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Exodus
INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS
This book is called by the Jews Veelleh Shemoth, from the first words with which it begins, and sometimes Sepher Shemoth, and sometimes only Shemoth. It is by the Septuagint called Exodus, from whom we have the name of Exodus, which signifies "a going out"; see Luk 9:31, because it treats of the going of the children of Israel out of Egypt; and hence in the Alexandrian copy it is called the Exodus of Egypt; and so the Syriac version entitles it the second book of the law, called "the going out"; and to the same purpose the Arabic version. The Jews sometimes give it the name of Nezikin, as Buxtorf (a) observes out of the Masora on Gen 24:8 because in it some account is given of losses, and the restitution of them. That this book is of divine inspiration, and to be reckoned in the canon of the sacred writings, is sufficiently evident to all that believe the New Testament; since there are so many quotations out of it there by Christ, and his apostles; particularly see Mrk 12:26 and that it was wrote by Moses is not to be doubted, but when is not certain; it must be after the setting up of the tabernacle in the wilderness; the greatest part of what is contained in it, he was an eye and ear witness of; it plainly points out the accomplishment of the promises and prophecies delivered to Abraham, that his posterity would be very numerous, that they would be afflicted in a land not theirs, and in the fourth generation come out of it with great substance. It treats of the afflictions of the Israelites in Egypt, after the death of Joseph, until their deliverance by Moses; of his birth, calling, and mission to Pharaoh, to demand of him to let the children of Israel go; of the ten plagues upon him and his people, for refusing to dismiss them; of the departure of Israel from Egypt, and the institution of the passover on that account; of their passage through the Red sea into the wilderness, and of the various exercises and afflictions, supplies and supports they met with there; of the giving of a body of laws unto them, moral, ceremonial, and judicial; and of the building of the tabernacle, and all things appertaining to it; and throughout the whole, as there is a figure and representation of the passage of the people of God out of spiritual Egypt, through the wilderness of this world, to the heavenly Canaan, and of various things they must meet with in their passage, so there are many types of Christ, his person, office, and grace, and of his church, his word, and ordinances, which are very edifying and instructing. The book contains a history of about one hundred and forty years, from the death of Joseph, to the erection of the tabernacle.

The story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19–31 raises an important theological question: Is Jesus describing an actual event in the afterlife, or is He using an illustration or parable?

My understanding is that we should not dismiss the account as merely an imaginary illustration. There are several important details in the passage that deserve careful attention.

1\. Abraham calls the rich man "son"

In Luke 16:25, Abraham says:

"Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." (KJV)

This is significant.

Abraham does not address the rich man as a stranger or an outsider. He calls him son (Greek: teknon, τέκνον), meaning child or offspring.

This suggests that the rich man was a descendant of Abraham, most likely a Jew.

But notice something profound: Being a descendant of Abraham did not guarantee salvation or escape from judgment.

The rich man had Abraham as his physical ancestor, but that relationship did not save him.

This is consistent with Jesus' teaching elsewhere:

Matthew 3:9 — Physical descent from Abraham is not sufficient.

John 8:39–40 — True children of Abraham should demonstrate Abraham's works.

Romans 9:6–8 — Not all physical descendants are necessarily children of God's promise.

2\. Is it a parable or an actual account?

There are two major interpretations.

Interpretation A: It is a parable.

Many biblical scholars consider it a parable because:

It appears within Jesus' teaching about wealth, stewardship and the love of money.

It uses vivid imagery and a reversal of earthly circumstances.

Jesus frequently used parables to communicate spiritual truths.

Interpretation B: It describes actual conditions after death.

Others argue that Jesus is revealing real spiritual realities because:

Lazarus is given a personal name, unlike the rich man.

The conversation between Abraham and the rich man is presented in considerable detail.

Jesus describes consciousness after death, memory, suffering and comfort.

There is a fixed gulf separating the two conditions.

Neither interpretation should be treated as settled simply by the presence or absence of a personal name.

3\. Why does the rich man call Abraham "Father"?

In Luke 16:24, the rich man says:

"Father Abraham, have mercy on me..."

And again in verse 27:

"I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house."

This is particularly interesting.

The rich man recognizes Abraham as his father. Abraham acknowledges him as a child, yet he cannot rescue him.

This demonstrates a sobering biblical principle:

Religious heritage and covenant ancestry are not substitutes for genuine faith and obedience to God.

The rich man knew Abraham, but his life revealed no compassion toward Lazarus.

### 4\. Does this mean people are conscious immediately after death?

The passage certainly presents the dead as conscious:

Lazarus is comforted.

The rich man experiences torment.

The rich man remembers his earthly life.

He recognizes Abraham.

He remembers his five brothers.

He expresses concern about their future.

This is one reason the passage is important in discussions about the intermediate state — the condition of human beings between physical death and the final resurrection.

However, we should distinguish Hades (the Greek word used in Luke 16:23) from the final lake of fire described in Revelation 20:14–15.

They are not necessarily describing the same stage of judgment.

5\. My conclusion

I would distinguish two things:

Literary form: The account may be a parable or a story using familiar imagery from Jewish tradition.

Spiritual teaching: Its warning about death, judgment, accountability and the consequences of rejecting God's revealed truth is real.

Even if it is a parable, that does not make its theological message fictional.

And I find Luke 16:31 particularly powerful:

"If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

There is an additional dimension here: Jesus Himself would rise from the dead, yet many would still refuse to believe.

One final observation: The rich man's greatest tragedy was not simply that he was rich. It was that he lived in luxury while Lazarus suffered at his very gate. His wealth was not condemned in itself; his indifference revealed the condition of his heart.

That is the central warning of the passage.

Recent breakthrough laboratory trials have revealed an extraordinary medical milestone: a naturally occurring bacterium has successfully achieved a 100% complete tumor elimination rate across multiple cancer models after a single dose. Pioneered by researchers investigating the natural defense mechanisms of diverse wildlife microbiomes, this cutting-edge approach isolates specialized bacteria that exhibit an innate, "exquisitely specific" homing instinct for solid tumors. Because these ancient, oxygen-shunning microbes selectively thrive and multiply up to 3,000-fold inside the low-oxygen core of cancerous growths, they are able to rapidly dismantle the tumor from the inside out while leaving healthy surrounding tissue completely unscathed.

This bacterial therapy triggers a powerful dual-action assault: it directly breaks down the physical structural barriers of the cancer cells while simultaneously recruiting an intense wave of native immune cells—including T cells, B cells, and neutrophils—to permanently wipe out the malignancy and build long-term immunity against future recurrence. By outperforming conventional immunotherapies and standard chemotherapies in preclinical testing with zero chronic toxicity, this discovery marks a monumental shift toward zero-side-effect, living medicine that unlocks a completely new key to defeating the world's most treatment-resistant cancers.

For a more detailed explanation, see the comments section 🫶

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ATHLETE HELPING ANOTHER PINOY ATHLETE

Thirdy Ravena funded Olympian Eumir Marcial's training in the U.S. and didn't want it known to the public.

His own federation said no to his training trip.

Eumir Marcial, an Olympic boxer, has long received a monthly government allowance through the PSC, support that was never pulled. But when he needed backing for a specific U.S. training stint ahead of a major tournament, his own federation, ABAP, did not endorse the trip.

With that specific funding in limbo, basketball player Thirdy Ravena stepped in and covered what Marcial's own sport couldn't provide.

Marcial trained anyway and went on to win Olympic bronze, proof the gap didn't have to end his run.

Athletes are people first, carrying each other when the system falls short, so who else is quietly doing this behind the scenes?

TOP 100 GREATEST PBA PLAYERS OF ALL TIME

1. Ramon Fernandez
2. Robert "Sonny" Jaworski
3. Willian "Bogs" Adornado
4. Alberto "Abet" Guidaben
5. Alvin Patrimonio
6. Benjie Paras
7. Fortunato "Atoy" Co
8. June Mar Fejardo
9. Ricardo Brown
10. Avelino "Samboy" Lim
11. Philip Cezar
12. Freddie Hubalde
13. Johnny Abarrientos
14. Allan Caidic
15. Vergel Meneses
16. James Yap
17. Renato Agustin
18. Francis Arnaiz
19. Hector Calma
20. Jerry Codiñera
21. Kenneth Duremdes
22. Bernie Fabiosa
23. Danny Florencio
24. Jojo Lastimosa
25. Lim Eng Beng
26. Ronnie Magsanoc
27. Manny Paner
28. Jimmy Alapag
29. Marlou Aquino
30. Mark Caguioa
31. Jayson Castro
32. Jayjay Helterbrand
33. Danny Ildefonso
34. Chito Loyzaga
35. Eric Menk
36. Willie Miller
37. Marc Pingris
38. Kerby Reymundo
39. Arwind Santos
40. Asi Taulava
41. Kelly Williams
42. Nelson Asaytono
43. Jeffrey Cariaso
44. Bong Hawkins
45. Abe King
46. Danny Seigle
47. Scottie Thompson
48. Arnie Tuadles
49. Manny Victorino
50. Yoyoy Villamin
51. LA Tenorio:
52. Olsen Racela
53. Paul Lee
54. Chris Ross
55. Alex Cabagnot
56. Dindo Pumaren
57. Gerry Esplana
58. Boyet Fernandez
59. Mike Cortez
60. Franz Pumaren
61. Marcio Lassiter
62. Dondon Hontiveros
63. Ranidel de Ocampo
64. Paul Alvarez
65. Cyrus Baguio
66. Bong Alvarez
67. Jeff Chan
68. Renren Ritualo
69. Gary David
70. Mac Cardona
71. Japeth Aguilar
72. Christian Standhardinger
73. Calvin Abueva
74. Dennis Espino
75. Beau Belga
76. JR Quiñahan
77. Sonny Thoss
78. Poy Erram
79. Gabby Espinas
80. Joe Devance
81. Rudy Distrito
82. Padim Israel
83. Joy Carpio
84. Bong Ravena
85. Glenn Capacio
86. Willie Generalao
87. Terry Saldaña
88. Noli Locsin
89. Bal David
90. Jun Limpot
91. Rey Evangelista
92. Poch Juinio
93. Chris Tiu
94. Matthew Wright
95. EJ Feihl
96. Mark Barroca
97. Ronald Tubid
98. Jay Washington
99. Rafi Reavis
100. Jimmy Noblezada

NORTH KOREAN MILITARY EQUIPMENT SEEN NEAR BORDER

What appear to be North Korean self-propelled howitzers and North Korean soldiers and workers are seen from a South Korean observation deck near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Gimpo on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

The images come amid heightened tensions between the two Koreas over a landmine blast that injured three South Korean soldiers. Pyongyang has denied responsibility and accused Seoul of fabricating the incident, while South Korea has proposed military talks to clarify the border's location and restore communication channels.

📸 AFP/ Jung Yeon-je

Press Release
The 1Pacman Partylist, led by its chairwoman Milka Romero, provided free medical services to hundreds of residents in this city on Thursday.

The medical mission was held at the Poblacion 3 covered court in Tagbilaran, where around 1,000 beneficiaries received free maintenance medicines and vitamins.

Tagbilaran City Mayor Jane Yap, former Mayor Baba Yap, Edi Borja, Merek Blanco, and Bool Punong Barangay Jose Floro Ringca attended the event.

Mayor Yap expressed her gratitude to the 1Pacman Partylist for its partnership with the local government of Tagbilaran.

Romero, a staunch advocate for sports, education, job generation, health, and other social causes, thanked the people of Tagbilaran for warmly welcoming the 1Pacman Partylist.

Bangued Christian Hospital

Phone: 0747525644

Email: banguedchristianhospital@yahoo.com.ph

Address: TORRIJOS STREET, ZONE 5, BANGUED, ABRA

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By David Harris Jr.
🚨SENTENCED TO DEATH: In 2009, two brave young Iranian women faced the ultimate price—execution by hanging—for a single reason: converting to Christianity and refusing to deny their faith under intense interrogation!

Born into Muslim families in Iran, Marziyeh Amirizadeh and Maryam Rostampour converted to Christianity and launched a bold underground mission. Under the cover of night, they secretly distributed roughly 20,000 Bibles into mailboxes across Tehran and helped establish covert house churches.

In March 2009, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps raided their apartment, found Bibles, and arrested them. Charged with apostasy and promoting Christianity, a radical judge handed down a chilling sentence: death by hanging unless they recanted their faith and returned to Islam.

259 DAYS IN HELL:

 * Brutal Imprisonment: They were thrown into Tehran's infamous Evin Prison, enduring 259 days of relentless interrogation, psychological torture, and constant execution threats.
 
* Defiant Courage: Rather than backing down, the two women actively prayed with fellow prisoners and shared the Gospel inside the prison walls.
 
* Global Pressure: Their story triggered a massive international campaign, drawing outcry from Amnesty International and a personal letter from Pope Benedict XVI demanding their release.

After nine months of global pressure, the regime finally released them. They escaped Iran and revealed the truth in their powerful memoir, Captive in Iran.

An unbreakable testimony of faith!

HTML Lessons and Tutorials

Written by Boy Guingguing
December 2001

The name of former congresswoman Venice Borja Agana was prominently mentioned last Tuesday when the PITE had its council coordinating meeting at the Bohol Beach Club.

There, Undersecretary Evelyn Pantig minced no words about Agana's indifference towards the overall Panglao tourism blueprint when she was at the helm as first district representative.

In short, Agana stood in the way of Panglao tourism development because she has other priorities than seeing the day of Panglao as a major player in the tourism business.

Whatever, with Agana out of politics, what she did during her time has become water under the bridge?

Far from it, if this BGLante is given his way, for purposes of informing her former constituents, although Agana is already out of the picture, she should be made to account for her own indiscretions. What if she decides to run again? It's about time that this early, the first district voters should be warned that there was this congresswoman who stood in the way of progress. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

***

Just what did Agana do during her three-term stint in Congress in terms of accomplishments? Well, during the last elections, she rattled off a litany of accomplishments to her credit. But one thing sure, one accomplishment Agana had left an indelible imprint in the hearts and minds of first district voters are the ubiquitous waiting sheds. Anak ng waiting!

'LOVE YOU KUYA KIM'

TV host Kim Atienza publicly shared an act of generosity by actor Alden Richards, revealing that he donated ₱1 million to help Atienza's friend Ed Kalaw during his battle with cancer, without seeking recognition or publicity.

In a Threads post on Oct. 26, Atienza recalled raising funds for Kalaw, who was seriously ill at the time. He praised Richards for contributing selflessly, saying the actor gave the money with "no need for acknowledgement."

The revelation came amid controversy surrounding Richards following allegations made by social media personality Xian Gaza on Oct. 23.

Gaza claimed that Richards had been staying in a condominium unit lent to him by a wealthy couple and had allegedly failed to return the property despite requests to leave. He also accused the actor of failing to return six luxury watches supposedly borrowed from the same couple.

Several celebrities and supporters have since spoken up for Richards, sharing their personal experiences of his kindness and generosity.

Against this backdrop, Atienza's account brought attention to a charitable contribution that had previously gone unpublicized. He ended his post with a simple remark: "Just putting it out there."

Richards later responded with a brief message of affection, writing, "Love you kuya kim. 🫶🏻"

The exchange highlighted Richards' generosity at a time when his character has become the subject of public discussion, offering a personal account of his willingness to help someone in need without expecting recognition.

Written by Bernie Padilla
Designed by Dahlia Amelie

Assumpta Family Hospital
Telephone: 0917-7997644 / 0917-1248089
Email: assumptafamilyhospital0325@gmail.com
Street: Magallanes St., Zone 5
City/Town/Municipality: Bangued
Province/City: Abra

ABRA PROVINCIAL HOSPITAL | 0747527509 | abraprovincialhospital@yahoo.com.ph | CAPITULACION STREET, CALABA | BANGUED | ABRA

This is a laboratory research finding, not a treatment method you can (or should) perform yourself.

Researchers induced the self-destruction process in cancer cells under controlled lab conditions using a specialized experimental system. Here's a high-level summary of how they did it, based on the published study and related reports:

Experimental approach (L-MAT system)
- They created an in vitro model that mimics the tight, non-adhesive spaces cancer cells encounter when trying to invade tissues (called long-term mesenchymal-to-amoeboid transition, or L-MAT).
- Cancer cells were gently compressed into a very thin 3D space where they could not firmly attach to surfaces. This prolonged physical confinement lasted for several hours.
- Under these conditions, cells first switched to a fast-moving "amoeboid" shape to try to escape. With continued pressure, they eventually stopped moving, lost polarity, and activated a built-in cell-death program.

Molecular mechanism they identified
1. The mechanosensitive ion channel PIEZO1 senses the compressive force.
2. This activates the transcription factor STAT1.
3. STAT1 drives increased production of MLKL (mixed lineage kinase domain-like).
4. Accumulated MLKL moves to the cell membrane and triggers RIPK3-independent necroptosis (a form of programmed cell death), even in cells that normally resist classic necroptosis pathways.

This was observed across multiple cancer cell types in the lab. The study also noted that cells with low MLKL levels are more likely to survive the confinement and may become more aggressive over time.

Important context
- This is basic science published in Developmental Cell* (October 2026). It is not a clinical therapy, drug protocol, or something available outside research labs.
- The authors suggest possible future directions (e.g., ways to activate MLKL pharmacologically or exploit the mechanical environment of tumors), but these remain speculative and unproven in patients.
- There is no DIY, at-home, or non-lab method. Attempting to replicate confinement on cells requires specialized equipment, sterile cell-culture facilities, and expertise in molecular biology.

Researchers found that prolonged mechanical confinement can trigger cancer cells to self-destruct.

Scientists from Fudan University, Sun Yat-sen University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences used 3D models to study cancer cells under tight physical compression that mimics the narrow spaces they encounter during metastasis (spreading from a primary tumor).

Key findings
- Cancer cells undergo a mesenchymal-to-amoeboid transition (MAT), switching to a more flexible, amoeba-like form to squeeze through tight spaces.
- Short-term confinement helps them move and invade. Prolonged confinement, however, causes chronic stress.
- This stress activates MLKL (mixed lineage kinase domain-like), triggering necroptosis (a form of programmed cell death).
- Before dying, the cells lose their polarized shape and stop moving, effectively halting their invasive behavior.
- The process was observed across multiple cancer cell types, suggesting it may be a broader response to prolonged physical stress (though the strength of the response can vary by cancer type and genetics).

Implications
- Prolonged mechanical stress inside tumors may act as a natural barrier that eliminates highly invasive cells and helps the immune system recognize the tumor.
- Cells with high MLKL levels are more susceptible to this self-destruction; those with low MLKL tend to survive and may become more aggressive over time. MLKL levels could therefore serve as a biomarker for tumor progression and metastatic potential.
- Potential therapeutic ideas include pharmacologically activating MLKL to boost this natural cell-death pathway, or combining such approaches with existing treatments to better exploit the mechanical environment of solid tumors.

The study was published in Developmental Cell on October 14, 2026.

PRESS RELEASE
October 18, 2026
Cayetano doubles down on call to reconsider K to 12

"Do we have the money for K to 12? And if not, what do we do?"

After several years of consistent advocacy, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano took a bolder step on Friday by seeking to make this question a formal debate within the education community as the Senate tackled the proposed 2027 budget of the Department of Education (DepEd).

"We're looking for a breakthrough," Cayetano told DepEd during the budget briefing on October 16.

"So may I ask for your permission that we start the debate today [on] whether or not we keep K to 12 in the next five years, or we take out one or two years?" he said.

Cayetano said everyone already agrees that more classrooms, better internet access, and feeding programs are important. To achieve the ideal education system, he said the real question to debate and answer is whether the government has enough money to fully fund K to 12.

Cayetano appealed to Education Secretary Sonny Angara to formally start the conversation by conducting an "inventory" of each school's facilities and resources, then determining whether the government can realistically fill the gaps with its available resources.

"If we're going to have a debate on how to improve the education system... (we) have to start with the inventory," he said.

"Have a checklist. A perfect school will have this: a clinic, a guidance counselor's office, a covered court, a music room, et cetera. Then we do a score of our schools, [pwedeng] per region, per congressional district," he said.

Take out the additional two years

Noting the huge amount needed to fully implement K to 12, Cayetano reiterated his proposal to scale back to K to 10.

"We have to make a radical decision. Do we fully fund K to 12? And if we do that, we might have to add maybe another P500 billion — and I don't know where to get that," he said.

"Or, do we take the hard decision of taking out muna one year, K to 11 or K to 10 tayo, and focusing where it's needed to be focused?" he added.

Cayetano explained that removing the additional two years would immediately free up resources to improve spending per student, classroom sizes, school hours, and learning outcomes.

"If you take out the two years now, I'm not saying there won't be a problem, but your per capita and many of your problems [will be solved]," he said.

He cited the Philippine Science High School as a model, where the government spends over P224,000 per student, with a maximum of only 30 students per classroom and a full eight-hour school day.

He contrasted this with DepEd-run public elementary and high schools, citing classrooms accommodating 70 to 100 students and spending of only P34,960 per student. Many schools also operate in shifts, limiting school hours to five or six.

Cayetano emphasized that the quality of the country's education system greatly impacts its future.

"When you look at the education system now, you can tell what kind of Philippines you will have 10 to 15 years from now," he said.

"If we can somehow get the spending closer to what we're doing with Philippine Science High School, rather than what we're doing with our public schools now, then we'll have a better Philippines," he added.

Cayetano pinaigting ang panawagang muling pag-isipan ang K to 12

"Do we have the money for K to 12? And if not, what do we do?"

Matapos ang ilang taon ng patuloy na pagsusulong ng kanyang adbokasiya, hiniling ni Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano nitong Biyernes na pormal na talakayin sa sektor ng edukasyon ang tanong na ito, kasabay ng talakayan sa Senado hinggil sa panukalang 2027 budget ng Department of Education (DepEd).

"We're looking for a breakthrough," diin ni Cayetano sa pagdinig noong October 16.

"So may I ask for your permission that we start the debate today [on] whether or not we keep K to 12 in the next five years, or we take out one or two years?" wika niya sa DepEd.

Ayon kay Cayetano, nagkakaisa naman ang lahat na mahalaga ang dagdag na classrooms, mas maayos na internet access, at feeding programs.

Para makamit aniya ang inaasam na kalidad ng sistema ng edukasyon, ang tunay na tanong na dapat pagdebatehan at sagutin ay kung may sapat bang pera ang gobyerno para pondohan nang buo ang implementasyon ng K to 12.

Umapela si Cayetano kay Education Secretary Sonny Angara na pormal nang simulan ang talakayan sa pamamagitan ng "inventory" ng mga pasilidad at iba pang resources ng bawat paaralan. Mula sa datos na ito ay matutukoy kung kaya bang punan ng gobyerno ang mga kakulangan gamit ang pondong mayroon ito.

"If we're going to have a debate on how to improve the education system... (we) have to start with the inventory," aniya.

"Have a checklist. A perfect school will have this: a clinic, a guidance counselor's office, a covered court, a music room, et cetera. Then we do a score of our schools, [pwedeng] per region, per congressional district," aniya.

Bawasan ng dalawang taon

Dahil sa malaking pondong kailangan para maipatupad nang buo ang K to 12, muling isinulong ni Cayetano ang panukalang bumalik sa K to 10.

"We have to make a radical decision. Do we fully fund K to 12? And if we do that, we might have to add maybe another P500 billion — and I don't know where to get that," pahayag ng senador.

"Or, do we take the hard decision of taking out muna one year, K to 11 or K to 10 tayo, and focusing where it's needed to be focused?" dagdag niya.

Paliwanag ni Cayetano, sa pag-alis ng dagdag na dalawang taon, may pondong agad na maililipat para mapalaki ang pondo kada estudyante, mabawasan ang siksikan sa mga klase, mapahaba ang oras ng pasok, at mapahusay ang pagkatuto ng mga bata.

"If you take out the two years now, I'm not saying there won't be a problem, but your per capita and many of your problems [will be solved]," aniya.

Tinukoy niyang modelo ang Philippine Science High School, kung saan mahigit P224,000 aniya ang ginagastos ng gobyerno sa bawat estudyante, hanggang 30 lang ang estudyante sa bawat classroom, at maghapon ang oras ng klase.

Malayo aniya ito sa mga pampublikong elementarya at high school sa ilalim ng DepEd, kung saan may mga classroom na 70 hanggang 100 estudyante ang nagsisiksikan at P34,960 lamang ang ginagastos kada mag-aaral. Marami ring paaralan ang lima hanggang anim na oras lang ang pasok dahil napipilitan mag-shifting.

Binigyang diin ni Cayetano na malaki ang epekto ng kalidad ng edukasyon sa kinabukasan ng bansa.

"When you look at the education system now, you can tell what kind of Philippines you will have 10 to 15 years from now," aniya.

"If we can somehow get the spending closer to what we're doing with Philippine Science High School, rather than what we're doing with our public schools now, then we'll have a better Philippines," dagdag niya. ###

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Here's something that might shock you: Stage 4 cancer patients have gone into complete remission using a $5 drug originally designed to kill parasitic worms.

So why haven't you heard about this? Because absolutely no major cancer center will run a clinical trial on it. The patent expired years ago, and no one is going to spend $100 million on a $12 remedy.

It turns out that cancer behaves like a parasite. It consumes resources, spreads, and uses the exact same survival mechanisms as parasites and fungi. The drug works by breaking down the internal structure of these rapidly dividing cells and removing the "don't kill me" signals that prevent the immune system from attacking.

Most of the research on this comes from universities in South Korea and India, and small labs operating without industry funding or conflicts of interest. What does that tell you about where true health solutions are found?

-Dr. Berg

Dr. Eric Berg, DC, not MD; information only

Cebu City

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Post ni June Duterte (paghandom sa nangagi nga panahon)

Dramaturgo

Nahimo nang tipik ug kabahin natong mga karaang tawo ang mga dramang Binisaya sa radyo ilabi na natong mga lumulupyo sa Kabisay-an ug Mindanao kaniadto ug hangtud karon.

Ang radyo nga Avegon maoy atong social media, Facebook ug Messenger, smartphone o android ug television set niadtong atong kapanahunan diin magsugod ang adlaw sa talad-kan-anan padulong ngadto sa tagsa tagsa nato ka mga kaumahan ug hangtud na sa panahon sa kilom kilom ug kagabhi-on uban sa radyo ug ang mga kulba-hinam kaayong mga drama ug sugilanon sa kinabuhi, sa gugma ug mga pagtu-aw, sa kalampusan ug kaparotan.

Sa wala pa nahimugso ang Friendster ug Multiply, Netflix, Tiktok reels, YouTube, Spotify ingon man sa wala pa mauso ang mga Marites ug mga nagkadaiyang  content creators sa atong palibot, daan nang naghari ang radio set silbing katupad o constant companion natong tanan sa entero adlaw.

Kinsa ba ang mahikalimot sa mga lilas nga nitandog sa tagsa tagsa nato ka mga dughan, nikumot sa atong mga galamhan ug nagpaagas sa atong mga luha ug walay undang nga pagbahakhak sa komedya ug pasi-aw nga istorya?

Kinsa kaninyo diha sa akong mga magbabasa ang wala makahinundom sa dramang 'Mihabo Habo na Usab' ni Fermin Collantes Gomez ug trahedya sa gugma nila ni Sam ug Ofelia mga gidala nila ni Randy Padayao Suzon ug Teresa Soria sa dihang madunggan na gani nato ang unang bigwas sa sonata sa 'Bright Eyes'?

Sa makapatandog sa galamhan nga sugilanon nila ni Edgar ug Isabel sa dihang motukar na gani ang intro sa drama soundtrack nga 'Yesterday' ni Paul MaCartney?

Kinsa diha ninyo ang wala tandoga sa dramang nag-ulohan nga 'Panagway sa Dughan' nila ni anhing Alex Lara ug Mildred Montesclaros ((kung wala ko nasayop sa akong nahinumdoman)?

Kinsa kaninyo ang nahikalimot na sa tugob sa aksyon, misteryo ug adrenaline rush nga gubat-espiritwal sa 'Omnipotente' nila ni Ecclezier ug Deomino?

Sa dramang 'Serafim,' 'Koran ug Bibliya,' 'Doktrina,' 'Pula nga Luha sa Uga nga Yuta,' 'Ang mga Kaliwat,' 'Father Giovanni Mo Kumpisal ang Nasud,'(Soundtrack: If We Only Have Love), 'Gugmang Patay,' Semper Fidelis,' 'Higala Igsoon Kaaway,' ' Kagaw ni Cain,' 'Krus ug Diablo,' 'Emman,''Mga Eroplanong Papel, 'Hangtud Asa Hangtud Kanus-a',' 'Halangdon ba ang Kasilag,' 'Quo Vadis Gabriel Iglesias,' 'Asa ka Padulong Roldan Moran,' 'Si Isidro ang Basurero,' ' Gugmang Luhaan sa Dum nga Kalibutan,' ' Kordero sa Katawhan' ug daghan pang obra maestra sa akong tinahud nga idolo ug higala Sir Fermin Gomez, sa dramang 'Ecclesiastes Tres,' ' Berdugo' ug 'Flower' ni Ranil Villa - nakahinumdom ka pa ba niini, higala?

Kinsay wala makahinumdom sa mga heart-tugging love stories nila ni Jojo Alegre Buron Vlog ug Matet Cabudlan ug uban pang mga versatile drama actors sa Sugbu nga naghatag kinabuhi sa matag karakter sa ilang mga dula ug nitatak gayud sa memorya natong mga avid radio listeners?

Usa ka ba niadtong nagsunod sa mga dula sa radyo ni Joe Gavini Flores nga 'Eking Boxer' ug 'Mina de Oro',' sa pamoso kaayong 'Brando Bandido' ni Fred Berame, Abel Daculan, Ben Abarquez Villaluz ('Hayop ka Man, Mohilak ka Usab), Baby Farida Salgado, Susan Flores ('Mutya sa Saging Mantikaan'), Dodong Racaza ('Presinto Singko'), Novie Suico,Ingrid Virtudazo, Miraluna Tumulak, Vanessa Resula, Jennyrica Vidad, Marites Parba Albores, Jay Badayos, Glen Pino ug uban pa?

Usa ka ba niadtong tigpaminawan sa dramang 'Gabii Na, Kumander' sinuwat ni Jun Bacalso ug gibidahan nila ni Tony Rabanes ug Boy Cortez, Jr.. ingon man sa iyang dramang 'Banong D'Sidewalk Vendor' ug 'Gipatay nila ang akong Igsoon,' sa mga dramang 'Buak ang Pula,' 'Lawud sa Kasilag,' 'Kwadrado nga Buwan' ug 'Subay sa Nagliko liko nga Dalan' ni Boy Lido Patalinghug, sa mga karakter nga gibidahan nila ni Fernando 'Nanding' Celeste, Vic Romarate (Ang  Pagbalik ni Diego Salvador), Sim Romarate. Susan ug Nacefero 'Tito Nash' Alino, Elma Vestil, 'Ginhawa Delfin' ug 'Balibaran Ko ang Kamatayon' ni Cebu City Councilor Hon. Francis Esparis , Priscilla Raganas, Allan 'Golyat' Nacorda, Julian Bacus Daan, ang gikagubtan kaniadto nga adult drama nga 'Verboten,' 'Bulawan sa Lapok' ni Rudy Rubi, Tino Yburan, Roger Solante, Pepe Mercado, Sofring dela Torre, Cedrick Tumulak, Oliver 'Bob' Enjambre  ('Escape Master'), Joe dela Calzada, Linda Villanueva, Thelma Zafra, Jun Gomez, Inday Nita Daluz, Liden Flores, Celso Ponce, Elma Patalinghug, 'Ang Agta sa Dakit' ni Tino Yburan, 'Inting Botikol,' 'Mother Rebecca,' Val Gomez, Nelson Tantano, Esper Palicte, Perla Valencia, Janice Gimena, Debbie Sta. Cruz, Ondo Juezan, Elma Vestil, Marcos Navarro Sacol, Ricardo Feliciano, Willy Cortez, Cora Rosales ug daghan pang uban nga mga batid usab sa pagdala og papel ug personalidad sa ere o sa entablado man? Pasayloa nga daghan pa kanila ang wala na gyud nako intawon mahinumdumi pa gumikan sa pangedaron, sa pagligid sa panahon apan sayud ko nga pamilyar kaninyo ang ilang tagsa tagsa ka mga tingog nga nahimo natong kauban sa matag adlaw'ng tanan.

Radio Drama: Bag-ong Nawong ug Plataporma

Sa atong panahon karon, kulba na ang dramang Binisaya sanglit nag-evolve ug nag-transform na kini gikan sa kinaraang estilo. Kini gumikan kay gikan sa pag-dominar sa RMN DYHP ug uban pang pioneering drama production centers sa Kabisay-an ug Mindanao, aduna nay pipila ka mga agresibong regional broadcast networks nga nagmugna sa ilang kaugalingong mga lilas sa kahanginan ug sa digital media sama sa nag-una karon nga mga kumpaniya sama sa Juander Radyo ug Nonglading Broadcasting Service. Gani, una pa man niana, nagmugna man usab og ilang kaugalingong drama productions ang Bombo Radyo, GMA ug uban pang local broadcast entities.

Kun kaniadto pulos lamang plywood ug kurtina ang set sa entablado sa mga linawas nga presentasyon, karon LED wall na, nindot na kaayo ang sound system ug wala nay makita nga nagbansiwag nga mga kable sa wire ug nagkumbitay nga mga mikropono.

Moabot gayud ang panahon diin gamit unya ang AI ug Augmented Reality, hybridized na ang drama production aron mas artistic ug visually appealing na unya ang drama diha sa livestreaming nga daw mura na gyud siya'g pelikula.

Mao na tingali kini ang dugay na natong gipangandoy nga mga Old Guards nga mga kausaban ug innovation nga buot natong masinatian aron magpabilin nga relevant ang presensya sa dramang vernacular sa atong adlaw adlaw nga pagkinabuhi.

Matood gayud nga bisan pa man tuod kun nausab na ang platform o pamaagi sa pagpaambit niini, pabilin gihapon nga way kausaban diha sa pagtagik ug pagpabuhagay sa mga tulukibon kaayong sugilanon ug mga memoryang walay paglubad.

Voice Artists: Bag-ong Paglaum sa Kausaban

Kun hisgotan ang talent, creativity ug imagination, dili usab palupig ang lain pang panon sa mga drama artists nga akong giidolo pag ayo sanglit sila usab mga creative thinkers man kinsa naghatag kinabuhi sa tanang pasundayag nga sagad madunggan nato sa radyo: Kini sila ang mga hanas nga mga voice actors kinsa naggunit sa mga programa kansang format mao ang letter reading kun pagbasa sa kahanginan sa mga sulat-suliran sa mga suking tigpaminawan, mga hanete nga magbabalak sa radyo ug kadtong adunay talagsaong hiyas kun abilidad sa pagdala og klase klaseng papel o karakter ma bata man o ma hamtong, ma babaye man o ma lalaki o ma b***t man o ma tomboy, bida man o contra vida, ma love story man, aksyon, comedy o mystery.

Denhe sa Mindanao, garbo nako nga isulti nga nahimo nakong mga personal favorites nako mao sila si Arman dela Silva sa 'Mga Tipaka sa Kagahapon,' (kinsa kauban nako sa buhat kaniadto sa RPN Channel 9 dekada 80), JuanderMan Richard Soriano Villaronte sa 'Tudling sa mga Garay, (sa iyang mga maanindot kaayong tudling sama sa 'Kung Palad na ang Magsudya' ug 'Hubog Kuno Ako,' Mary Jane Adaya sa 'Dear Juander Radyo,'  Jameson Jeb Roma Mondido (aka Nonglading) sa 'Handumanan sa akong Kagahapon,, Al Gesta sa 'Tunob sa Kagahapon,'  Rep. Arlyn Ayon sa 'Sincerely Ate Arlyn, Jc Almerez aka Inday Seryaka,  Ron Sumampong-Espere Einberg  aka Lady Batud / DJ Ricky Mouse, ug uban pa kansang abilidad sa pagdala sa tingog ug emosyon dili usab hitupngan  bisan pa sa mga manggialamon nga mga artista sa kahanginan sa Visayas ug sa entero kapupud-an.

Malagmit gayud nga ang traditional radio box hingpit nang manamilit ug mahanaw paghidangat sa daghang mga katuigan apan cierto ako nga ang rekwisito sa authentic storytelling magpabiling matuod nga panukaran sa mga sugilanon nga saw-an sa mosunod pa natong mga henerasyon.

Dili ikalalis ug dili nato malilong nga hangtud uhaw ang tawo sa mga makapakitbi sa atay ug makapatandog sa salabutan ug kasingkasing nga mga estorya sa kinabuhi, ang drama sa kahanginan magpabiling dakung panginahanglanon ug katupad nato nga realidad karon ug hangtud sa kahangturan.

Pangadoy usab natong mga nagmahal sa dramang inato nga mientras may panahon pa, salbaron na natong daan ang mga bahanding mugna sa kasingkasing ug imahinasyon sa mga maalamon nga drama creators pinaagi sa pag document, pag preserba kun pag archive niini aron adunay kabalikan unya ang mga arts and culture researchers sa taliabot nga katuigan o siglo nga digital library o voice museum sa tanang mga maanindot ug halandumon kaayong literary outputs sa atong panahon.

Daghang salamat sa akong mga higala kaniadto ug karon kansang mga memorya ug tampo nga nahibaw-an ug mga kasinatian maoy naghatag og kahingpitan ning diyutay'ng pagyukbo alang sa atong mga giidolo: Thank you kaayo Sir Fermin Gomez, Dante Javelosa Luzon , Jhonkent Anuta, Mikel O. Avergonzado, Michael C. Guardiana, Randy Padayao Suson, Jojo A. Buron, Limar Venancio Perez, Teresa Diaz Tirol, Matet Cabudlan, Fernando Nanding Celeste, Thelma Zafra Enjambre, Perla Valencia, Alan Golyat Nacorda ug daghan pang uban.

October 7, 2026

The Father and the Younger Son

By Michael A. Youssef, Ph.D.

Read Luke 15:11-24.

The younger son makes a basely awful request of his father—he demands his inheritance — now. In that Middle Eastern culture, such a request was akin to telling the father, "I wish you were dead already."

Now, the Pharisees listening to this story would have been incredulous at the audacity of this son, but more than that, they would have been reeling at the response of the father, who let his son go with his inheritance. Jesus' parable was designed to unsettle them with how incomprehensible, how longsuffering, how generous, how humble, how inexhaustible the love of the father, who, of course, represents our heavenly Father.

The younger son burns all the bridges—or so he thinks. But sometime later, in a far country, the money dries up. In no time at all, he finds himself alone and in need, working on a farm and craving the pigs' food. He finally decides to go home.

He knows he is not worthy to return as a son, but maybe his father will take him as a servant. This experience is at the core of the Christian faith. Only when a person comes to the realization they are totally broken and desperate for a Savior will they come and say, "Father, forgive me."

Jesus' hearers would have expected any respected Jewish father to berate the son, to force him to endure humiliation and scorn to earn his forgiveness. But not the father of Jesus' parable: "But while [the son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him" (Luke 15:20). In the Middle East to this day, a dignified man never runs—that would be humiliating. But this father is willing to suffer any shame to be with his beloved child.

The younger son comes to the father filthy and tired and hungry. Brothers and sisters, all we can do is come as we are. We simply repent and give ourselves to Him, and He rejoices. He embraces us—a sign of acceptance. He kisses us—a sign of reconciliation. He cleans us—an assurance of forgiveness. He puts His robe on us—the righteousness of Christ.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I am overwhelmed with Your compassion and generosity toward me, receiving me as Your reconciled, beloved child. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him" (Luke 15:20).

Learn more in Dr. Michael A. Youssef's sermon Enduring Wisdom, The Younger Son

Love One Another

A Devotional

Jesus said two important things about our love for each other. First, that all people will know we are His disciples if we love one another (John 13:34). Second, our unity in Him will let the world know that God had sent Him into the world (John 17:23).

Jesus said the world will know He has come by how His followers love each other. We should love one another in such a way that those who do not believe in Jesus would be astounded and curious to learn more about Him. 

Jesus knew this world would be full of anger, strife, and conflict. This is all the more reason it should be a priority to love other people with the same love God has for us. Loving others unveils to the world the great and loving God who loved us first.

Years after Jesus' resurrection, the apostle John wrote three short letters to followers of Jesus. And in his first letter, he takes the time to talk to them about how to love, and why it matters. John wrote: "...love is from God ... if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another ... we love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:7, 11, 19) 

He even goes as far as to say, "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." (1 John 4:20, ESV) 

There's no way around this. John makes it clear that our love for one another is proof that God's love is in us. So if we say that we love God, then we should be committed to showing love to each other.

As you reflect on today's verse, ask yourself: Is there anyone in my life that I need to show love to today? Is there anyone I need to forgive? In what ways can I love my brothers and sisters in Jesus?

Psalm 74:17 — Explanation

Psalm 74:17 (KJV):

> "Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter."

Psalm 74 is a communal lament. Asaph is speaking to God during a time when God's people have experienced destruction and apparent defeat. In verses 12–17, however, he deliberately turns from the present crisis to God's sovereignty over creation and history.

1. "Thou hast set all the borders of the earth"

The Hebrew idea behind "borders" refers to the boundaries or limits established by God.

The statement means that God is the one who establishes the ordered boundaries of the created world. Nothing in creation is outside His authority.

This echoes the biblical idea that God determines the boundaries and order of creation:

Acts 17:26 — God determines the "times" and "boundaries" of nations.

Job 38:8–11 — God describes setting limits for the sea.

Proverbs 8:29 — God appointed the boundaries of the waters.

So Asaph is essentially saying:

"Lord, the world is not out of Your control. You established its order in the first place."

2. "Thou hast made summer and winter"

This refers to the regular cycles and seasons of creation.

Summer and winter represent the predictable rhythms God established in the natural world. Even when Israel's circumstances appear chaotic, creation itself continues according to God's appointed order.

Compare Genesis 8:22:

> "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter... shall not cease."

The point is not merely that God created summer and winter long ago. It is a declaration that God continues to govern the created order.

3. Why does Asaph mention this during a crisis?

This is particularly important.

Psalm 74 begins with devastation:

> "O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever?" — Psalm 74:1

The sanctuary has been destroyed, God's enemies have triumphed, and the people are asking where God is.

But then Asaph remembers who God is:

> "For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth." — Psalm 74:12

He remembers God's acts in creation and history (vv. 13–17).

Then verse 17 essentially says:

The God who controls the boundaries of the earth and the changing of seasons has not lost control merely because His people are suffering.

A deeper theological point

Psalm 74:17 connects creation and providence.

God is not portrayed merely as someone who created the universe and then stepped away from it. He is the sovereign Lord who establishes and maintains its order.

The movement of the psalm is therefore:

Crisis → remembrance → creation → God's sovereignty → hope

Asaph cannot yet explain why the disaster has happened. But he can affirm who remains sovereign despite it.

Does "borders of the earth" mean national borders?

Not primarily in this verse. The immediate context is creation: sea, earth, day, night, seasons and the cosmic order. So "borders" is best understood as the limits and boundaries God established within creation.

There is, however, a broader biblical connection: Scripture also teaches that God establishes the boundaries and times of nations (Acts 17:26). Thus God's sovereignty extends both over nature and human history.

In simple terms

Psalm 74:17 is saying:

> "God, You established the world's boundaries and You control its seasons. Therefore, even though everything seems chaotic to us, creation itself testifies that You remain sovereign and that the world is still under Your rule."

And this makes the verse especially meaningful when life appears disordered: our inability to understand God's actions does not mean God has lost control.

Asaph was a prominent Levitical musician, worship leader, and prophet associated with King David's worship ministry. His name appears in the headings of several Psalms.

Who was Asaph?

Asaph was a Levite from the clan of Gershon and served as one of the chief musicians appointed by David for worship at the tabernacle.

> 1 Chronicles 6:31–32 describes the Levites appointed by David to oversee the musical service.

David appointed three principal musical leaders:

Asaph

Heman

Jeduthun (Ethan)

Asaph appears to have been the chief of them in several contexts.

Asaph was more than a musician

The Bible specifically calls Asaph a "seer":

> "And the sons of Asaph; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king."
— 1 Chronicles 25:2, KJV

The Hebrew idea behind prophesied there is significant. Asaph's musical ministry was connected with proclaiming God's message through worship and music.

So Asaph can be understood as both a worship leader and prophetic musician.

Which Psalms are attributed to Asaph?

The Psalms traditionally bearing his name are:

Psalm 50
Psalms 73–83

That's 12 Psalms in total.

Psalm 50 begins:

> "The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken..."

And Psalm 73 begins:

> "Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart."

Psalm 73 is particularly famous because Asaph openly describes his struggle with the apparent prosperity of wicked people:

> "But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped."

He becomes troubled because the wicked seem to prosper while the righteous suffer. The turning point comes in verse 17:

> "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end."
— Psalm 73:17

That is one reason Asaph is such an interesting biblical figure: he does not hide his spiritual struggles. He brings his confusion before God and ultimately comes to a renewed understanding of God's justice.

Was the Asaph who wrote the Psalms the same person?

This requires some qualification.

The original Asaph lived during David's time. However, several of the Psalms attributed to "Asaph" appear to reflect circumstances much later than David's lifetime.

For example, Psalm 74 describes the destruction of the sanctuary, and Psalm 79 describes Jerusalem being devastated. Therefore, many scholars understand "Asaph" in the Psalm titles as representing either Asaph himself or the later musical/worship guild descended from him.

This fits what we see elsewhere in Scripture. The sons of Asaph continued serving as temple musicians for generations.

For example:

> "And all these were the sons of Heman, the king's seer in the words of God..."
— 1 Chronicles 25:5

And after the exile, descendants of Asaph were still associated with temple worship (Ezra 2:41; Nehemiah 7:44).

An important connection to your question about Psalm 73

Asaph's story helps explain Psalm 73 particularly well.

He essentially goes through this progression:

1. He knows the truth about God
→ "God is good to Israel."

2. He sees something that seems to contradict it
→ Wicked people prosper.

3. He becomes spiritually confused
→ "My feet were almost gone."

4. He enters God's sanctuary
→ His perspective changes.

5. He sees the ultimate destiny of the wicked
→ Their apparent prosperity is temporary.

6. He realizes that God Himself is his true treasure
→ "Whom have I in heaven but thee?"

7. He ends with worship and trust
→ "It is good for me to draw near to God."

So Asaph is not presented as someone who never struggled with doubt or confusion. He is presented as someone who brought that struggle into God's presence and came out with a deeper understanding of God.

And that makes Psalm 73 one of the Bible's most candid descriptions of a believer wrestling with God, suffering, injustice, and faith.

The Bible gives a nuanced answer: human beings are created in God's image, but Scripture does not teach that God the Father is a human being or that His divine nature is limited to a human-shaped body.

1. "Image of God" does not necessarily mean physical appearance

Genesis says:

> "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
— Genesis 1:27

The Hebrew word ṣelem (צֶלֶם), translated "image," does not necessarily mean a physical photograph or bodily copy. In the broader biblical context, being made in God's image includes humanity's capacity to exercise dominion, moral responsibility, relationality, rationality, and representation of God in creation.

Therefore, "God's image" should not automatically be understood as:

God looks exactly like a human → humans look exactly like God.

2. Yet the Old Testament sometimes describes God using human-like language

There are striking passages.

For example:

> "The LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."
— Exodus 33:11

And Isaiah sees:

> "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up..."
— Isaiah 6:1

Daniel 7 gives an even more remarkable vision:

> "The Ancient of Days... His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool."

And then:

> "One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven..."
— Daniel 7:9, 13

These descriptions portray God in imagery that is understandable to human beings. But Scripture also repeatedly emphasizes that God is spirit:

> "God is Spirit."
— John 4:24

So we should be careful about turning prophetic visions into a literal anatomical description of God's eternal nature.

3. God specifically says that humans cannot see His face in His fullness

This is particularly important.

Moses asks:

> "Please, show me Your glory."

God responds:

> "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live."
— Exodus 33:18–20

Yet immediately afterward, God permits Moses to experience His presence in a limited way.

This suggests that God's full divine glory is beyond ordinary human perception.

4. But Jesus is different

Here Christianity reaches a very important distinction.

The Father is invisible.

Paul says:

> "Who is the image of the invisible God..."
— Colossians 1:15

Who is that?

Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the visible revelation of the invisible God.

John 1:18 says:

> "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son... He has declared Him."

And Jesus says:

> "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."
— John 14:9

This doesn't mean Jesus is the Father. Christianity distinguishes the Father and the Son as distinct persons. Rather, the Son perfectly reveals the Father.

5. Jesus has a genuine human body

This becomes particularly significant after the incarnation.

> "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
— John 1:14

Jesus therefore possesses a genuine human nature and human body.

Paul calls Christ:

> "the image of the invisible God"
— Colossians 1:15

So if you're asking:

"Does God have a form that humans can see?"

The Christian answer is essentially:

God the Father is spirit and invisible in His divine essence, but God has revealed Himself visibly and perfectly in Jesus Christ, the Son who became flesh.

6. What about Genesis 1:26 — "Let Us make man in Our image"?

This is also fascinating:

> "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness."

Christians have traditionally understood the plural "Us" in several ways. Some interpret it as God speaking within the divine heavenly court; others see it as a hint or anticipation of the Trinity. The New Testament's fuller revelation of Father, Son and Holy Spirit gives Christians reason to understand creation in a Trinitarian framework, although Genesis itself does not explicitly explain the plural as "the Trinity."

The key distinction

A helpful way to put it is:

Humans are made in God's image; God is not made in the image of humans.

The direction is from Creator → creature.

And Christianity teaches that the Son became truly human, not that the Father is essentially a human being.

So there is a profound connection:

Father — invisible God
↓
Son — "image of the invisible God"
↓
Jesus Christ — God revealed in genuine human flesh

That is why the incarnation is so central to Christianity. In Jesus, the invisible God is made known to humanity without the Father Himself ceasing to be spirit.

Yes. The Bible clearly records occasions when God Himself spoke in a way that people actually heard a voice. This occurs in both the Old and New Testaments.
There is an important distinction, though: Scripture does not say that every time God communicated with someone, He used an audible voice. Sometimes He spoke through prophets, visions, dreams, angels, or inward revelation.
Old Testament 1. Mount Sinai — God spoke audibly to Israel
This is probably the clearest example.

"And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice."
—

Deuteronomy 4:12
The Israelites specifically said they had heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire.
Even more explicitly:

"Out of heaven He let you hear His voice... and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire."
—

Deuteronomy 4:36
So the Old Testament does not merely describe an impression or feeling. The text describes hearing words/voice without seeing God's form.
2. God spoke directly to Moses
At Sinai, Exodus repeatedly says that God spoke to Moses (Exodus 19–20). The Ten Commandments were proclaimed by God to the assembly, after which the people became afraid and asked Moses to speak with God on their behalf.
3. God spoke from heaven
There are other instances in which God's voice is described as coming from heaven. For example, the wording of Deuteronomy 4:36 explicitly says that God caused Israel to hear His voice from heaven.
New Testament The New Testament gives several particularly important examples because the Father's voice is heard concerning Jesus.
1. Jesus' baptism
At Jesus' baptism:

"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
—

Matthew 3:17
The Father identifies Jesus as His Son. This is presented as a voice from heaven.
2. The Transfiguration
The Father speaks again:

"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!"
—

Matthew 17:5
Peter, James and John were present. They did not merely experience an internal thought—the narrative describes a voice coming from the cloud.
3. John 12:28–30 — one of the clearest New Testament examples
Jesus prayed:

"Father, glorify Your name."

Then:

"Then a voice came from heaven: 'I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.'"

The people standing nearby heard the sound. Some thought it had thundered; others thought an angel had spoken.
Jesus then explained:

"This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake."

This is especially significant because Jesus Himself identifies the phenomenon as a voice from the Father, given for the benefit of the people listening.
So, was it literally audible? In these passages, yes. The biblical descriptions strongly indicate an externally perceived voice rather than merely a private thought.
There is a particularly important theological point here:
Hearing God's voice does not necessarily mean seeing God's physical form.
Deuteronomy 4:12 actually emphasizes the opposite:

"You heard the sound of words, but saw no form."

The Israelites heard God but did not see a visible shape.
This fits with Jesus' statement in John 5:37:

"You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form."

That statement is not saying God is incapable of speaking audibly. Rather, Jesus is making a particular point about the unbelieving Jewish leaders and their failure to recognize the Father's testimony concerning Him.
A useful distinction Biblically, there are at least three different ways God's communication can be described:

Type	Example
Audible divine voice	Sinai — Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 4
Voice from heaven	Jesus' baptism — Matthew 3:17
Inner/spiritual revelation	God revealing something to a person's heart/mind
Prophetic communication	"Thus says the LORD" through prophets
Dreams/visions	Joseph, Daniel, etc.
Angelic mediation	Angels delivering God's messages

So Christianity does not require us to believe that every experience of hearing God is an audible voice. But Scripture absolutely establishes that God the Father can and has spoken audibly to human beings.
And notably, in the New Testament, the Father's audible voice is especially associated with Jesus Christ—at His baptism, at the Transfiguration, and in John 12.

9 At pagkasabi niya ng mga bagay na ito, nang siya'y tinitingnan nila, ay dinala siya sa itaas; at siya'y tinanggap ng isang alapaap at ikinubli sa kanilang mga paningin.
- Mga Gawa 1:9 - Ang Biblia, Tagalog Pilipino

8 Datapuwa't tatanggapin ninyo ang kapangyarihan, pagdating sa inyo ng Espiritu Santo: at kayo'y magiging mga saksi ko sa Jerusalem, at sa buong Judea at Samaria, at hanggang sa kahulihulihang hangganan ng lupa.

- Mga Gawa 1:8 - Ang Biblia, Tagalog Pilipino

7 At sinabi niya sa kanila, Hindi ukol sa inyo ang pagkaalam ng mga panahon o ng mga bahagi ng panahon, na itinakda ng Ama sa kaniyang sariling kapamahalaan.
- Mga Gawa 1:7 - Ang Biblia, Tagalog Pilipino

6 Tinanong nga siya nila nang sila'y nangagkakatipon, na nangagsasabi, Panginoon, isasauli mo baga ang kaharian sa Israel sa panahong ito?
- Mga Gawa 1:6 - Ang Biblia, Tagalog Pilipino

5 Sapagka't tunay na si Juan ay nagbautismo ng tubig; datapuwa't kayo'y babautismuhan sa Espiritu Santo na di na malalaunan pa.
- Mga Gawa 1:5 - Ang Biblia, Tagalog Pilipino

4 At, palibhasa'y nakikipagpulong sa kanila, ay ipinagutos niya sa kanila na huwag silang magsialis sa Jerusalem, kundi hintayin ang pangako ng Ama, na sinabi niyang narinig ninyo sa akin:

- Mga Gawa 1:4 - Ang Biblia, Tagalog Pilipino

3 Na sa kanila nama'y napakita rin siyang buhay, sa pamamagitan ng maraming mga katunayan, pagkatapos na siya'y makapaghirap, na napakikita sa kanila sa loob ng apat na pung araw, at nagpahayag ng mga bagay tungkol sa kaharian ng Dios:
- Mga Gawa 1:3 - Ang Biblia, Tagalog Pilipino

2 Hanggang sa araw na tanggapin siya sa kaitaasan, pagkatapos na makapagbigay siya ng mga utos sa pamamagitan ng Espiritu Santo, sa mga apostol na kaniyang hinirang;
- Mga Gawa 1:2 - Ang Biblia, Tagalog Pilipino

1 Ang unang kasaysayan na ginawa ko, Oh Teofilo, ay tungkol sa lahat na pinasimulang ginawa at itinuro ni Jesus,
- Mga Gawa 1:1 - Ang Biblia, Tagalog Pilipino

Psalm 73:17 — Explanation

Psalm 73:17 (KJV):

> "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end."

Psalm 73 is written by Asaph. The psalm describes his struggle with a difficult question: Why do wicked people sometimes prosper while faithful people suffer?

1. The context — Asaph was confused

Earlier, Asaph says:

> "But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped." — Psalm 73:2

He looked at arrogant and wicked people and saw them apparently living comfortable, prosperous lives. Meanwhile, he felt that his own faithfulness was bringing him little visible benefit.

He even says:

> "For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning." — Psalm 73:14

So Psalm 73 is partly about the crisis of perspective that occurs when we judge God's justice only by what we see happening in this present life.

2. "Until I went into the sanctuary of God"

This is the turning point.

The Hebrew word translated "sanctuary" is מִקְדְּשֵׁי (miqdĕshê), referring to the holy place/sanctuary of God.

The important point is not merely that Asaph physically entered a building. The sanctuary represented God's presence, worship, revelation and the proper perspective of God's covenant relationship with His people.

Asaph had been looking at life from the ground upward:

> "Why are wicked people prospering?"

But in God's sanctuary, he begins looking at life from God's perspective.

His circumstances may not have immediately changed.

His understanding changed.

3. "Then understood I their end"

This is the key.

Asaph had been focusing on their present prosperity.

God caused him to consider their ultimate destiny.

He continues in verses 18–19:

> "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction."
— Psalm 73:18

The apparent security of the wicked is temporary. Their prosperity cannot protect them from God's judgment.

So the comparison becomes:

Present appearance:
Wicked people may prosper.

Ultimate reality:
God remains just, and every person's life ultimately stands before Him.

4. The sanctuary corrected Asaph's perspective

Notice the progression:

Psalm 73:3 — "I was envious..."
Psalm 73:13 — "I have cleansed my heart in vain..."
Psalm 73:16 — "It was too painful for me"
Psalm 73:17 — "Until I went into the sanctuary of God"
Psalm 73:24 — "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel"
Psalm 73:28 — "But it is good for me to draw near to God"

The sanctuary did not merely give Asaph information.

It reoriented his heart toward God.

5. There is also a warning here

Psalm 73 does not teach that every person who suffers is righteous or every person who prospers is wicked.

Nor does it teach that material prosperity necessarily means God's approval.

Instead, Asaph discovers that visible circumstances are an unreliable measure of God's justice.

Someone can appear extremely successful while being spiritually lost.

Someone can suffer greatly while remaining precious to God.

6. The connection to eternity

This becomes especially important when read alongside the New Testament.

Jesus taught:

> "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
— Mark 8:36

That is very close to the fundamental lesson Asaph learns in Psalm 73.

Temporary prosperity is not the same thing as ultimate blessing.

The sanctuary helped Asaph stop asking only:

> "What are they getting now?"
and start asking:

> "Where is this ultimately leading?"

7. The beautiful conclusion

Asaph eventually says:

> "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee."
— Psalm 73:25

And:

> "But it is good for me to draw near to God."
— Psalm 73:28

That is the ultimate transformation of Psalm 73.

He began by envying the wicked.

He ended by treasuring God.

So Psalm 73:17 is essentially the turning point from confusion to spiritual understanding:

> When Asaph entered God's sanctuary, he stopped judging reality solely by what was happening temporarily and began seeing life in light of God's presence, justice and the ultimate destiny of the wicked.

In short: the sanctuary changed his perspective before it changed his circumstances.

The renewed mind should be:💌

Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ Jesus, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died (from sin), and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Our creator 🙌 will be pleased if we follow His will in our lives... 🙏

by Sun Star Pampanga

National athlete and Kapampangan swimmer Kayla Sanchez set a new Philippine record in the women's 50-meter backstroke at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan on Monday, September 21.

Sanchez broke her own national record twice in a single day. She first clocked 28.24 seconds in the heats, improving on her previous record of 28.47 seconds set at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games. She then lowered the mark again in the finals with a time of 28.19 seconds.

Despite her record-breaking performance, Sanchez missed the podium and finished fifth in the final.

Before representing the Philippines, Sanchez was an Olympic medalist as part of the Canadian swimming team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In 2023, World Aquatics approved the change of her sporting nationality from Canada to the Philippines.

Sanchez has Filipino roots in Pampanga, as her father is originally from Mabalacat City.

Since 2023, she has represented the Philippines in international competitions, including the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2026 Asian Games.

| via Vin Dela Peña, CLTV36 News

📸 Philippine Olympic Committee / Kayla Sanchez

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What if walking away from God wasn't the end of the story?

I went back. I hardened my heart. I even called myself an atheist. But I couldn't stay there.

Can someone truly be born again and walk away? What does "returning to your vomit" really mean?

I dig into that and more in this post.

Read the whole thing. You might see your own story in it.

𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐍 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍... 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍?

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒕, 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝑯𝒊𝒎 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈

I've lived this. I was born again. For real. Then I went back. My eyes got calloused. My heart got numb. I chose it. I didn't just drift - I labeled myself atheist. Not agnostic, because agnostic still hopes there's something. I wanted nothing.

So does that mean I was never saved to begin with? That's what people throw at you with 2 Peter 2:22 and Proverbs 26:11 - "a dog returns to his vomit."

Here's what I learned - that verse isn't talking about a son who leaves home. It's talking about someone who was washed on the outside but never changed on the inside. A pig can be scrubbed clean and still run back to mud because it's still a pig.

When God truly births you, you get a new nature. You might act like a pig for a season, but you won't be comfortable in the mud anymore. That's why it stung. That's why I couldn't stay there.

𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗪𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗟𝗞 𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗬

We don't just wake up one day and say "I quit God." It happens inch by inch:

We stop hearing - the Word becomes boring.
We stop praying - unless we need something.
We entertain what we used to hate.
We justify it - "God knows my heart."
We get offended at church, at God, at a leader, and let that offense become an identity.
We love comfort more than conviction.
We refuse His drawing - that little nudge to repent, to forgive, to put that bottle down, to open the Bible. We say "later."

Every time we say no to that nudge, our heart gets a little harder.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗦 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗘 - 𝗛𝗘𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟬:𝟮𝟲

"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins"

People use that to say you're done. No hope.

That's not what it means. Read the whole chapter. The writer is talking to Jewish people who were going back to animal sacrifices after they heard Jesus was the final sacrifice. He's saying if you reject JESUS as the sacrifice, there is no other sacrifice left to cover you. Not that if you sin bad after salvation you're doomed - but that if you willfully trample the blood and say "I don't want Your sacrifice, I'll do it my way" - you are cutting off the only branch that can hold you.

A struggling son who sins is not the same as a heart that looks at the cross and says "that means nothing to me." One falls IN the battle, the other walks OFF the battlefield.

Charles Finney said it like this - the sacrifice means nothing if the person who needs to sacrifice doesn't sacrifice himself. You can cry at an altar, say sorry, but if you never lay down YOU, your will, your pride, your right to run your life - nothing changed.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗨𝗡𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗚𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗜𝗡

Everyone is scared they committed blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

It's not saying a bad word about the Holy Spirit in anger. Paul was a blasphemer by his own mouth - 1 Timothy 1:13 "though I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor..." And God saved him.

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit - Matthew 12:31-32, Mark 3:29 - is what the Pharisees did. They watched Jesus cast out demons by the Spirit of God and said "That's Satan." They saw clear light and called it darkness, on purpose, with full knowledge.

It's not a moment, it's a lifestyle until death. It's a heart that feels the Spirit convicting, knows it's God, and keeps saying "No. I will not be corrected. I will not bow." Till your last breath. God knows that heart. He knows the difference between an ignorant blasphemer who thought he was serving God - like Paul - and a defiant heart that refuses correction forever.

If you're worried you committed it, you didn't. A heart that has committed it doesn't care.

𝗔 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗢𝗨𝗖𝗛 - 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝟴:𝟮-𝟮𝟱

Jesus spits on a blind man's eyes and touches him. The man says "I see men as trees, walking." He sees, but blurry. Jesus touches him again. Then he sees clearly.

That's many of us. First touch - conception - you see something is real. Second touch - you see clearly. You can be around church for years seeing people like trees. Blurry. Religious but not transformed. You need that second touch where it gets personal, clear, costly.

𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗣𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡, 𝗚𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡, 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛 - 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗢𝗡 𝗟𝗨𝗖𝗘 𝗣𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘

Ron Luce used to break it down like this and it wrecked me:

𝘊𝘖𝘕𝘊𝘌𝘗𝘛𝘐𝘖𝘕 - A miracle happens. The heart is awakened.

For the believer: God softens you. Out of nowhere you think "What have I been doing living without God?" It's not guilt from people, it's God whispering. Your heart that was stone gets soft. You say "I will follow."

For the non-believer: You feel it too. Maybe at 2am. Maybe after a loss, or watching your kids sleep. That ache that says "there has to be more than this." That IS the conception. That's not you being emotional, that's God knocking.

𝘎𝘌𝘚𝘛𝘈𝘛𝘐𝘖𝘕 - Morning sickness. Baby moves. Cravings. Wrestling. Uncomfortable.

This is the part we skip and that's why we have miscarriages.

For the believer: This is counting the cost. Luke 14:28. The baby - new life - starts wrestling with your old life. You get morning sickness for sin. Stuff you used to love makes you sick now. You get cravings - for the Word, for worship, for clean air. It's uncomfortable. You wrestle. "Do I really want to die to me?" This is where Finney's truth hits - sacrifice means nothing if you don't sacrifice yourself. God wants you, not just your words.

For the non-believer: You might think faith is instant happiness. It's not at first. It's war inside. That's why you feel torn. Your flesh likes the old life but something new is growing.

What happens when we jump from conception straight to birth? Miscarriage. Stillborn faith. That's the person who says "I'm sorry, I repent" but feels no remorse. Who tolerates sin, makes excuses - "Why can't I? Everyone else does." Who says "I'll try harder" - how do you try to die? You either die or you don't. No conviction after sin. That's not birth. That's a show.

𝘉𝘐𝘙𝘛𝘏 - You know when it happens. Sweat. Pushing. Pain. Flesh dies. Old life dies.

For the believer: Repentance. "I am through with the old life." The moment of death itself is the start of birth. You sweat, you push through shame, you confess, you let go. New life comes screaming out. Everyone knows something happened.

For the non-believer: You don't need to clean yourself up to be born. You come as you are, but you don't stay as you are. Birth hurts because your old king - you - has to die so Jesus can live in you.

𝗗𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗡

God hates this - Proverbs 6:16-19 says one of seven things He hates is "he that soweth discord among brethren."

And brethren isn't just church people. It's mankind. We are all made in His image. When we create division - believer vs believer, believer vs non-believer - with gossip, racism, pride, political idolatry, tearing someone down online to look holy - we are doing the enemy's work.

Jesus said they'd know us by our love, not by who we owned in an argument.

𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗠 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗝𝗨𝗠𝗣

Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go. Not when they're 16 and in trouble. From conception. From the jump. They need to SEE a godly walk, not just hear a sermon.

They watch how we handle anger, money, our marriage, our phone when no one looks. We can't lead them where we won't walk.

We are called to be leaders - but only because we are first followers of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Lead your home. Lead the lost by example. Pray for the non-believer by name. Walk different so they ask why.

𝗥𝗘𝗙𝗟𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡

So where are you?

Have you had conception - that awakening - but never let gestation do its uncomfortable work? Are you living with blurry vision - seeing men like trees - and pretending you see clearly?

Have you returned to your vomit and now you think you're disqualified? You're not. If you can still hear Him calling, you can still come home.

And for my skeptical friend reading this who thinks this is all fairy tales - that ache you feel that life is pointless, that question "what if I'm wrong" - that's not weakness. That's conception. Don't abort it.

Come home. Today.

Pray for someone by name who needs this. Share it if it hit you. And if you are that prodigal - stop running. The Father is already on the porch.

#BornAgain #Prodigal #JesusChristisLord

By Christopher Matthews

If free will threatens God's sovereignty, then every human choice would threaten God's sovereignty. Yet Christians and non-Christians make real choices every day, including sinful ones, without diminishing God's rule over the universe. Why then should responding to the gospel be treated differently? God's sovereignty is not weakened when He grants people the ability to receive or reject His gracious offer of salvation. Rather, His sovereignty is displayed in His ability to accomplish His purposes while holding people responsible for the choices they make.

Isaiah 43:4 (KJV) says:

"Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life."

This is a beautiful statement about God's covenant love, value, and protection of His people.

1. "Thou wast precious in my sight"

The Hebrew idea behind "precious" is yaqar (יָקָר), meaning precious, valuable, honored, or costly.

God is telling Israel that they are valuable to Him. Their value is not based on their political power, wealth, or accomplishments. It comes from God's choice to love and covenant with them.

This connects with the preceding verses:

"Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine." — Isaiah 43:1

So the sequence is significant:

God redeemed → God called → God claimed → God valued → God loved.

2. "Thou hast been honourable"

The word translated "honourable" can carry the sense of being honored, esteemed, or weighty.

This does not necessarily mean Israel had behaved perfectly. Isaiah repeatedly records Israel's sin and rebellion. Rather, God is describing the special status He has given them as His covenant people.

In other words:

God's love is not a reward for Israel's perfect behavior.

3. "And I have loved thee"

This is the heart of the verse.

God explicitly says:

"I have loved thee."

In context, this is God's covenant love toward Israel. The following chapters continue emphasizing that God chose Israel and remains committed to His purposes for them despite their failures.

This is particularly powerful because Isaiah 43 is spoken to people who had experienced judgment, exile, and suffering.

God's message is essentially:

Your suffering does not mean that I have stopped loving you.

4. "Therefore will I give men for thee"

This is an unusual expression.

God says that because He loves Israel, He will give other peoples in exchange for Israel's preservation. The immediate historical context involves God's promise to bring Israel back from exile and protect them.

The verse is therefore primarily a corporate promise to Israel, not a universal promise that God will always prevent an individual believer from suffering.

5. "And people for thy life"

The final phrase reinforces the idea of ransom/substitution:

"people for thy life"

The Hebrew wording conveys the idea that other nations would be given in connection with Israel's deliverance.

This does not mean God literally values some human lives less than others in a general moral sense. It is prophetic language concerning God's sovereign dealings with nations in Israel's historical redemption.

The larger context: Isaiah 43:1–7

The surrounding passage makes the meaning even clearer.

God tells Israel:

"Fear not" — v.1
"I have redeemed thee" — v.1
"I have called thee by thy name" — v.1
"Thou art mine" — v.1
"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee" — v.2
"When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned" — v.2
"I am the LORD thy God" — v.3
"Thou wast precious in my sight" — v.4
"I have loved thee" — v.4
"Fear not: for I am with thee" — v.5

So Isaiah 43:4 shouldn't be isolated as simply "God thinks I'm special." Its deeper message is:

> God has claimed His people, loves them, and remains faithful to them even when they pass through overwhelming circumstances.



A Christian application

For Christians, the verse can be a powerful reminder of God's love, but we should distinguish application from the verse's original meaning.

Isaiah 43:4 directly concerns Israel. Christians can nevertheless see a consistent biblical principle in it: God's relationship with His redeemed people is characterized by love, belonging, and grace.

The New Testament expresses this even more explicitly in Christ:

> "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us..." — Ephesians 2:4



And:

> "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us..." — 1 John 3:16



There is therefore a striking biblical progression:

Isaiah 43:4 — "I have loved thee."
The cross — God demonstrates that love through Christ.

One important distinction: Isaiah 43:4 is not saying that every believer will be protected from hardship. Verses 2–3 actually acknowledge that God's people will pass through waters and fire. The promise is not "you will never experience trouble," but "I will be with you through it."

By Christopher Rodriguez via FB

Who was the first man to become dead in their sin and hostile towards God ?

Answer: Adam

According to Calvinists then, Adam, the first to become totally depraved, should not have been able to believe in the spiritual things and truth of God's word.... CORRECT

BUT, ON THE CONTRARY....

While Adam was dead in his sin after the fall, Genesis 3 says this 👇

Then the LORD GOD CALLED TO THE MAN (ADAM WHO IS NOW TOTALLY DEPRAVED AND DEAD IN HIS SIN), and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." THEN THE LORD GOD SAID TO THE WOMAN (WHO IS NOW TOTALLY DEPRAVED AND DEAD IN PERSON), "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
— Genesis 3:9-13

NOTICE👆

BOTH ADAM AND EVE AFTER THEY SINNED WERE TOTALLY DEPRAVED AND DEAD IN THEIR SIN......

YET, they both responded to God when called (SPOKEN TO)

YET, according to calvinists, totally depraved and dead in their sin men and women cannot respond to God.....

SO WHO DO WE BELIEVE?

Calvinists and their interpretation??

Or the word of God through the witness and testimony of Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit?

IT'S VERY PLAIN AND OBVIOUS....

By Michael Williams

John MacArthur spends a great deal of time warning Christians about false teachers. Fair enough. But that standard has to apply to our descriptions of people we disagree with too.

In this video MacArthur tells his audience that Arminius taught that salvation is essentially "in the hands of the sinner," that fallen man possesses the ability to believe "on his own," that he can "muster up faith on his own," and that faith therefore is "not a work of God" but a work of man.

There is a serious problem with that description:

Arminius explicitly taught the opposite.

Arminius wrote that fallen man is not capable "of and by himself" of thinking, willing, or doing spiritual good. He said that free will is unable even to begin spiritual good without divine grace. He described grace as preceding, accompanying, and following the sinner, and said that grace "commences salvation, promotes it, and perfects and consummates it."

So where exactly is MacArthur getting "man believes on his own"?

That isn't Arminius.

That isn't classical Arminianism.

It is a caricature.

MacArthur effectively gives his audience this choice:

Calvinism: God saves the sinner.
Arminianism: the sinner saves himself.

But that isn't the historical disagreement.

The actual disagreement is:

Calvinism: fallen man cannot believe without grace, and God gives the elect an efficacious grace that infallibly produces faith.

Classical Arminianism: fallen man cannot believe without grace either; God must initiate, convict, draw, illuminate and enable the sinner, but that gracious enabling can be resisted.

Both systems therefore say that God must act first and salvation is impossible apart from grace. They disagree about whether enabling grace is irresistible.

You may think Arminianism is wrong on that point. Fine. Then refute that position.

But telling people that Arminius believed fallen sinners could simply "muster up faith on their own" does not refute Arminius. It substitutes Pelagianism for Arminianism and then knocks down the substitute.

MacArthur compounds the problem when he essentially equates Arminianism with Pelagianism. Pelagius is famous precisely for denying the kind of inherited moral inability for which classical Arminianism says prevenient grace is necessary. Arminius, by contrast, described fallen free will in extraordinarily strong terms and insisted that no saving response occurs independently of divine grace.

Those positions are not interchangeable.

Charles Finney is another issue. Finney held doctrines concerning human ability, regeneration and conversion that were considerably more rationalistic and anthropocentric than classical Arminianism. Criticize Finney for what Finney actually taught. But you cannot simply move from Finney → Arminius → Pelagius as though they all taught the same theology.

And there is an important principle involved here.

MacArthur frequently warns Christians that false teaching matters. I agree. But surely that means we have an obligation to represent another person's teaching truthfully before condemning it.

Scripture condemns false doctrine, but it also condemns false witness.

If I tell thousands of Christians that a theologian taught something he explicitly denied, I cannot defend myself by saying, "Well, his theology was wrong anyway."

No. First establish what the man actually believed. Then refute it.

So the question I would put to MacArthur's defenders is simple:

Where did Jacob Arminius teach that fallen man can believe the gospel "on his own" or "muster up faith on his own"?

Produce the quotation.

Because Arminius's actual writings repeatedly say the opposite.

And if no such quotation can be produced, then MacArthur is not exposing Arminianism in this video. He is teaching his audience a false description of Arminianism.

Whether someone wants to go one step further and call MacArthur himself a "false teacher" is a broader judgment that should be based upon his overall teaching, not one inaccurate statement. But there should be no double standard here: a man who built much of his ministry warning people about false teaching should be held to an exceptionally high standard when he tells Christians what his theological opponents believe.

Refute Arminianism if you wish.

Just refute the real thing.

On the evening of September 9, 2026, the Philippine passenger-cargo ferry MV June Aster caught fire in the waters off Coron, Palawan, resulting in a major maritime tragedy.
Here is what is currently known about the incident:
* The Incident: The ferry was traveling from Manila to the popular tourist destination of Coron. At around 6:45 PM, a fire broke out approximately 1.2 nautical miles northeast of Barangay Marcilla.
* Casualties: As of September 13, the death toll has reached 76. Many of the victims were found trapped in the economy section of the vessel. There are 43 confirmed survivors, and 13 people remain missing out of the 132 people confirmed to have been on board.
* Cause of the Fire: The exact cause is still under official investigation. However, survivors reported hearing a loud explosion from the cargo hold before the ship was rapidly engulfed in flames. The vessel's cargo included vehicles such as an electric car, motorcycles, a forklift, and a pick-up truck.
* Contributing Factors: The fire spread very quickly, causing panic that prevented many from securing life jackets. Authorities are investigating whether a heavy tarpaulin, which had been set up to shield passengers from the rain, may have inadvertently trapped people inside the ship.
* Ongoing Investigation: The Philippine Coast Guard, National Police, and Armed Forces are conducting search, retrieval, and investigative operations. Authorities are also looking into the criminal and civil liability of the shipping company, Atienza Interisland Ferries Inc., and the ship's captain, who reportedly survived but has yet to be located.

By Joshua White

One of the most common mistakes in the salvation debate is assuming that if you reject Calvinism, you must be an Arminian.

That's a false dichotomy.

Calvinism and Arminianism are not the only options. I can reject unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and regeneration before faith without embracing Arminianism.

Likewise, I can affirm that Christ died for all, that the Gospel genuinely calls all people to believe, and that we are responsible for our response—while still rejecting distinctively Arminian doctrines such as prevenient grace and the loss of salvation.

Historically, Arminian theology is most closely associated with Wesleyans, Methodists, Nazarenes, Free Will Baptists, the Salvation Army, and parts of the Pentecostal/Holiness tradition.

So, "You're not a Calvinist; therefore you're an Arminian" simply doesn't follow.

Rejecting Calvinism tells you what I am not. It doesn't tell you what I am.

Let Scripture define our theology—not someone else's theological categories.

By ChatGPT
Psalm 45 is a royal wedding psalm, but it has a remarkable feature: the language describing the king goes beyond an ordinary human king. The New Testament explicitly applies Psalm 45:6–7 to Jesus Christ in Hebrews 1:8–9.

So Psalm 45 can be read on two levels:

1. Historically: a celebration of the marriage of a Davidic king.

2. Ultimately/messianically: a prophetic picture of Christ the King and His bride.

Psalm 45:17

> "I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever." — Psalm 45:17, KJV

The verse is the conclusion of the psalmist's praise of the king. The key idea is an everlasting royal reputation and everlasting praise.

But notice how extraordinary the statement becomes when the preceding verses are read together.

Psalm 45:1 — The psalmist introduces the king

> "My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king..."

The psalmist is overwhelmed by the greatness of the king. This isn't merely a political speech; it is a poetic celebration of the king's beauty, righteousness, majesty and reign.

The word translated "king" is מֶלֶךְ (melekh), simply meaning king, but what follows gives this king extraordinary characteristics.

Psalm 45:2 — The king is exceptionally beautiful

> "Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips..."

The king possesses both beauty and gracious speech.

This is interesting because Scripture later uses similar language concerning Christ.

Compare:

> "Grace is poured into thy lips" — Psalm 45:2

with Jesus' words:

> "And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth." — Luke 4:22

The king's attractiveness is not merely physical. His character and speech are characterized by grace.

Psalm 45:3–5 — The king is a victorious warrior

The king is told:

> "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty..."

He rides forth in truth, meekness and righteousness and defeats his enemies.

Notice the combination:

power + truth + meekness + righteousness.

This isn't the portrait of a tyrant. The king possesses tremendous power, but his rule is morally righteous.

The imagery anticipates Christ's final victory.

Revelation similarly portrays Christ as the conquering King who comes in righteousness.

Psalm 45:6 — The extraordinary statement

This is the pivotal verse:

> "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre."

At first glance, this is astonishing.

The king is addressed as:

"O God"

The Hebrew is:

כִּסְאֲךָ אֱלֹהִים עוֹלָם וָעֶד
Kis'akha Elohim olam va'ed

Literally, something like:

"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever."

And the New Testament removes any ambiguity about the Christian interpretation.

Hebrews 1:8 quotes Psalm 45:6:

> "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever..."

Therefore, the writer of Hebrews applies Psalm 45:6 to the Son—Jesus Christ.

That is one of the strongest Old Testament passages used in the New Testament to affirm Christ's divine identity.

Psalm 45:7 — The Father's relationship to the Son

The next verse says:

> "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."

Hebrews 1:9 also applies this to Jesus.

There is something profound here.

The passage calls the king "God", yet simultaneously says:

> "God, thy God"

This fits beautifully with Christian Trinitarian theology.

Jesus is truly divine, yet He relates to the Father as the Son.

So Psalm 45:6–7 gives us both:

the deity of the Son
and
the distinction between the Son and the Father.

This is centuries before the New Testament explicitly develops Trinitarian doctrine.

Psalm 45:8–9 — The royal wedding

Now the imagery changes toward the wedding.

> "All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia..."

And then:

> "Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir."

We now see the king and his bride.

The bride is beautifully dressed and brought into the presence of the king.

This is where the Christian interpretation becomes especially significant.

The New Testament repeatedly uses bridegroom/bride imagery for Christ and His people.

Christ is the Bridegroom, while His redeemed people constitute His bride.

For example, Ephesians 5:25–27 describes Christ's love for the church in marital terms, and Revelation 19 presents the marriage supper of the Lamb.

So Psalm 45's royal wedding becomes a beautiful foreshadowing of Christ and His redeemed people.

Psalm 45:10–12 — The bride leaves her former identity

Verse 10 says:

> "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house."

This doesn't necessarily mean literally abandoning one's family.

The imagery is about leaving one former household and transferring one's primary allegiance to the king.

She is becoming part of the king's household.

Spiritually, this can illustrate the believer's new identity in Christ.

There is a movement:

old identity → new identity
old allegiance → new allegiance
old household → belonging to the King

Psalm 45:13–15 — The bride enters the palace

The bride is described as:

> "The king's daughter is all glorious within..."

She is brought to the king in beautiful clothing.

The picture is one of joy, honor and celebration.

She doesn't enter the palace as a slave.

She enters as the bride of the king.

This anticipates the biblical picture of God's people being prepared for Christ.

Revelation 21:2 uses similar bridal imagery:

> "...prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

Psalm 45:16 — The king's dynasty

Then comes a remarkable statement:

> "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth."

The king's future is represented through his descendants.

In the immediate historical setting, this makes sense for a royal dynasty.

But when applied ultimately to Christ, the idea becomes even greater.

Christ's kingdom isn't merely about maintaining an earthly dynasty. His kingdom produces a people who belong to Him and participate in His reign.

Psalm 45:17 — Now the climax

> "I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever."

There are two major ideas here.

1. "I will make thy name to be remembered"

The king's name will not disappear.

In the ancient world, a person's name represented his identity, reputation, honor and legacy.

But notice the magnitude:

> "in all generations"

That's extraordinary language.

Many kings become historical footnotes.

Their kingdoms disappear.

Their monuments decay.

Their names are forgotten.

But this king's name will be remembered through all generations.

For Christians, this finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.

Two thousand years after His earthly ministry, billions of people continue to confess His name.

2. "The people shall praise thee for ever and ever"

This goes even further.

The king isn't merely remembered.

He is praised.

And not merely for one generation:

> "for ever and ever."

That is why Psalm 45:17 is particularly powerful when read together with verses 6–7.

Verse 6:

"Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever."

Verse 17:

"The people shall praise thee for ever and ever."

There is a correspondence:

Everlasting throne → everlasting King → everlasting praise.

And Hebrews 1 confirms that the everlasting throne belongs to the Son.

The whole progression of Psalm 45

You can actually see the psalm developing like this:

Verses   Theme

1   The psalmist praises the King
2   The King's beauty and gracious speech
3–5   The King's power and victory
6–7   The King's divine identity and righteous reign
8–9   The King's royal wedding
10–12   The bride's allegiance to the King
13–15   The bride enters in glory
16   The King's continuing dynasty
17   The King's everlasting name and praise

There is therefore a logical movement:

King → divine King → victorious King → Bridegroom → bride → everlasting kingdom → everlasting praise.

A particularly important Christian insight

Psalm 45 should not be interpreted as though every detail originally referred directly to Jesus in isolation.

It was a royal wedding psalm written in an ancient Israelite setting. Yet the language about the king reaches beyond what an ordinary human king can ultimately fulfill.

The New Testament tells us exactly where that trajectory leads:

Psalm 45 → Hebrews 1 → Jesus Christ.

Hebrews takes Psalm 45:6–7 and explicitly places it in the mouth of the Father speaking about the Son.

Therefore, Psalm 45:17 becomes especially meaningful:

> The King whose throne is forever (v.6)
loves righteousness (v.7),
receives His bride (vv.9–15),
and whose name is remembered and praised forever (v.17).

That is a remarkably beautiful Old Testament portrait of Christ the eternal King and Bridegroom.

In one sentence

Psalm 45:17 means that the King described throughout the psalm will possess an enduring name, kingdom and worship among His people—and, in its ultimate messianic fulfillment confirmed by Hebrews 1, Jesus Christ's name and reign will endure forever, with His people praising Him eternally.

🔥 SEXUAL IMMORALITY BEGINS IN THE HEART BEFORE IT MANIFESTS PHYSICALLY

"But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." — Matthew 5:28

There is a dangerous mistake we make when dealing with sexual immorality: we often judge the manifestation while ignoring the birthplace.

We see the action, but God sees the heart.

We see the fall, but God sees the thoughts that preceded it.

We see the relationship, the affair, the pornography, the secret messages, or the physical compromise—but before any of these became visible, something invisible had already been entertained within the heart.

🌿 The battle is usually won or lost before the body ever participates.

Jesus did not reduce sexual sin to physical contact. He went deeper. He went beneath the behavior and exposed the condition of the heart.

> "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications..."
— Mark 7:21

🕊️ THE HEART IS THE FIRST BATTLEGROUND

Sexual immorality rarely announces itself by saying, "I am here to destroy your life."

It often begins innocently.

A thought.
A glance.
A fantasy.
A private conversation.
A picture.
A secret emotional attachment.
A justification.
A repeated imagination.

Then the mind becomes comfortable with what the spirit should have rejected.

This is why Scripture says:

> "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life."
— Proverbs 4:23

The enemy does not always need to immediately make you commit the act.

Sometimes he only needs you to entertain the thought long enough until the thought becomes desire, the desire becomes agreement, and the agreement becomes behavior.

James explains the progression:

> "Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin."
— James 1:14–15

Notice the language: conceived... gives birth.

There is a conception before there is a manifestation.

🔥 Sin often becomes visible only after it has already been nurtured invisibly.

---

⚠️ DON'T ONLY ASK, "HOW FAR CAN I GO?"

A carnal heart asks:

"Is this technically sin?"

A surrendered heart asks:

"Does this please Jesus?"

That is the difference.

If your goal is merely to discover the boundary of sin, you may eventually find yourself standing dangerously close to it.

But when your heart genuinely loves God, your question changes.

You begin asking:

"Will this grieve the Holy Spirit?"

"Will this weaken my sensitivity to God?"

"Will this make my prayer life colder?"

"Will this strengthen my flesh and weaken my spirit?"

"Would I still do this if Jesus were visibly standing beside me?"

And here is the humbling truth:

Jesus is not merely beside you. He is within you.

> "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?"
— 1 Corinthians 6:19

---

💔 YOU CANNOT FEED THE FLESH AND EXPECT THE SPIRIT TO REMAIN STRONG

Many people pray for victory over sexual temptation while continuously feeding the imagination that produces the temptation.

They pray for freedom but keep returning to the doorway of bondage.

They ask God to purify their heart while deliberately exposing their eyes to what contaminates it.

They ask for spiritual power while secretly negotiating with the flesh.

This is where genuine repentance becomes necessary.

Repentance is not merely feeling bad because you were caught.

Repentance is changing your direction because your heart has been awakened to the holiness of God.

> "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
— Psalm 51:10

David did not merely ask God to change his circumstances.

He asked God to change his heart.

Because when the heart changes, the direction of the life begins to change.

---

🌿 GOD IS NOT TRYING TO DEPRIVE YOU—HE IS TRYING TO PROTECT YOU

Holiness can sometimes feel restrictive to the flesh.

But what the flesh calls restriction, God calls protection.

God's commands concerning sexual purity are not because He hates human desire.

He created sexuality.

But He also established its holy boundaries.

The world says:

"Follow your desires."

God says:

"Bring your desires under My lordship."

The world says:

"If it feels good, pursue it."

God says:

"You were created for more than temporary pleasure."

Hebrews 13:4 declares:

> "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge."

God is not against pleasure.

God is against pleasure becoming your master.

---

🔥 FLEE, DON'T NEGOTIATE

One of the most powerful commands concerning sexual immorality is surprisingly simple:

> "Flee sexual immorality."
— 1 Corinthians 6:18

Notice that Scripture does not say:

"Study how close you can get."

It says:

FLEE.

There are battles you overcome by standing.

There are battles you overcome by resisting.

But with certain temptations, wisdom says:

RUN.

Joseph understood this.

When temptation presented itself, he did not stay around to prove how strong he was.

> "He left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside."
— Genesis 39:12

Joseph valued God's presence more than temporary pleasure.

He understood something that we must recover:

You don't have to prove your strength by remaining in an environment designed to weaken you.

Sometimes holiness looks like closing the door.
Sometimes it looks like deleting the number.
Sometimes it looks like ending the conversation.
Sometimes it looks like turning off the screen.
Sometimes it looks like leaving the room.
Sometimes it looks like saying:

"I love God too much to continue here."

🕊️ That is not weakness. That is spiritual intelligence.

---

🪞 THE MOST DANGEROUS PERSON TO DECEIVE IS YOURSELF

Sexual compromise often survives because we rename it.

We call lust attraction.
We call emotional adultery friendship.
We call pornography entertainment.
We call compromise freedom.
We call disobedience weakness.
We call repeated sin "just who I am."

But God calls us to truth.

> "Whoever conceals his sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy."
— Proverbs 28:13

There is mercy for the repentant.
There is restoration for the broken.
There is cleansing for the one who comes honestly before God.

Your failure does not have to become your identity.

But you must stop protecting what God is asking you to surrender.

---

❤️ HOLINESS IS NOT JUST WHAT YOU REFUSE—IT IS WHO YOU LOVE

Perhaps the deepest revelation is this:

The ultimate motivation for purity should not be fear of punishment. It should be love for God.

When you truly love someone, you don't merely ask:

"What can I get away with?"

You ask:

"How can I honor them?"

Jesus said:

> "If you love Me, keep My commandments."
— John 14:15

Obedience becomes different when love is the motivation.

You are not merely avoiding sexual immorality because you are afraid of consequences.

You are protecting intimacy with God.

You are saying:

"Lord, my body belongs to You."
"My eyes belong to You."
"My imagination belongs to You."
"My desires belong to You."
"My relationships belong to You."
"My secret life belongs to You."

Nothing in me should become a territory where sin is allowed to rule.

---

🙏 A PRAYER FOR A PURE HEART

Father, search my heart. 🕊️

Expose every desire, imagination, attachment, habit, and secret compromise that is taking me away from You.

Give me the courage to stop entertaining what You are asking me to surrender.

Purify my eyes.
Purify my thoughts.
Purify my desires.
Purify my relationships.

Teach me to recognize temptation before it becomes bondage.

Give me the wisdom to flee when I should flee, the strength to resist when I should resist, and the humility to seek help when I cannot overcome alone.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

Let my private life honor You as much as my public life.

May I never desire temporary pleasure more than Your presence.

I choose holiness.
I choose obedience.
I choose purity.
I choose Jesus.

In Jesus' name, Amen. 🙏

---

🌿 FINAL EXHORTATION

Don't wait until sin becomes an action before you take it seriously.
Deal with it when it is still a thought.
Deal with it when it is still a desire.
Deal with it when it is still a private conversation.
Deal with it when it is still an image on a screen.
Deal with it when nobody else knows.

Because God is interested not only in what your hands are doing, but in what your heart is becoming.

> "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
— Matthew 5:8

🔥 Protect your heart. Guard your eyes. Flee temptation. Love God more than the pleasure that temptation promises.

❓ ENGAGING QUESTION

What is one area of your private life where God may be calling you to stop negotiating with temptation and start choosing holiness?

#Holiness #Purity #GuardYourHeart #WalkWithGod

Genesis 4:3-16
THE GROWTH AND POWER OF SIN
by Alexander Maclaren

Many lessons crowd on us from this section. Its general purport is to show the growth of sin, and its power to part man from man even as it has parted man from God. We may call the whole 'The beginning of the fatal operations of sin on human society.'

1. The first recorded act of worship occasions the first murder. Is not that only too correct a forecast of the oceans of blood which have been shed in the name of religion, and a striking proof of the subtle power of sin to corrupt even the best, and out of it to make the worst? What a lesson against the bitter hatred which has too often sprung up on so-called religious grounds! No malice is so venomous, no hate so fierce, no cruelty so fiendish, as those which are fed and fanned by religion. Here is the first triumph of sin, that it poisons the very springs of worship, and makes what should be the great uniter of men in sweet and holy bonds their great separator.

2. Sin here appears as having power to bar men's way to God. Much ingenuity has been spent on the question why Abel's offering was accepted and Cain's rejected. But the narrative itself shows in the words of Jehovah, 'If thou doest well, is there not acceptance?' that the reason lay in Cain's evil deeds. So, in 1Jn 3:12, the fratricide is put down to the fact that 'his works were evil, and his brother's righteous'; and Heb 11:4 differs from this view only in making the ground of righteousness prominent, when it ascribes the acceptableness of Abel's offering to faith. Both these passages are founded on the narrative, and we need not seek farther for the reason of the different reception of the two offerings. Character, then, or, more truly, faith, which is the foundation of a righteous character, determines the acceptableness of worship. Cain's offering had no sense of dependence, no outgoing of love and trust, no adoration,-though it may have had fear,-and no moral element. So it had no sweet odour for God. Abel's was sprinkled with some drops of the incense of lowly trust, and came from a heart which fain would be pure; therefore it was a joy to God. So we are taught at the very beginning, that, as is the man, so is his sacrifice; that the prayer of the wicked is an abomination. Plenty of worship nowadays is Cain worship. Many reputable professing Christians bring just such sacrifices. The prayers of such never reach higher than the church ceiling. Of course, the lesson of the story is not that a man must be pure before his sacrifice is accepted. Of course, the faintest cry of trust is heard, and a contrite heart, however sinful, is always welcome. But we are taught that our acts of worship must have our hearts in them, and that it is vain to pray and to love evil. Sin has the awful power of blocking our way to God.

3. Note in one word that we have here at the beginning of human history the solemn distinction which runs through it all. These two, so near in blood, so separate in spirit, head the two classes into which Scripture decisively parts men, especially men who have heard the gospel. It is unfashionable now to draw that broad line between the righteous and the wicked, believers and unbelievers. Sheep and goats are all one. Modern liberal sentiment-so-called-will not consent to such narrowness as the old-fashioned classification. There are none of us black, and none white; we are all different shades of grey. But facts do not quite bear out such amiable views. Perhaps it is not less charitable, and a great deal truer, to draw the line broad and plain, on one side of which is peace and safety, and on the other trouble and death, if only we make it plain that no man need stop one minute on the dark side.

4. The solemn divine voice reads the lesson of the power of sin, when once done, over the sinner. Like a wild beast, it crouches in ambush at his door, ready to spring and devour. The evil deed once committed takes shape, as it were, and waits to seize the doer. Remorse, inward disturbance, and above all, the fatal inclination to repeat sin till it becomes a habit, are set forth with terrible force in these grim figures. What a menagerie of ravenous beasts some of us have at the doors of our hearts! With what murderous longing they glare at us, seeking to fascinate us, and make us their prey! When we sin, we cannot escape the issues; and every wrong thing we do has a kind of horrible life given it, and sits henceforth there, beside us, ready to rend us. The tempting, seducing power of our own evils was never put in more startling and solemnly true words, on which the bitter experience of many a poor victim of his own past is a commentary. The eternal duty of resistance is farther taught by the words. Hope of victory, encouragement to struggle, the assurance that even these savage beasts may be subdued, and the lion and adder (the hidden and the glaring evils-those which wound unseen, and which spring with a roar) may be overcome, led in a silken leash or charmed into harmlessness, are given in the command, which is also a promise, 'Rule thou over it.'

5. The deadly fruit of hate is taught us in the brief account of the actual murder. Notice the impressive plainness and fewness of the words. 'Cain rose up against his brother, and slew him.' A kind of horror-struck awe of the crime is audible. Observe the emphasis with which 'his brother' is repeated in the verse and throughout. Observe, also, the vivid light thrown by the story on the rise and progress of the sin. It begins with envy and jealousy. Cain was not wroth because his offering was rejected. What did he care for that? But what angered him was that his brother had what he had not. So selfishness was at the bottom, and that led on to envy, and that to hatred. Then comes a pause, in which God speaks remonstrances,-as God's voice-conscience-does now to us all,-between the imagination and the act of evil. A real or a feigned reconciliation is effected. The brothers go in apparent harmony to the field. No new provocation appears, but the old feelings, kept down for a time, come in again with a rush, and Cain is swept away by them. Hatred left to work means murder. The heart is the source of all evil. Selfishness is the mother tincture out of which all sorts of sin can be made. Guard the thoughts, and keep down self, and the deeds will take care of themselves.

6. Mark how close on the heels of sin God's question treads! How God spoke, we know not. Doubtless in some fashion suited to the needs of Cain. But He speaks to us as really as to him, and no sooner is the rush of passion over, and the bad deed done, than a revulsion comes. What we call conscience asks the question in stern tones, which make a man's flesh creep. Our sin is like touching the electric bells which people sometimes put on their windows to give notice of thieves. As soon as we step beyond the line of duty we set the alarm going, and it wakens the sleeping conscience. Some of us go so far as to have silenced the voice within; but, for the most part, it speaks immediately after we have gratified our inclinations wrongly.

7. Cain's defiant answer teaches us how a man hardens himself against God's voice. It also shows us how intensely selfish all sin is, and how weakly foolish its excuses are. It is sin which has rent men apart from men, and made them deny the very idea that they have duties to all men. The first sin was only against God; the second was against God and man. The first sin did not break, though it saddened, human love; the second kindled the flames of infernal hatred, and caused the first drops to flow of the torrents of blood which have soaked the earth. When men break away from God, they will soon murder one another.

Cain was his brother's keeper. His question answered itself. If Abel was his brother, then he was bound to look after him. His self-condemning excuse is but a specimen of the shallow pleas by which the forgetfulness of duties we owe to all mankind, and all sins, are defended.

8. The stern sentence is next pronounced. First we have the grand figure of the innocent blood having a voice which pierces the heavens. That teaches in the most forcible way the truth that God knows the crimes done by 'man's inhumanity to man,' even when the meek sufferers are silent. According to the fine old legend of the cranes of Ibycus, a bird of the air will carry the matter. It speaks, too, of God's tender regard for His saints, whose blood is precious in His sight; and it teaches that He will surely requite. We cannot but think of the innocent blood shed on Calvary, of the Brother of us all, whose sacrifice was accepted of God. His blood, too, crieth from the ground, has a voice which speaks in the ear of God, but not to plead for vengeance, but pardon.

'Jesus' blood through earth and skies,

Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries.'

Then follows the sentence which falls into two parts-the curse of bitter, unrequited toil, and the doom of homeless wandering. The blood which has been poured out on the battlefield fertilises the soil; but Abel's blasted the earth. It was a supernatural infliction, to teach that bloodshed polluted the earth, and so to shed a nameless horror over the deed. We see an analogous feeling in the common belief that places where some foul sin has been committed are cursed. We see a weak natural correspondence in the devastating effect of war, as expressed in the old saying that no grass would grow where the hoof of the Turk's horse had stamped.

The doom of wandering, which would be compulsory by reason of the earth's barrenness, is a parable. The murderer is hunted from place to place, as the Greek fable has it, by the furies, who suffer him not to rest. Conscience drives a man 'through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none.' All sin makes us homeless wanderers. There is but one home for the heart, one place of repose for a man, namely, in the heart of God, the secret place of the Most High; and he who, for his sin, durst not enter there, is driven forth into 'a salt land and not inhabited,' and has to wander wearily there. The legend of the wandering Jew, and that other of the sailor, condemned for ever to fly before the gale through stormy seas, have in them a deep truth. The earthly punishment of departing from God is that we have not where to lay our heads. Every sinner is a fugitive and a vagabond. But if we love God we are still wanderers indeed, but we are 'pilgrims and sojourners with Thee.'

9. Cain's remonstrance completes the tragic picture. We see in it despair without penitence. He has no word of confession. If he had accepted his chastisement, and learned by it his sin, all the bitterness would have passed away. But he only writhes in agony, and adds, to the sentence pronounced, terrors of his own devising. God had not forbidden him to come into His presence. But he feels that he dare not venture thither. And he was right; for, whether we suppose that some sensible manifestation of the divine presence is meant by 'Thy face' or no, a man who had unrepented sin on his conscience, and murmurings in his heart, could not hold intercourse with God; nor would he wish to do so. Thus we learn again the lesson that sin separates from our Father, and that chastisements, not accepted as signs of His love, build up a black wall between God and us.

Nor had Cain been told that his life was in danger. But his conscience made a coward of him, as of us all, and told him what he deserved. There were, no doubt, many other children of Adam, who would be ready to avenge Abel's death. The wild justice of revenge is deep in the heart of men; and the natural impulse would be to hunt down the murderer like a wolf. It is a dreadful picture of the defiant and despairing sinner, tortured by well-founded fears, shut out from the presence of God, but not able to shut out thoughts of Him, and seeing an avenger in every man.

We need not ask how God set a mark on Cain. Enough that His doing so was a merciful alleviation of his lot, and teaches us how God's long-suffering spares life, and tempers judgment, that there may still be space for repentance. If even Cain has gracious protection and mercy blended with his chastisement, who can be beyond the pale of God's compassion, and with whom will not His loving providence and patient pity labour? No man is so scorched by the fire of retribution, but many a dewy drop from God's tenderness falls on him. No doubt, the story of the preservation of Cain was meant to restrain the blood-feuds so common and ruinous in early times; and we need the lesson yet, to keep us from vengeance under the mask of justice. But the deepest lesson and truest pathos of it lies in the picture of the watchful kindness of God lingering round the wretched man, like gracious sunshine playing on some scarred and black rock, to win him back by goodness to penitence, and through penitence to peace.

Genesis 3:24
EDEN LOST AND RESTORED
By Alexander Maclaren

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning.' Eden was fair, but the heavenly city shall be fairer. The Paradise regained is an advance on the Paradise that was lost. These are the two ends of the history of man, separated by who knows how many millenniums. Heaven lay about him in his infancy, but as he journeyed westwards its morning blush faded into the light of common day-and only at eventide shall the sky glow again with glory and colour, and the western heaven at last outshine the eastern, with a light that shall never die. A fall, and a rise-a rise that reverses the fall, a rise that transcends the glory from which he fell,-that is the Bible's notion of the history of the world, and I, for my part, believe it to be true, and feel it to be the one satisfactory explanation of what I see round about me and am conscious of within me.

1. Man had an Eden and lost it.

I take the Fall to be a historical fact. To all who accept the authority of Scripture, no words are needed beyond the simple statement before us, but we may just gather up the signs that there are on the wide field of the world's history, and in the narrower experience of individuals, that such a fall has been.

Look at the condition of the world: its degradation, its savagery-all its pining myriads, all its untold millions who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. Will any man try to bring before him the actual state of the heathen world, and, retaining his belief in a God, profess that these men are what God meant men to be? It seems to me that the present condition of the world is not congruous with the idea that men are in their primitive state, and if this is what God meant men for, then I see not how the dark clouds which rest on His wisdom and His love are to be lifted off.

Then, again-if the world has not a Fall in its history, then we must take the lowest condition as the one from which all have come; and is that idea capable of defence? Do we see anywhere signs of an upward process going on now? Have we any experience of a tribe raising itself? Can you catch anywhere a race in the act of struggling up, outside of the pale of Christianity? Is not the history of all a history of decadence, except only where the Gospel has come in to reverse the process?

But passing from this: What mean the experiences of the individual-these longings; this hard toil; these sorrows?

How comes it that man alone on earth, manifestly meant to be leader, lord, etc., seems but cursed with a higher nature that he may know greater sorrows, and raised above the beasts in capacity that he may sink below them in woe, this capacity only leading to a more exquisite susceptibility, to a more various as well as more poignant misery?

Whence come the contrarieties and discordance in his nature?

It seems to me that all this is best explained as the Bible explains it by saying: (1) Sin has done it; (2) Sin is not part of God's original design, but man has fallen; (3) Sin had a personal beginning. There have been men who were pure, able to stand but free to fall.

It seems to me that that explanation is more in harmony with the facts of the case, finds more response in the unsophisticated instinct of man, than any other. It seems to me that, though it leaves many dark and sorrowful mysteries all unsolved, yet that it alleviates the blackest of them, and flings some rays of hope on them all. It seems to me that it relieves the character and administration of God from the darkest dishonour; that it delivers man's position and destiny from the most hopeless despair; that though it leaves the mystery of the origin of evil, it brings out into clearest relief the central truths that evil is evil, and sin and sorrow are not God's will; that it vindicates as something better than fond imaginings the vague aspirations of the soul for a fair and holy state; that it establishes, as nothing else will, at once the love of God and the dignity of man; that it leaves open the possibility of the final overthrow of that Sin which it treats as an intrusion and stigmatises as a fall; that it therefore braces for more vigorous, hopeful conflict against it, and that while but for it the answer to the despairing question, Hast Thou made all men in vain? must be either the wailing echo 'In vain,' or the denial that He has made them at all, there is hope and there is power, and there is brightness thrown on the character of God and on the fate of man, by the old belief that God made man upright, and that man made himself a sinner.

2. Heaven restores the lost Eden.

'God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared them a city.'

The highest conception we can form of heaven is the reversal of all the evil of earth, and the completion of its incomplete good: the sinless purity-the blessed presence of God-the fulfilment of all desires-the service which is blessed, not toil-the changelessness which is progress, not stagnation.

3. Heaven surpasses the lost Eden.

(1) Garden-City.

The perfection of association-the nations of the saved. Here 'we mortal millions live alone,' even when united with dearest. Like Egyptian monks of old, each dwelling in his own cave, though all were a community.

(2) The richer experience.

The memory of past sorrows which are understood at last.

Heaven's bliss in contrast with earthly joys.

Sinlessness of those who have been sinners will be more intensely lustrous for its dark background in the past. Redeemed men will be brighter than angels.

The impossibility of a fall.

Death behind us.

The former things shall no more come to mind, being lost in blaze of present transcendent experience, but yet shall be remembered as having led to that perfect state.

Christ not only repairs the 'tabernacle which was fallen,' but builds a fairer temple. He brings 'a statelier Eden,' and makes us dwell for ever in a Garden City.

Genesis 3:1-15
HOW SIN CAME IN
by Alexander Maclaren

It is no part of my purpose to enter on the critical questions connected with the story of 'the fall.' Whether it is a legend, purified and elevated, or not, is of less consequence than what is its moral and religious significance, and that significance is unaffected by the answer to the former question. The story presupposes that primitive man was in a state of ignorant innocence, not of intellectual or moral perfection, and it tells how that ignorant innocence came to pass into conscious sin. What are the stages of the transition?

1. There is the presentation of inducement to evil. The law to which Adam is to be obedient is in the simplest form. There is restriction. 'Thou shalt not' is the first form of law, and it is a form congruous with the undeveloped, though as yet innocent, nature ascribed to him. The conception of duty is present, though in a very rudimentary shape. An innocent being may be aware of limitations, though as yet not 'knowing good and evil.' With deep truth the story represents the first suggestion of disobedience as presented from without. No doubt, it might have by degrees arisen from within, but the thought that it was imported from another sphere of being suggests that it is alien to true manhood, and that, if brought in from without, it may be cast out again. And the temptation had a personal source. There are beings who desire to draw men away from God. The serpent, by its poison and its loathly form, is the natural symbol of such an enemy of man. The insinuating slyness of the suggestions of evil is like the sinuous gliding of the snake, and truly represents the process by which temptation found its way into the hearts of the first pair, and of all their descendants. For it begins with casting a doubt on the reality of the prohibition. 'Hath God said?' is the first parallel opened by the besieger. The fascinations of the forbidden fruit are not dangled at first before Eve, but an apparently innocent doubt is filtered into her ear. And is not that the way in which we are still snared? The reality of moral distinctions, the essential wrongness of the sin, is obscured by a mist of sophistication. 'There is no harm in it' steals into some young man's or woman's mind about things that were forbidden at home, and they are half conquered before they know that they have been attacked. Then comes the next besieger's trench, much nearer the wall-namely, denial of the fatal consequences of the sin: 'Ye shall not surely die,' and a base hint that the prohibition was meant, not as a parapet to keep from falling headlong into the abyss, but as a barrier to keep from rising to a great good; 'for God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods.' These are still the two lies which wile us to sin: 'It will do you no harm,' and 'You are cheating yourselves out of good by not doing it.'

2. Then comes the yielding to the tempter. As long as the prohibition was undoubted, and the fatal results certain, the fascinations of the forbidden thing were not felt. But as soon as these were tampered with, Eve saw 'that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes.' So it is still. Weaken the awe-inspiring sense of God's command, and of the ruin that follows the breach of it, and the heart of man is like a city without walls, into which any enemy can march unhindered. So long as God's 'Thou shalt not, lest thou die' rings in the ears, the eyes see little beauty in the sirens that sing and beckon. But once that awful voice is deadened, they charm, and allure to dally with them.

In the undeveloped condition of primitive man temptation could only assail him through the senses and appetites, and its assault would be the more irresistible because reflection and experience were not yet his. But the act of yielding was, as sin ever is, a deliberate choice to please self and disobey God. The woman's more emotional, sensitive, compliant nature made her the first victim, and her greatest glory, her craving to share her good with him whom she loves, and her power to sway his will and acts, made her his temptress. 'As the husband is, the wife is,' says Tennyson; but the converse is even truer: As the wife is, the man is.

3. The fatal consequences came with a rush. There is a gulf between being tempted and sinning, but the results of the sin are closely knit to it. They come automatically, as surely as a stream from a fountain. The promise of knowing good and evil was indeed kept, but instead of its making the sinners 'like gods,' it showed them that they were like beasts, and brought the first sense of shame. To know evil was, no doubt, a forward step intellectually; but to know it by experience, and as part of themselves, necessarily changed their ignorant innocence into bitter knowledge, and conscience awoke to rebuke them. The first thing that their opened eyes saw was themselves, and the immediate result of the sight was the first blush of shame. Before, they had walked in innocent unconsciousness, like angels or infants; now they had knowledge of good and evil, because their sin had made evil a part of themselves, and the knowledge was bitter.

The second consequence of the fall is the disturbed relation with God, which is presented in the highly symbolical form fitting for early ages, and as true and impressive for the twentieth century as for them. Sin broke familiar communion with God, turned Him into a 'fear and a dread,' and sent the guilty pair into ambush. Is not that deeply and perpetually true? The sun seen through mists becomes a lurid ball of scowling fire. The impulse is to hide from God, or to get rid of thoughts of Him. And when He is felt to be near, it is as a questioner, bringing sin to mind. The shuffling excuses, which venture even to throw the blame of sin on God ('the woman whom Thou gavest me'), or which try to palliate it as a mistake ('the serpent beguiled me'), have to come at last, however reluctantly, to confess that 'I' did the sin. Each has to say, 'I did eat.' So shall we all have to do. We may throw the blame on circumstances, weakness of judgment, and the like, while here, but at God's bar we shall have to say, 'Mea culpa, mea culpa.'

The curse pronounced on the serpent takes its habit and form as an emblem of the degradation of the personal tempter, and of the perennial antagonism between him and mankind, while even at that first hour of sin and retribution a gleam of hope, like the stray beam that steals through a gap in a thundercloud, promises that the conquered shall one day be the conqueror, and that the woman's seed, though wounded in the struggle, shall one day crush the poison-bearing, flat head in the dust, and end forever his power to harm. 'Known unto God are all his works from the beginning,' and the Christ was promised ere the gates of Eden were shut on the exiles.

Genesis 1:26—2:3
THE VISION OF CREATION
We are not to look to Genesis for a scientific cosmogony, and are not to be disturbed by physicists' criticisms on it as such. Its purpose is quite another, and far more important; namely, to imprint deep and ineffaceable the conviction that the one God created all things. Nor must it be forgotten that this vision of creation was given to people ignorant of natural science, and prone to fall back into surrounding idolatry. The comparison of the creation narratives in Genesis with the cuneiform tablets, with which they evidently are most closely connected, has for its most important result the demonstration of the infinite elevation above their monstrosities and puerilities, of this solemn, steadfast attribution of the creative act to the one God. Here we can only draw out in brief the main points which the narrative brings into prominence.

1. The revelation which it gives is the truth, obscured to all other men when it was given, that one God 'in the beginning created the heaven and the earth.' That solemn utterance is the keynote of the whole. The rest but expands it. It was a challenge and a denial for all the beliefs of the nations, the truth of which Israel was the champion and missionary. It swept the heavens and earth clear of the crowd of gods, and showed the One enthroned above, and operative in, all things. We can scarcely estimate the grandeur, the emancipating power, the all-uniting force, of that utterance. It is a worn commonplace to us. It was a strange, thrilling novelty when it was written at the head of this narrative. Then it was in sharp opposition to beliefs that have long been dead to us; but it is still a protest against some living errors. Physical science has not spoken the final word when it has shown us how things came to be as they are. There remains the deeper question, What, or who, originated and guided the processes? And the only answer is the ancient declaration, 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.'

2. The record is as emphatic and as unique in its teaching as to the mode of creation: 'God said . . . and it was so.' That lifts us above all the poor childish myths of the nations, some of them disgusting, many of them absurd, all of them unworthy. There was no other agency than the putting forth of the divine will. The speech of God is but a symbol of the flashing forth of His will. To us Christians the antique phrase suggests a fulness of meaning not inherent in it, for we have learned to believe that 'all things were made by Him' whose name is 'The Word of God'; but, apart from that, the representation here is sublime. 'He spake, and it was done'; that is the sign-manual of Deity.

3. The completeness of creation is emphasised. We note, not only the recurrent 'and it was so,' which declares the perfect correspondence of the result with the divine intention, but also the recurring 'God saw that it was good.' His ideals are always realised. The divine artist never finds that the embodiment of His thought falls short of His thought.

'What act is all its thought had been?

What will but felt the fleshly screen?

But He has no hindrances nor incompletenesses in His creative work, and the very sabbath rest with which the narrative closes symbolises, not His need of repose, but His perfect accomplishment of His purpose. God ceases from His works because 'the works were finished,' and He saw that all was very good.

4. The progressiveness of the creative process is brought into strong relief. The work of the first four days is the preparation of the dwelling-place for the living creatures who are afterwards created to inhabit it. How far the details of these days' work coincide with the order as science has made it out, we are not careful to ask here. The primeval chaos, the separation of the waters above from the waters beneath, the emergence of the land, the beginning of vegetation there, the shining out of the sun as the dense mists cleared, all find confirmation even in modern theories of evolution. But the intention of the whole is much rather to teach that, though the simple utterance of the divine will was the agent of creation, the manner of it was not a sudden calling of the world, as men know it, into being, but majestic, slow advance by stages, each of which rested on the preceding. To apply the old distinction between justification and sanctification, creation was a work, not an act. The Divine Workman, who is always patient, worked slowly then as He does now. Not at a leap, but by deliberate steps, the divine ideal attains realisation.

5. The creation of living creatures on the fourth and fifth days is so arranged as to lead up to the creation of man as the climax. On the fifth day sea and air are peopled, and their denizens 'blessed,' for the equal divine love holds every living thing to its heart. On the sixth day the earth is replenished with living creatures. Then, last of all, comes man, the apex of creation. Obviously the purpose of the whole is to concentrate the light on man; and it is a matter of no importance whether the narrative is correct according to zoology, or not. What it says is that God made all the universe, that He prepared the earth for the delight of living creatures, that the happy birds that soar and sing, and the dumb creatures that move through the paths of the seas, and the beasts of the earth, are all His creating, and that man is linked to them, being made on the same day as the latter, and by the same word, but that between man and them all there is a gulf, since he is made in the divine image. That image implies personality, the consciousness of self, the power to say 'I,' as well as purity. The transition from the work of the first four days to that of creating living things must have had a break. No theory has been able to bridge the chasm without admitting a divine act introducing the new element of life, and none has been able to bridge the gulf between the animal and human consciousness without admitting a divine act introducing 'the image of God' into the nature common to animal and man. Three facts as to humanity are thrown up into prominence: its possession of the image of God, the equality and eternal interdependence of the sexes, and the lordship over all creatures. Mark especially the remarkable wording of Gen 1:27: 'created He him male and female created He them.' So 'neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman.' Each is maimed apart from the other. Both stand side by side, on one level before God. The germ of the most 'advanced' doctrines of the relations of the sexes is hidden here.

Labor Law Review Bar Questions. Download link below

Gospel of Matthew Chapter 1, audio, KJV

Clouds in the sky

Hebrews 9:27-28
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

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Setting Our Minds On Things Above
A. W . Tozer

The notion that Christians should always be optimistic and congenial is heresy pure and simple. An ill-founded optimism may, under certain conditions, be extremely harmful. A Christian is not obliged to be either pessimistic or optimistic or glad or sad or positive or negative after a preconceived rule of philosophy. He should (and will if he is Spirit-taught) reflect the will of God in any given situation. His one concern is with God's will. His one question in any set of circumstances is "What does God think of this?" To him nothing else matters. What the current popular attitude may be is of no importance to him. He will approve or disapprove altogether as the written Word and the indwelling Spirit indicate. Religious vogues, passing moods or popular notions will affect him not at all. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. This rather rigid attitude will, in a world like ours, quite naturally work against the one who holds it and earn him a reputation as a pessimist. People like the man who agrees with them, even if a day later they change their minds and require him to change his, too. This inconsistency they laugh off as an amiable weakness, and why be so pious about it anyway? Well, the sons and daughters of eternity care very little about this maypole dance of popular favor. Like the water bird on the shore of the lake at the approach of winter, they feel within them a strong instinct to migrate. They expect before long to take off on a journey and they're not coming back soon. So whether they leave behind them a reputation for pessimism or optimism is of little consequence to them. They are, however, eager to be remembered as children of God and followers of the Lamb. That's all that matters to them.

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Tom Anderson (MySpace Tom) is retired and primarily lives part-time on Oahu, Hawaii, where he has described feeling deeply connected to the island.

He has repeatedly posted on Instagram (@myspacetom) and Facebook about enjoying his home there, including recent GoPro videos and reflections on Oahu's Pali lookout, the calm island culture, and why it feels like home (comparing it to places like Bhutan). He mentioned living on Oahu part-time since retiring around 2010. His X (Twitter) location is also set to Oahu.

He splits time between Hawaii and occasional mainland visits (e.g., he was spotted in early 2025 at Costa Mesa Country Club in Southern California, golfing and looking relaxed with his dog). He also travels extensively for photography, capturing landscapes from places like Thailand, Myanmar, Bali, and others.

### Current Lifestyle
- **Retired since ~2009** (after stepping away from MySpace post-2005 sale).
- Focuses on hobbies: landscape and ocean photography (sparked by Burning Man in 2011), surfing, golf (handicap around 16; he's an ambassador for Student Golf), architecture/interior design, writing, creativity, and even studying "life extension" and the "Don't Die" movement.
- He shares travel photos, drone videos, and personal reflections on Instagram (over 600k followers), where his bio reads something like "Former 1st friend! ... Music, architecture, golf, surf, interior design, writing, creativity. Life Extension-Don't die!"
- Some reports note minor tech/investment interests (e.g., venture capital, mentions of AI/SpaceX/CRISPR in bios or deleted Threads posts), but he largely stays out of the spotlight and isn't running major new ventures.

His estimated net worth is around $60 million, largely from the MySpace sale and real estate (he once designed and flipped dream homes). He keeps a low profile overall—posts can be infrequent—but remains active enough on social media to share his adventures.

In short, at 55 (born 1970), he's living a chill, creative retired life centered on Hawaii, travel, waves, golf courses, and photography—pretty much the dream "early retirement" many imagined for early tech millionaires. You can check his latest on Instagram for the most direct updates.

Capsule Hotel Accommodation Costs in Kuala Lumpur (2026)

Based on current search results, here's what you can expect to pay for capsule/pod hotel accommodation in Kuala Lumpur:

💰 Price Range Overview

| Category | Price Range (USD) | Price Range (MYR)* |
|----------|------------------|-------------------|
| **Budget capsule hotels** | $4 - $15 | ~RM18 - RM67 |
| **Mid-range capsule hotels** | $16 - $35 | ~RM71 - RM156 |
| **Premium/airport capsule hotels** | $36 - $65+ | ~RM160 - RM290+ |

\*Exchange rate approx. 1 USD = 4.5 MYR

## 🏨 Popular Capsule Hotels & Current Rates

| Hotel | Location | Starting Price/Night | Rating |
|-------|----------|---------------------|--------|
| **Bestow Capsule Hostel** | Bukit Bintang | From **$4-11** [[6]][[2]] | 7.4-7.5/10 |
| **Space Hotel KL Sentral** | Brickfields/KL Sentral | From **$11-49** [[2]][[3]] | 8.6-8.7/10 |
| **Riccarton Capsule Hotel** | Titiwangsa | From **$11** [[3]][[8]] | 8.2/10 |
| **Budget Hotel Al Amin** | Bukit Bintang | From **$13** [[3]] | 8/10 |
| **TBS Rest & Go Transit Motel** | Near TBS Terminal | From **$16-21** [[2]][[3]] | 5.6-5.8/10 |
| **B Sarang Suite Hotel** | Chow Kit | From **$62-63** [[2]] | 8.6/10 |

## 📍 Key Pricing Factors

1. **Location**: Properties near KL Sentral, Bukit Bintang, or KLCC typically cost more [[2]][[8]]
2. **Airport proximity**: Capsule hotels at KLIA/KLIA2 (like Capsule Transit) often charge premium rates ($35-65+) for transit convenience [[9]][[10]]
3. **Amenities**: Air conditioning, private lockers, and en-suite facilities increase pricing
4. **Seasonality**: Prices may rise during peak travel months (December holidays, Chinese New Year) [[20]]
5. **Booking platform**: Rates vary between Booking.com, Expedia, Orbitz, and direct hotel sites [[2]][[3]][[11]]

## 💡 Money-Saving Tips

✅ Book budget options like **Bestow Capsule Hostel** ($4-11/night) for the lowest rates [[6]] 
✅ Compare prices across platforms—Orbitz shows deals as low as **$26** for select options [[3]] 
✅ Consider weekday stays; Monday nights often have lower average rates [[20]] 
✅ Look for properties slightly outside the city center for better value 
✅ Book in advance during peak seasons for better availability and pricing

## ⚠️ What to Expect at This Price Point

- Shared bathrooms and communal facilities (standard for capsule hotels)
- Basic amenities: bed, reading light, power outlet, Wi-Fi
- Gender-segregated sleeping areas in many properties
- Luggage storage lockers (sometimes extra fee)
- 24-hour reception at most locations [[3]]

> **Note**: Prices shown are starting rates for 1-2 adults and can fluctuate based on demand, season, and booking date. Always verify current pricing and availability directly with the property or your preferred booking platform before traveling.

For the most up-to-date deals, check [Booking.com](https://www.booking.com/capsule-hotel/city/my/kuala-lumpur.html) [[2]] or [TripAdvisor](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g298570-c3-zff31-Kuala_Lumpur_Wilayah_Persekutuan-Hotels.html) [[8]].

Filipino Breads (Panaderia)

Classic Yeasted Breads

Name   Description   
Pandesal   The quintessential Filipino breakfast bread – light, fluffy rolls covered in breadcrumbs   
Spanish Bread   Sweet roll with sugar, breadcrumbs, and butter filling   
Ensaymada   Soft, fluffy rolls topped with butter, sugar, and grated cheese   
Ube Cheese Bread   Purple yam bread filled with creamy cheese   
Ube Cheese Pandesal   Modern variation of pandesal with ube and cheese filling   
Pan de Coco   Soft buns with sweet coconut sugar filling   
Monay   Dense bread roll with characteristic slit in the middle   
Putok / Star Bread   Denser roll with star-shaped pattern, topped with powdered sugar   
Pan de Regla / Kalihim / Pan Burikat   Bread with bright red filling made from bread scraps; various regional names   
Cheese Bread   Rolls topped with crunchy cheesy crust   
Asado Roll / Baked Siopao   Soft bun filled with sweet pork asado   
Bonete / Pambonete   Denser roll popular in Batangas and Quezon, shaped like a bonnet   
Pinagong   Bread shaped like a turtle shell   
Pan de Siosa   Filipino version of siopao, baked instead of steamed   
Monggo Bread   Bread filled with sweet mung bean paste   
Shakoy   Regional name for bicho-bicho in some parts of the Philippines   

Cakes & Rolls

Name   Description   
Mamon   Sweet, single-serve sponge cake with signature crinkly top   
Pianono   Rolled sponge cake with sweet filling   
Ube Ensaymada   Ensaymada filled with ube jam/halaya   
Ube Bread Rolls   Soft fluffy buns filled with ube and served with toasted coconut   
Kababayan   Sweet, crumby muffin shaped like a farmer's hat (salakot)   
Bicho-Bicho   Filipino-style twisted donuts covered in sugar   
Taisan   Filipino vanilla chiffon cake topped with butter and shredded cheese   

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Rice Cakes (Kakanin)

Name   Description   
Bibingka   Baked rice cake cooked in clay pots with banana leaves, topped with salted egg and cheese   
Puto   Steamed fluffy rice cakes, often topped with cheese or salted egg   
Kutsinta   Steamed rice cake with jelly-like, chewy texture; reddish-brown color   
Biko   Sticky rice cake cooked with coconut milk and brown sugar, topped with latik   
Puto Bumbong   Purple steamed rice cake cooked in bamboo tubes; Christmas specialty   
Sapin-Sapin   Layered steamed rice cake (white coconut, yellow jackfruit, purple ube layers)   
Pichi-Pichi   Steamed cassava cake rolled in grated coconut or topped with cheese   
Palitaw   Boiled rice cake rolled in coconut and topped with sugar and toasted sesame seeds   
Kalamay / Kalamay Lansong   Thick sticky rice cake topped with latik   
Suman Malagkit   Glutinous rice rolls wrapped in banana leaves   
Espasol   Glutinous rice flour rolls with smooth, jelly-like consistency   
Ampaw   Filipino rice crispy treats – puffed sweet rice balls   

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Cakes & Pastries

Name   Description   
Sans Rival   Layered meringue cake with buttercream and cashews   
Silvanas   Meringue sandwich cookies with buttercream, coated in cookie crumbs and cashews   
Cassava Cake   Thick, chewy cake made from grated cassava, coconut milk, and macapuno   
Leche Flan   Filipino-style crème caramel made with egg yolks and condensed milk   
Egg Pie   Silky egg custard in crumbly crust   
Buko Pie   Flaky pastry filled with young coconut and sweet custard   
Mango Float   No-bake dessert with layers of graham crackers, whipped cream, and fresh mango   
Guava Strawberry Bibingka   Modern fusion version of bibingka   
Strawberry Cream Mamon Cake   Layered mamon cake with strawberry cream   
Pandan Cake   Light chiffon cake flavored with pandan   
Calamansi Madeleines   French-style madeleines with Filipino calamansi flavor   
Bibingka Apple Pudding   Fusion dessert combining bibingka with apple pudding   

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Cookies, Candies & Confections

Name   Description   
Polvoron   Buttery, crumbly shortbread-like cookies   
Yema   Soft chewy milk candies made with condensed milk and egg yolks   
Pastillas de Leche   Soft creamy milk candies from Bulacan   
Lengua de Gato   Thin, oblong butter cookies ("cat's tongue")   
Filipino Coconut Macaroons   Soft, buttery coconut treats (different from French macarons)   
Panutsa   Peanut brittle made with brown sugar and sesame seeds   
Roscas   Filipino-style ring-shaped pastries   
Pinaypay   Fan-shaped pastries   

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Puddings & Cold Desserts

Name   Description   
Maja Blanca   Sweet coconut pudding with corn kernels and cheese   
Buko Pandan   Creamy dessert with young coconut, pandan jelly, and cream   
Halo-Halo   Shaved ice dessert with various toppings – the unofficial national dessert   
Taho   Soft tofu with sweet syrup and tapioca pearls   
Ginataang Bilo-Bilo   Rice balls, tapioca pearls, and fruits in sweetened coconut milk   
Ginataang Mais   Sweet corn pudding with glutinous rice   
Tsokolate   Thick, frothy Filipino hot chocolate made from tablea   

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Regional Specialties

Name   Description   
Pastel de Camiguín   Soft bun with various fillings from Camiguín island   

This comprehensive list covers the vast majority of cakes, breads, and pastries you'll find in Filipino bakeries (panaderias) and during celebrations across the Philippines!

Based on the search results, here's a comprehensive guide to the popular cakes and bread types in the Philippines:

Filipino Breads (Panaderia Staples)

The Philippines has a vibrant bakery culture with breads found on almost every street corner .

Everyday Breads

Bread   Description   
Pan de Sal   The quintessential Filipino bread – light, fluffy rolls covered in breadcrumbs, slightly sweet, and served for breakfast. It's the most common bread in the Philippines   
Spanish Bread   Sweet bread rolls filled with sugar, breadcrumbs, and butter/margarine; perfect with coffee   
Ensaymada   Soft, fluffy rolls topped with butter/margarine, sugar, and lots of grated cheese – a sweet and salty indulgence   
Pan de Coco   Soft buns with sweet coconut sugar filling, a popular afternoon snack   
Monay   Dense bread roll with a characteristic slit dividing it into two puffy tops; more filling than other rolls   
Cheese Bread   Sweet-savory rolls topped with a cheesy, crunchy crust   

Specialty & Regional Breads

Bread   Description   
Putok (Star Bread)   Denser roll with a star-shaped pattern on top, covered in powdered sugar   
Pan de Regla / Kalihim   Rolls with bright red filling made from bread scraps, egg, sugar, and milk; known by various colorful names across regions   
Ube Cheese Bread   Vibrant purple bread made with purple yam (ube) and filled with creamy cheese – a modern fusion favorite   
Pianono   Rolled sponge cake with sweet filling (butter, sugar, or jam)   
Kababayan   Sweet, crumbly muffin shaped like a farmer's hat (salakot), often enjoyed with coffee   
Bicho-Bicho   Filipino-style twisted donuts covered in sugar, sometimes made with glutinous rice flour for extra chewiness   
Asado Roll   Soft bun filled with sweet pork asado (Chinese-style sweet pork)   

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Filipino Cakes & Pastries

Traditional Rice Cakes (Kakanin)

These are a unique Filipino category of desserts made from rice or root vegetables :

Dessert   Description   
Bibingka   Baked rice cake cooked in clay pots lined with banana leaves; traditionally eaten during Christmas season after dawn mass   
Puto   Steamed, fluffy rice cakes often topped with cheese or salted egg; a staple at Filipino parties   
Kutsinta   Steamed rice cake with jelly-like, chewy texture; topped with grated coconut   
Biko   Sticky rice cake cooked with coconut milk and brown sugar, topped with latik (coconut curds)   
Puto Bumbong   Purple steamed rice cake made from glutinous rice, cooked in bamboo tubes; seasonal Christmas treat   
Sapin-Sapin   Layered steamed rice cake with three flavors/colors (ube, jackfruit, coconut), topped with crispy coconut curds   

Cakes & Western-Style Pastries

Cake/Pastry   Description   
Sans Rival   Layered meringue cake with buttercream and cashews – one of the most beloved Filipino cakes   
Mamon   Sweet, single-serve sponge cake, often packed as a snack for kids or served at meetings   
Leche Flan   Filipino-style crème caramel made with egg yolks and condensed milk; richer than Spanish/French versions   
Egg Pie   Filipino bakery staple with silky egg custard and crumbly crust   
Buko Pie   Flaky pastry filled with young coconut and sweet custard; a popular pasalubong (gift) from Laguna   
Taisan   Filipino vanilla chiffon cake, brushed with butter and sprinkled with sugar and cheese   

Modern & Fusion Cakes

Popular bakery chains like Red Ribbon offer contemporary flavors :
- Black Forest Cake
- Chocolate Strawberry Romance Cake
- Tiramisu Meltdown Cake
- Mango Torte
- Ube-themed cakes and desserts (the purple yam has become a global Filipino food trend)

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Key Ingredients

Filipino cakes and breads commonly feature:
- Ube (purple yam) – gives distinctive purple color and subtle sweetness
- Coconut – in various forms (milk, flakes, sugar)
- Condensed milk – adds richness and sweetness
- Cheese – often paired with sweet elements (a uniquely Filipino sweet-salty combination)
- Rice flour/glutinous rice – the base for traditional kakanin
- Pandan – aromatic leaf used for flavoring and green coloring

Gula aren tulen in English means "pure aren palm sugar." It refers specifically to sugar made 100% from the sap of the aren palm, with no additives, no mixing, and no refinement beyond traditional processing.

🌴 What Each Word Means
- Gula aren → Aren palm sugar (Indonesian palm sugar made from the aren/palmyra palm, known for its smoky, earthy flavor).   
- Tulen → Pure, authentic, unmixed, or unadulterated. It indicates that the product is made from one single ingredient only.

So gula aren tulen = pure aren palm sugar.

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🧂 Why "tulen" matters
Producers often mix palm sugar with:
- cane sugar 
- coconut sugar 
- artificial caramel coloring 

Labeling it tulen assures buyers that it's 100% real aren sap, which:
- preserves the natural smoky flavor 
- retains minerals like calcium and magnesium 
- avoids the overly sweet, refined taste of mixed sugars