of 1 Corinthians 13, that tongues and all gifts will pass away only when we are in heaven.
In fact, the last book of the Bible, Revelation, is itself a vision which records supernatural events including miracles and visions that will happen in the future.

5) They state that there is no use for tongues.

Rebuttal: My pastor Mark Warner says the Bible clearly says that tongues edify the spirit."One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself " (I Cor 14:4). He goes on to say that since 14:1 says, "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy", one can also desire the gift of speaking in tongues.

There is less clarity in the Bible on whether allowed tongues are only 'earthly' tongues like Spanish, Tagalog, and German. However, as pastor Warner says, Corinthians 12-14 mentions two kinds of tongues - one in public with interpretation, and one a private 'prayer language', without interpretation. I am undecided on this.

Further reading: Dallas Theological Seminary professor Jack Deere, "Surprised by the Spirit".

Things I discovered by accident in Jiujitsu - to explore further

2010-01-02T12:51:00.010-06:00

This is a list of things I discovered by accident in Jiujitsu - to explore further. I have been training Gracie Jiujitsu since June 2009. So I am still a beginner and am simply stating what I have observed or explored while learning.

Alternative Hook removal in Elbow Escape from the Mount, without using force to stamp Bad Guy's (BG) heel.

(Nov 2009)

The traditional method taught by Ryron and Rener Gracie involves freeing one leg, and then stamping down Bad Guy's heel.
background: In reflex class, I was BG and inserted the hooks. John, who is more skilled than I, but 75 lbs lighter, could not stamp down my heel. It had turned into a contest of strength - my hamstring vs his quadriceps. You need strength to stamp down BG's heel. When I reflected on this, it seemed wrong - jiu jitsu is not a contest of strength. (Gracie Guideline #2: Any technique that relies on speed and power rather than leverage and timing is not energy efficient... Do not trust techniques based on strength or speed as they are unlikely to work against a stronger, larger attacker).

proposed solution - tried a few times, need to explore further:
a) Remove the first hook (by kicking straight out) as before.

b) Move your freed leg to the side of the trapped thigh. Rotate your freed leg so your knee and thigh are flat on the ground. As usual, now slide the knee across to escape BG's mount and trap his leg. (if he lowers the leg flat on the ground, you will have to use the fish hook removal technique).

c) Now shrimp towards that freed leg, sliding trapped leg out. Since it travels diagonally, it will escape easily - without using any force - like a hot knife through butter! As usual, half free this leg, then shrimp out again to completely free it putting BG in guard.

2. Be Side Neutral.
(June 2009)

Instead of waiting for mastery of one side (which can take a long time) before drilling the other side, consider a different approach. Drilling both sides at the same time so that at any moment, one is equally comfortable and instinctive in using either side.

I notice in the sample videos and also in class, that people tend to do the techniques according to the side that Rener and Ryron demo it. for example, Straight Armlock from the Guard - I see most people rotate to their right - just as in the videos. Would they be fluent with the other side? I wonder if this builds up artificial bias towards a side and if this could be a handicap in a real fight. Isnt this violating Grandmaster Helio's Keep it Real principle?

I could be mistaken, but I feel that so-called "strong side" and "weak side" is lopsidedness that came about artificially by focusing on one side at the expense of the other.
Yes, some people are right handed and others are left handed, but to carry it into jiujitsu techniques seems illogical and self-weakening.
Here's why:
for example; In the haymaker defense, bad guy is right handed and throws a punch. Even if you are right-handed, the jiujitsu defense requires using members of *both* sides of your body! So you rush forward with your *left* foot, covering with your left hand, clinch with both arms, trip him with left leg, sit down on right heel, and side mount straddling with both legs. However, watching the video (of only this side) and drilling this left side over and over has made this your strong side and the other side becomes clumsy and not as instinctive if required.

The great thing about Grandmaster Helio was that he did not follow blindly and maintain the status quo - he was able to think with an open mind and pick apart, discard tradition, simplify and reconstruct to something better. I hope the same attitude will be fostered in our learning. I discussed this question in the forums several times and Rener finally agreed with me.

Re: Side Neutral. I attend a CTC that I really like. I heard Ryron issued clarifications to CTCs to work only one side, and only after one has mastered it then go to the other. So we have been encouraged to practise one side only, and only after we pass the blue belt test, should we do it from the other side. Respectfully, I feel it is unwise to work one side to the detriment of the other. I do not want to learn an avoidable 'bad habit' (losing instinctiveness and fluency on the other side) that will be hard to unlearn. What should I do? Here are my reasons (also from my earlier posts on this 12/30, 1/25, 1/16): 1) I believe this is violating Grandmaster Helio's Keep it Real principle. In an actual fight, you may not get the indicator on your favorite side. Your favorite side may be inconvenienced or difficult to use. So in fact, you will be fighting with only 50% of your potential. You may as well take a rope and handicap yourself. 2) This is not a left-handed/right-handed preference dictated by genetics, but an artificial bias built up simply by focusing on one side and neglecting the other. One should not confuse the two. for example, for the Haymaker defense, for right handed students, their *left* side defense is now the strong side because only that is demonstrated and practised. (see my post of 1/16/10) 3) Waiting until you have mastered one side can take years. This seems harmful - you are no longer instinctive on the other side and is self-weakening. Imagine working out only one side of your body in the gym - your body will become lopsided, unbalanced and unhealthy. Like picking up a bad habit and reinforcing it, why would you do it? 4) Gracie Combatives says we will be street ready after we get the blue belt. But if we are not fluent in both sides, then the belt is not a marker of real effectiveness. It is not as was advertised. During drills, I have seen blue belts having to 'think' and slowly figure out the move when they were fed an indicator on their weak side. 5) If sportive belts are flawed because they are not training for realistic situations then if we are taking shortcuts to simply try to stage and beat a video test, it seems that ours is not realistic either. 6) One feels complete and more skilled, and is fun and liberating to be fluent on both sides. I really wish I could mix in both sides in my test. - To conclude, I feel it is better to drill both sides at the same time so that at any moment, one is equally comfortable and instinctive in using either side. When you have it roughly on one side then immediately try the other side. Let both fluency levels increase together and in balance. Of course, you are the masters and I am the beginner, but sometimes a child can see things a man would miss. - Anil

Anil (3/10/2010 3:56 PM)

A. You're 100% right. Do both sides as soon as you can.

Rener Gracie

3. Absorb Core Principles.
(Feb 2010)

Our instructor David Smarr mentioned that he no longer is interested in techniques, but in core principles.
I think that is wise.
While sparring, I realized that if one absorbs core principles, then no matter what one's orientation on the ground, you can improvise and survive. For example, "clinching to prevent blows landing" on the ground becomes the Guard position. From studying the Gracie Combatives, is my list of principles:

artery choke.
joint against immoveable fulcrum.
moving joint unnaturally
framing against sensitive body part to create distance.
using legs as hands.
using body parts as wedge to slide between floor and BG's body.
rolling to change orientation.
making BG lose balance by trapping one edge and moving his c.g. out
preventing legs from rebalancing by immobilising one or more.
clinching to prevent blows from landing.
using your own body weight as torque.

not fully tested, need to explore further...

4. Armbar escape

(August 2009, March 2010)
As BG rotates to attack the arm.
You should also rotate in the same direction (clockwise for right arm being attacked) and then insert the knee sideways under BGs leg and then post the bent knee on the ground. You can use your free hand to push against his stationary knee to prevent him from closing the gap between his knees.
In this position,
1) the angle between you and BG changes from 90 to 0.
2) your bent knee blocks him from breaking the arm on his south thigh.
3) your shin is between his legs and increases distance of his body from your arm. You are framing with your shin.
Now BG can only try to break on the north side and is different from the south side. This is hard for him to do because you can bend your elbow. More importantly, you can kick forward with your shin painfully pushing his groin and hips out so that he loses his grip on your arm.

4b) Scissors armlock escape

5. scissors escape from mount

when BG is mounted, use legs to wrap around and unbalance him.
use hands to twist his legs to get him off.

Do you believe in these fallacies about your life and career?

2010-01-01T15:06:00.004-06:00

1) Everything that happens to me is either from God or Satan. true or false?
Answer: false
God, Satan, man's free choice, Nature.

2) If the work or job I do, matches my interests and talents, then it is from God - otherwise it is not. true or false?
Answer: false

1) This fallacy comes from applying the Book of Job all the time to the Christian's life. This results in a Christian who believes that everything is centered around him or her. That further leads them to believe that they are indispensable. In Job, God allows Satan to devastate Job to test whether Job will remain faithful to God. Yes, it is true that sometimes it is God vs Satan or Angel vs demon in our lives - but not always.
God allows the laws of Nature, man's free will to also play their course.
So I was saved from an accident yesterday when my car skidded along an icy road, and stopped in the nick of time avoiding a collision with two fast moving cars along the cross street - I believe this was God, or an angel assigned to me doing his duty. However the flu virus I battle was likely from the laws of nature combined with my not washing my hands after touching office doors and elevator buttons.

2) In secular circles, there is a strong belief that if you are in a profession that matches your talents, then if you work hard and apply some key principles, you will succeed wildly and become a "great man or woman". An example of this is the book 'What Color Is Your Parachute?' by Bolles. Most career counseling drives along this direction.
This thinking has been carried over into Christian credo and even applied to spiritual gifts. An example of this is the course on spiritual gifts by Willowcreek megachurch founder, Bill Hybels, where natural gifts and spiritual gifts are blurred. This is a dangerous deception that has lead to many frustrated and disillusioned Christians (including myself) who feel they are waiting on the sidelines rather than playing in the game of life.

(for me personally, I have wanted to work in fields that were technical, innovative and imaginative but due to an average IQ and the narrow job market for immigrant visa holders, spent a great deal of my career in IT departments - the kind of work I disliked).

Here is the deception:

If your job or career does not match with your talents or interests, it is not God's will for your life. So quit your job and change your career. A similar line of thinking about marriage is, 'there is exactly one person in this world whom God designed for you to marry. if you are unhappy in your marriage, then your spouse was not God's will for you and so leave your spouse'.

However, if you are a Christian, then God is primarily concerned with you advancing the kingdom of God where He has planted you, and not so much with how successful you are in life.
Yes, fulfilling work and career success is a blessing of God. This is stated in Ecclesiastes.
It is also true that God heals and saves miraculously. But the time line may extend beyond our lifetime.
Read Hebrews 11:

Here are the 'successes':

32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again.

And now for the 'failures':

Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned[f]; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

The reasons are given:

13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

...

39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Think about it. Imagine an American soldier in the Iraq war who is a Christian and understands the waste of blood, limb and life. He is on his feet 18 hours a day and may lose his limbs or even his life. This 'job' does not match with his career interests. Was this God's will for him?

Yes, God can lead you on to fulfilling work. Yes, God can heal and deliver. But if it does not happen, or until it does, don't think that God wants you to simply exercise your faith and wait. He wants you to fulfill your purpose where he planted you.

Resolving disputes in the church - "Go tell it to the church"

2009-11-15T08:27:00.002-06:00

In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus says,

¹⁵"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ¹⁶But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

At each step of the process, it is possible that the 'victim' may realize, or be told by the others, that he has been mistaken in his accusation.
Many pastors try to circumvent the order, "Go tell it to the church".
Some say it meant 'tell it to the small group', or elder board - not the entire church congregation.
But it clearly says 'church' here; the small group may have been the 'two or three witnesses' earlier.
Could it be that Jesus meant "entire church" so that justice would be done?
Otherwise "small group" could be a handpicked group of people who would, out of loyalty or other reasons, blindly go along with whatever the leader(s) said, and not impartially examine
the actions and cases of both parties with the Bible.
In other words, "small group" could just be a lynch mob.
(For pastors, is this one of the Hard Sayings Of Jesus? :)).

Furthermore, I wonder if telling it to the entire church removes politics (or manipulation) from the situation and lays it before God.

Royce Gracie Jiujitsu/MMA Seminar, Cameron, MO

2009-09-19T21:55:00.062-05:00

Rear Naked Choke'd out by Royce Gracie. He said, "this will be a pleasure for me"
(credits: photos by Rita Philip)

Four hours of training in a patriotic rural town with the UFC legend, Royce Gracie, for $100.

What did I learn? Here is as much as I can remember:

Our class. Royce is pacing up and down in the blue gi

(Note: He did not use any technical terms and so I am using the labels from my class in Overland park which is a training center for Gracie Academy, Torrance, CA. I have only described the 'new stuff' he taught. If you are unfamiliar with the basic moves, you can try a keyword search for the technique on youtube).

Takedown. Both vie for position, pushing each other facing at 45 degrees. One knee drops, hooks inside of farthest leg. Grab inside of other knee with other hand and push to takedown.

Americana.

Kimura. trap his other leg.

Guillotine choke (pull guard variation) and Guillotine defense. In this defense against the pull guard version, arm around BG's neck holding BG's head "like he is your friend" and when you are on the ground, post off your toes with a wide base, and push your shoulder to his throat.

Guillotine choke. Also, my sparring partner can be seen. I am in the white gi with my back to the camera.

I discovered while practising during the session, what I felt was a possible counter to the Guillotine defense (which irritated Royce who insisted it wasn't valid, "who is teaching you? you are learning wrong" - however, I disagree) Use the non-choking arm to wrap your arm around BG's defense arm - now he can't put it around your neck. You can still continue the choke by grabbing the wrist of the choking arm. So if your right arm forms the 'V', use your left arm to wrap around BG's right arm and then hold your right wrist and close the 'V' and inhale to exert pressure. Since BG's right arm is trapped, he cannot loop it around your neck.

Also, in the curriculum taught by Rener, Ryron and Rorion Gracie, the guillotine is an artery choke, not an airway choke. So we learned to form a V using our forearm with the BGs chin in the valley. Royce insisted that this was wrong. He taught the wrist is kept horizontal and raised upwards. He got annoyed, "Who is teaching you this? It is completely wrong. You can tell them in the class to [unprintable] out of here". Discretion prevented me from saying, "It was your nephews who taught me this, Sir".

Swinging to different sides of BG to do arm lock from the guard on each side.

Turning a failed Kimura into a mount. If BG pulls his hand out, support yourself with the hand you used to grab his wrist, and assuming your leg on the same side is bent, drive forward with your hips, knocking him off balance. You can now get into the mount.

punch block 2 (PB2). grab his biceps. No space between your forearm and knee. feet on BG's hips.

Submission Variations from PB2:

In PB2, let BG's arm in. move 'around the world' to do the triangle.
In PB2, let BG's arm in, grabbing his elbow. drive your legs up his body and twist your hips, pushing his body to the side forming a triangle with corners of your knee, your foot, your knee, and your groin. This traps him. From here, do the kimura with your hand. see photos below.
Kimura variation using your legs only! As above in 2), but move your leg around his head, so you are sitting next to him. grab his waist. Now rotate your legs to sit sideways.

Royce watches Master Johnson's technique

Master Johnson demonstrates the technique

Twisting arm control. use your chest to roll him in. Then do RNC. variation: take the back.

with Jonathan... and David :)

with pretty woman ;)

After he autographed my white belt, I said, "God bless you". (I wasn't feeling very spiritual this week, and said no more).
The tough old warrior was visibly touched. He reached out and patted my arm.

follow up: Ryron Gracie addressed the contradiction in the versions of the Guillotine choke - Lesson 23. (I asked this question on their website forum).

Both variations of the guillotine choke are valid. We learned it the same way that Royce taught you. Our father has taught us that way and you will see it taught that way on the Rorion/Royce video series. Our version, approved by the Grandmaster and our father, achieves the same purpose, but can be even more effective as it is tighter and more quickly causes unconsciousness due to lack of blood flow. If you can't wrap the arm deeply enough to achieve this effect, then the painful version is a valid, time-tested alternative. - Gracie Academy 1

Life and Death

2009-09-14T21:46:00.008-05:00

Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park. Sept 11, 2009

Vibrant strong tall trees, green and healthy, reaching for the skies.
Dead rotting corpses in their watery grave, their bodies releasing back to the soil, air - and trees above.

From

Hooray, my wife had her first Jiu Jitsu lesson last week!

2009-08-26T20:09:00.004-05:00

Finally, after two months of pleading, argument and persuasion, she agreed to join Gracie Jiu Jitsu class, but once a week.
She learned Standing Armlock, and Headlock Escape 2 (scissors).
Of course, it all made no sense to her, but it is a start :)

breaking her husband's arm

From Rita and Chitra Jiujitsu

with sister-in-law Chitra in a clinch

From Rita and Chitra Jiujitsu

David Smarr, on how Jiu-Jitsu has helped him in life.

2009-06-28T20:54:00.003-05:00

David is our instructor on Saturdays at the Blue Valley Gracie Jiujitsu training center. He has practised Jiu-Jitsu under Helio and also Royce Gracie and is a deep instructor. In his words,

"Jiu Jitsu's principles will help you with everything you do in life. Also will never out grow a technique or principle. Here are a few principles that have helped me.

Finding the most efficient ways to do things. This comes from Jiujitsu's principle; leverage over power.
You are never in a bad situation if you know how to get out. This comes from Jiu Jitsu's principle; that you are never in a bad position if you know how to escape.
Focus & Dedication as with anything in life you must work hard for acomplishments. Jiu Jitsu is no different you get out of it what you put into it. Nothing will be given without dedication.
Determination Everybody will find themselves in situations they struggle to get out of including me. You must learn to build on your weakness's first before you build on your strengths. You are only as strong as your weakest link.
Planning & Preparation As with anything in life you must first plan before you can execute. Jiu Jitsu has taught me the better you prepare for a goal or technique the deeper you will understand it and the more rewarding it is to accomplish.

Hope I helped. Have a good day

David"

Great messages

2009-06-24T09:28:00.000-05:00

Our church, Vineyard at Overland Park had the Reflect Conference and their sermon audio is here.
I would recommend listening to at least a few of these life-changing messages.
They are listed here and are marked Reflect 2009 in the third column.
http://vineyardop.org/SiteResources/Modules/MinistryTools/Sermon/default.asp
My favourites are the sermons by Gary Best (4/24,4/25,4/26) and by our senior pastor Mark Warner (5/10,5/17,5/24).

Understanding why George Tiller performed partial birth abortions with an untroubled conscience

2009-06-09T14:11:00.002-05:00

“These are the things we do,” he said, pointing to color snapshots of aborted fetuses. “Hydrocephalus, spina bifida, fused legs, open spine, lethal chromosome abnormality. Nature makes mistakes.”

George Tiller, Wichita abortion doctor, shot dead in June 2009.

Reading this quote in the newspaper article by Judy Thomas, I suddenly understood how someone who performed late term abortions could live with an untroubled conscience. Even though he was an usher at his liberal Lutheran church, he apparently believed that babies were created by Nature, not God. He believed that a woman, and the planet, should not be burdened by one of Nature's grotesque mistakes. In contrast, the pro-lifer believes that even deformed babies were created by God for a purpose, and that we do not have the authority to decide what the cutoff point should be - to grant life or death. Who knows what wonders God can do with a seemingly worthless lump of clay?
This is consistent with pro-life support for the death penalty. God, as described in the major religions, requires man to administer justice - even to the point of taking life.

Penalized for her religious views? A new low...

2009-04-21T10:57:00.004-05:00

It is a given that free speech is protected in America. Unfortunately, in the Miss USA contest, Carrie Prejean was penalized for her answer opposing gay marriage, that marriage should be between a man and a woman. (news report here). As a result, she lost the crown.
Penalized for her religious beliefs? I am dumbfounded that this could happen in America. Another name for this is persecution.

For any Birthmother considering placing her baby for adoption

2009-04-17T12:13:00.009-05:00

Thank you for having the courage to consider adoption. We are Rita and Anil, and would like to tell you about ourselves.

We have been married for twelve years now. We have no children and would love to have our lives filled with the joys and cares a child brings. We do have one cute child-loving dog, “Kacey”.

Anil is a quiet, sensitive person. Rita is an optimistic, sociable person. We are East Indian in origin but like a wide variety of foods, fashions and activities. We are American citizens now.

It is important for us to raise a child with lots of love, attention and prayer. We are committed to having Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives and our marriage. We look to God for guidance in big and small things. We have daily devotions. We believe in showing children love and affection and encouraging honesty, hard work, individual responsibility and academics.

Rita is in the dental field; Anil is a computer programmer. We live in a house in a neighborhood with lots of kids. We cook American, Indian and lots of other foods. We love to cook, garden, eat, watch movies, play games, train jiu-jitsu and visit new places. We are open to other cultures. English is our first language and we speak it at home.

Regarding Adoption: We are looking for a child under one year old, preferably a baby. We would like contact with the birth family, before and after the adoption – if the birth parents are okay with it. We would explain the adoption process to the child and speak about his/her birth parents in a positive way. We have undergone a background criminal check and a home study as part of our preparation to become foster/adoptive parents. We are licensed foster parents. Though we are not perfect people, we are honest and law abiding.

We are happy to provide you with any more information you require.

Sincerely,

Rita and Anil

Note: As you can probably tell, we are seeking to adopt!

Life is not Just, only God is - but when...?

2009-04-13T20:13:00.005-05:00

Life is not always Just. Human systems are just as Unjust. When we are small, we are fed stories of how it all works out in the end. How the crooked are punished and how the righteous are finally rewarded. This carrot and stick helps one to live in the fear of evil, and embrace the good. It helps small children grow up into a well-mannered society.
However if you put aside the fairy tales, you will find, like the writer of Ecclesiastes, that it fails as often as it works.
Nowhere does it say that Life, Society, the Earth, the Church, your family, the Law [add your choice here] are Just. Only God is Just. And even He, will execute final justice only in the Great White Throne judgment. But then here is a heretical thought - will it matter then?
So perhaps while on this earth, victims should pursue Healing rather than Justice - easier said than done.

How to find Healing for Life's Most Painful Questions (or, Disappointment with God).

2009-03-26T17:31:00.032-05:00

The most painful dilemmas in Life are not when the devil and his followers attack and wound you; it is when God fails you. Disappointment with God is a mortal wound.
for me these three were unresolved dilemmas:

1) How can the Holy Spirit be speaking to me one set of truths and under that prompting, I share it with the elders of my former church - only to be promptly expelled by them - under the influence, according to them, of the Holy Spirit?!
Alternately, as I asked myself for years, using this school geography illustration in my mind, how can sincere Christians come up with completely opposing doctrines?

2) "I believe I was following God when I did _[fill in the blanks]_ in faith. However it led to loss, grief and even evil".
Alternately, when I look back at my past, in many areas I see that if I had taken a small action or been aware of a certain fact, my life would have been far different. Now, I can only try to partially offset the losses in these areas. But then I stop and ponder... God knew then, and God promised that He would guide me, and I was his follower at the time. Why didn't He do so? If He spoke and I didn't hear, then why didn't He speak more clearly or loudly? However, so many years were lost, irretrievably. Why didn't God prompt me in this direction earlier? It would have made me into a better, more successful person and more fruitful Christian.
An alternate question: "what purpose was served by God allowing _[this evil or tragedy]_ or not alleviating this problem earlier?"

3) When I read Leviticus, I am horrified at some of the practices. How can the same God of Mercy of the New Testament have ordered seemingly unfair executions and repressive treatment of women and slaves in the Old Testament?

Many theologians have pat answers for these questions above. Many Christians have ready explanations and even more pat answers. So do I. However they are unsatisfying. Perhaps because the answers may be wrong, but even if they are partially correct or even correct and have biblical support, they do not heal - if we are honest.

I believe it is because the mind cannot heal the heart. Many people turn against God for reasons like these because they are unresolved.
Pain leads to Anguish leads to Bitterness leads to Hatred leads to Estrangement and Rebellion against God. They become disillusioned, abandon the faith and even become followers of Satan. Perhaps this was Judas' path?

After almost 25 years of struggling with such painful questions, I believe I have the key:

Trust and Thankfulness!

First disconnect your logical brain - stop wrestling with the dilemma. You will not fully understand nor explain it.

Trust that God is Love, is Good, is Merciful, is Just.
Question: Why should you trust God?
Answer: Jesus who is God, shed His blood for you and died for you.

Be Thankful even in a crisis. Important: Do not be thankful for the evil that happens - that came from the devil, not God - remember that Jesus was not thankful for the cross. Do not be thankful for misfortunes - they are either a result of the interactions of the laws of Nature that God created, or man's free will. However, be thankful that God moves all things to work for good to those that love Him. Be thankful for the things you can be thankful for - you will know them!

These two will heal you as it has started to heal me!

Trust and Thankfulness!

Bible passages to support these thoughts:

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28

He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me,
and he prepares the way
so that I may show him the salvation of God Psalm 50:23

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. (God). Job 13:15

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then [when we are in heaven] we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Without faith, it is impossible to please God... Hebrews 11:6

Trust and Thankfulness!

Love in the Time of Prostate Cancer

2009-02-10T11:58:00.002-06:00

touching article
(http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/love-in-the-time-of-prostate-cancer/)

A new idea for Internet Evangelism (and help prevent a suicide)

2009-01-15T08:12:00.015-06:00

Would you like to help prevent a suicide? (and help spread the gospel across the internet)

There is despair and desperation across the world as financial systems are collapsing. Daily in the news we read of individuals and even families committing suicide.

If you would like to help spread the gospel across the internet and help people find a reason for living, then do one of the following:

1) When you post in a newsgroup or mailing list or forum or even in an email, as part of your signature, add the following lines:

Are you planning to kill yourself? Stop! listen to this song
broadband version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLHHB4YZucI
dial-up version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL5WyBenUpM

2) Pick a Christian song, and inject a gospel message into it. Explain the lyrics using passages from the Bible. Look at the Toby Mac song clip I used above. I have another clip using a recording from a Muslim imam dying of AIDS miraculously healed by Jesus. Be sure you explain every bit of jargon you use. Concepts like repent, sin, sacrifice, crucify, eternal are alien to most unchurched people.

Why is this better?
Take most Christian songs - can anyone who was not steeped in Christianity listen to them and understand the message? I don't think so. There is so much jargon that only "insiders" would understand.
For example, take Toby Mac's "I was made to love". Most people will think it is about a boy singing of the girl he loves. Only an insider will understand it is about our relationship with Jesus.
I took the audio song clip and used a voice recorder to record the song as it was playing, then paused the player, spoke a bit explaining what was being said, play some more song, give a gospel message, and so on. For the youtube version, I have added captions.

How did I start this?
I did a precepts (Kay Arthur) study on the book of Acts (Holy Spirit) and it took me two years to complete as I was very slow. There were no personal opinions, only questions to answer and to write our observations in a notebook as the Holy Spirit taught - she got out of the way.
A few weeks later, in July 2008, a pastor Mike Hernandez, preached on the baptism of the Holy Spirit and laid hands on me after the service and prayed for me. I did not speak in tongues, but my study of Acts and an innovative idea to do internet evangelism using audio skypecasts was the basis for God to use me.

It was a powerful and innovative tool for internet evangelism since lots of people around the world, especially muslims from closed countries, flocked to Skypecasts as a community.

What were the results?
In 5 weeks, this resulted in 13 people around the world praying the prayer of salvation.

The skypecast feature was discontinued by Skype and two of the people turned hostile to Christianity (the devil took away the seed as in Luke 14:12), but I believe at least a few were saved. I am putting up those clips with captions added, on youtube.

Here is a list of those who prayed to receive Jesus (only first names to protect their privacy)

-----July week 3-----
Nikole, Bulgaria. 14 year old was abandoned and beaten by successive fathers and is looking for love from her boyfriend.
Thiago, Brazil. said he was in trouble and needed God's help.
Jefferson, Brazil. pray he will understand his salvation.
-----July week 4-----
Peder, Sweden. although he wept and prayed, has turned against Christ and said he is "controlled by Satan". He was in jail before. Pray that Satan's grip on his life will be broken.
Andre Abreu, Brazil. recommitted his life and he and his wife said his life was changed.
Aleksandra, Serbia.
Kitty, Ireland.
------Aug week 1-----
Elizeberth Hong, UK.
------Aug week 2-----
Ibrahim, Istanbul, Turkey. pray he will not turn away because of fear of persecution from Islam.
He is an architect and a muslim who spent 90 min. debating and trying to understand the gospel using a turkish-english dictionary to understand gospel jargon!
He was sincere and prayed the prayer of salvation.
------Aug week 3-----
Deepak, Chennai, India. Hindu. understood the gospel and prayed.
Aisha, Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
------October week 1----
Kurt, Svante. Sweden.
I prayed with them for Kurt's marijuana addiction and Svante's alchohol addiction to be broken.
A few days later, Kurt turned hostile to the gospel. This has been puzzling to me - Swedish people will pray sincerely and then turn hostile - 180 degrees around!

Unfortunately, the results were not all good. I got kicked out of my former church because the senior pastor did not like some of the thoughts I shared with the leadership.
(in case you are curious regarding what I said: 1. the church should be Christ-centered, not pastor-centered.
2. submission to the Word should be above submission to leaders.
3. our church should be a new covenant church, not an old covenant church.
4. the church is a wheat field, not a banyan tree.)

Are you planning to kill yourself? Stop! listen to this song...

2008-12-31T14:19:00.002-06:00

Are you planning to kill yourself? Stop! listen to this song...
hope and meaning for life if you are depressed, sad and hopeless and want to kill yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLHHB4YZucI

Vote McCain-Obama for Dual President

2008-11-04T17:46:00.005-06:00

This article was submitted to the KC Star and the Washington Post - unfortunately, only 3 days before the election. It was rejected due to the large number of election related articles submitted, so I would like to publish this idea here.
---
I would like to share an idea with you - a practical way to bring healing, for a divided country to work together. Not McCain OR Obama, but McCain AND Obama. It is not a game, but a system that can be refined and improved.
After elections, each president receives "power coins" in the proportion of their electoral votes.
They use this power money to invest in decisions of governance. The outcome or score of a decision is decided by vote in Congress.
Each receives a return on their investment depending on the score. If a decision worked out well, then the one that heavily invested in it is rewarded with more power money.
The more his or her decisions are correct, the more payback a president receives - more power to wield in future decisions.
Decisions are minor or major, short term or longer term and have one or more evaluation points when they are evaluated by a vote in Congress which decides how well a decision has worked out by its results on the ground. Yes, a Democrat-dominated congress will tend to favor a left leaning decision, but the actual results cannot be ignored and the composition of Congress is tied to how the people want the country to be governed.
How are decisions made?
Congress as usual, drafts laws. An ombudsman or referee is sworn to secrecy and categorizes each decision that comes to the presidential inbox, by its impact and timeline and assigns a cost.
The two presidents attend the same meetings and discuss options openly but their decisions are made in secret and with only the referee present. Each president decides what the choice or response to a decision would be and the one that invests the most has the right to make the choice. A stronger conviction towards a course of action will result in more power money invested. If both want control, then they bid the price up. Both can craft a decision together.
A minimum investment is required by each. So each president buys into the decision - even if he disagrees. Also both have a stake and although they will compete against each other, they will collaborate. They will work to make the best decision and that brings the most return in power money. Their decision is released jointly, typed up by the referee.
The amount that each has invested is known only to the referee who also updates their power balances after a vote. To avoid divisiveness their individual opinions are kept confidential.
When decisions are secret, a president is less constrained by ideology or party loyalty, and can pick the best course. When congress does not know how their guy decided, they are less bound by party loyalty and can vote in the best interests of the country. To keep people from deducing how a president decided, their power money balances are published only at fixed intervals, and not after each vote.

violence against Christians in India

2008-10-16T13:49:00.002-05:00

watch video CNN: http://www.yahoo.com/s/971741

BBC article: Fear and fundamentalism in India

The Dow is behaving like a dying animal

2008-10-10T13:17:00.005-05:00

Looking at the stock ticker chart on Yahoo today, I am both fascinated and terrified. It is like watching the movie of a whale plunging to its depths in the sea, then coming up for air, fighting for its life.

Post script: 10-10-2008 was among the wildest rides for the Dow; a spread of 1000 points.

Don't kill yourself over the stock market

2008-10-07T12:39:00.004-05:00

Two things I read today:

1) A news item

Karthik Rajaram, an unemployed Indian origin businessman in Los Angeles, killed his family and himself after seeing his finances wiped out by the stock market collapse.

Shocked by finding himself a pauper from a Millionaire overnight by the plunging US stock market, an unemployed Indian origin businessman took the extreme step of shooting and killing his wife, three children and mother-in-law, before taking his own life here.

Karthik Rajaram (45), who once made more than USD 1.2 million in a London-based venture fund, was found dead in his Porter Ranch home here along with his wife Subasri (39), mother-in-law (70) and three sons Krishna (19), Ganesha (12) and Arjuna (7).

2) Psalm 34

1 I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.
2 I will boast only in the Lord;
let all who are helpless take heart.
3 Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;
let us exalt his name together.

4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
He freed me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
6 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
he saved me from all my troubles.
7 For the angel of the Lord is a guard;
he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

If you are desperate like Karthik, then do contact me at my email address listed in my profile. I don't have any money to bail you out, but I can show you that God has good plans for you through His son Jesus - plans to give you a hope and a future.

11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. [a] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.

alterations to the Bible?

2008-10-06T16:08:00.003-05:00

This article by the BBC claims that "For those who believe the Bible is the inerrant, unaltered word of God, there will be some very uncomfortable questions to answer. It shows there have been thousands of alterations to today's bible."

Several comments by readers rebutted this biased article:

[Frank Hill] "My understanding is that this codex was compiled by a Christian sect who even then was considered unorthodox and whilst it is the oldest complete bible many earlier copies of the gospels predate this codex. It is these gospels from which modern bibles are translated. They are both more numerous and closer in age to the events describe in the New Testament."

[Bob] "The current Bible is God's word. Of course it was written by man, but it was breathed into life by God. The way that it has over time, evolved into is present form is not important. Only those scriptures, in the form that God intended, have presently become the Bible. What is important is that the message that God intended is there for us all, and it has the power to change lives."

When I share the gospel with Muslims on the internet, they inevitably ask about the "many versions" of the Bible to try and prove that it was corrupted and that there is only one version of the Koran.

What people miss out is the third person of the God Trinity - the Holy Spirit. The gospel was preached and spread by the Holy Spirit, using men and women.

In A.D. 325, Christian leaders gathered at the first council of Nicea. They prayed and under the direction of the Holy Spirit, gathered together the 66 books that comprise the Word of God.

There were many manuscripts, some forgeries, some deceptions, some material not from God. The Holy Spirit directed them to discard these false books. It is important to remember that the same Holy Spirit who did miracles in the book of Acts, compiled the Bible, and still directs us today.

My question for Barack Obama

2008-09-08T12:31:00.009-05:00

Dear Barack,
As an immigrant in Kansas, I would love to see a 'person of color' become president - to shake up the prejudice among the white folks in the Midwest especially, your native Kansas.
However, the biggest obstacle which prevents me from voting for you is: For three years you voted against the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act while you were a state senator. It required that babies born from botched abortions be allowed to live. This act of yours stops me cold. You see, when it is a baby crying, it is no longer an abstruse scientific, theological or religious question as to "when does life begin?" or "when does an embryo have human rights?".
It is no longer nuanced in meaning as in the Rick Warren sponsored debate with McCain. There are no loopholes. Can you not recognize that it is a fully formed human baby that must be protected, fed and cuddled? I require a plain and simple answer from you, because as I ask this, I also see rising up, the ghosts of Hitler and others who had little value for human life.
sincerely,
Anil Philip

Why the silence on Southern Sudan?

2008-08-07T08:43:00.008-05:00

Every day, you read the newspapers and read headlines blaring about "genocide in Darfur". United Nations sanctions have been imposed and peace keepers sent. Sudan has been condemned internationally and even in the Olympics, Winter Games gold medalist Cheek, has drawn attention to his activism as founder of 'Team Darfur', when his visa to Beijing was revoked.

The American athlete who will carry the flag for the games, Lomong, is from Sudan. He fled as a refugee from a genocide that has been ignored and suppressed. He is not from Darfur where about 150,000 have died, but from Southern Sudan.

Only from unbiased news organizations like the BBC, and human rights groups, did we learn that 1.2 million people, mostly from the Christian and Animist South have been killed over a 20 year period.
The Islamist North tried to take over the South. Mass killings, torture, rape was done in a systematic and large scale way.

In contrast to the outrage over Darfur, there was a media silence on Southern Sudan.
Why?
In Darfur, the victims are Muslim. In Southern Sudan, they were Christian and animist. I believe that the American media imposed a blanket of silence because they tend to be anti-Christian in their leaning. Contrast the heavy coverage, military intervention, and sanctions Bosnia received even though various reports say 25-50,000 may have died - compared with 1.2 million in Southern Sudan. Also, I believe they did not want Evangelical Christians in the USA to launch a movement and an outcry.

The unnoticed genocide.

One of my favorites - Toby Mac, "I was made to love you [God]"

2008-07-04T00:27:00.006-05:00

Made To Love [God] Lyrics

by Toby Mac

Verse 1
The dream is fading, now I'm staring at the door
I know its over cause my feet have hit the cold floor
Check my reflection, I ain't feelin' what I see
It's no mystery
Whatever happened to a passion I could live for
What became of the flame that made me feel more
And when did I forget that...

Chorus
I was made to love you
I was made to find you
I was made just for you
Made to adore you
I was made to love
And be loved by you
You were here before me
You were waiting on me
And you said you'd keep me
Never would you leave me
I was made to love
and be loved by you

Verse 2
The dream's alive with my eyes opened wide
Back in the ring you've got me swinging for the grand prize
I feel the hate is spittin vapors on my dreams
But I still believe
I'm reachin out, reachin up, reachin over
I feel a breeze cover me called Jehovah
And daddy I'm on my way
Cause I was made to love...

Chorus

Bridge
Anything I would give up for you
Everything, I'd give it all away
(Repeat 3x)

I was made to love you
I was made to adore you, made just for you
(Repeat 3x) from http://www.findlyrics.com/toby_mac/made_to_love/

28 Good Value tips in Paris

2008-06-12T09:49:00.006-05:00

Over four years old, this list of 28 Good Value tips in Paris was originally posted in Fodor's on our only (so far!) trip to France. As you can see here, it generated some heat. I am posting them here so that it is available to others. However, some things may be outdated.
When we went, it was in May 2003. The Iraq war had just begun and there was plenty of Franco-American friction and anger. Now, of course, it is all water under the [Pont Noeuf!] bridge. Those of us who supported the war, now oppose it - and many in France now support the American view.
-
Someone emailed me asking for tips about our visit to France.
Here are a few 'value' tips from our experience. We visited in May 2003.
In general, France is more expensive than America - forget Walmart, SAMS Club, Costco, and their prices. Bring an umbrella. We paid $12 for a cheap umbrella which would have been worth $3 here.
The euro is even more expensive today, so consciously try to forget the exchange rate
and avoid comparing too much with the great deals at home.
thanks,
Anil Philip (with help from Rita!)
Kansas City, KS

0. We stayed at the Comfort Inn Abaca which was a good value as part of the Europe Express package tour, but more expensive ($80/night) if you try to extend your stay. It was extremely clean, rooms were small and their breakfast very good. The front desk staff are helpful.

1. Pickpockets: Avoid them (heh-heh!). I never met any perhaps because I do not look like a rich American tourist. Walmart sells a $7 money belt which was useful. However the best thing to do is simply put your wallet in your front trouser pocket and then when entering crowded places, put one hand inside the pocket, directly and firmly gripping the wallet. Avoid getting in the subway when there is a crush - you're on holiday and can take the next train, so sit around and watch the people.

2. Guidebooks: If you follow them too closely, then your trip becomes a canned Rick Steve's or Fodor's or Frommer's tour. However I found Rick Steve's detailed museum tours very useful (though my wife didnt like his book too much). Frommer's has a detailed map. Borrow all (and videos) from the public library to get a feel for them before you decide to buy any of them.

3. A picnic lunch on the lawns of the Rodin museum is nice. His work was In My Humble Opinion, over-rated and the sculpture of Balzac was disgustingly silly and vulgar. However his mistress' work of the threesome in a struggle for Rodin was poignant and touching.

4. Perhaps the best site (and the least well known) for me was the Holocaust memorial directly behind the Notre Dame cathedral. Remembering it still gives me the goosebumps. You go down a spiral staircase as though into a dungeon and inside, it is as though you are in prison, in Hades, in the pit. You can see the rays of light streaming in from above, but cannot go to it. A plaque on the floor reads, (paraphrase) "they went down into the earth, were swallowed up and were never seen again".

5. The War memorial Museum at Caen was good but for me the American section in the gardens outside, was unforgettable. There is a spring (actually a pool) that goes over a waterfall and the water flows over a plaque that reads "From the heart of our land flows the blood of our youth, given to you in the name of freedom.". President Chirac needs to see this.

6. Do not use your credit card - use an ATM. I found that Visa charges a processing fee and on top of it, they skim off (cheat) by charging a higher exchange rate than what the market rate is.

7. When you are out, you can get great sandwiches at charcuteries (deli) places that are good value.

8. Ed Epicier is a great grocery store with very cheap foods and wines. It is next to the supermarket (forgot the name but do not go there) at the Convention terminus (near our hotel).

9. If you are visiting other places, stay at Etap (a clean Motel 6)

10. Ask specifically for the Carte Orange in french, they will try to sell you the tourist pass, but resist it.

11. try to attend one of the Sunday concerts at the cathedral at Notre dame - it's free and wonderful.

12. Read the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" before you visit France, and then go up the towers.

13. My wife and I are from India but my wife speaks reasonably fluent french, so people were bewildered when I wore my USA T-shirt about. At the cathedral, I gave one frenchman our camera to take our picture and he seemed very upset and irritated - only because my wife asked him, did he agree. Much later on, I realized I had been wearing my USA stars and stripes T-shirt!

14. Take film from here. One roll over there costs over $5 - here, walmart sells a pack of 4 rolls for that price!

15. the Seine river cruise is worth it. at night it is romantic.

16. Avoid Rue Cler - there was absolutely nothing worth seeing - it has become yet another touristy spot after thousands of favourable reviews. However, the crepe stand is nice with delicious Grand Marnier crepes for $3 - but you can get that most places.

17. Get used to seeing dog poop, pee on the streets and the smell of human urine in the subway station.

18. One of my most memorable memories was listening to the poor street musicians at the subway play so superbly. the French are not generous (to put it mildly) so even if we gave them just one euro ($1.25), they were happy.

19. My wife liked the Louvre a lot perhaps because she could understand french. I did not. Because they are rather chauvinistic, all titles, everything almost, is in french which was annoying - since it is designated as a UN monument - so I had to get her to translate everything. If you are ever in Kansas City, visit the Nelson Atkins museum - it has more and better art by the great masters, Monet, Rodin, Van Gogh and it's free.

20. Be patriotic, support your troops in Iraq - dont apologise but dont argue either - simply explain the righteousness of our cause.

21. Strike up conversations in the subway - we did meet nice people this way!

22. Emmanuel Baptist Church is a nice church in Paris http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ebcparis/ We were unable to visit.

23. Near the hotel, there is a laundry. It is about $7 a load.

24. Other places we liked. the creme brulee at Le Colimacon was out of this world! It is near the Hotel de Ville at the Pont Noeuf bridge. Chartier is cheap but the food is bland and tasteless to cater to the tourist. Not worth it.
Thanks to editor Pauline Frommer for pointing us to Le Colimacon - formerly habited by President Pompidou.

25. Go to Notre Dame for the view. Also Sacre Coeur. Samaritaine roof-top was closed and they charge a fee to go up there. However if you buy anything from their store, they will let you to the roof with your receipt.

26. Get the Insider's good value guide to France free from the french embassy website. Get it now - it takes about a week to arrive.

27. At Saint Chapelle, try to recognise and pick out the Bible stories from the stained glass windows. It is fun. I was even able to recite the story of Esther to the entire tourist group there - to applause - and the official Cathedral guide (who did not know the story) took it very well!

28. Take one of the week-long package trips from gotoday or Europe Express or whatever. While booking it, ask them to extend the return date. This way you can travel on your own to other places in France and then come back to Paris on the last day to catch the plane back home. However, dont let the package tour people make travel/hotel arrangements for your extended stay. They will typically charge much higher rates piecemeal.

(to: Patrick, Margie, HowardR, )
Nelson-Atkins Museum (Kansas City)
Here is an article by Business Week columnist, Thane Peterson "...the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, which has a marvelous permanent collection that includes everything from works by Claude Monet and Georgia O'Keefe to native American art to one of the nation's finest collections of Chinese artifacts."
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jun2002/nf2002064_7496.htm
http://www.nelson-atkins.org/
http://www.nelson-atkins.org/collections/european/european.htm
Even the gardens at the KC museum are beautiful, interspersed with sculptures by Henry Moore and Rodin's Thinker gazing down (the shrewd businessman! he made 27 of them).

(to: HowardR)
The "poignant sculpture" I was referring to was "Maturity" by Camille Claudel, Rodin's mistress.

(to: Patrick, Margie, HowardR)
Balzac IMHO, was disgustingly silly and vulgar because it depicts the honorable gentleman with a large you-know-what through his pants when he is aroused. A schoolboy's joke perhaps, but hardly in good taste, let alone good art.

Why do bad things happen? - 2

2008-05-28T11:22:00.021-05:00

BBC news report:

"Twelve-year-old Elizabeth - not her real name - was walking in fields with her brother, following an aunt who had gone ahead to work on the family's plot of land near the town of Man in north-western Ivory Coast, when they were approached by "les casques bleues", as UN peacekeepers are known.

"Elizabeth" was raped by 10 UN peacekeepers in Ivory Coast

Her brother took a biscuit from one of the men; she refused.
As Elizabeth tried to run away, one of the soldiers seized hold of her. There were 10 of them.
I spoke to Elizabeth near her home. She said: "They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me... I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing... I was terrified.
"Then they just left me there bleeding..."
Elizabeth was raped by 10 peacekeepers and abandoned.
Her village elders say they tried to take the case to UN officials at the camp nearby. But Domade Jean-Baptiste, one of the village chiefs, said they were made to wait for ages and then sent away.
Elizabeth's brutal rape is one of an unknown number of sexual assaults carried out by peace keepers and aid workers, the very people who are brought in to post-conflict areas around the world to protect the vulnerable...."

I was outraged when I read this. Why did this happen?

This little girl's life is effectively over. She is destined to be filled with a life of anger, hate, promiscuity, shame, failure and ruin.

Following the logic of my earlier post, it was Satan who is Evil himself, collaborating with man using his free will to choose evil.

"the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8)

The devil has come to "steal, and to kill, and to destroy". (John 10:10)

Since God has legions of angels, even one of whom could have prevented this, why did He allow this to happen?

I don't know.

Mike Ensley of Exodus writes that "our suffering matters to God... He does not coldly survey the landscape of our brokenness but 'collects our tears.' "

You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book? (Psalm 56:8)

If you are reading this, pray with me that this girl and hundreds of children like her will be healed in Jesus' name; healed in their bodies, minds, spirit and soul for the tragedy they have experienced.
Pray also that justice will be done and the evil perpetrators will be punished.
Pray that the devil will be defeated especially in that corner of the world.

Why do bad things happen?

2008-05-24T11:18:00.004-05:00

1. God.
Yes, God punishes. But He decides life and death - when the game is over. None of the forces below can decide life and death.

2. Satan. Satan has a certain amount of power even though Jesus defeated him at the cross. Satan was allowed to wreak havoc on Job except take his life.

3. Man
Man has free will, whether to serve God or Satan.

4. Nature
God created a marvelous machine called Nature that obeys the physical laws of the Universe. Whenever people say that God caused this hurricane or that earthquake, I think they are mistaken.
This machine was set in motion and God rarely steps in to interfere - and when he does, it is called a miracle. (if an inventor created an engine and constantly interfered with its running, it would show he didnt really know what he was doing).

In Luke 13, we see that the age old question was asked which Jesus answered:

What about certain Galilean Jews who were killed by the Roman ruler Pilate in the temple - were they especially guilty?
Here, Man's choice to do evil - and to serve Satan - was the driving force.

1Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

Why did a tower in Siloam fall and kill 18 people - were they more guilty?
Here, Nature was the tool that caused this calamity.

4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

In both these two cases, God decided who would live and who would die.

How does He decide?

6Then he [Jesus] told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'
8" 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. 9If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' "

Walk away from your sarcophagus

2008-05-22T11:59:00.005-05:00

Break out of the calcified shell of Yourself.
Walk away from your sarcophagus.
Yes, walk away;
Away from your refuge,
And crouch naked, transparent and exposed.
Under the shadow of His wings.
There you will find rest.
There you will flow in His strength.

Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
...
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

The three-fold cord

2008-05-04T13:09:00.000-05:00

A three-fold cord is not easily broken.

Bible study: Holy Spirit (the book of Acts)

2008-05-02T09:08:00.004-05:00

This is a Bible study on the Holy Spirit which covers the book of Acts. I shall keep updating it as I progress, which is very slow. Am following Kay Arthur's inductive series.

the juwo is here:

Why do we praise and worship God/Jesus?

2008-04-29T14:37:00.008-05:00

Is God/Jesus selfish or insecure that He desires our praises so much?

Why is praising God/Jesus a critical part of our spiritual life?

Should we praise God/Jesus to flatter and manipulate Him into giving us health and wealth?

Should we continue to praise him so he will not stop or turn off the blessings tap?

Answer: It is the rightful order of the universe.

In Physics we see that the universal constants are finely tuned.
if the force of gravity were sightly off, there would be no solar system with the planets revolving around the sun.

Due to their auxin hormones, plants grow upwards towards the sun. The light from the sun enables photosynthesis which results in food and sustenance for animal life on earth.

Think of what would happen if the rightful order were not maintained. Life on earth would be snuffed out.

Surprisingly, praising God is not just for the rightful order of the spiritual universe but also for the physical universe.

Why is it the rightful thing to do? God has created us. He sent His son Jesus to die for us. If we repent and our sins are forgiven, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit who will guide us and empower us. We have a hope. Jehovah is a good God.

If you create something or perform some good work, then it is only right that you and not someone else, get the credit for it.

Well, you may ask - what about the evil that happens in this world?
Answer: God gave man free will to do good or evil. Also, the devil roams on this earth seeking whom he will devour; to kill, steal and destroy.

The Bible says,

Psalm 148

1 Praise the LORD. ^[a]
Praise the LORD from the heavens,
praise him in the heights above.

2 Praise him, all his angels,
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

3 Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars.

4 Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies.

5 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for he commanded and they were created.

6 He set them in place for ever and ever;
he gave a decree that will never pass away.

7 Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,

8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,

9 you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,

10 wild animals and all cattle,
small creatures and flying birds,

11 kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,

12 young men and maidens,
old men and children.

13 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

14 He has raised up for his people a horn, ^[b]
the praise of all his saints,
of Israel, the people close to his heart.
Praise the LORD

In the same vein,

Psalm 19

1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world...

Unlike the creatures above, Man has free will. As Bob Dylan sang in Gotta Serve Somebody,
"[everybody has] gotta serve somebody... It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody."

If we don't worship God, then we shall worship the devil. If we don't praise God, then we will turn inwards and praise ourselves or each other. In other words, we will have other gods.
The rightful order of the Universe will be lost.
Both the spiritual and physical worlds will go awry. This is exactly what happened when Satan fell and sin was introduced into heaven when he praised and worshiped himself.

see also Psalm 145

Jesus and the demon possessed man

2008-03-07T08:06:00.009-06:00

"They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"
Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"
"My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed." (Mark 5)

I believe from a dream, that the Gedarene demoniac was crying out to the demons in him, "please don't cut me". Instead he saw them take control of his hands and slashed and gashed him so he bled.

One day, some years later, it was Jesus who was gashed by the iron and bone fragments in the cat-o-nine tail whips that lashed across his bare back. I believe that Satan himself possessed the Roman soldiers who were tearing Jesus' body, in order to give them superhuman strength, so they could inflict maximum agony. His back was bloody, but by his stripes we are healed.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

So I claim the blood of Jesus and command evil spirits to flee in the name of Jesus that are possessing this person who calls himself Bruce Karlson. This person has been making wild accusations and hate-filled comments on my blog posts. 'He' is demon possessed. In the name of Jesus, I command evil spirits to leave 'him' and for 'him' to identify himself.

If Einstein does not impress God, what does?

2008-03-05T19:55:00.006-06:00

(March 2006)

There is no fix or solution in sight (to my career and juwo startup problems), but here is a thought I have had for a while:

Over the past few months, I have been realizing that God does not care much for what we do - whether we are janitor or CEO. He is not impressed by our achievements.

He is more interested in whether we seek Him and whether we are His witnesses.

For example, even though Einstein's Theory of Relativity is over 100 years old, no one has been able to supercede it. Yet God is not too impressed with it because He knows the 'final answer' - not the theory of Relativity, but the final Reality of Relativity.

Growing up in India, my grandparents told me of the term "rice Christians", coined by the missionaries as a derogatory reference to those (India/China?) natives who would convert to Christianity for the material benefits. Yet, in America, I don't think we are immune from it either if we seek God because of the promises of success and prosperity.

One passage that strikes me from time to time is Habbakuk Chapter 3:

17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

A plea to my church elders for financial transparency

2008-02-27T22:30:00.001-06:00

This letter to my church elders was positively received and as a word. I believe there needs to be financial openness in many churches in America. Hence I am posting this here - you may want to copy part or all of it to write to your leaders. I have removed my church's name.
------------------------------

To:
The Elders of our Church

John 3:19-21 “...men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Luke 12:2-3 “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3What you have said in the dark will be heard in the day light and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”

This is a plea for more transparency in our finances. Please institute a mechanism and procedure for more open access to financial information by every giving member of the congregation. This should be neither to please any person nor to acquiesce to anyone's request for information, but as a matter of policy toward every giving member.

I strongly emphasize that I do want our pastors to enjoy a decent standard of living and not worry about paying their bills. I love, and am indebted to our senior pastor.

Background: We are disturbed when we read of financial scandals among Christian organizations. For example, the six charismatic ministries investigated by Senator Grassley, and also at Jerry Johnston’s First Family church (Kansas City).

Audited statements are not enough. A few of the above mentioned hide behind audited statements even though there are plenty of indicators of corruption or excessive wastefulness. Perhaps auditors too, are not shown details; perhaps they cannot comment on excessiveness. The key point is that they refuse to open their books. Emphatic protestations of innocence mean nothing - if there is nothing to hide, why are they hiding?

I observe that at our Church, our records too, are not open. Details are obscured when they are rolled into broad headings; for example, only the total combined amount given to all the visiting speakers for the year is shown. Only auditor statements are released. We are not members of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability –incidentally, a recommendation of Sen. Grassley.

Why should there be transparency?

1. To safeguard the ministry from traps by the enemy. Every one faces temptations and given the opportunity, is corruptible. When things are done in darkness i.e. our financial records are kept in darkness, accessible only to a few, then I believe, according to the Word of God in John 3:19-21, that sinful deeds will begin to happen especially because they will be accorded the secrecy of concealment, will grow and grow. One day, there will be scandals including financial and sexual, that will hobble our church and stain the reputation of our leaders and the life-transforming message that we preach will be obscured. We shall become a stumbling block. Many will be spiritually wounded and "a root of bitterness will grow up to defile many" (Hebrews 12).

2. The kingdom of God will continue to advance through our church. When scandals happen around us, our confidence in our leaders will remain unshaken. Our confidence will not be based upon, "our elders and pastors are good people" nor even, "our pastor sounded convincing when he said that everything is done with integrity" but, "I looked at the account statements myself and am satisfied". In Luke 12:2-3, what is done openly and transparently will not need to be exposed.

3. So that our giving is not inhibited. To keep our hearts clean, and to avoid bitterness. When we give out of love, it is sacrificial. However the thought immediately enters - are they careful stewards, how do I know they are good stewards? I am certain that many in our church out give us - but for us, our church giving statement is our third highest expense after our mortgage and household expenses. I personally do not want to give out of blind trust to any organization that is not open. From the parable of the ten talents, God expects us to be shrewd investors in the kingdom of heaven.

Again, I have no interest in digging through our church records. This is a plea to institute a process just as the apostles did in Acts chapter 6 to safeguard the spiritual health of the church.

Sincerely,

thought - on churches merging

2007-12-31T09:09:00.000-06:00

It is easier and more commonplace for companies and corporations to merge together - but it is rare for churches to do so.

Every few blocks in America, you can see a church building. Why so many? Did God call all of them to start churches? I dont think so. When He does, it is usually among unreached peoples.

These churches on every block are usually branch offices of a head office, that compete with other head offices.

Is it clashing egos and flesh that prevent more mergers especially when doctrines are similar?
Here is a juwo on when our church merged with another.
http://juwo.com/nodepad/demos/thoughts/churches_merging.html

thought - On why the Ark was captured

2007-12-27T20:43:00.000-06:00

In the Old Testament of the Bible, the ark which contained the presence of God was captured in battle by the Philistines. Why did God allow the symbol of His presence to be captured? They were manipulating God like an idol.
God Himself engineered the showdown between Himself and the Philistine god Dagon to show He was no idol. Here are some thoughts on how we manipulate God for our prosperity.
It is in a juwo (presently on Windows only), click here for the juwo.
The entire story can be read here in the online Bible.

Beautiful Kerala

2007-11-25T20:49:00.002-06:00

tranquility

Outside the 450-year old Jewish synagogue in Cochin, Kerala. The ruler had it build outside his palace and extended his protection to the Jews.

"the fields of India are ripe for harvest" - Rita. paddy fields of Kerala

On Internet chat rooms

2007-06-06T21:59:00.000-05:00

Loneliness envelops each of us
typing tapping on the keyboard
hoping to connect across the aether
hoping to trade sleep for snuggling
to a fantasy

Courtship

2007-05-09T12:17:00.000-05:00

These two figures look like a woman shyly hiding behind her ladies' fan while a prince in his plumage is trying to woo her.

(I took this photo recently in March 2007. Winter had ended with one final snowstorm. We made two snowmen. Then it warmed up and they started their usual melt. However, then due to the unusual weather patterns we have seen this year, a hard freeze followed).

the kingdom of heaven is here

2007-04-29T22:39:00.001-05:00

Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world".
First, there was only one light, Him.

After that, a few lives were transformed. They touched other lives with the good news of Jesus and they too, were transformed.

The gospel continued to spread and transform lives - as it spreads even today.

"until it worked all through the dough."
Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

Question: Is my life transformed? I dont know.

Why do you believe in the god of the Christians to the exclusion of all the others? (or Recruit the Power of the Holy Spirit)

2007-04-24T22:05:00.000-05:00

Dont be afraid nor embarrassed to recruit the Holy Spirit's power;
We dont need to use sleight of hand to prove Jesus is alive and real.

"because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction." (1 Thessalonians 1:5)

On a newsgroup (news.YCombinator), the following thread:

rms 4 days ago
As an intellectual person, I find blind faith in Christianity outright offensive. It doesn't make any sense to base your world view on the mythology of a Bronze Age people.
Honestly, I'm glad that you have the right to spread the good word on your website. But it's so rare I get to interact with a real, live Christian that I delight in the opportunity. Maybe we can both gain something.
So let's talk. Why do you believe in the god of the Christians to the exclusion of all the others?
reply
*

juwo 4 days ago
why do you believe that 2+2=4 and not 2+2=5 ?
reply [I was sleepy and replied without much thought]

rms 4 days ago
Because I count two things, and two more things and see that there are four objects. I can observe with my own eyes that mathematics works. You can't ever see God, you have to take on faith that a book written almost 2000 years ago is absolute fact.
So why do you believe in the god of the Christians to the exclusion of all the other gods?
reply
*
juwo 4 days ago
You obviously pride yourself on being an intellectual, yet you havent even scratched the surface. Think deeper.
The answer lies in the answer to my question.
reply

rms 4 days ago
Fine. Mathematics is generally based on so-called "non-logical axioms" -- non proven statements that we accept based on what a person such as yourself would call faith.
Still, I believe in mathematics because it works. Why do you believe in the god of the Christians to the exclusion of all others?
reply [the Holy Spirit brought rms to recognise by himself, the role that faith plays in Mathematics]
*
juwo 3 days ago
You're getting the point - that we trust Mathematics even though it involves faith, because there is plenty of correlation to the 'real' world.
Similarly, Jesus is a real person, not an emotional crutch. An absolute truth, not a relative choice. Like 2+2=4 and not 2+2=5.
How do I prove it? Simple. Ask Jesus himself to show that he is real, to you. However when you ask, you cannot have an attitude - otherwise he will ignore you.
"you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart" [God] (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2029%20:%2013;&version=31)
He himself, will checkmate you.

jey
Neither introspection nor emotional experiences reveal truths about external reality. Emotional experiences carried out in the meat computer mounted on top of your torso do not provide any supporting evidence for the existence of Jesus.
reply
*
juwo
Far from it. I am not talking about "introspection nor emotional experiences". If Jesus is real, then he will show that he is real, to you, if you ask without an attitude.
It will not always be in the same way.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%209:1-6,%207-20&version=31;

[perhaps someday soon, both rms and jey will have that encounter]

Do we have compassion for the poor?

2007-03-10T20:22:00.002-06:00

Do we have compassion for the poor?

I saw this link in the YC newsgroup; it is the text of a speech by Apple's Steve Jobs.
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

I did not know he was adopted:

My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final
adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

A few days ago, he was listed in Forbes as one of the world's richest men.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it.

I couldn't help thinking that if a Christian family had shown him kindness and hospitality when he was poor and hungry - instead of the Hindu temple, I wonder what could have been?

There is no proof that the Bible is true. However...

2007-03-09T08:33:00.001-06:00

There is no proof that the Bible is true. However...

(October 2005)

Gopal and I were classmates and friends in high school; I had lost touch with him 17 years ago and could not locate him until a few days ago. He is now a successful international businessman. At one time he said he believed in Jesus (usually very difficult for a high caste Hindu brahmin to be saved). Some years later when I met him again, he said those beliefs were childish (at which point I too, had stopped believing). I sent him the following email. He is quite intellectual. I pray that God will draw him near.

Gopal:

... Your earlier question on what I believe in now. I assume you are talking personal faith. The answer is - definitely not in purposeful divinity! That seems to be your cup of tea now?

Anil:

Hello Gopal,

You asked about whether belief was my 'cup of tea'. In college I was an agnostic but after several years of wandering around, I have come to realize that the Bible is true. There is noway to 'prove' that it is true (no matter what some may claim).

There are no proofs but simply indications to show that it is true. It is like a jigsaw puzzle with some of the pieces missing; we do not have those pieces but looking at the rest of the parts that do fit, we feel good about it that it is actually a designed and complete puzzle and that someday in eternity (heaven), the rest of the pieces will be given to us to prove that our faith was valid.

Why do I assert that it is not possible here on earth to get this proof? The Bible itself says that "We walk by faith, not by sight". It also says that "Without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that He (God) exists and rewards those who earnestly seek him. So God himself requires faith as a prerequisite; if there was a proof all laid out, then perhaps all scientists would become Christians by using some logic theorem which they had discovered or formulated, because I think most are sincere seekers.

But God will not accept us through the pathway of our tools that make us proud - our Mathematics, our Logic and our Mind - He wants us to come humbly by the pathway of Faith in His son Jesus who died for us. Which is why the Bible again says that God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise (or'intelligent'). I am not saying that we should not be thinking, but that to approach God, only faith in Jesus will reach Him. Only Jesus could say of himself, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me".

Unlike what Catholics and several religons believe, Jesus is the Only pathway to God. If you are interested in seeing some of the logical and scientific indications (again, not proofs) why what I believe is true, here are some good websites.

Ravi Zacharias:

http://www.rzim.org/radio/archives.php?p=JT

Hugh Ross: http://www.reasons.org/http://www.reasons.org/resources/hotline.shtml

-Anil
P.S. Another indicator that the Bible is true is a person's transformed life when he becomes a follower of Jesus.

Proof that the Early Church never tithed

2007-02-26T16:24:00.000-06:00

Proof that the Early Church never tithed

I believe that the Holy Spirit showed me this:

The Temple was standing simultaneously while the church existed during its first 37 years. The church began in 33 AD, and the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

If the early church tithed, they would have brought crops and cattle to the priests of the Temple, not to the elders of their church.

They would have brought these to sustain the very people who crucified Jesus, to those who stoned Stephen. Isnt that ridiculous?

But the final blow is - if they so tithed, would they have been Jews, or Christians?

Ted Haggard scandal

2006-12-30T18:58:00.000-06:00

Please pray for the tens of thousands of Christians around the world
whose lives have been influenced by Pastor Ted Haggard and New Life Church
in Colorado Springs. Pray that they will not get disillusioned and backslide.
Pray that their faith will remain fresh and that they will not be disciples of men,
but disciples of Jesus. Pray that the gay marriage ban vote will not fail because of the
scandal.

I read today:
"I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken."
(Acts 2:25)

This has been the biggest shock of my life. If I consider myself a charismatic, it is because
of Pastor Ted's influence. We were not members of New Life (later I wished I had been), but
visited often.

One of his principles in his sermons and books which I have tried to live by has been, "Live
your life as if there are no secrets".

In fact, when I had an offer from Sprint, in the New Life parking lot on Easter Sunday 2001,
we felt the Holy Spirit telling us to move here - even though I didn't want to.

It is ironic but the basic idea for the software I wrote and have been unsuccessfully trying
to build a business around (http://juwo.com), came to me when I would listen to Pastor Ted's and Ravi Zacharias' sermons on the internet while we were looking for a church in 2001.

thanks,
Anil Philip

What is the purpose of life?

2006-12-29T15:19:00.000-06:00

May 2006

Here is the Purpose Of Life - which I realised by myself over the past two years (since 2005):

Seek God (Jesus) continually.
Tell others about him - not just by speaking, but living and behaving the same way that he would.
Keep your vessel clean. If you keep your vessel clean, God will use you.
If God uses you, your life is not a failure.

The above seems simple or silly, but it has taken my entire life to find out this truth.

Need more explanation?

Seek God (Jesus) continually.

"As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you" (Psalm 42)

"you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13)

Seeking is Actively Searching.

This will keep our hearts fresh and young even when we are disillusioned by:

Many times, we, as people, get angry with God when we see tragedies in our lives, in the news, or people we know. Why could not an All Powerful God prevent or fix it? For me, it is hard when I look back at my life and see things I could have done which would have made my circumstances or even myself a much better person - why didn't God nudge me toward or open my eyes to those choices?

Christians

When men and women of God fall, we get disillusioned because we did not know that they were in sin. If they can be like this, then why should I bother? Or maybe I can also have some 'fun'...
When Christians or even our church misunderstands us, our hurt can make us bitter and angry.

Circumstances

Why do I have such a hard life? Why do people who are not God's children, have an easier life? So many of them have happy, healthy, prosperous lives.They have more money, I.Q., talent, health, good looks, children, families.

*****

Since our God is a living God, Seeking is two-way. When we seek God He will commune with us, on His terms. When we read the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate it for us, a sentence or phrase will leap out at us, off the page. That is God speaking to us. When we pray to God and our spirit is yearning without words or even sound (not tongues which I believe is probably different) then I believe that we are communing with God.

"No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord' because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest" (Jeremiah 31:34)

What God shows to you will be a main dish for you, but a side dish for others. Similarly, what God shows another person will be (to use American terms) meat to him, but trimmings for you. For example, my understanding of the purpose of life was 'meat' to me, but may be obvious and trivial to another person. This will keep you from chasing after gurus. (Note: I am not referring to learning doctrine from a teacher which is necessary).

2. Tell others about him - not just by speaking, but living and behaving the same way that he would.

Jesus' last command: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" (Mark 16:15)"you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem... and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8)

3. Keep your vessel clean. If you keep your vessel clean, God will use you.

Since God is the Creator, He will use everyone from Pharaoh in Egypt in 5K BC., to Saddam Hussein in 2003 AD. to meet His purposes. In the book of Exodus in the Bible, we read that Pharaoh would not let the Israelites out of Egypt as God commanded. So God said, "I have planned this in order to display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army. After this the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord!" (Exodus 14). So God will use us, whether we voluntarily wish to be used or involuntarily - even when we refuse to be used. Important point: the blessing will come to us only when we are voluntarily used.

When we pick up a vessel to use, we first ensure it is clean - if it is dirty, we clean it.If it cannot be cleaned, we discard it.

"Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these [things], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work". (2 Timothy 2:21)

I have been realizing that our thoughts are the starting points of strongholds of sin. As it progresses, the same thoughts can hide strongholds of sin. It is difficult to recognize a pattern of sinful thought, but easier to label sinful behavior. By the time it is visible, it has a strong root, been growing,burying, entangling itself and difficult to dig out. A stronghold has a strong hold!

4. If God uses you, your life is not a failure.

Men everywhere, define their lives by achievement. No one wants their life to have been a waste of breath. At the end of my life, I want to be able to say, it was good that I was born. I do not wish to be a failure.

Growing up in India, I remember that my father hoarded 'how to be successful' books. Life was hard. Life in the middle class was marked by competition and survival. Every issue of the Reader's Digest was read, word for word because of the large number of American self-help articles it contained. We stopped reading the Bible as it was replaced by the Readers' Digest. If I have learned one thing, it is that God will overthrow our idols. Needless to say, we became failures. So then, what is achievement? People often define it as money, creating a legacy, inventing something,becoming a leader, establishing a dynasty.

I disagree.

I say: You are achieving if you are voluntarily being used by God.

In the Bible (Luke 2:25) Simeon (and also Anna) was used by God for a specific purpose for perhaps only 10 minutes out of a probable lifetime of 80+ years. He dedicated the baby Jesus in the temple. Even though he had a short period of 'use', it was preceded by a lifetime of preparation, a long period of waiting, but his achievement has lasted through history.

The Flatface Musings - Java has harmed Unix but helped Windows win

2006-11-23T19:32:00.000-06:00

Java has harmed Unix but helped Windows win

(November 2004)

There is an unusual reason why I believe that Unix is losing and Windows will win the battle - the Java programming language. I woke up this morning in Masterji’s cube and had a revelation. I realized that I no longer see the ubiquitous black xterm windows on most software developers' desktop screens.

For decades, it used to be that a programmer would do a remote login from his desktop PC to a Unix system for his daily work - to code, test and deploy his application. At first, the Windows PC was used only to connect to the mother-ship, the Unix box. On the Unix box, there were also programs for email, word processing, and surfing the internet. Then gradually with an improved suite of applications from Microsoft, the PC began to take over. But Unix was still indispensable.

No longer. Java was designed to be portable, to work the same on Unix, Windows and Other. So one can simply code and test now on his desktop using the version of Java for Windows! Unix is reserved only for deployment in production but with the larger population seated on Windows, I believe it is only a matter of time before Windows also takes this space. The crack has imperceptibly grown into a chasm. Heavyweight products like web servers, application servers hitherto in the Unix domain are now released for Windows. The code should work exactly the same on the Unix box as it did on the programmer's Windows desktop, and this is effectively guaranteed by the makers of Java.

The irony of this is can make one laugh loud in amazement - Java was birthed at and owned by Sun Microsystems, whose battle horse is Solaris, the high end flavor of Unix!

Indeed, the Sun is slowly setting because it believes its Solaris workstations are losing ground to Windows and Linux. It does not realize it is slowly being killed off by what it gave birth to, with much labor and pain.

Java encompasses a panoply of software technologies, from databases to distributed computing and web servers, from cell phones to transactional systems and more. This means that these technologies are now brought to the desktop, where Java will also run.
Indeed during Masterji’s college days in the late 80's as a Computer Science student, he says, “I never even once switched on a Windows PC. All of our work was done in Unix. DOS/Windows was a laughably primitive system. Now it is sobering, and a watershed moment for me to realise that I have not logged in to work on a Unix system for over two years, except to push code for deployment to production. This weekend, I shall delete the Linux partition on my aging dual-boot desktop at home - I do all my programming in Java in the Windows environment now”.

What can halt this slide? The answer is obvious and simple. Sun has enormous leverage over its creation and so can simply stop releasing the version of Java that will run on Windows. IBM, HP and Sun must simultaneously push the Linux desktop to the consumer. This must be done as a sudden shock and not gradually. Programmers will rush out to install Linux/Unix on their PCs in order to continue working. More applications will run on Linux/Unix. The balance will then shift away from Microsoft and open up competition. This will once more bring diversity back to the world of software.

my favorite Christian singer - Bob Dylan

2005-12-13T00:57:00.001-06:00

I found this album after listening to 3rd Day's "Offerings" album which played "Saved".

I havent listened to the other songs yet - just bought Slow Train Coming, but feel compelled to review...

The lyrics of Saved alone contain as much theology as the great hymns of old - every line is profound and taken from the Bible. (I wish I could have had my Grandpa listen to this - but maybe someday in heaven, we shall all gather round to listen to Dylan himself play). Better than most modern christian music, in poetry or theology.

Bob shoulda been a hymnwriter.

Looking at just the first three lines of the first verse (using a quick search online concordance):

I was blinded by the devil,
Born already ruined,
Stone-cold dead,
As I stepped out of the womb.
By His grace I have been touched,
By His word I have been healed,
By His hand I've been delivered,
By His spirit I've been sealed.

line 1: I was blinded by the devil,

[2 Corinthians 4:4
"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ..."]

[John 12:40."He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn-and I would heal them." ]

line 2: Born already ruined,

[Job 15:14. "What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?]

line 3: Stone-cold dead

[Psalm 51:5. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.]
[Ephesians 2:1. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,...]
[Colossians 2:13. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,[a] God made you[b] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,...]

So on to the rest of the joyous song!......

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved,
Saved,
And I'm so glad.
Yes, I'm so glad,
I'm so glad,
So glad,
I want to thank You, Lord,
I just want to thank You, Lord,
Thank You, Lord.

By His truth I can be upright,
By His strength I do endure,
By His power I've been lifted,
In His love I am secure.
He bought me with a price,
Freed me from the pit,
Full of emptiness and wrath
And the fire that burns in it.

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved,
Saved,
And I'm so glad.
Yes, I'm so glad,
I'm so glad,
So glad,
I want to thank You, Lord,
I just want to thank You, Lord,
Thank You, Lord.

Nobody to rescue me,
Nobody would dare,
I was going down for the last time,
But by His mercy I've been spared.
Not by works,
But by faith in Him who called,
For so long I've been hindered,
For so long I've been stalled.

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved
By the blood of the lamb,
Saved,
Saved,
And I'm so glad.
Yes, I'm so glad, I'm so glad,
So glad, I want to thank You, Lord,
I just want to thank You, Lord,
Thank You, Lord.