The real God introduced in the Bible is a God who sees even the things that are yet to come. Because of that capability, He is able to prepare measures that can remedy or thwart the evil that is to come unto man.

Let me give you an illustration to prove my point. An engineer who has invented a machine or an engine has full knowledge of the potential, capacity, and limitations of his invention as he was the one who designed and put all of its parts together. As its maker, he also knows the proper way of using and taking care of it, hence, he prepares a manual of instructions that aims to educate its would-be users for them to get the best that the machine can offer. That is, by following the dos and don’ts enumerated therein.

It is apparent that even before the engineer came up with his finished product, being a person with foresight, he has figured out the problems that might arise as the machine grows old — and if its user becomes reckless and disobedient to his given instructions. And should the engine fail or malfunction, the manual of instructions also provides simple troubleshooting tips and a list of reputable and trusted service centers that could fix the problem.

God is also an engineer but He is no ordinary engineer because He is the One who makes engineers. Being man’s Creator, His wisdom, ingenuity, craftsmanship, and foresight are beyond compare — they are unparalleled. And His love for man, His masterpiece, is beyond question. One proof of that is before God created man, He first made sure that man would have a conducive dwelling place wherein all of his needs are already available and accessible. And that is the earth. 

God intended the earth to be man’s habitation. As it is written in ACTS 17:26, (KJV),


God knows His creation inside out, from the most prominent details to the microscopic ones. He knows man’s every aspect — his strengths and weaknesses, his tendencies and limitations, and even the possible course of action that he might take given a certain circumstance or situation.

But unlike a man-made engine whose function depends largely on human intervention, the man that God created enjoys a certain degree of freedom. He can do things out of his own volition because aside from equipping him with faculties, God also gave him free will.

However, his freedom is not really absolute because there are also certain dos and don’ts that God laid before him; God also gave him a set of laws that he needs to follow and a list of warnings and precautions that he needs to take heed of. And all these are written in His “manual of instructions” — the Bible. Concurrent with his freedom is the awareness that if he disobeys, there are corresponding consequences, the same way that there are rewards if he opts to obey. But just the same, the decision to obey or disobey is his prerogative because he has free will.

God had foreseen the possibility that man might misuse and abuse his free will. We have to remember that one of the attributes of God is that He has the power to see things before they happen. Actually, as for the story of humanity, He knows it from its beginning up to the end, although the end is yet to come.

As it is written in ISAIAH 46:9-10 (KJV),


In these verses, God introduced Himself, His power, and His capability, as incomparable. Like what He said, there is none like Him. Nobody can be equally like Him in power, not even His Son. For one, only God can declare the end from the beginning.

God knows what is going to happen in the future. God had foreseen the possibility that man might not use his free will prudently, that he would disregard His precautions and warnings, disobey His dos and don’ts, and consequently, fall into sin. But unlike the ordinary engineer whose care and concern for his creation is limited only to preparing a manual of instructions and recommending service centers, God’s love and compassion for man is beyond measure. In fact, even before man was created, it was not only his place of habitation that God prepared but also the sacrifice that is more than sufficient to redeem him when he falls to sinfulness. And that is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

This biblical truth inevitably leads one to ask this question: “Does it mean that the Lord Jesus Christ had been preordained to manifest Himself in the flesh from the beginning in order to redeem man from sins?”

The answer to this question is given in REVELATION 5:9 (KJV), which says,


The pronouns “thou” and “thy” in the verse refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was slain, and by His blood, He redeemed every kindred and tongue, every people and nation.

When was He slain?

REVELATION 13:8 (KJV)


The Lamb, which symbolizes the Lord Jesus Christ, “was slain from the foundation of the earth.” The statement “from the foundation of the earth” refers to the time when God was still creating the earth, meaning, man still doesn’t exist yet during that time. But as early as then, God had already foreseen the need for a Redeemer because He had seen the possibility that man would later on fall into transgression. That Redeemer is the Lamb, representing the Lord Jesus Christ, who had been destined to be slain from the foundation of the earth.

Aside from having the capacity to declare the end from the beginning, God also said in Isaiah 46:10, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” This is a very significant pronouncement of God because that “pleasure” is the theme of our existence. It is the reason why we exist — to give pleasure unto our Creator.

REVELATION 4:11 (KJV)


All things that exist were created for the pleasure of our Creator. And we know that His pleasure has no evil in it.

Whenever cabinet secretaries are being challenged to resign from their posts by the citizens who are dissatisfied with their performance, but they do not want to resign, we often hear them say that they serve at the pleasure of the President. Meaning, only the President can remove them from office as he was the one who put them there. But unlike the pleasure of a President which can be wrong, the pleasure of the Almighty God can never be wrong. We will always be safe if we exist for the pleasure of our Creator.

As God’s creations, the best that we can do is to show Him our gratefulness for our existence and for the Lamb that He prepared, which was slain from the foundation of the earth. Because through His blood, we were saved from sins. Again, the Lamb symbolizes the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

But God’s graciousness does not end there. He has also prepared a reward for those who will continue to live their lives for His pleasure and for those who will faithfully abide by His dos and don’ts written in His “manual of instructions,” the Bible. And His reward is also without measure — a life everlasting.  May we all be found deserving of His promised reward. Amen. 

The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.

Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 

40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 

27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 

29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 

30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

Bear in mind that these things did not happen in a matter of minutes. They happened with intervals, within the span of six to eight hours. This implies that the change in the attitude of one of the thieves toward the Lord Jesus Christ did not happen at a snap of a finger; the change was prompted by the things that he saw and heard. After witnessing those things, the thief who earlier reviled and mocked the Lord Jesus Christ experienced a conversion — from being a reviler, he became a believer that Christ is truly the Son of God.

LUKE 23:34-43 (KJV) says,


Inevitably, the thief developed a feeling of remorse and repentance for what he had said and done earlier that day, as faith already sprung in his heart. That was why when his fellow thief was still talking to Christ with sarcasm and disrespect, he reprimanded him. Until it reached the point when he implored the Lord Jesus Christ: “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”

We can say that that thief was very fortunate because before he died, he was able to acknowledge Christ. And most especially, he had been assured that he will merit the bliss of paradise when the Lord Jesus Christ replied to him, “shalt thou be with me in paradise.” 

So, very clearly, there are no contradicting ideas in the accounts given by the writers of the Gospel. The readers just have to realize that there are six or eight hours in the series of events that had transpired. And given those six or eight hours, many wondrous things could have happened. There is no denying that in the beginning, both of them railed the Lord Jesus Christ but, later on, one of them was moved by the things he had witnessed. He was enlightened. And this enlightenment led him to believing in God and in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Developing faith in God and in Christ and entreating the Lord Jesus Christ to remember him when Christ goes to His kingdom were definitely the best things that this thief had done in his lifetime. Because of these, he became an heir of heaven. It is just unfortunate that the other thief did not experience the enlightenment and realization that he experienced. 

To end, let me just emphasize that there are no contradictions in the inspired Scriptures. If there are verses that seem to contradict each other, the reader just has to consider the background story and the surrounding circumstances of the given situation. And to avoid confusion and misinterpretation, it is best to invoke the guidance of the Holy Spirit first when reading the Bible. 

May God bless us all!

Sexual Suicide by Honey Bees: The Tragic Plight of the Male Honey Bee:

“The Male honeybee, called a drone, exists for one reason only—to mate with the queen. He is entirely expendable once he provides this service to the colony..."

The drone takes his mission seriously, however, and will give his life for the cause. Honey bee mating is one of the most dramatic examples of sexual suicide in the insect world. Honey bee sex occurs in mid-air when the queen flies out in search of mates. Drones compete for the chance to mate with their queen, swarming around her as she flies.

Eventually, a brave drone will make his move. As he grasps the queen, the drone everts his penis using a contraction of his abdominal muscles and hemostatic pressure and inserts it tightly into the queen's reproductive tract. He immediately ejaculates with such explosive force that the tip of his penis ruptures, and is left behind inside the queen. The drone falls to the ground, where he dies soon after…”

It is not only the male honeybee, or the drone, that has a specific duty to perform. Actually, each member of the honeybee colony has a duty to fulfill. The queen, for example, is in charge of protecting the entire honeybee colony; it is her responsibility to defend their colony from intruders. And since she assumes a very huge responsibility, she is not required to go out to look for her food. That duty belongs to the worker bees. 

The worker bees are the ones who go out, hovering from one blossom to another to gather nectar for the queen. The worker bees collect nectar from flowers by sucking, and then, bringing it to the hive so that the queen will be assured of a steady supply of food. As the nectar is passed on through their mouths, it gradually turns into honey, which the worker bees store in honeycomb cells. As the queen honeybee cannot consume all of the honey that has been stored for her, the excess is consumed by humans.  

Honey, the honeycomb especially, does not only taste sweet, but it is also very beneficial to man’s health. In fact, eating honey is recommended by the Bible.  

PROVERBS 24:13 (KJV) says,

My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:

We can always count on every pronouncement of God written in the Bible. Honey, indeed, is good; actually, it is considered as a complete food for it contains all of the essential minerals and vitamins that the human body needs. Its completeness can be likened to milk which is also considered as complete food for babies. 

It must be remembered that when God delivered the Israelites from the land of Egypt, He promised to bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey. 

EXODUS 3:8 (KJV)

And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey;...

That means the people of God would not lack nourishment in that land; both the young and the old would have a supply of complete food — milk for babes and honey for grown-ups. However, honey should not be given to infants or to children below one-year of age, as it could be detrimental to their lives. So, instead of honey, they should be given milk. Actually, even grown-ups are also advised to take just the right quantity of honey. 

According to the Bible, man should only eat a sufficient amount of honey, not excessively. 

PROVERBS 25:16 (KJV)

Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.

If you ingest more than the sufficient amount of honey, your glycemic level will rise and this might induce vomiting. 

The point that I want to emphasize is this. If honeybees have not been faithful in fulfilling the purpose of their existence, that is, if the male honeybee refuses to risk his life in mating with the queen honeybee, if the worker bees, likewise, do not gather and store nectar for the queen, and if the queen fails to lay and hatch eggs which become young honeybees, surely, not only will their colony perish but, most especially, humans won’t get the chance to benefit from the health and curative properties of honey. Apparently, although honey is originally meant for their queen’s consumption, humans benefit from it, too. In other words, men have become the end beneficiaries of the bees’ diligent performance of their respective duties. 

Actually, even if we speak of other creations such as trees, cattle, fishes, hogs, and chickens, you will realize that the end beneficiaries of their existence are also men. They exist for the purpose of sustaining men of their need for nourishment; and their existence becomes meaningful because they are able to fulfill that purpose. 

Now, if non-human creatures exist for a definite and noble purpose, the same thing must be true with humans. Man also exists for a specific purpose, or duty, which he also ought to fulfill. And that duty is to serve God. Man must not spend his life aimlessly and uselessly; instead, he must spend it in honoring God and in keeping His commandments because that is his whole duty. 

As it is written in ECCLESIASTES 12:13 (KJV), 

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Man’s whole duty is to serve God, the Creator of life. We owe Him our lives and our beings.

ACTS 17:28 (KJV) says,

For in him we live, and move, and have our being;...

So, it is but rightful that our lives be spent in serving our Creator — for without Him, we could not have existed here on earth.

Sadly, the people then did not realize it, so they killed Him — the Son of God and Author of life.

ACTS 3:15 (RSV)

and killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

Instead of showing love and gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ and instead of serving Him, they even killed Him.

Indeed, it will be very unfortunate if we fail to understand the purpose of our existence, and if we won’t be able to discover the meaning of our lives, lest, we might just end up as loafers and idlers, or hedonists perhaps.

To understand the meaning of life is to know first the purpose of our existence as well as the duties that we have to fulfill. And it is in fulfilling our duties and in serving our purpose that our lives become meaningful.

As humans, our purpose and our whole duty is to serve God. That duty is what gives meaning to our lives — without it, our lives become purposeless and meaningless. So, if we want our lives to be purposeful and meaningful, we have to spend it in serving God. And serving God means honoring Him and keeping His commandments.

May God bless you!

One of the fundamental doctrines that the Bible teaches God’s servants is to sing hymns of praises to Him. The practice of singing hymns to God dates back to the time of the Israelites, the early servants of God. And according to biblical accounts, they even used certain musical instruments, like psaltery, harp, and ten-stringed instruments to accompany them in singing. 

PSALM 92:1,3 (KJV)

Christians are likewise admonished to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. These songs are also a means of edifying, uplifting, and inspiring the brethren.

COLOSSIANS 3:16 (KJV)


And each time that we sing to God, we have to do it with grace in our hearts. Men, in general, are inherent lovers of music. Proof to this is the huge number of songs that are being written and sung practically for everyone and everything else.

For instance, there are songs meant for one’s country wherein patriotism, love, and loyalty to one’s motherland are expressed. In fact, every nation has its own national anthem which its citizens, young and old, sing before important ceremonies or proceedings begin. There are also songs dedicated to our beloved parents for their unconditional love and sacrifices. Catholics, on the other hand, have lots of songs meant to exalt Mary. There are songs expressive of astonishment and amazement at the beauty of nature and the universe. And there are also millions of songs that people sing for their friends and loved ones.

If we sing songs for all of them, with feelings and enthusiasm, isn’t it all the more fitting that we sing hymns to our Creator to express our faith, gratitude, praises, and appreciation for His lovingkindness? It doesn’t matter if we do not have very pleasing singing voices, or if we sing out of tune; what matters is that we are singing to God with sincerity and grace in our hearts.

We can be sure that even Christ and the apostles also sang hymns to God. The Bible does not give us any confirmation that the apostles had nice singing voices, but I truly believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has a sweet and fascinating voice — sweeter and more fascinating than any other voice man has ever heard.

Aside from being sweet-sounding, the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ carries with it a certain irresistible charm and authority that is recognized and obeyed by His flock of sheep.

JOHN 10:3-5 (KJV)


The sheep recognize, listen, and heed the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ — a manifestation that they are acknowledging Him as their Shepherd.

There is a video of a scientific test that proves the familiarity and obedience of literal sheep to the voice of their shepherd, and that they would not obey the voice of a stranger but only the voice of their real shepherd.


Three people attempted to call on the sheep grazing in the meadow. Although the men were at a hearing distance, not one sheep was alarmed by the call; not one of them manifested any sign of recognizing the men’s voices and there was not even the slightest bodily response from any of them. But when their real shepherd called them, they immediately responded to his call; they obeyed him because they knew his voice.

The “voice” of Christ being mentioned in JOHN 10:3-5 does not actually refer to the actual audible voice; the voice symbolizes His teachings and commandments.

The obedience of the literal sheep to the voice of their literal shepherd can be likened to the obedience of the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ to His voice or to His teachings. In other words, the real followers of Christ or the real Christians, do not just listen to His voice or to His teachings and commandments — they also follow them. And they would not follow any other teachings except Christ’s.

I came from a family of devout Catholics. My mother used to walk on her knees from the entrance of the Baclaran church all the way to the altar. My father and my grandparents, who hailed from Naguilian, La Union, were also devout Catholics.

All her life as a Catholic, my mother had been accustomed to priests reading a couple of verses during masses without giving any explanation to the verses that were read, and then proceeding with their storytelling. But when my mother heard the voice of Christ, that is, when she heard His teachings which she has never heard from the priests of the Catholic Church, she immediately responded to the voice of Christ. She departed from the Catholic Church and got herself baptized in the Church of God, where she continued fulfilling what Christ’s voice says. It only proves that if one person is among Christ’s flock of sheep, he or she will surely recognize His voice, and without hesitation, that person will follow Him.

I am certain that the voice of Christ is both sweet-sounding and captivating — this was why my mother’s interest was readily captured; she was not able to resist it.

On the other hand, I have no idea if the apostles possessed sweet-sounding voices, too. But what I am sure of is that they sang hymns and songs of praises to God, too.

MATTHEW 26:29-30 (KJV) says,


This is one instance when Christ and the apostles sang a hymn, after which, they went to the Mount of Olives. This was the night the Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed by Judas Iscariot.

Although we did not hear Christ’s audible voice personally, I firmly believe that the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most beautiful voice the world could ever hear. And the beauty of Christ’s voice can only be exceeded by the grandeur and magnificence of the Father’s voice. Peter, James, and John were able to hear the voice of the Father; and it was also heard by John the Baptist when he baptized the Lord Jesus Christ at the Jordan River, where He said, “...This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17, KJV)

One truth that nobody can contest is that the voices of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the sweetest, the most sublime, the most endearing, and the most captivating voices one could ever hear. And such qualities are clearly reflected in Their teachings. Amen.