Three Men One God

If you are a Christian, the probability is you know this person. Billy Graham. He was such an influential man of God who seek to lead the lost to Christ. He was a friend of many U.S presidents, had been an active evangelist not just in America but throughout the world. I've learned from his life that I need to focus my life on what matters most. You focus on the wrong thing and you miss the will of God in your life. He has been used by God in leading lost souls at His feet. I salute this man. I also learned that he is people-oriented. He loves the company of people while his wife is the prayer warrior. His wife loves to know the details of every person while Graham loves to preach in a crowd. They may have differences but put together what a nice team they make. God indeed is at work in his life.

He paved the way so that other missionaries will be able to go to Africa. He was such a man of action and strategy. No one should miss how he was half eaten by a lion and he survived. History says that His heart was left in Africa and his body to Blantyre. He made a huge impact in the life of the people in Africa. He fought for the abolition of slave trade and he did not live to see it but praise God because after he died, slave trade was abolish. I've learned from his life that you need to do what you know is God's will even if you cannot see for yourself the result. Trust that the Lord sees what you are doing and God is able to make all things work together for good.

 Prince of preacher was his title. You maybe wondering why but you shouldn't because truly he is. If people would try to look at his background, who would have ever thought of him to become like what he was now. He is truly a man who trusted God and God alone. His sermons speaks directly to the very core of the heart of men. As I've seen and heard and read about his life and his stand for God I can not help but salute him for his understanding of God and Christianity. He practices what he preaches.


-----------------Makes Me Think :)

CHANGE: Age of Reason to Pietism

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”
– Carl Jung

Reason, reason, reason... People think and they think a lot. Their thinking expanded until they thought beyond themselves and they thought they are the center of the universe. They become so worldly and they started to trust in their own reason instead of trusting to the source of reason,understanding and wisdom.

This is where Pietism started. There were at least for important figures during this time, Phillip Jakob Pener, Nicolaus Ludwig, the Moravians and Leonard Duber. The common ground of these people is they wanted to have a personal renewal, an individual growth in holiness and religion experience.

This desire is good but then, there are also negative results out of this understanding. There should be balance in all things because too much of anything is not good. If we look at their lives, they were devoted to God and they wanted to reach out people who do not know about the Lord, and they even go the extra mile of reaching out to the hardest people group.

There act of kindness should also be our driving force to reach out to others even though a lot of times it is difficult.

Somebody modeled it. I know we can too!

----------Makes Me Think :)

Evil begets evil

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.  The process never ends until we die.  And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt
There were a bunch of people in the past who molded our history today. I have chosen three significant people who made different choices in their lives that made a huge difference during their time. These are Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I. 

Henry was in dire need of a male heir for his kingdom and this desire to have one resulted into shedding of many innocent blood of women in his time. Not just ordinary women but his wives. I wonder what was in his heart and how he managed to let his wives die in his hand just because of the desire to have a male heir and they couldn't give it? No one is in control of this matter. 

Mary I, one of the children of Henry VIII, was called bloody Mary because she was literally shedding a lot of blood. She killed many people, innocent people that were not suppose to be killed but out of revenge towards her mother, she did it. What a bitter girl she was.

Elizabeth I was very influential in England. She was a woman of leadership and courage. Despite what she have been through and what happened in her past, it did not consume her. 

These people had a choice, to be vengeful or to be forgiving; to be bitter or to be better. We too have a choice and our choices in life is our responsibility and we need to understand that whatever choices we make, it will affect others, in either good or bad way. So, make the right choice. 

In the past few days, I have met different kinds of people during the reports of my  classmates and their life indeed inspires me in many different ways.
Courage for sure is one of those. Courage because they stand up for what they believe even though there were people in their time who opposed them. Take the case of John Calvin. There were teachings of him that Jacobus Arminius strongly opposed yet he continued.

Perseverance. Just because the journey seems hard doesn't mean you have to stop. Sometimes, people just need a little rest because this is what will sustain them in the long run. You don't have to stretch yourself until you break, but you need to stretch yourself to your own capacity.

Message. The message that John Calvin and his contemporaries were very essential in our Christianity today. It helps us to have sound and systematic doctrine which we can use in sharing God's Word to other people but above all else, their lives showed how faithful they were in their walk with God. They were not just great minds but they also had great hearts.

---------Makes Me Think :)

John Alexander Luther ----

There were three men in history that we tackled today, John Wycliffe, Alexander III and Martin Luther. Although they were born in different places and times, they made a huge impact in our Christianity today.

We are blessed with God's word and we share in the bounty of what's in it through reading, hearing God's Word from a preacher or from a song but none of these things will have ever happened if not because of the great contribution of John Wycliffe. We owe him thanks for having that passion by bringing scripture into people's own language.

Alexander the Third was known for being the church's chief jurist. His enemies regarded him as great because of his genius mind when it comes to political matters. He was just so natural in his decision making.

Who would have ever forget the contributions of the Father of Reformation, Martin Luther. His search for truth and his loyalty to the Scripture itself paved a way for him to really find out the truth of the Scripture.

We can learn a lot of lessons from these three men in history. We can learn to be compassionate and seek for the welfare of others, to settle arguments and conflicts in a wise way, and to seek for the truth in the midst of lies and to feel that holy discontentment because you know in the deepest of your heart that there is more than this. May we imitate the good things they have made and learn from their life as we serve the Lord.  

Touched by God

  

It's overwhelming to know that works need to be accomplished and even much more overwhelming to know that there are only few people who are truly willing to make it happen. Upon studying church history, I've learned so much about people's sacrifices in order for Christianity to continue and in order for it have a firm foundation. Many forces outside tend to distract people's view of God and the Scripture, yet there were scholars and church fathers who stood and remained faithful to the truth of the Scripture.

I am thankful for those people who studied harder so that they will be able to defend the truth. They had such great minds not because of their own selves but because they have trusted God to enable them to do great works and great things.

I choose this quote because I admit and grateful also that those church fathers in the past had played a great role in my life because without them, our belief of God and the Scripture will probably be distorted. We owe a lot from them and the works they did.

I am just thankful for what they have done.

Eisleben

There were two words that I've heard commonly when I was in high school but just recently did I fully grasp the who concept of them. These two words are Papal bull and Diet of Worm. A papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the lead seal (bulla) that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it. The Diet of Worms in 1521 was an imperial council that was convened to decide the fate of Martin Luther. It was held in Worms, Germany. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V presided over the diet or the assembly. These two words were very important in relation to Reformation. Martin Luther was asked during that time to recant his faith, that is the Christian faith and go back to Roman Catholic. Yet Luther was convinced that the righteous shall live by faith and that the same as apostles, it is better to obey God than man.

I was ultimately encouraged when Luther said that unless those people can prove to him that his writings were wrong according to scripture, then He will not recant what He believes.

 I believe that as Christians, no matter how hard pressed we are because of the situations and predicaments that come our way, we need to stand firm for what we know is the truth. We should not be swayed either by words of great men or by fear of losing our career because what we truly have is God Himself who will stand with us every step of the way.

Reformation will not be possible with out the help of different situations surround that time. The wars, the death of the emperor and the election of the new emperor were some of the factors why the Roman empire was not able to focus their attention on Luther and the Reformation.

Behind the scene is a God who is working His own way for His people. Again, God is never too early nor too late. He came in the scene just at the right time.