Killings, Injustice, and God's Whereabouts

9/29/2016 , 83 Comments


What is happening in the Philippines especially in the eyes of international media is destructive to the Filipinos as a nation. Again, before I lay my cards of reasoning, I reiterate to the stupid critics of my blog, to read very carefully.

I am not out to defend President Rody Duterte or to condemn him or his critics. I am taking the side of justice that is the side where the word of God in the Bible leans.

I should say that at the initiative of the President, to fight criminality, drugs, and corruption, (that I believe is long overdue) we have realized how the tentacles of corruption have gripped almost all sectors of Philippine society! It is unimaginable, for example, that at the maximum level of the correctional institution of the Philippines or the National Bilibid Prison, corruption and all forms of evil have established its "nests" where eggs of every form of shamelessness are being hatched everyday!

EPHESIANS 4:19 
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

What is supposed to be an institution of correction turned out to be an institution of the fabrication of "errors!" One can just heave a very deep sigh and ask, “So, have we now come to this?" The answer is, "It’s the reality!"

Recent events bared that the NBP is "home" to the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs, the very cause of the conviction of the very people who are residents of this "supposed" arm of justice! It has even turned out to be a coliseum for very much attended but unpublicized concerts and shows, and a haven for highly paid prostitutes!

Then suddenly things came to a turn to expose all these. The President's initiative revealed many unexpected forms of evil in government and society! The number of drug pushers, dealers, and users is unprecedented! Fortunately, this paved the way for some addicts and pushers to fear the arm of justice. I know this to be true because I am privy to some of them!

It is my conviction that this is unprecedented – this nest of criminal activities and tangle of prison liberties - because these activities and subjects either wittingly or unwittingly were not allowed, permitted, pampered or protected by those in authority! Who knows but the Almighty.

PROVERBS 15:3 
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

I believe the President is doing justice to the Filipino people in his initiative to fight criminality, drugs, and corruption. But it is possible that in the fight for justice, injustice may be working also. In seeking for the truth, God ordains before judgment is handed down, the testimony of two or three credible witnesses.

HEBREWS 10:28
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

But where can injustice interfere in the work and fight for justice? First, there are "false" witnesses!

PROVERBS 14:25 
A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.

Not all witnesses are credible. Some, especially the corrupted, are incredible!

That explains why we can never be sure of the one hundred (100%) percent truth. For this, the last judgment belongs to God! The Bible tells about the basis of these judgments as according to the fruit of one’s doings, as He alone can search the heart.

REVELATION 20:11-12 
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

JEREMIAH 17:9-10 
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 
10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Who knew if the alleged "extrajudicial killings" are true? Who knew if they are "extra-criminal killings," meaning that the criminals themselves are killing one another to cover up their crimes?!

It would be of utmost injustice to blame everything on the government before a thorough investigation is done! On the other hand, it would also be apparent injustice on the part of the government to deny the right of those who are investigating alleged extrajudicial killings!

The President in national television uttered some pronouncements that for me are unfortunate -

“When a one-year-old, an 18-month-old baby is taken from the mother’s arms, brought under a Jeep and raped, and killed, where is God? And in Syria women and children, who don’t want to have sex with ISIS, they are burned. So where’s God? My God, where are you?”

On a recent speech to police officers about illegal drugs and a set of rules to deal with drug criminals, the President said –

“Maybe God doesn’t want all these killings. But never mind; God is not my enemy. I’ll talk to him when I get there…I'll ask him, 'If you are really God, you didn't do anything, and the Filipinos are going crazy.’”

Duterte declared he believes in God but His existence has been a never-ending question for him because of the endless agony observed all around. When people lack fear and disrespect the law, death penalty is it, he said. “I have always been a hardliner when it comes to the penal laws,” he added.

I was consoled some when he said, "I believe in God, but..." I can imagine the feeling and the thinking of the President embattled left and right with criticisms and international misconceptions of biased media. The "but" in the President's statement, I believe needs enlightenment from the word of God that I will discuss in the next issue of this blog.

83 Comments:

Black Skin, Flat Nose, & Thick Lips? But We Are All Brothers!


Why should there be the feeling of superiority over others, being cocky, high-handed, arrogant, or egotistical simply over the color of one’s skin, the contour of one’s nose, the shape of one’s lips?

Most of the time, people think that color determines who is the more superior (race). It is not so. But even the physical shape of the eyes, the lips, and the nose invites discrimination from people who believe that they were created more superior than the others.

Nothing is wrong, for example, with the wider noses and huge lips of those from Africa. Under our skin, we are all the same. But it matters because color-based notions of racial hierarchy continue to plague us, with white on top and black at the bottom.

A research conducted by competent scientific authorities says that under our skin we are all biological brothers and sisters.


Even before this proof was proven scientifically, the Bible tells us so! All of us came from only one biological mother and father.

GENESIS 3:20 
And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.


The environment, the food we eat, the customs, and traditions are contributory factors to our outward physical appearance. The sun can make our skin dark.

SONG OF SOLOMON 1:6 
Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

Scientifically, constant exposure to the rays of the sun contributes to the tanning of our skin, making it darker in appearance than those who are less exposed to the sun. In Finland, where the sun does not shine almost four months, notably, people have white skin. Finns are considered the palest of people.

Many wonder how Finns survive with no sunlight in the winter, and nature replies with 24 hours of it in the summer. The intense contrast in light conditions has a profound effect on all walks of life in Finland.

For understandable reasons, public spaces come to life in the summer. After the harsh winter, endless daylight never arrives a day too early. Summer in Finland is a time spent outside the house enjoying the short but sweet season, and all worries are postponed until nights get dark again. 

http://www.visitfinland.com/article/land-of-the-midnight-sun/

It is not the sin of a black person that caused him to be born black like what the Mormons believe. Here’s what they wrote in the Book of Mormon.


Long-time exposure to elements and the sun can turn our skin totally black in a span of generation.

Quick Facts: 
Jablonski and Chaplin proposed an explanation for the observed variation of untanned human skin with annual UV exposure. By Jablonski and Chaplin’s explanation, there are two competing forces affecting human skin tone:

1. The melanin that produces the darker tones of human skin serves as a light filter to protect against too much UV light getting under the human skin where too much UV causes sunburn and disrupts the synthesis of precursors necessary to make human DNA; versus

2. Humans need at least a minimum threshold of UV light to get deep under human skin to produce vitamin D, which is essential for building and maintaining the bones of the human skeleton.

Jablonski and Chaplin note that when human indigenous peoples have migrated, they have carried with them a sufficient gene pool so that within a thousand (1000) years, the skin of their descendants living today has turned dark or turned light to adapt to fit the formula given above–with the notable exception of dark-skinned peoples moving north, such as to populate the seacoast of Greenland, to live where they have a year-round supply of food rich in vitamin D, such as fish, so that there was no necessity for their skin to lighten to let enough UV under their skin to synthesize the vitamin D that humans need for healthy bones. 

http://www.beautyofbeauty.com/skincolour.htm

Even the food we eat for generations may contribute to our physical appearance. In the Philippines there are islands known as Camotes Islands where the natives eat only as staple food, kamote or sweet potato. Natives there are short people. I had experienced that when one member from that particular place requested a photo shoot with me, they were all standing while I was seated on a chair. Still, I towered over everyone of them! Sweet potato does not have sufficient amount of B Complex vitamins that dictates the growth of height of a person.

People whose staple food are rich in B Complex vitamins like those who are consumers of bread from wheat attain more height than others.

Since there are eight different vitamins that are a part of the Vitamin B complex family, there are various health benefits that have been associated with each. In fact many health experts recommend Vitamin B complex for weight loss since it helps the digestive system and improves the absorption of carbohydrates. Some health experts also advise parents to include Vitamin B complex supplements and foods in their children’s diet, since it promotes growth and can help them grow taller. 

http://www.diethealthclub.com/vitamin-diet/vitamin-b-complex.html

Even the size and the length of the nose is sometimes dictated by the environment.


As reported by Emily DeMarco of Inside Science (8/12/2016), our nose plays the role of an airconditioner according to a new study. The research, which was published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, centered on pressure to explain how the nose got its shape.

Accordingly, in hot, wet environments, pressure over time lets the nose evolve into wider shape to cool the brain. Scott Maddux, the study's lead author and a biological anthropologist now at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, says air in cold temperatures can't hold very much water, therefore there is no pressure for the nose to widen as opposed to hot, wet temperatures. “In hot, wet environments that reduce our bodies' ability to shed heat through sweating, the nose could respond to that pressure and, over time, evolve into having a wider shape, which allows for more heat loss and may help keep the brain cool,” Maddux said.

After research and all things have been said and done, the conclusion is that the facts in the Bible are all true. We all came from Adam and Eve - and not from chimpanzees or apes - and that we are biological brothers and sisters. To practice then discrimination is evil.

JAMES 2:1-4 
1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 
2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 
3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 
4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

In Israel, God showed His anger over two of His servants when they entertained that feeling of superiority. Miriam and Aaron opposed Moses marrying a black woman. And they were reproved by God.

NUMBERS 12:1-15 
1 And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. 
2 And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. 
3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)  4 And the LORD spoke suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. 
5 And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. 
6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. 
7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. 
8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? 
9 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed. 
10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. 
11 And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. 
12 Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb. 
13 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. 
14 And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again. 
15 And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.

Meanwhile, recent killings in the United States indicate that there is, one way or the other, discrimination among the Americans themselves.

Young black men killed by US police at highest rate in year of 1,134 deaths

Young black men were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by police officers in 2015, according to the findings of a Guardian study that recorded a final tally of 1,134 deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers this year.

Despite making up only 2% of the total US population, African American males between the ages of 15 and 34 comprised more than 15% of all deaths logged this year by an ongoing investigation into the use of deadly force by police. Their rate of police-involved deaths was five times higher than for white men of the same age.

Paired with official government mortality data, this new finding indicates that about one in every 65 deaths of a young African American man in the US is a killing by police. 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/31/the-counted-police-killings-2015-young-black-men

God is not a respecter of the physical being of a person.

THE ROMANS 2:11 
For there is no respect of persons with God.

To be godly is to learn how to love a person regardless of color, height and physical appearance! After all we are all equal beyond the skin. We were made by one God.

May we remind the American people that while they are superior in arms, technology, wealth, and political power, they are not superior among the blacks and what the world calls the "uglier" people of this earth.

To God be the glory!

68 Comments:

Fake News and Compromising Scoops Sacrifice Truth


I believe that the term "responsible journalism" and "investigative journalism" became suggestive from what was commonly disdained among journalists who are irresponsible and are whisperers/talebearers/gossipers. Here are what the Bible says about them:

PROVERBS 18:8 (RSV) 
The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.

PROVERBS 18:8 (KJV) 
The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

PROVERBS 18:8 (NIV) 
The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts.

Gossips are very sellable. They make the broadsheets and tabloids attractive to buy. As the Bible said, they are like "delicious morsels."

One ingredient of irresponsible journalism is the indirect but apparent intentional intrigues created by the so-called "journalist" in his futile mind. The Bible says so, there are inventors of evil.

THE ROMANS 1:30 
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

Let us take the case of President Rody Duterte. It appeared that the cancellation of the planned meeting with President Obama was directly caused by the intrigues created by local and international journalists. If they practiced selective perception in their presentation of news, it is because of wanting to scoop. Beginning with the expression, “putang ina mo,” they had it translated as an address to mean Duterte is calling Barak Obama as “son of a whore,” when all the time it is the same as the American common expression of “sonamabitch” (son of a bitch) or “sonamagan” (son of a gun) that is merely an expression of anger or disgust.

We know in law and in the daily conversations among Filipinos that the expression "putang ina mo" is an expression of frustration common among Filipino communities. It is most frequently used not to defame the mother of the person being mentioned but to express frustration and sometimes as an expression of camaraderie among friends. I say "in law" because no less than the Supreme Court of the Republic of the Philippines ruled that the use of the phrase "putang ina mo" does not always mean cursing the mother of the recipient of such connotation.

In its en banc decision written by Justice Querube Makalintal (who later served as Chief Justice from 1973 to 1975), the Supreme Court declared: “’Putang ina mo’ is a common enough expression in the dialect that is often employed, not really to slander but rather to express anger or displeasure. It is seldom, if ever, taken in its literal sense by the hearer, that is, as a reflection on the virtues of a mother. http://www.rigobertotiglao.com/2016/09/09/supreme-court-ruling-putang-ina-mo-doesnt-mean-your-mother-is-a-whore/

What is glaring now is that not only foreign media are incorporating malice in the utterances of President Duterte, but local journalists as well. Many Philippine networks are biased against the President.

Imagine calling the President "tough-talking,” “foul-mouthed,” “trash talking,” that foreign media began to pick up from local news to cast doubt on the integrity of the person of our President.

What about false news? A TV station said, Obama was able to shake hands with everyone at the ASEAN summit except Duterte. But here’s what Obama said -


These practices compromise the President.

I am not defending the President. I am speaking as a sensible preacher of the word of God by norms, in law and logic, especially that in the Bible, one must judge not only according to what he has heard.

ISAIAH 11:3-4 
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

I am also a victim of unfair journalism practices of the country's most popular networks. I understand the situation of the incumbent President.

I am not saying that the President must not be criticized. But my point is journalists must be fair and impartial. Subjecting an innocent person through irresponsible journalism is public trial and condemnation!

Our country may have laws protecting freedom of speech and publication, but by all means practice fairness. Tell the truth and nothing but. When you style your slants, do not restructure quotations with scoops in your mind at the expense of your subject. Consider the context.

When full transcripts of speeches made by Duterte are read, that is the only time one can understand what happened, whether the journalist said it right or not. But how many of the readers can get to read full transcripts?

The ball is yours. You, journalists, owe it to the community to do your work right!

80 Comments:

Judging the Killings: Not to Blame Duterte but Sum up the Truth

9/03/2016 , 159 Comments


Judging with fairness and justice is based on facts, reality, and logic. History will testify that among those difficult cases being resolved by human justice, most frequently, logic, reality and facts contribute together to sum up what the truth is.

The fact is, there were two babies, one was dead and one was alive. There were two women claiming to be the biological mother of the living baby. To solve and to render judgment in the seemingly difficult case, Solomon used logic.

I KINGS 3:16-28 
16 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. 
17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 
18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. 
19 And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it. 
20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 
21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. 
22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spoke before the king. 
23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. 
24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 
25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. 
26 Then spoke the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. 
27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. 
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

There is an international outcry about what are allegedly extra-judicial killings in Duterte's war against illicit drugs. I say "allegedly" because these are not considered a fact.

Meanwhile, may I remind the media to be careful in their use of words. "Extra-judicial killings" must mean that the ones doing the killings are people in power!

It is most certainly lopsided to term "extra-judicial killing" in killings done by the criminals themselves!

How unfair it can be to attribute all the killings that happened since May 10 of this year to the administration of the seating President. Journalists must practice a sense of delicadeza in attributing to anybody any wrongdoing in society. Personally, I believe that all the killings that started since May 10 must not be imputed on the Duterte administration.

It is constitutionally clear and precise that Duterte took the reigns of power only on the last day of June of this year. How could anyone in his proper state of logic, conscience and mind, think that those who were killed in the last regime are to be blamed on the government of President Duterte? Isn’t this the implication we get from reports of both local and international press today? If one cannot reckon the beginning – and the time boundaries - very certainly he cannot also be sure of what will be the end.

ISAIAH 46:9-10 
9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

There are many avenues that can be considered in order to arrive at the surest point of justice and equity. Surely the shortest line between two distances is between two exact points that run as straight as possible from one to the other.

A point to start with is, could it be that criminals who are being hunted now by the Duterte administration are killing one another in order to protect their own interest!?

Could it be that there are killings that happened mainly because the police enforcers are trying to defend the constitution, or the order of their commander-in-chief, and their own lives!?

Could it be that there are those who run amok because there is no future for their vices and illegal activities under the Duterte administration? And could it be that they just wanted to implicate others, even the innocent!?

If the answer to all these questions is yes, then it is illogical to blame and count the numbers of those who were killed and have died from May 10 to this day to the Duterte administration. How stupid can one be!!! How could you lump the numbers and attribute it to one and only one cause? Worse, you go forward and term them as “extra-judicial killings.”

We know scientifically and logically that drug addicts are persons considered to be out of control, even by themselves. One way to help them is to show them and make them taste a blow from the arm of the law. I repeat: show them and make them taste a blow from the arm of the law.

If they will see that pushers and users are being prosecuted and not tolerated, they would think twice in pursuing their vices that are most certainly stupid. Punishment is a deterrent to crime.

HEBREWS 10:28 
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

We have a very strong fiber in the fabric of Philippine jurisprudence that is called "human rights." It is also a part of the law of the land that while there are clear clauses that protect animals, there is no law or section nor article in the constitution that provides that to protect animal life, we have to sacrifice the life of a human being.

In the Bible, there are people who cannot be considered humans to enjoy human rights, let alone, convicted drug lords and pushers!

II PETER 2:12 
But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

More to come.

Sincerely yours,
Brother Eli

159 Comments: