On the occasion of the visit to the Philippines late last year by the Roman Catholic pontiff Pope Francis, a special song was composed by a Filipina celebrity. It was titled “We Are All God’s Children.” The song obviously aimed to promote compassion, love and solidarity among all people, especially in the face of tragic situations such as that brought about by typhoon Haiyan (locally named “Yolanda”) which had struck the central Philippine islands in 2013, snuffing out upwards of 10,000 human lives and destroying property worth incalculable millions of pesos.
Of Birds and Men
Over two weeks ago, as I write, my wife Paz and I had one of the pleasant surprises in our lives. It was something we never thought could happen up close, but it did — and it left us with a deeper appreciation of God’s wisdom in creating all things. In this article I’d like to share the joy and delight we experienced in confronting that wisdom. May the lessons learned from the experience prove inspiring and edifying to you who read this.
As Psalm 104:24 exults: “O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions…” And Psalm 111:2 suggests: “The works of the LORD are great, studied by those who have pleasure in them.”
The Higher Law of the Spirit
“But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Most of us are very familiar with the force of gravity or gravitation in our everyday life. Gravity is what keeps us stable as we walk, run, or make any other bodily motions. Gravity orients us as to where “up” is and where “down” is. Without gravity acting upon us, we would be like the astronauts in their spaceship that orbits around the earth’s stratosphere, where there is “zero gravity.” You’ve probably seen videos or movies of astronauts floating or walking so lightly and clumsily inside their spaceship.
If we’re sensible, as I assume most people are, we would respect the law of gravity as a real force. Thus we don’t horse around while we are standing on a window ledge on the 20th floor of a building — unless we are thinking of suicide, as some have thought and done.
God’s “Book of Remembrance”
Malachi 3:16 mentions a “book of remembrance” written before the LORD. And what are remembered in this book? The verse continues about what the book is for: “…for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name.” In this day and age when many, if not most, people have forgotten about the fear of God, it is a mighty serious matter that we retain, recapture or begin to have, the proper fear of God. Otherwise God will also forget us and not keep us in His “book of remembrance.”
The Real Red Sea Crossing
Quite a bit of controversy has surrounded the issue about the exact location of the Red Sea crossing by the children of Israel. This momentous event in the history of Israel is recorded in Exodus 14. The long accepted belief has been that the children of Israel crossed from Succoth through the Egyptian side of the western gulf of the Red Sea, what has been known as the Gulf of Suez, through the sea and onto the eastern side of that gulf. [In recent years this gulf hit the news headlines when Somalian pirates hijacked ships plying the gulf out from or into the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal.]
God’s Kingdom and Israel
Today, most people think, and have assumed, that the tiny nation in the Middle East called “Israel” is all there is that’s left of the ancient nation which God dealt with in the Old Testament. But, as even children who have studied the Bible in Sunday or Sabbath school know, the “Israel” of the Old Testament was a nation composed of the descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob (Genesis 35:23-26; 32:28). Jacob was later renamed “Israel” (Genesis 35:10).
The Divine Prerogatives
“How can I believe in a God who commands people ‘You shall not murder’ (Exodus 20:13) and yet this God goes killing off, left and right, people whom He dislikes or hates?” This is one reason a good number of people have become atheists. Among other reasons atheists cite for their unbelief in God are: why does God allow a race or class of people to impose cruel slavery upon another race or class; why is there so much suffering, so much violence, within humanity and within the animal kingdom?
“Happy New Year!”
In at least three regions of the world and at least at three different times in the year, we hear people greet each other “Happy New Year!” or whatever equivalent in their languages.
- Most common perhaps is the “new year” that begins on January 1 in the widespread Gregorian calendar (which was promulgated during the watch of the Roman Catholic Pope Gregory, in 590 – 604A.D.; hence the name). [For more on the Gregorian calendar click on this popular link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar.]
The Book of Life
Some people have wondered whether every human being ever born has his name written in God’s “Book of Life” — or whether his name is written there only when he is “saved” or is on his way to salvation.
What, exactly, does the Bible say about this important subject?
We would want to make sure we are not among those people who are “not found written in the Book of Life and [will be] cast into the lake of fire,” after everyone will have been judged (Revelation 20:11-15).
The Flaming Sword East of Eden
He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24, NKJV.)
After Adam and Eve had sinned and had been driven out of the Garden of Eden, God placed cherubim — special angelic, spiritual creatures (a description of them is found in Ezekiel 1:4-28; 10:1, 15) — and a flaming sword to bar man from re-entry into the garden. This was to prevent access by man to the “tree of life,” to take its fruit, eat it, and live forever (Genesis 3:22).
Why did God bar man from eating the fruit of that tree? After all, doesn’t God want man to have everlasting life — to live forever?