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Humility

Humility is ranked #1 in the kingdom (Matt18:1-4) after which only are love, faith & hope. What’s more, when God sees a lack of holiness in us, it can be compensated with humility because God, who is love, “covers a multitude of sin.”

QUESTION: Would Christ love to see ourselves placed above the others?

Let’s get the fundamentals right!

1Cor 12:28 NIV: And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.

And

1Cor 11:3 NIV: Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

Mat 10:41 NIV: Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.

Rom 13:7 NIV: Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

C.S. Lewis on equality:

“There is no spiritual sustenance in flat equality. When equality is treated not as a medicine or a safety-gadget, but as an ideal, we begin to breed that stunted and envious sort of mind which hates all superiority. That mind is the special disease of democracy, as cruelty and servility are the special diseases of privileged societies. It will kill us all if it grows unchecked. The man who cannot conceive a joyful and loyal obedience on the one hand, nor an unembarrassed and noble acceptance of that obedience on the other – the man who has never even wanted to kneel or to bow – is a prosaic barbarian. Where men are forbidden to honor a king, they honor millionaires, athletes, or film-stars instead — even famous prostitutes or gangsters.”

Lucifer BTW was the first one to demand equal rights.  Equality, egalitarianism is luciferian.

Luke 14:11 NIV: For everyone who exalts himself [above his limits] will be humbled, and he who humbles himself [below his limits] will be exalted.”

Humility is knowing our station.

The exhortation to servant-hood is directed at god-servants, not at those being served for the purpose of usurping.

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Arminian Ethic & Wedleases

The Washington Post proposal on this subject has surely opened a can of worms.

As a teacher, who will be judged more severely, i take upon this subject with fear and trembling. The following analysis is just to begin the discussion and should not be construed as definitive.

A partner is either a blessing or a lesson in a person’s life that God has placed. A blessing is an encouragement to continue while a lesson is suggestive of a termination.

The crime of disrespect/lack of love may not be grounds for capital punishment as some expect to happen. God gives a second chance as He does with teeth.

Women lose their virginity after the wedding and will be the losing partners in the non-renewal of wedleases. Women will also be the bigger losers as they will not possess the graces that they once did. Shame is the intensely painful feeling they would have of believing they are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging. Therefore, a divorce rather than the convenience of a wedlease seems more appropriate.

But divorce has become something of a stigma among churchgoers, so much so that the wronged party–the victim–is seen as the evil one and demonized when they ask for a divorce. Verses like “‘I hate divorce,’ says the Lord,” are invoked. And the married life, if there is one at all, goes on as a bondage rather than as a blessing.

People’s character changes and some take wedlock as a license to sin as do many a Calvinist, who believes once-saved-is-always-saved.

The relationship between a husband and his wife is likened to the relationship Christ has with His Church (Eph5:23-33). Dr. John Piper agrees that God sets aside corporate election of Israel for the sake of the election of individuals from around the world, is after the fact. What this means to a marital relationship is that there is no such thing as permanence or unconditional love. Eternal security exists only as long as the fish remains in water.

Is it not a good testimony when people renew their vows like Ram & Sita upon the expiry of a wedlease that maybe in place? Opportunity should be given to good couples to stand out in the midst of darkness. But we are not to create darkness for darkness sake. The context of an expired wedlease could exist for the renewal of vows to have any import or meaning. With a renewed wedlease, a marriage has the groundswell for happiness.

“What God has joined together, let no man separate,” holds true. But the prerogative for marriage, divorce or the establishment of a workable wedlease is with Christ, whom the Church possesses.

Children are not a side to the whole issue. Women are actually saved through childbearing (1Tim2:15). As for men, they should take responsibility for the children and not shrug from it. At this point, it seems to me that divorce, however smearing it maybe to one’s character, is the only viable instrument that society can afford to have. The Arminian freewill of renewing vows–if not a wedlease–in the context of a possible divorce, would be the only demonstration and assertion of love on the part of the husband, and respect on the part of the wife.

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Friendship Evangelism

Initially, we do need to scratch them where it itches before giving them the eternal-life-giving-food. If that means sugar-coating your bitter-pill (truth), by all means do it! But let’s not use a hosepipe to drive the amrutham down someone’s throat. Friendship Evangelism is evident in Jesus’ own ministry (Jn6:26-27). In 2Tim4:3-4, Paul is speaking of those who exchange the truth for a lie altogether; not merely in the coating.

This is not salvation-by-works as is often misunderstood. A coating is a coating. We should not go overboard in an attempt to please. Nor should we come across as a fake in our love for others. But any humanitarian aid should only serve as a sugarcoat to the eternal-life-giving-food. Use available resources for maximizing results both in quantity and quality. A point to remember here is that God does not usually call the Qualified, but qualifies the Called. But also remember that there are matthews, whom He calls, who are from the beginning, God’s works-in-progress.

In short: Give the beggar the eternal-life-giving-food. Sugarcoat if you must. If not this life, he will have the more enduring eternal-life.

Friendship here, is anesthesia before the tortuous incision by truth on the diseased hearts of men.

But in all this, let us never forget the example that Christ set for us in His costly caring for us. How we’ve been befriended! “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

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Cry of God’s heart today

It is indeed the cry of God’s heart today.  It is the tears of the saints. That part of Christ that remains on earth is still sacrificing for the sinner (Colossians 1:24).

The Lord spoke to me just now through the following scripture portion and affirmed once again that the Great Commission is our primary Agape Justice (Mercy) Ministry:

Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. “When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. “So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, `Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, `Pay back what you owe.’ “So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, `Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ “But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, `You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. `Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

We need to reach the kind of people, who may not qualify to be the bait for milking $$$. For, there are many doing so for that very reason. People are multiplying faster than the Good News is delivered. Also, Carl Henry says, it is not a good news if it is not delivered in time. As you can see the task is overwhelming. This goes to show that we need to organize ourselves as One so that we can think as one and do the Great Commission without redundancy. We need both air support (macroscopic evangelists) and ground troops (door-to-door ministers) if we are going to win in this battle for the souls of men. Please consider joining, supporting or sending someone to Agape TiE® Ecumenical Tech-Mission to form dBride.ME — a GOD’S-WILL-DRIVEN church, 24×7.