Mount Sinai??

Jesus People Pray That False Idol Will Save God’s Economy

More Photos & Videos From Yesterday’s Sacrilege Wall Street Bull Prayer

Financial tsunami brought some people closer to God, and yet they brought these people away from God, or maybe these people were never close to God.

"Financial tsunami"

Other than increasing sale of safes and second hand shops, according to the news yesterday, more people are going to church to pray after the collapse of the markets.

The news report said people are praying for the market, even though I don't think God is gonna boost up the market any time soon, it is encouraging to see God using this chance to get people to turn back to Him, and stop relying on their own power and wealth. (despite losing so much money myself... =P)

Psalms 3

[0] A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
[1] O LORD, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
[2] many are saying of me,
there is no help for him in God. [Selah]
[3] But thou, O LORD, art a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
[4] I cry aloud to the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy hill. [Selah]
[5] I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
[6] I am not afraid of ten thousands of people
who have set themselves against me round about.
[7] Arise, O LORD!
Deliver me, O my God!
For thou dost smite all my enemies on the cheek,
thou dost break the teeth of the wicked.
[8] Deliverance belongs to the LORD;
thy blessing be upon thy people! [Selah]

v3-4: David's prayer
v5 God's answer, after that David suddenly changed, how did God answer David's prayer? By letting him SLEEP! It's not easy to fall asleep while you're in the run. However, in v5, the original Hebrew translation, it is something like, "I, I lay down and then fell asleep, and I woke up." This is how David knew God is with him, and he was no longer afraid after that.

Bring our focus back to God, and see God's presence within simple experiences. God did not speak to David through visions/dreams. Trust God.

David did not pray that God kill his enemy (as he did in other Psalms), just slap them or break their teeth (so that they can no longer bite others maybe).

In v8, he prayed that God blessed His people, but in this case, the rebellion of Absalom, the people are his enemies! Can we pray like that?

Psalms 2

Ps.2
[1] Why do the nations conspire,
and the peoples plot in vain?
[2] The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and his anointed, saying,
[3] "Let us burst their bonds asunder,
and cast their cords from us."
[4] He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the LORD has them in derision.
[5] Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
[6] "I have set my king
on Zion, my holy hill."
[7] I will tell of the decree of the LORD:
He said to me, "You are my son,
today I have begotten you.
[8] Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
[9] You shall break them with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
[10] Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
[11] Serve the LORD with fear,
with trembling
[12] kiss his feet,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way;
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

We are unfamiliar with the historical settings of Psalms 2. This is NOT about Jesus, v7 "You are my son, today I have begotten you." is the kind of language used during the crowning of a king. It is about the time when Solomon became king of Israel. (That's when the nations conspired to attack the anointed.)

This is such a political psalms. We are so used to the idea of the separation of church and state. Church is pure and politics dirty. This is so not the case.

Even in God's church, we see all these problems. What should we do in these cases? How can we pray for politics? How can we pray for our church politics?

Look and see what God is doing! God has already set his king. (v6)

We should NOT limit God to what we want, and ask for God's will. Learn to submit to God's will. Even when the church is ruled by THAT pastor! If we don't want to listen to God, pray that we are willing to.

That's what God means when He said, "for everyone who asks receives."

Psalms 1

Summary of what I learnt from the class "Learning to Pray thro Psalms"

All the psalms are prayers themselves, it is like the Book of Common Prayers used in the Anglican Church, you may be surprised if you seriously think about it, Psalm 1 is a prayer, what is the writer praying about?

[1] Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
[2] but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
[3] He is like a tree
planted by streams of water,
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
[4] The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff which the wind drives away.
[5] Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
[6] for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

This is exactly how Jesus told us to pray, to pray for God's kingdom and His righteousness. Forget about our own agenda, forget about the weather/Jabez prayer.

Remember how the Lord's Prayer mainly focused on God, and when Jesus used "our daily bread" from Proverbs 30, note that the original writer did not just pray that he will not be poor, also he WILL NOT GET RICH!

[7] Two things I ask of thee;
deny them not to me before I die:
[8] Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
[9] lest I be full, and deny thee,
and say, "Who is the LORD?"
or lest I be poor, and steal,
and profane the name of my God.

Do not treat our God as another one of those traditional Chinese idols like Guan Yin for us to borrow from her bank ("借庫"), not treat the church as a regular Temple, and stop speculating in the market to try to get rich.

It is a particularly striking message at this time when the financial market is in a turmoil and everyone is talking about money. Pray about God's kingdom and righteousness, NOT our own agenda. Pray for our willingness to submit to God's will.

If Jesus Came Today, He Wouldn't Be a Christian

Found this here while surfing the web



I love Jesus
And Jesus loves me
I know all about him
Because I’ve got a PhD
Studying Religion and Church History
And the development of Christology
From its pre-Christian origins
To the Council of Chalcedon
In 451 - Yeah!

If I could make a machine
To travel back in time
I’d go to the first century
And live in Palestine
I could talk to John the Baptist
And Rabbi Hanina Ben Dosa
I’d find St Paul
And punch him in the head
Then I’d talk to Jesus
And listen to everything he said - Yeah!

I’m sure that Jesus
Must be turning in his grave
When he sees those
Who are preaching in his name
If Jesus came today he wouldn’t be a Christian
No, he’d probably be a liberal Jew
That’s why I don’t want to be a Christian
Just a follower of Jesus
… Or maybe just a Buddhist - Yeah!

Environment & Religion

As I have said in my other blog, I found this really great show about environmental protection, and I just watched an excerpt on its website about religion and environment.

It's interesting to see these Jewish children learning about trash instead of the Torah. =)

What I learnt from my Spiritual Theology Class

I guess I'm in search of some kind of theology I can identify with in the Spiritual Theology Course, I think I found it in one of the classes, and surprisingly it's the kind of theology closer to me than I think (I've come to dislike many of the stuff typical evangelicals believe in... sigh...)

The topic was the Reformed Tradition with a particular concentration on Calvin. (These are all my understanding from the lecture itself, so whatever gets wrong, it's my fault .=P) For Calvin, being "spiritual"means submitting to God whatever He gives us. His providence is always the best.

For Charismatics (or even evangelicals), when you got sick, you thank God when you get cured. (Yeah, we sang the song about thanking God for the thorns of the roses, how many of us pray for that? I really don’t want to pray like this coz I don’t want to get stuck by thorns =P.) For Calvin, he has got this conviction that God's will whatever it is-- is good, so you can praise God whatever the circumstances.

We leave our personal desires. Instead of praying for what we want, we ask God's will to be done. (That doesn't mean God's will is not always done, but this means we are actually asking ourselves to submit to God's will.)

God may not heal is, that's not the point.

Some charismatics suggest that we should tell God what we want specifically, but the lecturer told us it might be because he’s lazy, but he just asked God to help mould him into a good father, and as to how to be a good father, it’s up to God to decide. It’ll be really terrible if our desires all turn into reality. =P (haha, this is exactly how I usually pray like, maybe I’m lazy, but why should I name all these stuff I think is good for God?? =P)

The lecturer said he was invited to dinner by a sister from church, whose mother got a stroke long ago and became a Christian, but her mom still remained unhappy, because she could not forgive someone. Then just before that dinner, that sister said her mom was much happier recently and asked the pastor to pray for her. He forgot what he prayed about, but after a while her mom died. Then the sister came and talked to him and thanked him, because she had been thinking about this for a while, her mom was happy and didn’t have much to do in the world anymore, maybe it’s time for her to rest in God. And that day when the pastor prayed for her, he prayed that if it’s God’s will, then let her rest. He jokingly said others’ prayers brought healing while his brought death. =P

Some thinks that the idea of predestination makes people lazy in evangelism, but Calvinists' effort in evangelism was more than that of the Lutherans.

And one important aspect of predestination, is whatever your work is, the effect is from God. Not us! Otherwise it’ll be really scary, whether someone would believe in God depends on us, who make so many mistakes and error?!

Blog Action Day 2008

Textbooks

Look at these required readings from the NT course...