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Kage-Bunshin. I'm multiplying!

The Devil hates it when you pray. He is disgusted when you get closer and closer to God. He loathes it when you are doing your best to make the most of your life.

But when you multiply, HE TREMBLES! The more people praying, the more he is made powerless. The more people drawing close to God, the weaker and less fulfilled he is.

I believe that the thing Satan hates the most is when the children of God multiply. That's why, among all things Satan will destroy, he will prioritize stopping your evangelism and discipleship! Or he will strike the head so that the followers not firmly established will be swept away...

This month, God is really multiplying our network. He is doing so by multiplying the multipliers. Yes, He is raising up leaders in our network; cell leaders to be exact. And He is mobilizing the members to really support the leaders! The members themselves are CAUGHT by the vision!


God, YOU ARE AWESOME! This is my shout-out to You! You really are passionate and very eager to bring us all back to You!

Lord, let Your presence always be with us! You are all I want. Wisdom, power, anointing, skill, charisma, gifts, favor... they come from You but they can never compare to You!

You're all I want. You're all I need. You're everything...

Xmas

About thinking about Christmas, a thought passed my mind of it being a “Roman” holiday. After all, it seems to me that the Catholics were the ones who pushed Jesus’ birth to the 25^th of December. So, yeah, I thought. Christmas is a Roman holiday.

Seems innocuous... seems legit.

Kinda interesting in a morbid way that a Roman holiday is when a person is butchered to give the crowd some sick pleasure. Thank you, dictionary!

But it’s not about Christ being butchered, is it? It’s about his birthday right?... or is it?

‘Cause, whenever I hear about people talking about the so-called “Spirit of Christmas”, I hear stuff like it’s about happiness, and love, and family, and giving, and harmony, and all kinds of stuff that are good... but I don’t hear Jesus nor Christ...

It’s supposed to be “Christ’s Mass”, right? Derived from Old English?

Frankly, I don’t believe that Jesus was born on December 25... That this Christmas thing is just a Catholic move to make the ancient people forget about some Roman pagan holiday...

But still, I don’t think we’re doing this right! I thought, even as an atheist back then, that this day ought to be for Christ, hence the name of the day... that a day allotted for him once a year should at least be celebrated for him.

The Catholic propaganda apparently didn’t work out... for both Christ and Sol Invictus were scrapped in favor of Santa Claus, who had a much better marketing scheme. I mean, why celebrate someone else’s birthday when you could be the one receiving the gifts?

I’m sorry, St. Nicholas, but your noble saintly life filled with sincere generosity has made the world forget about the birthday boy. Now, the Savior’s day is filled with plights of kids cursing their parents for disappointing them of their hopes of getting their hands on some iPad 2’s or some gaming consoles, or whatever luxury “needs” they are. Oh, Twitter and Facebook could testify for that!

The world is still about the ka-ching ka-ching and the ba-bling ba-bling.

Well, Jesus is corny anyway. He is uncool, and for the religious nutcases only... so let’s just cross out his name instead and call this day Xmas, shall we?

...sigh.

The Catholic church seriously has some explaining to do... and oh, sorry for the one-sided rants to push the blame on you. It’s unfair. I believe the whole Christendom owes the world some heartfelt explanation. Although I think our side of Christianity is doing a good job at this. (One-sided indeed?)

But hey, this post is not about sparking some debates... no... this is not about brainwashing non-adherents to fear and tremble before the dogmatic day....

I just want to express my gratitude to the One who was butchered for me to have a comfortable and assured life. To Him who gave no regard to His own life and could care less about His birthday, thank you so much. I have a not-perfect, yet very wonderful life. I am blessed with a great family. I am graced with lots of gifts and goodies. I am pampered so much more than half the population of this country. And I am so privileged to have come to know You personally in my life, though I profess my knowledge of You is still very much close to nil compared to all there is about You.

And for this day, I know that those who really appreciate Your day are those not strangled or reeled by the estrangements of dogma and religion. I hope that when You look at us, You find more people who appreciate You than what we could expect to count. Yeah, like those wise men from the east! Kudos to them for being faithful to their Algebra homework, ‘cause apparently they’ve found X!

I offer You my apologies, for being one of those people who don’t appreciate You as You should be... I’m a ranting hypocrite, and I am sorry. This Christmas, I don’t wish for anything this world could offer... nada! I ask that this true spirit of Christmas possess me all the days of my life, that I love the people of this world as You do and live my life as a happy sacrifice all the days of my life. That I embody Your legacy, and that You will always be my inspiration for all You want me to achieve!

Oh, and happy birthday, Sir Isaac Newton! You are not forgotten. But I think we are nearing a time when gravity is not true anymore. Ah, life.

Painful Twenty-Two

If I'm sad now, I'm sad because of that ever-elusive image of a man who I want to become; an image I always fall short of. I'm sad because of this leash. I'm sad because of this virtual box; it has no walls but I can't get out. It's an asymptote of a wall; I'm getting nearer but I can't get past, let alone even touch it. Excellence for me is a pursuit; a bare-footed pursuit of a 150 mph train.

I'm sad because I fail. I fail at my attempts on being a paragon of Christ. I fail at my efforts to change the world around me. My fire was burning, but now it's doused.

However, these thoughts on my sadness are rather enlightening ones. Because I don't give my life to the bandwagon called the status quo. Because I lay my life for a purpose higher than me. Because I'd rather die than do the world a disservice... than do my Lord a disservice.

Although I'd rather die now. I've fulfilled the conditions of my latter point.

Nevertheless, as long as I still breathe, as long as I am graced with life, I don't care if my continued existence is a gift or a curse, I won't stop trying, even if it means failing all the time.

If I'm sad now, it's true. And my years too. All of them, twenty-two, are fickle. Not worth a spectacle. Not worth an epitaph. Compared to the glorious riches in Christ, compared to the passion and heartbeat of God, compared to that realm not bound by the mind and the dreams and prayers of the saints not bound by time, my life is as dirty as the word "shit" is going to be, in imagery, in reality and in profanity.

I am sad. I'm disappointed. I'm tired. But I'm not unloved.

If the whole world despises me, except a single person, I'd feel happiness. I'd feel strength! I'd feel courage to go on! I'd feel warmth and inspiration! For that one person, I'd continue to exist. I'd continue to walk. Heck, I might even run, or drag my body as I crawl forward!

And the people who love me... they're plural! And they're doing their best to cheer me up!

And I know God always loves me! How beautiful is the word "unfailing"! The Godhead has never rejected me, nor does He have future plans of doing so!

So for this twenty-third year, I'm still here. I might not be a few days from now. Perhaps God won't use me anymore. Perhaps I won't be needed anymore. I might even get discarded.

But as long as I'm here, I'll still dedicate my life for this higher cause. With a broken heart right now, yes, but not with a broken pair of legs!

Pursue love, desire spiritual gifts

1 Corinthians 13
In the last verse of chapter 12, Paul tells us that he will show us "a more excellent way". He wrote this after discussing the spiritual gifts. Then, in this chapter he wrote that everything is meaningless without love. Love is the greatest gift!
Desire it! Desire to have the greatest love of all!
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NKJV) "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

(1 Corinthians 14:1 NKJV) "Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy."

Desire to preach the Gospel!

(1 Corinthians 9:16, 17 NKJV) "For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship."
Woe to people who do not preach the Gospel. It doesn't matter if you want to or not, but I pray that you'll desire it! It's one of the greatest and most fulfilling vocations out there, and you are missing out on a great deal if you don't enjoy and give your best in evangelism!

Endure... all things!?

(1 Corinthians 9:12 NKJV) "If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?
Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ."
What struck me here is the last part. "...endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. Christianity is not about Christ. The moment your rights end is the the moment Christ rises up in your life. Christianity is about spreading the Gospel. Yes we still have our rights. But we lay them down of our own accord if they will hinder the Gospel. If not, then exercise your rights! Nothing's wrong with it!