Reformed Blogging

Malachi is the book that often brings my thoughts on the tithes and offerings. However, we're not under the age of tithing but cheerful giving. The Jewish priests in Malachi were getting condemned with Malachi in the following verses: Malach 1:6-14 6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? 7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. 8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. 9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? sait...

Ezekiel 34 starts off with an introduction about the worthless shepherds. These words are indeed very condemning towards the spiritual status of the shepherds of Israel: And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the LORD God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. 4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 6 My sheep wandered throu...

Years ago, I remembered a song called "Stand in the Gap" from Praise Worship. The song's theme was taken from the verse Ezekiel 22:30 which God laments that no one was willing to stand in the gap. This was a defying expectation when Ezekiel from the Tribe of Levi became that person to stand in the gap. Israel and Judah were practically in exile. Before Ezekiel, others had stood in the gap. A good example is Moses of the Tribe of Levi who also interceded with God not to destroy the hard-headed people who were having an idolatrous feast in Exodus 32. Later, Aaron (the first high priest) acted like a person to stand in the gap in Numbers 16 after those who joined Korah's rebellion fell into Hell alive. Ezekiel as a Levite would be familiar with that story of Aaron and Moses that well due to his Levite heritage. Why has it become a very hard task to stand in the gap on behalf of the land? It takes extreme patience. I would hate to be in Jeremiah's shoes as the prophet...

Eli Soriano was a self-proclaimed man of God and founder of the Members Church of God International (MCGI) and the guy running the "Ang Dating Daan" program. He died a week ago and I've had issues with this false preacher. Some people think he's a glorified man of God. However, Soriano has had many unbiblical preachings. If you're going to get into the Word of God - you will see that the late Soriano has a very high chance that he's burning in Hell right now. This is not to rejoice in that fact since God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. This is to serve as a warning to living members of his movement to repent and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. His hiding in Brazil was probably due to a lot of pending cases. In short, I'd like to assume that he died a fugitive. God's wrath finally hit on him eventually. Soriano himself really frustrates the Gospel with words like: "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of yo...

At first, it seems the late Jack Hyles is a man of God and a champion of the Christian faith. It's been 20 years since he died at the age of 74. It's a very touchy, controversial subject on whether or not Hyles was a man of God or a wolf in sheep's clothing. Hyles, like the late Alberto R. Rivera (who was never a former Jesuit priest), is a man who gets hailed as a hero but ends up having lots of dirty secrets. The life story of Rivera as a so-called former Jesuit priest was later exposed in a book called "The Alberto Rivera Story" by the late Roy Livesey. Later, Hyles' decades of deception were unwrapped and I myself had a hard time believing that he, like Rivera, was a fraud. It was hard to believe that a fundamentalist Baptist like David W. Cloud of Way of Life Literature would label Hyles as such. Was Hyles just truly maligned with misinformation by some magnificent Jesuit scheme or Jesuit-engineered demolition job or was he truly a man of Satan pretending...

The verse of the day in the Tecarta Bible Application led me to Isaiah 30. The two particular verses that got my attention namely verses 9-10 which says the following: 9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: 10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. This has me thinking about today's problem of people with rebellious people and lying children, children who not hear the Law of the LORD is nothing new. Why do you think the true prophets of God are without the honor of men in their country? A true prophet of God tells the hard truth like it is. Why do you think Jeremiah was not a popular figure? It was because Jeremiah definitely was not the type who would do what the rebellious wanted. Hananiah got popular because he spok...

I'm amazed at how Christian bookstores have some discernment issues to do. It's not just the selling books by Joel Osteen but also by John Hagee . At first, Hagee seems to be a normal preacher and a man of God. However, Hagee ends up in several bizarre theologies one way or another. One is the dual covenant theology which denies the Jews' need for Jesus. The idea that Jews don't need Jesus is utterly foolish . Jesus preached to the Jews their need for salvation. If that were true then John 8:44 wouldn't be true? Jesus was calling unsaved Jews as children of the Devil. Several unsaved Jews were also inventors of evil things proving that Jews too need Jesus to be saved from their sins. Yet, Hagee himself denies that. Any unsaved Jew is heading straight for Hell with any unsaved Gentile! Now, we've got Hagee with his latest sermon called "Coronavirus: Dress Rehearsal for the New World Order". This is really no better than the fundamentalist insanity broug...

I remembered how a Feng Shui master ended up predicting it wrong when he said that 2020 will be a prosperous year. It was a prosperous year only for the COVID-19 disease but not for people. Now, I even read that the Year of the Metal Rat always had a disaster in China for every 60 years. Some of these disasters historically recorded are the First Opium War, Boxer Rebellion, Great Chinese Famine, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Some Feng Shui masters predicted the disaster but should we trust them? My answer is no because God has given His warning that there are times he allows false prophets to predict something real. Remember Balaam uttered the words that a star out of Jacob will arise and Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus will die for the nation. Deuteronomy 13:1-2 says that there will be a time when God will allow false prophets to utter the truth to test the people. I think there are reasons why God allows fortune-tellers of any kind to get the truth at times. In the case of Balaam, it was...

I've begun my study on Jude and I thought about other Greek words revealed from "Thru the Bible Commentary". Now, it's time to do another study on a verse that would warn about false teachings. Jude who calls himself the brother of James (I believe this is the earthly maternal half-brother of Jesus) had written his short epistle. James wrote a longer one than Jude. However, we can't dismiss Jude at all! Jude 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (KJV)  For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (ESV)  For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among...

Sometimes, some people in the Bible are mentioned only once or a few times and never again. Who can remember Mattias who replaced Judas Iscariot? He was only mentioned a few times and we know nothing of him in contrast to the Apostle Paul. Paul has mentioned a couple of names in his epistles and we never see them again. John himself has also mentioned names too such as Gauis, Demetrius, and Diotrephes in his third epistle. 3rd John mentions the wicked man Diotrephes. 9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. 10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. 11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. (KJV)  9 I have written...

It's very easy to ignore books in the Bible with only one chapter, right? I was thinking about the letter of John to an unknown elderly lady. Perhaps, this woman was faithful but was under persecution so she wasn't named. The Bible is rather silent about who she is and her circumstances. The letter had a commendation and an admonition.  7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed : The unknown elderly woman was admonished probably because she had received false teachers into her house. Th...

I had done my Bible study on 1 Peter (and I may backtrack a bit on the writings) and got into 2 Peter. I was reading through Vernon McGee's "Thru the Bible Commentary" and found out about the Greek word plastos . Doesn't that sound like plastic? Plastic was something not invented yet in Peter's time yet the word plastos was already used. We do have the term plaster (not the band-aid) which is used to make sculptures. The word plastos would later give us the words plastic and plaster. Plastic is a synthetic material that's used in sculpting things. Today, we've got plastic stuff to go along with a lot of stuff though it concerns me at how too many plastics and its improper disposal (instead of recycling) can also be harmful to the environment. The Greek word plastos is used in 2 Peter 2:3 for the word "feign" in the King James Version (KJV). Meanwhile, the English Standard Version (ESV) uses the word "false" and the New Internation...