Small trees are growing Forest fires are raging Women are giving birth Men at war are killing Some visionaries are helping save the planet and humanity from ruin Some missionaries just don’t care— saving souls for heaven is their calling
These realities can easily make us mourn our death in advance Just as hell’s orchestra is just as ready to play an eerie requiem Until we begin to believe we can all be united together for the good of all We’re just like the Guyana folks who drank the Kool Aid and lied down to die In this universe we must choose to survive and thrive Or humanity will be forever forgotten
“I never gave up, I never raised my hands and said, ‘That’s enough, I can’t take it anymore, you win’… And because of that, I stand tall now, ready for what comes next.’”**
Did Matthew Perry win or lose in his battle with drugs and alcohol? It’s hard to say and I don’t want to speculate.
But before he died, Matthew Perry said, “I never gave up, I never raised my hands and said, ‘That’s enough, I can’t take it anymore, you win’… And because of that, I stand tall now, ready for what comes next.’”
I admire Perry’s determination to never give up. But was it really enough? Did he succeed? I don’t know. But looking at other people who also struggled with drugs and alcohol and failed, it seems that willpower alone is not enough to quit bad habits.
I’ve been listening to James Clear’s lessons in “Building Habits for Success” on MasterClass.* And in it he also talks about quitting bad habits and uses smoking, the classic bad habit example that many people are trying to quit.
There may be other ways and techniques to use to win, but rather than focusing on the goal (such as quitting smoking), Clear recommends having a system and using strategies that would help us quit bad habits and build good ones that would lead to success.
One of the techniques he recommends is to begin with an identity you choose for yourself now, rather than being someone who is trying to achieve a certain goal in the future. Thus when offered a cigarette, you can simply say, “No, thank you…I’m a non-smoker,” rather than say “I’m trying to quit smoking.”
I think the new identity that you choose for yourself could help greatly, especially if it is socially shared and reinforced (so yeah, Facebook, for example, can be helpful in that regard).
The Bible says something similar to that:
“…if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 New International Version).
When you share such identity in Christ, your being ‘a new creation in Christ’ can help you live as such!
*https://www.masterclass.com/classes/small-habits-that-make-a-big-impact-on-your-life?utm_source=Organic-Social-PR&utm_medium=iOS&utm_term=Aq-Remarketing&utm_content=Share; not a paid ad
Image Credit: Анна Романцева (@anna_romanceva), Threads
It’s the Real Thing, Not the Shadow, that Remains By Ed Fernandez
Dusk approaches. But for this solitary oryx, the day isn’t done.
This simple, beautiful image seems to say: there’s no end in sight for the invisible trail it treads.
As the sun’s fading rays strike its athletic form, a giant shadow stretches across the sand— distorting the creature until it’s almost unrecognizable.
“Is it on a boat?” That’s my wife’s amused query. (Well, the setting is a desert, baby!)
What an amazing image this is— and one that reminds us: what appears large and obvious may be a distraction. A mirage of meaning, perhaps— something that vanishes when the light shifts.
For when the sun has set, the shadow is nowhere to be found.
“White evangelical Americans are more willing to endorse political violence than their non-Christian counterparts, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).”
That is indeed “disturbing.” And considering the fact evangelicals have been known for being “heavenly minded” and for expressions like “this world is not my home,” that can also be surprising to other evangelicals who don’t seem to care about what’s going on in our world.
But that’s not really surprising. As Donald Trump have risen to political power (he still wields power in the GOP) and have also fallen from it (particularly to those who acknowledge his defeat to President Joe Biden), so also many evangelicals have emotionally experienced both these highs and lows but are not willing to accept defeat. And that’s why evangelicals who “patriotically” support Trump are willing to do anything, including violent acts, or at least condone them to make America great again (MAGA).
To hurt and kill others is not the way of Christ. Violence has no place in the Kingdom of God in which Christ Jesus is The Prince of Peace. And so it seems that some evangelicals have misunderstood the Christian faith—that to follow Christ is to follow the way of peace. But like Peter who did not understand the goal of Christ’s mission and the way to accomplish it, they are willing to draw the sword. Just as Christ rebuked Peter, these evangelical “sisters and brothers” also need our Lord’s rebuke!
Why have some of our sisters and brothers in the larger Christian community become so radical that they are willing take up or support others who are ready to take up arms? My theory is that because they have become part of the MAGA kingdom and their thoughts and efforts have been focused on that. Thus, the Kingdom of Christ has become blurry and perhaps something that can only be enjoyed later. But for now, it’s the MAGA world that occupies them.
What do we make of this MAGA evangelical phenomenon? I don’t want to make a judgment and say that faith in Christ may not really be there. But from my perspective, I think many evangelicals, not just the MAGA ones, have misunderstood the Christian faith. A rational Christian who knows how to interpret Scripture texts the way they should be interpreted would know that many evangelicals, when talking about their faith and the Bible, often misunderstand and thus misapply what they read.
A case in point was a conversation I had with a Christian who supported Trump as a presidential candidate. He believed that Scriptures show that he was anointed by God, like he was a messiah. Trump himself being keen on what his supporters say and peddled around, picked up the idea and repeated them using Twitter, which was then called his “megaphone.”
On November 2, 2020, I wrote the following;
No one has expressed such grandiose view of Donald Trump more than Wayne Allyn Root, who described himself as a “Jew turned evangelical Christian.” Such praise had not escaped Trump’s attention. How could it? Wowed by a comment worthy of royalty…he tweets:
“Thank you to Wayne Allyn Root for the very nice words. ‘President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world…and the Jewish people in Israel love him….
“…like he’s the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God…But American Jews don’t know him or like him. They don’t even know what they’re doing or saying anymore. It makes no sense! But that’s OK, if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’s good for….
….. all Jews, Blacks, Gays, everyone. And importantly, he’s good for everyone in America who wants a job.’ Wow!”
Let me repeat the line that perhaps made Trump feel like a god: “They love (me) like the second coming of God.” And that might have reinforced his narcissism and explains why he does things the ways he does, like a god! And MAGA evangelicals, in turn, whose views about Trump has been reinforced by his words and actions that portrayed himself as a savior or messiah (a symptom of fascism), unconditionally commit themselves to him. Right or wrong, Trump is the savior of America and the world!
I hate to bring rain on my fellow Christians’ parade but ‘After Death’ is really not about AFTER death experiences but Near Death Experiences or NDEs–experiences by those who almost died but for some unexplainable reason “came back to life” or survived, which is undoubtedly an amazing thing that can happen to anyone. And yes “going to heaven” after they have supposedly died has been shown as an experience not exclusive to Christians. Thus Christians (and Christian moviemakers) cannot make the claim that it is only Christians who have pleasant NDEs as they supposedly went to heaven after they died for that would be misleading.
Here’s one person who has watched a Netflix documentary on NDEs have to say:
I just watched the series Surviving Death on Netflix.
A lot of people who appeared aren’t born again Christians or even Christian at all. In fact some of them were hardcore atheists before their experience. But they all had positive experiences which profoundly affected and changed them, made them better people who lost their fear
I grew up in the evangelical tradition and was taught that all non-believers (and even most believers who are not “born again”) will go straight to hell after death, while only born again believers go to paradise and have happy experiences.
But the stories told in this series flatly contradict that claim. It seems what you believe here isn’t important at all and that most people have profoundly positive NDEs regardless of their religious faith or lack of it. These experiences don’t “lead people to Christ” either, people who have great NDEs don’t suddenly get the conviction to convert to Christianity.
How to explain this given what the Christian faith traditionally teaches about death? (And please don’t say all the positive non-Christian NDEs are just “demonic deceptions”, if that were really the case then nothing in life can be trusted.)*
Let not that question confuse you. Here’s a little background on why I ask such question:
Yesterday I preached on a passage in Romans that included the following verses:
Romans 9:30-33 New International Version
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[a]
Footnotes [a] Romans 9:33 Isaiah 8:14; 28:16
Gentiles have obtained righteousness whereas the Jews have not. Why is that?
The reason is because the Gentiles DID NOT PURSUE righteousness* through faith, that is, not through their own effort but God’s through Christ’s redeeming work.
The Jews, however, PURSUED THE LAW as THE WAY of righteousness; and because that was (and is) NOT GOD’S WAY, they failed to obtain righteousness or justification.
By the way, the statements above are generalizations about Gentiles and Jews. They do not state what appears to be already obvious: that not all Gentiles have obtained justification and that not all Jews are condemned. The truth is, not all Gentiles have responded to God’s grace through faith, and not all Jews have rejected God’s way of obtaining justification through faith.
To some folks it’s a strange thing that people who did not work for it get it while those that did didn’t. And I guess that’s why they cannot accept justification through faith alone but somehow also work for their salvation as well. They do not admit that, but their words betray them.
Now why is it that trying to obtain justification through the law does not work?
One of the reasons people provide is that no one can fulfill the law 100% and thus through law justification is not obtainable. The implication of that, however, is that if the law can be fulfilled 100% then justification can be obtained.
The problem with that idea is not that the law is useless because it is definitely not! Just imagine a busy city without laws or, at the least, no traffic rules. Chaotic, right?
But observing the traffic rules because we don’t want to be fined and have a bad driving record, or worse, go to jail is not as good a reason as being careful in our driving so that we do not cause any accidents BECAUSE WE CARE about others; and we don’t want to hurt or cause anyone’s death.
I think those that emphasize the law too much miss the point and might have forgotten that what we have as creatures is a love relationship with our Creator (I capitalize the first letter of the word as I don’t want you to think that I’m thinking of something else other than God); and that such relationship is not “just a piece of paper” (like the commandments written on the pages of the Bible).
Indeed, if we believe in and love God, we show our love by doing God’s commands. But let’s be careful that in doing so our affection is not shifted from God to the Law of God for there seems to be a very thin line between them.
It seems to me that some Christians who believe in the work of Christ have been out of focus because of their over-emphasis on God’s commandments instead of focusing on the One who gave those commandments.
Every time I have a chat with some of them, or they post something on social media, they almost always talk about the strict observance of a literal Sabbath and other Jewish festivals, and the commandments and other things related to them.
What these Christians and fellow believers are often saying is that Christ has not changed things, or something to that effect, especially when talking about Old Testament laws. Well, he has! If he has not, they’d probably still be offering animal sacrifices for the atonement of their sins! (But I won’t be surprised if some of them actually do.)
The crux of the matter here is this: if we focus on God who loves us so much that he gave his only begotten son, Christ Jesus, as THE way for our redemption and in response to such wonderful grace believe, then we’re good! That’s because, using the Apostle Paul’s judicial parlance, we have been justified through faith.
Let’s not be like the Jews who proudly walk on the way of the law being confident that they’d reach their destination. Thus, they do not see that there is “a rock” on their path that can make them stumble and fall. Rather, let’s be like the Gentiles who acknowledge their unworthiness and shame but clearly see and trust Christ for their redemption:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
—
or ‘justification,’ a juridical term that applies to the guilty party being forgiven and thus acquitted of any violations committed
What’s BDNF? Well, it doesn’t stand for ‘Brain Damage Not Funny’ but it’s something related to that.
I’m not going to just tell you or anyone who doesn’t know what BDNF is. And I’m not being selfish. I want you to do your own research and learn something new, TODAY! Doing so will already help increase the level of your BDNF!
Tough thing to do research? Nope! Why not? Have you heard of Google?
This morning I have already increased the level of my BDNF by drinking black coffee, exercising, and learning something new. And you would want to do something like that for yourself as well. And you don’t have to thank me for it. Just thank yourself later.
I said, “Good afternoon” and you responded with the same. But is it really a good afternoon?
Judging from the expressions on your faces, I’m not sure if it is.
How does your face express a good afternoon? Let me see it.
C’mon, everyone, let me see your face. (Pause to examine faces).
Here’s what some of the faces here look like: (mimic the sourest faces). Yongiba d’yanparang kakahigop lang ng Datu Puti vinegar.
Do you remember the old Datu Puti vinegar commercial? Mukhasim!
Mukhasim
Can you do the mukhasim look? Try it!
There you go—you’re now laughing.
Does it now feel like a really good afternoon?
Yeah? Great!
Life is lived on a day-to-day basis. So if we have more happy and meaningful days than sad and miserable ones, could we say that we’re living a good life?
Kidding around with granddaughter, Maddy
I think so!
Since we’re here to remember Brother Felix, based on our experiences with him, could we say that he lived a good life?
I believe so. I actually believe he lived a great life.
Happy Couple
The reason for me saying that is because as his name, Felix, suggests, he was a fortunate man. Felix means fortunate, lucky, or happy.
And that’s why I titled this message ‘Blessed Felix, the Fortunate One.’
People often associate fortune with material wealth, but what makes us happy has nothing to do with money.
One of the wealthiest men in the world, Warren Buffet, is the one who actually said something like that. Buffet, ‘The Oracle of Omaha,’ says his life is ‘a vacation every day’ and that ‘it has nothing to do with money.
He says that his financial success isn’t the root of his happiness but the fact that he enjoys his work and his loved ones.
“I can’t buy time, I can’t buy love but I can do anything else with money, pretty much. And why do I get up every day and jump out of bed and I’m excited at 88? It’s because I love what I do and love the people I do it with,” Buffet said.
Brother Felix was a guy who loved what he did, and the people he did it with.
I don’t know everything about Brother Felix but I know at least a couple of things he loved to do:
One, he loved to design his own outfit and I believe he was more than willing to design one for you if you had asked him. I hadn’t. That’s because I could not carry a flashy style like he did!
Remember his black pants that he custom-tailored with shiny leather-looking pockets?
Stylish St. Felix the Fortunate
If I’d wear something like that, I’d probably look like a jester. But Brother Felix–with a matching shirt and a hat that were customized as well—he wore his outfit like a rock star!
I wonder if any members of his family had worn any of his creations: anyone?
Another thing Brother Felix loved to do was to travel. Long road trips were his thing.
I still have to do one of his tips about how to stealth camp anywhere, including urban areas: get a big vehicle like a cargo van and just put a mattress in it!
Brother Felix wasn’t merely talking—he had done it himself! He actually bought a Ford cargo van and put a mattress in it!
Stealth Camper Van
Those are at least two of the things he loved to do and with the people he loved.
Who were the people he love?
Definitely his family.
With Loved Ones
But that we are here today might mean that we too were loved by him.
Brother Felix and I did not always see each other eye-to-eye, especially when I was his pastor. But we became good friends after I visited him at the hospital twice many years ago–in both cases he had a health condition that put his life at risk.
At St Rose (Siena) Hospital with family members
So I’d like to think that I’m one of the fortunate ones he loved as a friend. After all, my name’s meaning is similar to his—while his means ‘fortunate,’ mine means ‘fortune.’
I guess Fortune and Fortunate were both fortunate to have each other as a friend!
Brother Felix and sister Lily attends service and my 60th birthday celebration at Oasis Church on New Year’s Day 2017
In Hebrew, fortunate, can be rendered baruch which can be translated “blessed.”
In Ecclesiastes 26:1 we read, “Blessed is the man that hath a virtuous wife, for the number of his days shall be doubled” (KJV). I believe that that Scripture verse tells the truth about Brother Felix.
If I remember it right, brother Felix was born in poverty, was adopted, and did not have the opportunities privileged kids had. Because of hardship and the risk of living in the streets, his life could have ended when he was still a “barok,” a young man (in Ilocano language).
But barok found a home and was gifted by God with a good wife: sister Lily.
Brother Felix & Sister Lily’s Renewal of Vows
He was a fortunate man because he was blessed with a wife who truly loved him. And thus, I believe, his life was prolonged; he lived twice as long.
Last but definitely not least, Brother Felix believed in God and that’s why he was a fortunate man. He was blessed.
Psalm 144:15 reads, “…blessed is the people whose God is the Lord” (NIV).
Brother Felix was one of those people. That’s why he was blessed.
One of the signs, they say, that you’re old is the fact that you do more reminiscing than daydreaming. Well, at 65, I still daydream. So I guess I’m not too old yet.
John Lennon Memorial, Central Park
My imaginings, however, are more realistic than, say, those that I dreamed when I was 18. Would they be considered ‘old people’s dreams’? I don’t know.
It seems to be true though that as you get older, you do more reminiscing than daydreaming. But since I do it 50/50, I guess I’m not too old yet. (Palusot!)
I take a certain kind of pleasure in looking back and thinking about where I lived and the things I did.
This morning, as Ruth and I were observing one of the first rituals of the day—having coffee together—I recalled a summer stint working as interim registrar for an evangelical seminary in New York City.
I lived and worked in the same building on West 72nd Street, New York City. So after work, I’d just take the elevator up to my apartment and did not have to worry about competing for space in some crowded subway train.
West 72nd Street, NYC
Who could afford to pay for an apartment in Manhattan, especially one that’s only about ten minutes by foot to Central Park? Definitely, not me. But housing was part of my salary package. So being a person who loved walking (still does), I frequented the park like it was my backyard. What a wonderful gift it was!
Central Park
My daily walks to the park, however, were interrupted when I started a graduate study program (PhD, Liturgical Studies) at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, which was about two hours away by train from the city.
Drew University Campus
I told Ruth that one of these days I’d like to take her back to the East Coast and show her the places I’ve been, including “my kitchen downstairs” (a Chinese restaurant on West 72nd Street), the hotdog stand and bake shop (that boiled fresh bagels each day) just around the corner from my apartment/office building, and last, but definitely not least, the Italian restaurant in Madison that, though a mere hole in the wall, served what I believed to be the best eggplant parmesan in my culinary world.
I just hope that the student-friendly Italian resto is still there. Thing is, I don’t remember its name or the street it was on. All I remember is that it was on my way to the train station and that particular mouthwatering dish.
As I look back at these and other experiences, I am grateful to Divine Providence, the gift of an adventuresome spirit and, yes, the inspiration that comes from daydreaming and imagining. If I did not daydream when I was growing up—in some unknown Philippine rural town—I would probably not have experienced the seemingly impossible and wonderful experiences I’ve had.
Central Park
As John Lennon’s song, “Imagine,” made me hum its tune in my head whenever I entered Central Park—to walk on its paths and immerse myself in the gardens’ breathtaking beauty—so I encourage you to imagine. And wildly! Wild imaginings can lead to a future of happy reminiscing. (You’ve got to force yourself to wake up though and do something about your dreams if you want them to come true.) Daydreaming and reminiscing are like a pair of bookends—each depends on the other to support the storybooks in between.
When I was in my late 30s and studying in a graduate theological seminary in Metro Manila, I dreamed of pursuing an area of study. And I was dreaming of doing it not just in any school but in a prestigious institution that was known for their graduate program in homiletics: Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ.
I studied well and did everything else to be able to compete for a full scholarship (tuition and other fees plus board and lodging). And it happened. Thank God!
After Princeton, however, I wasn’t really prepared to handle some unplanned and other things that came my way—these are things that they do not teach you at school.
I wish there was someone who took my hand and guided me as I navigated the tough life of doing further study and ministry at the same time. If you are seen by others as a confident young person, you might not get the help that you need. In that case, take the initiative.
Seek out someone, particularly an older and wiser person. And, perhaps despite your educational attainment or how smart you think you are, have the humility to open up and ask for help. I should have done that myself. But my yesterday is gone. Yours, however, may not be.
Some of Donald Trump’s supporters have expressed their delight that Trump was acquitted and that he is “not guilty” as charged. As someone braggingly puts it on a Facebook post, “I told you guys (sic) Trump is innocent.”
Apparently, they do not understand that Trump was acquitted not because he was not guilty but simply because the number of votes to convict Trump did not meet the minimum requirement. Despite that, however, the number of guilty votes (57) was more than the number of acquittal votes (43). And those that voted to acquit Trump did not do so because he was not guilty but because they do not believe the Senate had jurisdiction (despite the fact that the Senate agreed, in a bipartisan way, that it was constitutional and thus proceeded with the trial) to impeach Trump who is no longer president (thanks but no thanks to Mitch McConnel for delaying the impeachment trial).
To prove the point, after the trial and Trump’s acquittal, ‘tuso’ (cunning) Minority Leader Mitch McConnel said, “President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen,” McConnell said. “He didn’t get away with anything. Yet… We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one,” he also said. Other senators who voted to acquit Trump also expressed something similar.
What the acquittal means, among others, is that Trump remains a threat to American democracy. After his acquittal, he declared that the MAGA movement “has just begun.” While others take that as a weak political threat, the fact that “almost 75 million” voted for Trump (a number he continually boasts about, even though Joe Biden got 6 million more votes than he did) is more of a promise than a threat. Why? Because when an opportunity presents itself, that number of people is more than enough to start another insurrection!
Should he run for president again, Trump could win, especially if the situation will change for the worse, or he could paint a false situation and his cult following believe his words like they are divinely inspired utterances. But even if Trump does not win, worse things could happen–he could incite a bigger mob and succeed! Unless of course, before that could happen, he is tried in criminal courts for his crimes, found guilty, and put in prison for life, and thus such grim possibility is removed.
Remember Adolf Hitler? He lost the election, nonetheless, he became Germany’s Führer. Even if one believes that ‘such a thing could not happen in the United States,’ Americans should not let their guard down–opportunists like Donald Trump would do anything to accomplish their personal ambition. And what is Trump’s ambition? What he said in praise of Chinese President Xi Jinping after the Communist Party made his tenure indefinite gives us a clear picture of Trump’s political vision: “He’s now president for life, president for life. And he’s great… And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday….”
Donald Trump, after the failed insurrection and his acquittal today, might just give “president for life” another shot.
While enjoying my freshly brewed poured-over coffee this morning, I read Bible Gateway’s Verse of the Day. It is 1 Corinthians 10:13, a Scripture verse that every Christian probably thinks she or he knows very well. And that includes me.
The verse is so familiar because it is often quoted. To put that in Filipino or Tagalog, ‘Gasgas na!’ And so it is a verse that I suppose many would like to think they have already nailed down. Again, the many includes me.
But as I read the verse for the millionth time (I’m exaggerating of course), the very last phrase has caught my exegete eye in a way that it has not before: “…he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
When “a way out” is provided, it seems natural to think that the hardship and struggle in dealing with the temptation is removed so that the one who is tempted can now easily and quickly get out of the tempted state, like ‘No sweat!’ But it doesn’t appear to be that way.
The “way out” God provides, whatever that might be,” does not lead to a situation in which the one being tempted is passively led out from a spiritually perilous situation, like being swooped up and out by Wonder Woman and immediately taken to a safe place. But a way out is provided so that “you can endure it (the temptation).”
From the looks of it, when a way out is provided, the spiritual battle and struggle against temptation has just actually begun! But thank God, because of a way out that has been provided, “you (and I) can endure it” (emphasis mine)!
The struggle may be long—and longer if the temptation is something that we’ve been badly craving to do—but, thanks be to God who provides us a way out—we can endure it!
The question, however, is, Am I willing to use the way out that God provides? Are you?
