Tuesday, October 6, 2009

I asked My Prime Minister

I asked my Prime Minister,
You are always seeking foreign investment,
Why is it?


Our hotels are owned by foreigners,
Who feed our visitors foreign food,
And give them foreign music,

That there are two or more agencies,
Created by Jamaican Government,
To seek foreign investment,

Yet there is no small business Ministry.
Only a Ministry for large industry,

Though small businesses
Create the most employment
They are not the priority of Government,

Perhaps its is because, Prime Minister,
Small business owners do not fund your party,
And during election bids, they busy earning money,

Too busy to fund your campaigns and ads
Their money don't get you power,
For if Jamaicans were all entrepreneurs,
You would perhaps have no sponsor,

All your talk
Is job creation,
But through investment only,

You talk not of empowering
Jamaicans to create their own
Business opportunity.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Preserving Spiritual Identity

As I stay with my hosts in Canada, I realise how easy it is to lose one's spirituality. Prince Edward Island is a very beautiful island, and prosperous too. There is no crime, and I have been here for two days, and have not seen any police or security. I feel safe leaving my things and coming back to find them.

The people are courteous, and disciplined. Cars stop for pedestrians and people wait their turn. People seem to willingly follow rules here.

They have clean water, fresh air, they recycle, have good health care, grow organic food, depend upon agricultural produce and have zero traffic.

Yet, most of the people I have met do not practice traditional Christian practices. No prayers are said at meal times. No sessions are opened with prayer. People do not even mention God...although I heard someone mention "We trust the demo gods". They mention "Halleluah", but no reverence is held for Jesus or any deity by the persons I have met so far. (This could partly be due to the fact that I have only been interacting with university employees and academics so far though.)

The houses are also nice and the view lovely. There are trees in the town. There is a coastal view and beautiful well kept recreational areas for people to sit and enjoy. The civic spaces are lovely, and further, there are no drug addicts or beggars seen on the streets.

If poverty is in Charlottetown, you do not see it.

This place is a paradise in comparison to Jamaica.

Canadians seem to be very anti-war, and pride themselves as not being war mongering as the U.S. Further Canada has been reaching out to other developing states with research and funding. Their academics seem to have a real concern for the state of other developing states.


As I ponder what I observed, I started to wonder if religion really is the cause of the existing ills. Could Richard Dawkins be right?


Now I reflect on the words of First Fruits of Zion's Weekly eDrash for 24 September 2009:
"Prosperity often places a greater obstacle between us and God than poverty does. The poor man looks to God for help continually. The prosperous man can find it easy to forget about God."


Right away, I saw how easy it was for me to forget God in that environment, especially if I did not go out of my way to attend church.

Once again, God has reaffirmed to me the importance of his sabbaths. They are necessary to preserve spirituality and spiritual identity. To preserve an awareness of our calling, destiny and purpose. That man should not live by bread alone, but eagerly seeking his words in the seasons that he has appointed. It is these very words at his appointed times that sustain us.


Work Cited:

First Fruits of Zion"Spiritually Flabby." Weekly eDrash. 24 September 2009.

Being called for the Cabinet

The following is a mixture of the sermon delivered from the keynote speaker from a DVD video - Mr. Roderick Meredith and my own understanding or translation and rewording of what he said and what I heard. I just wanted to share this with you.

Mr. Roderick Meredith has been observing the feast for 61 years. Despite a few disagreements that I had which I omitted, I share his perspective on the meaning of Feast of Tabernacles to Christians.

Speaker: Robert Meredith
Denomination: The Living Church of God
Location: Holiday Inn Express, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Occasion: Opening night of the Feast of Tabernacles
Date: Friday, October 2, 2009
Theme: Bridge Between Worlds
URL: http://www.lcgcanada.org/
URL for Canada: http://www.lcgcanada.org/


The speaker began with Revelation 11:15 - saying that people in choirs sing this song but do not take it seriously, as they always celebrate Jesus as a baby. When Jesus is a Warrior king seated at the right hand of God.

People are still thinking of Mary as being a virgin, when she should no longer be represented as a virgin. She went on to have other physical children with Joseph, hence providing Jesus with physical brothers. Satan wants us to perceive of Jesus and Mary this way so that he can distract us from Jesus kingship and authority.

In Zechariah 14, this Warrior king will fight and put a stop to wars, and use force to subjugate dictators and warmongers. Then all the nations of the earth, or at least their representatives will be coming up to physical Jerusalem to observe or keep the Feast of Tabernacles. They will not just come to observe the Jews celebrate it, but will come to celebrate it of themselves. Those who fail to do so will be severely punished.

It is through this festival that God and Jesus would have us rather remember. This is how Christ would have us represent him and remember him.

Early Christians kept the feast of Tabernacles, until the Dark Ages. During the Dark Ages, Satan crushed this truth out of Christianity.

All of God's festivals are important to picture the plan of God and his truth. All were given to the Jews in advance to portray Jesus centuries ahead of time. Passover was given to portray his death and sacrifice.

Feast of Tabernacles was also given to portray Christ as King. In fact, when the Jews kept it centuries ago, they reminded themselves that they were strangers and pilgrims, looking for the kingdom of God. Christians today, should have the same mindset, and Feast of Tabernacles helps to remind us of this reality.

It also reminds us of the Exodus from Egypt, where not all made it to the promised land. However it took overcomers to make it.

Jesus also promises us in Revelations 2:26, that those who keep Christ's work until the end, and overcomes, will receive power over the nations.

Contrary to popular Christian view, Christ wants to take us as a class of rulers in the earth and not heaven. We are not going to be called to sit down and do nothing. It is not just about music and singing in heaven, but rather we shall operate as a ruling class in governing the nations of the earth. In Revelations 5:10, the Bible declares that God has selected us to be priests and kings unto himself. Jesus is a king of Kings, ad has a cabinet. We in overcoming, will be a part of that cabinet of leaders, that assist God in ruling and bringing justice unto nations and to peoples, also teaching them, representing them and maintaining the order in the theocracy.

In Psalms 72 - the King's son shall judge the people and those who are poor, changing the economic relations in the earth and bringing world peace. Kings and other leaders will visit the king's son and bring him gifts.

We are called to be his, Jesus, the king's son, the heir to the Davidic throne. His representatives. He has called us now, out of the world, to learn, grow and develop the mind of Christ, so that we can serve as his officials and represent him. In order for us to achieve this, we need to study, pray, meditate and fast, until we are able to overcome, and have his character in us. Only when we are like him in thought, values and heart, can we be his representatives and earn a place in his cabinet.


So the message for this season: You are being called out to grow, learn and develop the mind of Messiah, in order to be in his Cabinet.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

An eye for an eye: Commentaries on today's application

On my trip to Canada, a Jew was seated beside me on the airplane to Montreal. I was delighted to see him take out a book with Hebrew writings on the cover. Later he took out his skull cap. It felt good to have a man of the book beside me.

I later asked him if what he was reading was the Torah. He told me that it was part of the Talmud. This lead to us having a conversation about the Talmud and how it differs from the Torah.

My Jewish friend then told me that the Torah is the Bible, at least the Old Testament part thereof. He stated that the Talmud came after and was the explanation of the words of Torah.

The Torah according to the Jew was very general. The Talmud on the other hand, is very specific and speaks to the application of Torah to life.

In explaining or illustrating this point, the Jew referred to the command eye for eye (Exodus 21:24) saying that that is not to be taken literally.
I said "really? I thought it was literally."

Then he explained that the principles there spoke to determining or evaluating the damage that a person causes to another, and attempting to attach a price to or on that damage that someone did to another. Thus he argues that what the Bible advocates here is principles for the valuation of justice. Based on this view, the Jew made it seem s if this law applied to Judges in a court of law.

Regarding my discussion with the Jew, what came home to me from his talk was that we who are imitators of Christ, must always take responsibility where we have wronged someone and seek to make a judgement about how much we must compensate the person for the wrongs that we have done them.

Also, Jesus in his commentary on the passage, declares that we must not go to court to get justice, nor look to man or judges to give us justice. Even if the person has wronged us and has an obligation to compensate us, we must not look to them for that compensation, but rather be willing to forgive the person and be as God the Father, who is ever willing to have mercy on those who have wronged him, even when they have not given him what he is due.

(See: Matthew 5:38-48)

Monday, September 28, 2009

The Spiritual value of Work

Recently, a friend of mine posted a comment on her Facebook status:


This is madness, I just realised that my job takes up all of my life and the only time I have for myself is on Sabbath. This is not a good sign. I'm losing out on my life- enjoyment, love and sleep.
Coupled with this is the current controversy in Jamaica where the Government wants to expand the gambling industry by permitting horse racing and betting on Sundays (Clarke).

All these issues have motivated me to reflect on work and its G-d given purpose.



God commanded us to work and labour. In Exodus 20:9, God declares "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work" (See also Deuteronomy 5:13).


Work is a God's approved way for human beings to acquire money, services, and goods. God has so designed it that there are benefits to be derived from work. God intends that we be rewarded for our work. His law sanctions that work (productive endeavour) must bear fruit.

Proverbs 10:16 - The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.

Ecclesiastes 4:9 - Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. - Work done by more than one person will produce greater results than work done by one person.


Proverbs 14:23 - In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. - What ever labour is undertaken, humanity can stand to benefit.

Those who do not work, will suffer severe consequences.

Proverbs 21:25 - The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.

Proverbs 12:24 - The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute. - Those who are lazy will be indebted to others.

Proverbs 12:27 The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious. - Those who are hardworking will own valuable things. The lazy however, will have to live on handouts or borrowed goods and not on things that they own.

Proverbs 15:19 - The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.

Those who are not productive, will lose everything that they do own or have (Matthew 25:26-28).



Work produces products or results
Psalm 105:44 - And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people; -

The products of labour can be inherited. They are tangible and can be passed on to others.


I concur with this part of the statement issued by the Jamaica Council of Churches (Encourage honest work):

"We cannot build our society on gambling. We must affirm the dignity of our people and encourage them to use their God-given gifts and abilities to work for an honest "bread" and for the development of our society."




Work Cited:

Clarke, Orville. "Sunday racing begins November." Jamaica Gleaner 17 Sep 2009, Web.


"Encourage honest work, church bodies tell Gov't." Jamaica Gleaner 22 Sep, 2009, Web.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080217/focus/focus6.html

Friday, September 18, 2009

The Bible and Meditation

I began reading this book: "Meditation and the Bible" written by a Jewish physicists and rabbi, Aryeh Kaplan.


Aryeh Kaplan advocates that the prophets in the Bible did meditation to enable themselves to be used by God to bring forth prophetic revelations. Kaplan argues that while there are two ways to get oneself in mystical states, through drugs and through meditation, the Bible only gives evidence that the prophets got to their states through meditation.

When the person who lent me the book told me about it, I said that that was New Age stuff. The person, who is one of my Jewish students, pointed out to me that David in the Psalms declares that he meditates on God's word.

As I pondered her words, it later occurred to me that since the Devil cannot come up with any original idea, then it must mean that New Age meditation must be a counterfeit of something authentic. Based on this line of reasoning, there is a meditation that is good and not all meditation is "new age". Through this interaction with I realised that New Age is just counterfeiting G-d's Bible recommended meditation.


In the book, the Rabbi - Kaplan, gives us authentic techniques used by the prophets, including getting up in the night or in the early morning separating yourself from people (isolation). Another technique mentioned is just studying nature and marveling at God's works through nature (G-d's creation). Also, the use of music is mentioned. Kaplan suggests that there are hints of these techniques through out the Psalms.

All this got me thinking about what Jesus did to make himself so available to be used by God. What made Jesus so connected to his Father was a mixture of obedience and the practice of meditation, that lead to complete surrender.

I believe Biblical Meditation frees us from the world's distractions and opens hearts and minds to God. That is the difference between Biblical Meditation and New Age Meditation, which depends on drugs, vain repetitions of words, while using several of the authentic techniques used by God's prophets. The Hippies for instance definitely sought to spend time in nature, clear their mind of all distractions and used music.


I want to see how God's meditation differ from the hippies or Satan's counterfeit. Let us read the Bible and see, wherever the term meditates occurs. If you can, browse Kaplan's book. I will let you know more as I go along, and whatever new insights comes up from my discoveries.


Reference:

Kaplan, A. (1988). Meditation and the Bible. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The Antichrist agenda of UNESCO

Before you label me now as a maniac, let me just state that I am very sorry to have to expose this truth to the world. I have good friends who work in UNESCO, and the organisation is a very good one, sponsoring very good programmes.

However, as it is with this age, where events are rapidly culminating towards the coming of the lawless one (2 Thessalonians 2:9), any organisation or world event will be used to create and establish the New World Order.

UNESCO is just one of those organisations.

In my early twenties I was taught by my teachers that the Catholic church would be the vehicle in establishing the New world order. However, today the L-RD has given me the wisdom to see that there are so many organisations that are behind the scenes working to establish the Satanic kingdom or order on earth. I will post further comments on this issue. But for now please view the truth about how UNESCO fits into the anti-christ agenda.

To all Christian mothers, it is time to home school your children and not to follow the world and conform to their beliefs that the woman should be working outside of the home. Remember Romans 12:2:

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.