100%	My score on the Antichrist quiz.

First experience today in cooking Banana blossom! I bought one in in AUP University Store. I went online to look for recipes, on how to cook it.
I removed the first leaves, removed the yellow tips, cut in small pieces and cooked, that's it!
Ah! No! I added soy sauce, turmeric, curry and ginger powder. Humm! Delicious!

Today is Pi day!
3.14159265358979323846264338327950288... and so on!
10,000 decimals here:
http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Pointless/PI-10000.html
And here you have the first 10 million decimals... just in case you need them:
http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Pointless/PI/PI-10000000.rar
Here is also a good one!
http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.com/

More on "The Good News of the judgment" or "Judgment in favor of the saints":
          We hear it more and more from the Adventist churches’ pulpits[1], this is the new Adventist fashion: God’ judgment is called the Good News of the judgment: the judgment is in favor of the saints, it is the Gospel of the judgment: “Alleluia! Rejoice, ye people!”

1.      And yet, Christ says that “He will spew us out of His mouth” Rev 3:16. This message is a denial, a rejection of God’s message to Laodicea.

2.      If the judgment is such good news, why God gave Ellen White the duty to write 100,000 pages full of warnings, exhortations, counsels denouncing the sins and the lukewarmness of God’s people? What about all the warning and admonitions of the Bible itself, especially for those living in the last days when Satan tries to deceive the very elect?

3.      Should we rejoice, as this Good News of Judgment implies, or should we “sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof” (Jerusalem, that is God’s people) as Ezekiel 9:4 says?  This verse is quoted many times by Ellen White in its application to the last days before the Second Coming[2].

4.      Does this message motivate me to search God with all my heart, my strength? No!

5.      Knowing that the judgment is in my favor will surely not motivate me for a revival of primitive godliness… In truth this message means, ‘I have nothing to worry about, life can continue as usual, I will go to heaven anyway because God’s judgment is already in my favor.’

6.      This message of “Good News of the judgment” is a lenient message of “peace and surety” denounced by the Bible  (Jer 6:14; 8:11; 1Thess 5:3) and by Ellen White[3]. It adds to the lukewarmness of the church.

7.      Why are we still in this world? Why Jesus did not come back yet? I hope you know that the delay is not on His part but on our part. We are delaying Jesus’ Second Coming, not because we do not rejoice in the so-called Good News of the Judgment (!), but for lack of preparedness.

Two quotes from Ellen White:

8.      “It was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be thus delayed…  It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord's professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years.” Manuscript 4, 1883.  {Ev 696.2}

9.       “There is an alarming condition of things in our churches. . . "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, Peace; when there is no peace".  11MR 287

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[1] I started to hear it in the 80’s.

[2] GC 657, HP 96, Mar 240, 3T267 (twice!), and so on.

[3] “When there is no peace” gets 21 hits in Ellen White Writings’ CD, Comprehensive Research Edition.

Last day of final exams. I had only one exam which was easy. I went to visit Mr. Gayoba, president of AUP. He is not interested in AUP giving lessons of freedom of religion to the mature college students.

First day of final exams. Three exams were on things we didn't cover in class or partially or didn't have material to review it. Two exams had questions in broken English difficult to understand and with multiple choice questions that were meaningless.
In the evening, one sister of the 7 siblings orphans visited us, we gave them some food and some counsels on health. We promised to visit them regularly.

A weakness in Adventist preaching nowadays is the lack of balance in presenting the judgment as good news: yes, the judgment is in favor of the saints, it is the Gospel of the judgment, we will be saved, “Alleluia!”…
And yet, Christ says that “He will spew us out of His mouth” Rev 3:16. If the judgment is such good news, why God gave Ellen White the duty to write 100,000 pages full of warnings, exhortations, counsels denouncing the sins and the lukewarmness of God’s people?

Should we rejoice, as Adventist preachers say, or should we “sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof” (Jerusalem, that is God’s people) as Ezekiel 9:4 says[1]?  This lack of balance in presenting the judgment affects our spiritual response to it:

Will it motivate me to search God with all my heart, my strength or not?
Knowing that the judgment is in my favor will surely not motivate me for a revival of primitive godliness…
If the judgment is in my favor I have nothing to worry about, life can continue as usual, I will go to heaven anyway.
This is not my understanding of Seventh-day Adventism and of our duty to prepare Jesus’ Second Coming.
This message of “Good News of the judgment” is a lenient message of “peace and surety” denounced by the Bible  (Jer 6:14; 8:11; 1Thess 5:3) and by Ellen White[2]. It adds to the lukewarmness of the church.

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[1] Ezek 9:4 is quoted many times by Ellen White in its application to the last days before the Second Coming: GC 657, HP 96, Mar 240, 3T267 (twice!), and so on.
[2] “When there is no peace” gets 21 hits in Ellen White Writings’ CD, Comprehensive Research Edition.

I had prepared a sermon on the life of Christ vs obedience, as means of salvation.
However during the Sabbath school I was asked to fill in and I mentioned part of my sermon (Christ in the wilderness, fasting) to help us have self-control.
Therefore I modified a little bit my sermon: I gave my testimony and spoke on righteousness by faith vs obedience to the law.
In the afternoon we visited a family of 7 siblings orphans in Puting Kahoy. Two of the sisters have been baptized and want to learn about God and about health.

We went to vespers tonight. We were allowed to listen to a 1-hour boring lecture on marriage. as I asked a student his feelings about it, he said thast it was a good opportunity to learn patience... and thank God for a lesson of patience.
    I think he is right attitude to have... if we cannot avoid to listen. We should always be thankful of our circumstances, they surely have a positive side. Character building is one of them.
As we went home, the night guard told us he had nobody to preach at Creekside church. He asked if I was willing to do it, and I said yes.

Last day of class today before the final exams next week. I also have a few homework to do such as in Philippine History course: a scrapbook of 10 historical Filipino sites with 10 photos and comments. An essay for the English communications & Arts course and the article review for the course on Daniel & Revelation.

Good news, I will be exempted of the final exam of the course Daniel & Revelation! However, the teacher gave us another article review to do. It's an article by Jiri Moskala about the judgment in the light of the cross. Moskala presents this teaching in its relation to the character of God and especially His love as revealed on the cross. The purpose of the article is to present the new idea of the judgment divided in seven phases centered on the cross. These seven phases together make up the unique and universal judgment of God. Traditionally, Seventh-day Adventists separate the judgment from the cross. Moskala has interesting new ideas especially that they are centered on the cross. The judgment is one of the most, if not the most, important doctrines of the Bible for our time[1]. Moskala’s ideas would have deserved to be published if he had not mixed them with the dangerous idea of “Good news of the judgment”

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[1] Rev 14:6,7

A superficial reading of Romans 7:14-25 gives the idea that, if Paul describes his post-conversion experience, then he can never have a victorious Christian life:  If such an interpretation is correct, we are immediately faced with the problem of harmonizing hundreds of other texts which assure us that we should live without sin.  Can you see what a serious issue this becomes for every one of us?

Concerning Romans 7:14-25:

            Paul was describing his own present (hence the use of present tense[1]) experience[2] with his sinful nature after his conversion.  There is no doubt however that Paul did not pretend that this experience was limited to him: quite the opposite.  He wrote it because it is the experience of any born again Christian.  His goal here is to warn the born again Christians from a spiritual pitfall: if they rely on their own strength to keep the law, it will be a failure as it was for him.  Well understood, this passage helps born again Christians realize that they should not rely on a 30-year old conversion experience to fight today’s battles.  But, a misunderstanding of the text has caused Christians to quote these verses to excuse or justify their shortcomings, their sins[3].  However, it is hard to believe that God would give in His own Word excuses to men's sins.  The Bible is encouraging Christians to progress in sanctification, toward perfection, until the Second Coming of Christ (Phil 1:6).  The more they will reflect Christ the more they will see their own defects and will go on in the sanctification process[4].  There are enough examples of weaknesses and failures in the lives of the men and women of the Bible, to not add a text that would tell Christians that there is no hope of getting out of this circle: sin, repentance, and confession, and again sin, repentance, confession … endlessly. 

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[1] Thomas A.  Davis, Romans for the Everyday Man, (Washington, DC: Review and Herald Publishing, 1971), 93

[2] F.  F.  Bruce, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.  B.  Eerdmans, 1963), 151; Curtis Vaughan, Bruce Corley, Romans, A Study Guide Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976), 87.

[3] Joe Crews, Square Circles and Carnal Christians, (Roseville, CA: Amazing Facts, 1980), 3

[4] Ellen White, Sanctified Life (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing, 1889), 7.2.

Today I am finishing the research on Romans. I found the quote of Martin Luther... without even have to look for it: it was in his "Commentary on Romans", at the chapter 7.

In Romans 7:14-25, Paul is describing the ‘old man’ that is still alive in every converted person, and he describes the new life in the Spirit in chapter 8. Paul means:  “if me, Paul, a converted Christian, who has passed through a born again experience, if I try to keep the law on my own strength (instead of relying on the Holy Spirit as any Christian should), then I will automatically arrive to a failure.  I have experienced that the Law is powerless to make anyone holy and I am describing such experience in these lines.”  When we remember that the sinful nature is still active in the converted Christians’ life, Romans 7:14-25 makes completely sense.  Not only it makes sense, but it helps Christians to remember their human frailty, their daily need to die to self and to be born again of the Holy Spirit... In his commentary on Romans 7:25, Luther describes well the two natures living in all Christians: ‘saints and sinners in the same time’ (‘simul justus est et peccat’ in Latin). 

First Sabbath of March 2013!
We went to the small church located Gate 2...
I was asked on the spot to participate in the teaching of the Sabbath school lesson...
The whole service was a blessing .

In the afternoon we went to listen to the Messiah of Haendel. It was great, we loved it.

The beginning of the oratorio

Tenor solo

The tenor solo

Psalm 24, the ascension of Christ to heaven.

The Alleluiah! Everybody stands before God.

The crowd behind us during the "Alleluiah" of Haendel

The last chorus, "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb!"

 
 

Today I am working on the last chapter of my research on Romans 7:14-25 for the "Theological Research" course. 
I found an interesting quote from A. T. Jones on the subject (even though it is in his "Studies on Galatians"!).

“Men are not saved by being delivered utterly from the flesh; but by receiving power to conquer and rule over all the evil tendencies and the desires of the flesh.”

       Alonzo T.  Jones, “Studies In Galatians”, Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, vol.  77, 38 (Hagerstown, MD: Review & Herald Publishing Association, 1900), 600.15.
  
I also need to find the reference for Martin Luther's famous words: ‘saints and sinners in the same time’.

We went to PIC for vespers. I will not comment the sermon, to not appear too negative... I will just say that PIC is the training place for speakers and has to be taken like this. Authorities are more interested in giving opportunities to speakers to exercise their skills (or lack of them) rather than in the salvation of the audience.