Sunday - Spirit pressure in the Church was very heavy today. Not that kind of scary spirit, it's the Holy Spirit. When it descents, it touches the heart. And because I felt that, I was turning my head around to see if there's any difference in the Church. Some people still look the same, but then I saw the lady beside me and the couple in front was wiping their tears secretly, but I noticed. It happened during praise and worship time, it was very powerful, more heavy than other days. Today was special.
Well, it's hard to explain these paranormal stuffs because I have no idea of explaining it >.< I find it stupid last time when other church mates tell me this, that was a long time ago since I was young and loved science. I seriously don't believe paranormal stuffs and I started to question the existence of God, the Bible, and technically everything. Well this day, I discovered that we can sense them, yet unable to explain it unless I can do a full scale research on it :X My hypothesis is, perhaps there is some receptor in our soul which allows us to sense it, and it depends on our body condition to activate it. For example, when you are tired or certain things you eat triggers that receptor. Anyways, today I realised, how lucky we can feel close to God, compared to the people before the coming of Jesus. Yes there is a significance, that's why the church celebrates the Pentecost. Because God provided the Lamb for sacrifice (I find it very cruel sometimes), to allow the bridge of this gap. And it was recorded in history, one supper when Jesus broke the bread and said 'This is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me'. In the same way after supper, he took the cup (with wine) saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, this this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
Try to imagine that time, people cannot have a direct connection with God, and God have to go through prophets to speak to his people. And people have to sacrifice animals for their sins. And then fake prophets appear everywhere because prophets were used to be rewarded by kings and are think highly by people. Slowly real prophets sent by God was disliked some killed because they prophesied punishments due to the sinful acts of the strayed people. God's people were so lost, God was disheartened with the nation. Best way is to have 'direct contact' with us, so he sent his son to initiate that link - The prophesied Messiah in the scriptures that will set up a 'kingdom that shall stand forever'. The reason why Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus to the chief priests because he misunderstood the mission of the Messiah. Judas thought Jesus was a false Messiah, because he misinterpreted the meaning of the prophesied scripture. He thought Jesus, who had demonstrated miracle healings and casting out demons, is supposed to be the king to lead the victory over the Romans in war. But when Jesus told his disciples that he would die by crucifixion, Judas got angry because Jesus did not live up to his (Judas') expectations. He wanted Jesus to pay for deceiving him. And at Judas' acts, he saw the prophecy unveil in front on his very own eyes, and he realised he had sin by betraying innocent blood. Jesus is indeed the Messiah! Notice how Judas played an important role in fulfilling the prophecy but he couldn't live with the the guilt and hanged himself.
To keep things short, after Jesus' death, He rose from the dead on the 3rd day and His body returned to heaven. And he appeared again to two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Then Jesus appeared to the Eleven disciples, in a locked area, rebuking them for their lack of faith for they did not believed the earlier sightings. But boy were they startled and thought he was a ghost! Jesus said 'Peace be with you' and asked them to touch him, the disciples were overjoyed and Jesus also ate broiled fish in front of them. Then He opened their minds so that they can understand the scriptures and asked them to stay in the city until they have been clothed with power from high (Holy Spirit). Now one of the disciple, Thomas was not with them, he didn't believe the others when they told him and he said "unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe". Then Jesus came and appeared among the disciples again a week later, maybe just to give Thomas a shock, and he specifically told Thomas touch his hands and side. And Jesus said 'because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.' Then Jesus appeared again by the Sea of Tiberias to have breakfast with them. Jesus did many things with them and they were recorded in many scriptures (some were not included in the Bible).
The disciples stayed in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit finally came down as promised. They were filled with the Spirit and began speaking in tongues. Other people who witnessed it were amazed and perplexed. Many people were baptised that day. Only after the Spirit has descended on the people that the disciples were able to performed miracle healings and drive out demons. 'The Kingdom that shall stand forever' means God's kingdom that stands forever because we have direct contact now, and the Spirit will guide us back to God even if we stray.
Read Mark, Luke, John, & Acts from the bible to find out more about it. Written by different people and they are prepared to die so that they can bring salvation to to mankind. For there is only 1 way to God. Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light. No one comes to the father except through me'. The Bible was written and compiled so that you would believe and be saved. The Holy Spirit that is now easily available to guide us and which we are able to enjoy and command now was not available to people in the past before Jesus' sacrifice. To attain it, a person have to ask Jesus into his life and be baptised. Jesus is alive and he hears your words and thoughts, just like how he heard Thomas', so just call on him and he will come. And through Jesus's blood our sins are washed away so we can speak directly to God. I was raised up as a christian, but only when I truly accept Christ by myself and my own will that I can enjoy the connection with of God. And through God, the spirit gave me wisdom to learn more about God's Kingdom and God's way.
Life is short, even if you can't live until end of the world and the second coming of Christ, death would still come to you. Even believers will be deceived during the end times. But don't be afraid, stay near to God and the Spirit of Truth as Jesus said will be our Counsellor forever. Christianity is not a religion, it's about our connection to God. So stay strong...
P.S. Sometimes I try not to blog about God so much because it's a sensitive issue. But I promised God for this introduction of Jesus post since many people out there don't know about His Son's significance. And I pray, through this, at least you will be able to understand our faith. I wanted at least some of you to be given the opportunity to hear the 'Good News'. Perhaps it could get some of you out there to question and start thinking, who is Jesus and then to find God yourself and to grow in Love with Him.
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Sharing is caring :)
Cool! Ichigo brought me here.. blame him xD.. "try not to blog about God so much because it's a sensitive issue"? it's not ur fault that some people aren't open-minded.. this is ur blog, you decide what u gonna post. Who cares about what other people think of you, rite? i am impressed... :)
ReplyDeleteDid u know? Islamic version of jesus is NOT DEAD. (NOR he is son of God/God incarnate, but he IS a prophet(a mortal human) assigned by God to the children of Israel) Jesus was not crucified but instead, he was raised up by God unto the heaven.(A random guy then took his appearance and of course, his place for the crucifixion) Jesus will return to earth NEAR the Day of Judgement(i say Apocalypse) to restore justice and to defeat the Antichrist. and yes, i am not a Christian.. :) i believe in the existance of Adam, Noah, Job, Moses, David, King Solomon, Jonah, John, Jesus, and etc. as prophets assigned to specific human races (yep, except Adam, he is a special case xD) and the last prophet, Muhammad was assigned to all humankind. once again, i say blame (refer above) for this ranting... sorry for taking ur time ^^
Dear Sandwraith, thanks for coming into my little blog and thanks for the comment! Though I didn’t really want to debate about the history and recordings, I’m here to DEFEND my post (guess I ought to since I’m the owner, even though I’m a bit lazy, eheh ^^”). Oh boy, it’s gonna be a long rant from me this time! I apologize first, anything written here are according to my own views and things I've learned in my time with God, and I'm only a young little girl who have limited knowledge though I constantly pray to God for wisdom. I don't mean to offend any other religions out there.
ReplyDeleteWell I am still sceptical on how the history was recorded. But I’m no theologian so I can’t say much. Though I myself believe Jesus is dead by crucifixion (as mentioned by various people, in the gospel of Mark, Luke & Peter separately) and it was held in public so I believe that was indeed Jesus dying on the cross seen by many eye witnesses, what else drove Judas Iscariot to commit suicide?
Jesus was sent by God to die for us, that is his whole purpose for coming. Jesus is the Messiah, the Lamb. As he is Son of God, he is God in nature. (eg. The baby of a dog is a dog) He is God in HUMAN form, what else would God go all the way to send John the Baptist, and angels to tell Virgin Mary and Joseph about them going to have a special baby and with specific instructions to name him Jesus? Because he is God’s Son, he needs to be special and acknowledge! On the 3rd day, Jesus was raised from the dead by God, Jesus returned to heaven and then came back to earth for his disciples to prepare them, with numerous sightings coming and going, at certain departures he floats up to the sky (confusion with Islamic version?), but Jesus finally left again after leaving all his instructions. Because he is RISEN from the dead and IS alive now with that mortal body transformed to a new body, that’s why we believe in him and thus the hope for the eternal life promised, life in heaven after death. By Jesus’ sacrifice, his blood washes away our sins and it was a master plan by God. Jesus was sent for us, up until now, not only for children of Israel. It’s written in the scriptures a lot, especially in Matthew. One example from Jesus’ quote of Isaiah’s scripture 'My house will be called a house of prayer for ALL NATIONS' . And in Matthew 13:11-12, He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” which indicates the fruitfulness in a person in which the wisdom and spiritual insight regarding the gospel is planted, regardless who you are as long as you bear fruit. If you don’t, ‘what they have will be taken from them’ which means ‘even if you are the ‘chosen tribe’ at first, the Kingdom, responsibility and ‘ favoritism’ will be taken away from you . And “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him(Jesus). Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” (John 3:17-18).
That post was not enough to put all my thoughts into writing, here's the continuation...
ReplyDeleteThough I get what you mean since the children of Israel do get special attention being Abraham’s decedents, Jesus was sent to also show direction to the ‘lost sheep of Israel’. Question is, who are the lost sheep? Children of Israel (decedents of Abraham) that were scattered out among the nations and are lost. People (regardless of origins) who live in Israel are also called Israelites at some point. That’s another story. Anyways, Jesus found some of them and was busy preaching to them, a Canaanite woman crying to Jesus to save her demon-possessed daughter. The disciples urged Jesus to send her away. Jesus answered “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”. “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. (Matthew 15:21)– The Jews at that time see the Gentiles as dogs, Jesus said that to teach the people this truth, grace is given to those who believe. It was FAITH that grants God’s grace!
Well about Nabi Muhammad s.a.w., I read about him a lot during Islamic studies and I do try to understand him. It was projected to me, seems like he have many wives and he gathered many material wealth at that time (even though he gave some away to projects near the end). I think it’s ok to have a wife but he has too many wives (though some writings say he took widows in as a form of charity) for me to accept his full purpose as a prophet, he seemed more like a ‘David’ person to me, if u get what I mean, it’s hard for me to see Muhammad like Elijah, Moses or even like Jeremiah who keeps complaining. But that’s only my AMATEUR personal opinion, please don’t get offended or angry, I’m no expert. And I obviously did not read the whole Quran nor finish reading the whole bible (yes I am working my lazy butt on it! >.<). Don’t take my words too seriously, yikes don’t bombard me! Well I think at some point, God’s chosen one does fall out or commit sins, for example like Jonah at the end of his life or like King David himself. Maybe that’s why God wanted this direct connection with us, with Jesus’ sacrifice we were able to have this connection with God’s mercy and through the Holy Spirit. And God can keep calling us back to him even if we drift away from him. Solution to His ever straying creation is his Son Jesus, in order to allow his wrath to subside. There are a few sightings in THIS era, some even by locals in my country whom have never heard of Jesus, to have seen Jesus coming to them surrounded by light when they were in desperation regarding life, near death, or with death of their loved ones. When they ask him who He is, He didn’t say his name but said “I am the way, the truth, and the light”. They only found out it was Jesus when they confronted a priest or others who read the scripture, where this same sentence was recorded in the history mentioned by Jesus himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the light, no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). I know this sounds bizarre, but even if real miracles were performed in front of the eyes of our sceptical self today, we would say it’s just a magic trick.
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ReplyDeleteThe final coming of Christ would be like you said, during judgement day. Why would God give Jesus such privilege and power if Jesus is not His Son? Because God + Jesus + Holy Spirit is the Trinity. Jesus is our High Priest, whom was made to have himself offered as a one time sacrifice for the redemption of all who comes to God through him. The Holy Spirit now guides us to God. The problem with imprecise recordings of history, meanings lost in translation, numerous doctrines with contradictions from false doctrines, wrong interpretations or inference made from wrong teachers will always lead humanity into various unending debates about religions. Agree not?
We loose nothing on earth if we choose to not believe, except the relationship with the Trinity which grants eternal life and peace on earth, life still goes on (judgement day seems like a loooong way to some). But for those who NEED this relationship, the support from God, I just want to say He is there, ever waiting for someone to call upon him and acknowledge he is your creator. From there, your spiritual growth and insight will be guided by God Himself personally in ways you, His sheep would know it is from the Father. Who knows, Jesus Himself will appear to you to guide you to Father! Best to get personal contact yourself!
God’s message for me is to save His people and I have to obey it.
That's the gist of it. I really apologise for this tremendously long reply ^^"