What to Do When it Feels Like God Is Far Away?

7/28/2018 Christianity 45 Comments

Question:

Why does it seem like sometimes when you really need God, when you're in so much pain and you're going through so much suffering, when you really pray, it seems like He's so far far away?

God is never far away from anybody.


God is never so far from anyone of us. He's just beside us, He is always watching us. He watches us, He knows everyone of us. That is God's capacity, to know everyone of us. Just like a computer has the capacity to know the fingerprints of every employee in a very big company. You will remember that there are machines that are used by companies now wherein the employee will come and place his finger on that machine, and he will be permitted to enter only after the computer has acknowledged his fingerprints. If we believe that a computer is capable of doing those complicated things, how much more is the One who put those prints on our fingers! And that is God.


See, He had sealed the hands of every man. Each one of us was given by God a seal in our hands proving that He knows every one of us. Not any single person that lives on earth is not known to God.


The Lord Jesus Christ knew all men. God knows all men. He knows all men. He knows every one of us. So He can be reached, He is a reachable God. He is a God who feels our passions, our emotions; He understands our being, our weaknesses.


He knows our frame, our being, our infirmities, our weaknesses. He knows our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. God knows us. He understands our passions and feelings. Now, why can He be so far? Maybe it's just like that song that I remember.


Sometimes, you experience somebody is just beside you but he seems or she seems to be very far from you like that shy girl. God is always near us; He is never far from us. But we have gone so far from Him in our thoughts, in our ways, in our attitude, in our characters, in our likes, in our inklings in life we have run too far from God.


It is the question of people who do not understand God's will. “Wherein shall we return?”, they say. How far have we gone? The Lord said, “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances.” While traversing a road, you will find signs that tell you to detour. People have detoured from the way that was prepared by the Lord, “mine ordinances”, He said. “Ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me,...” How do we return to the Lord? Return to the ordinances; return to the reproofs of God; return to the ways of God. Returning to the ordinances of God is returning to God. So, why does He seem so far away from our prayers? From our requests, from our petitions, from our likes? Because we have gone so far from Him. He's not so far away from anyone of us, instead we are so far away from Him because we have gone astray. We have taken a detour and la..la..la..la detoured. There's a song like that. There are so many detours that we have made in our lives. Just like what Frank Sinatra said. I remember this song because it is related to what I read in the Bible. Frank Sinatra said, “along the byway”.

That's the question, that's the problem. People are doing it their way not God's way. They have traveled their own way just like what Frank Sinatra said.


See, just biting more than what you could chew is improper in the sight of God.

And the last part is that,


So he traveled the highway of his own. He left the highway of God. What happened?


Had you traveled God's highway you will have no regrets.

But as Frank Sinatra said and observed,


The reason why we feel that our prayers are not answered is, not that God is far from us but, we have taken a road that made us very very far away from God. To be near Him and to find Him in our daily lives, let us go back to His ordinances because God laments in that verse, “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.”

Let us return to His ordinances and we will find an ever compassionate and loving God who is always ready to hear our prayers.

Evidences of the Authenticity of Christ's Story

7/21/2018 Christianity 17 Comments

Biblical truths are supported even by enemies of the Bible.

While many enemies of Christ and the Bible delight in the stupid and defamatory story of Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code”, a perusal of written and archeological information can easily belie such make-believe bunch of stupidity.

Physical evidences are most welcome among people who judge by what they see; while logical and circumstantial evidences are more appreciated by a thinking mind.

A wise judge considers other things than what he sees and hears as the saying goes “…more than meets the eye.” Logic and human promptings were used by Solomon in judging a very delicate case brought to his court.

All evidences regarding the authenticity of the story of the true Christ and the Bible will easily be admitted by a fair and intelligent court of law.

DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

The history of the very empire who put Jesus Christ to death testifies that in the reign of Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea, under Caesar Tiberius, Christ was nailed on the cross and died.


The following is a translation of the above Latin text:

TANGIBLE AND PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

Before his death, Jesus Christ taught the unbelieving Pharisees upon presenting to Him a Roman coin with the inscription of the picture of Caesar to “give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God’s”.


A clay tablet dedicated by Pontius to his ‘boss’ Tiberius Caesar affirms further the authenticity of the story regarding Christ’s death on the cross. Jesus Christ died and was buried by two well-known figures in the Jewish community — one of whom is a Pharisee, the group that is bitterly against Christ.



His enemies even asked Pontius Pilate to guard the tomb to be sure that His corpse will not be stolen by His disciples.


Had there been anomaly regarding His body, and if His resurrection did not come true, there must be circumstantial evidences (bones, tomb, etc.) to prove that He did not resurrect.


After His resurrection, He showed Himself not to all, but to more than 500 people, with whom He stayed for another forty days before He ascended into heaven. The people that testify to His death and resurrection are more credible than the ‘incredible’ Dan Brown, and a host of his cohorts, who, if not ignorant, are blatant liars — among them are lawyers, tax collectors, fishermen of moral integrity, and many others.

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

Money deposited and withdrawn from a bank existing under definite laws have their paper-trail. The Christian faith started in the first century of our common era. There is a traceable historical trail that proves the authenticity of Christ’s death and resurrection. A declaration of the Apostle Paul will spark doubts and frustration among the first-century Christian community if the resurrection did not really happen.


The fact that the Christians continued to embrace their faith even unto the start of the next century of our common era, circumstantially proves that the issue regarding the resurrection has been moot and academic.

The apostasy that happened later as predicted by the Apostle Paul was not able to erase the truth among the knowledge of Christians and in the Bible.


There are fragments of the Gospel of John existing now, which dates back to as early as the year one hundred twenty AD, that tells us the story of the death of the only religious leader and founder who came back to life to prove that the religion He taught is the Truth; and to prove further that there is a judgment day which all men will inevitably face!



From all admissible evidences, a fair and honest court of law will admit all evidences hereby being offered by this representation.

I REST MY CASE.

Christ's Flesh and Blood Explained

7/14/2018 Christianity 12 Comments

Dear William,

In your comment to my earlier post “The Church of God is Needed for Salvation,” you asserted without proof that it is not the physical body of Christ that delivered the Church. I am posting what you wrote in the red letters that follow:


You concluded that it is not the flesh and the blood (of Christ) that delivered them; it was not what they ate and drank but the words. May I advise you to be more careful next time in concluding anything without a due investigation first. In Colossians 1:22, it says:


It is clear in the preceding verse that it is His body of flesh, which He offered through death. Your conclusion that it is the word that redeems is illogical because the word does not die, but the flesh does. Through the death of the ‘sinless flesh’ of Jesus, we are sanctified. The ‘we’ I am mentioning is the Church of God, for whom these epistles were written. Hebrews 10:10 clarifies that further.


The Church, or the ‘we’, is the entity being sanctified by the offering of His body of flesh. It is not the Church (as body) being offered as sacrifice, but His body of flesh, that the body or the Church maybe sanctified.


The act of giving Himself for the Church sanctified it. How? Through the washing of water by the word. Which water will sanctify the Church? The water and the blood which gushed from the body of flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ.


The topic of discussion in John chapter 6 which you cited is not about redemption. The topic is how to have eternal life. Anyone who wants to live eternally with God must eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the entire chapter, the bread and the meat being mentioned refer to the word of God. It is the bread which came down from heaven that gives eternal life to anybody who will receive it.


When the Jews heard this, they were offended because they presumed that our Lord Jesus Christ was speaking of His physical flesh and blood, so, He clarified by saying that He is speaking of spiritual things.


In your comment, you hastily concluded that the phrase “the flesh profits nothing” refers to the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. I will copy your comment in red letters.


You even have erroneously concluded that the viewpoint of Christ is in contrast with the viewpoint of the Apostle Paul. That is the greatest mistake that you have committed!

Let me scientifically prove this to you. Just what does the Bible mean “the flesh profits nothing”? Is it the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or the flesh of those who hear His words? If you received the words of the Lord Jesus, symbolic of the bread and the blood, it is not your flesh that will profit, but the spirit in you. The food for spirit is spiritual.


“The flesh profits nothing” does not mean the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, as you concluded, “gains nothing for anyone”. It was His flesh that suffered, got afflicted, wounded, beaten, and died — not His word.


It is His body of flesh that was wounded that we may be healed or redeemed.

The Apostle Peter clarified this further (I hope you are not in bad terms with the Apostle Peter as you are with Paul).


The ‘body’ on the tree is not the ‘word’. It (the body) bore our sins. It is the body on the tree that was stricken with stripes that we may be healed.

Let me tell you something to think about so that next time you will not be too hasty in your conclusions. Speaking of redemption, it is the body of Christ that was offered for redemption of sins. Speaking of having eternal life, the words of the Lord Jesus will provide it. These are two different topics which you mixed, and erroneously interpreted by your own preconceived idea.

Note the following verse:


Although redemption and eternal life are correlated matters, they are not the same thing. The ‘flesh profits nothing’ does not mean the flesh of Christ; after all, He is not speaking to Himself but to the Jews with bodies of flesh.

See the point?

This is a brotherly advice: Do not ever say again that the Church established by God through the Lord Jesus Christ is not vital to salvation. The only one true Church in the Bible did not branch into more than 38,000 denominations as you claim. These are not branches; they are fake churches founded by man.


If a tree produced branches, they are genuine parts of the tree. If there are 38,000 denominations, as you claim now (I do not know where you got the statistics), they are not branches (look it up in the dictionary).


The Mormons that practice polygamy is not a branch of Christianity. It is fake Christianity.


Polygamy is not allowed to Christians, but the founder of the Mormon Church collected more than 40 wives, according to a book written by J. Oswald Sanders. (See clip below)


Do not ever say again that, “anyone who will say that the Church is not needed for salvation is not only ignorant but ignorant of his own ignorance.”, Who is now ignorant of his own ignorance? Is it me or you? I do not want to judge you.

May God enlighten you through His words.

The Imprudent Freedom to Question Free Will

7/05/2018 Christianity 6 Comments

Dear Alsie616,

I do not know where you got the information that the scientist you are mentioning not only denies the existence of God but the reality of free will, also. But as you wish, I will tackle this very important topic about human life.

Free will or, better still, free choice is something existent in some, but not all, creatures. Free will is something done without compulsion and with willingness. The Encarta defines it as done voluntarily rather than by compulsion. I believe that giving us free will is the most loving and compassionate act of the Creator. It is in our free will on what He prefers us to do, that He is delighted.


Although because of it also, we can do things that disgust Him; and will bring people to destruction.

The preceding verse gives us an insight that God wants us to use our free will or free choice in doing His will. He delights if we give generously according to our free will.

But giving to delight God must be coupled with good deeds.


As I said earlier, some (but not all) were given free will by God. Angels have their own free will. This is proven by the fact that other angels chose to leave their own habitation and rebel against God. Most famous of them is satan.


Even cherubim are portrayed in the Bible being evil because of improper use of free will.


The same thing is happening to man who is being led astray from the path of righteousness because of the abuse of their free will.


And this is part of the history of mankind since time immemorial.


Common sense and incidental happenings in our daily lives, prove the existence or the reality of free will in man. Anybody who will doubt this is a fool.

Here is a very simple example:

A. A man is being loved by two women B and C. He can freely choose from the two; but he chose B. Is it not free will?

B. In another case, he chooses both and made them both suffer at the end. Of course, suffering comes if you do something with your own free will which is against the will of God.


These are all irrefutable evidences that there really is free will among men. To understand the deeper part of it, we can just look on our being as an individual. In our bodies, there are what science calls as muscles acting voluntarily and involuntarily. The heart is one of them. It beats and pumps blood throughout the body unceasingly throughout one’s lifetime without the control of man himself; while voluntary muscles moves are controlled by the mind.


So in our being, the presence of voluntary and involuntary actions will tell our common senses that on this earth, there are things that happen because of man’s free will, and they can either be against or in accordance with God’s will. But life on earth is not exactly the same in all living creatures. There are things that happen in lower forms of life which are evidently not in conformity with their own will. While the female peacock may choose its mate in a particular mating period, in captivity, an animal doesn’t have a choice.

We, humans, are the most abusive users of free will in the animal kingdom. The free will of a bird to fly, it does not use for its own destruction. But we have used our free will throughout the entire history of humanity for our self-destruction.


Whatever explanation or scientific studies done with the fruit fly that you are mentioning, they will not in any manner fit to humans, because according to the Bible, we have a different kind of brain and understanding very much superior and more complex than any other lower forms of life.

I hope you have learned a little from this.