As usual, I was just minding my own business, trying to fix my blog, and a blog I had promised my Editor-in-Chief friends from Central Philippine University, where I graduated, and I came across this post by another Christian, detailing her agony about how she hadn't seen Christians developing FREE Blogger templates. If anything, she has even voiced out what I had only thought before: that software and what-not created by Christians for Christians are, well, in need of massive improvement.

I don't blame her. Because before, I used to complain the same thing about how the Christian community seems to be rather deprived.

I know that since Jesus was also persecuted and hated by the world, it's only natural that we're the minority, too. But wait up. The past of the Christian being on the sidelines of the world is gone.

This year had been marked by the American Prophetic community of the year when the Lord's people are taking back the land the enemy has claimed and closing the gates of hell.

If I'm speaking alien here nevermind. What you need to know is that, this year marks something in the air for the Lord. He is sounding the trumpet for His people to rise up and take their places.

Are you called to web dev?

Are you called to writing in mainstream media?

Are you called to love numbers and become an excellent accountant?


Rise up.


We were meant to live for so much more. We were meant to live for beyond feeding ourselves or our families. We were called to take dominion and seize what is Jesus'!

You're young you say? Timothy was young too.

Dudes, figure out what you love doing. Chances are, this is where God will use you to the fullest.

Life is more than the paycheck. Life is more than the misery. When you are on track and on focus towards the goal that the Lord has set for you, three things will happen:

1. You will understand what needs to be pruned or chopped off in your life to make room for more focus in the direction you were called.
2. You will know exactly what it is you need to be doing.
3. You will stop running around in circles.

So yeah, my jobhunting to Manila Bulletin, Powermac, etc., were never in vain. Powermac, I'm sure I will have a season there. I was given the open door in case I still want to come back and I am taking it, when the time is right. Manila Bulletin, I am seriously not sure, but one thing is certain for me: our mainstream media needs new blood.

It may not be me,

It may not be you,

It may be your seatmate in the next D'Block, Yo-Jam, or whatever youth group meeting you are attending that day.

It may be that girl you've been praying for to fall in love with Jesus.

All I know is that we are called to pray, figure out where God is going to use us to the fullest, and walk, relentlessly, in that path.


Blessings!

The great part about having a Christian boss who, by all indications so far, is a true-blue JESUS worshiper, is that she's a lot understanding about my adjustment period. She's allowing me to just sink my teeth into the schedule and stuff for now. I, on the other hand, am seriously wanting a maid already. Only, I couldn't afford a maid, heheh.

Much of my time is consumed washing the dishes coz my landlord hatez the mess I leave. Ohkaay. So I have to deal.

Now, because everything is just going crazy and it seems like I'm losing my love for my First Love, I just decided to take some time out and listen to Mike Bickle of International House of Prayer and his vision for International houses of prayer being set up around the world.

I would love to take part in that.

But then there I started craving for one of Misty Edwards' songs. Misty is a member of IHOP's Prayer Room, and her songs are just rockin' and soul-shaking, like this one:

...And in my search for that particular video to share with you, I came across this one, about kids doing the new extreme sport, "Parkour."

What I learned from my earthly father is that with everything that a person has to do, there has to be purpose. There has to be an end goal for everything we do.

While I admire these kids' power and talent, I can't help thinking that this is so reminiscent of the abilities of the ninjas in the old days.

As Misty is singing, we are on the verge of Christ's return. I bear witness to the fact that there IS something happening in the air. He did say in the Bible that when the Son of Man comes, signs abound. It is like the time of harvest, when the wheat heads are full, and they're drooping from the weight of their fertility.

If you are unaware that so many things are happening and all you see is that you want to live your life with your head in the sand, and that Jesus may well not return, then what-evar. All I know is that electricity is starting to crackle in the air.

But back to these kids doing Parkour. Bear with me as I paint a mental picture. In the areas where God is so needed, there is still so much of a need for physical strength, and in the path of flight, where persecution might happen, don't you think that talents like Parkour would have use?

Imagine. Thousands of Christian "ninja's" taking ground for Jesus in the Middle East, in the Communist countries, in the mountainous and hostile regions where His name has yet to be heard.

Imagine. Your prowess of backdiving and stuff better utilized as you flee from physical enemies in nations where they do not understand that God owns this earth and He is taking ground and He wants to use you?

I sure want to learn Parkour if only the Philippines were not so hostile to new things like these. There were days, when I was on an extended fast, that my feet were so light and quick that I felt like I could do things like these.

I know I will get the chance to play around with my physical strength. For now, I'm letting the gears turn in your head.

What if Jesus needed end-time ninja's to go brave Cuba, South America, or even Japan, North Korea, and the unreached areas of China?

What if?

Are you willing to take the call?

I come from a generation where there was such a deep darkness enveloping the land, from the West to the East. It was a generation when David Koresh arose, took captives with him, and died fighting for the "truth" that he was OUR "risen lord." It was the same generation wherein the Aum Shinri Kyo had arisen and gassed people in Japan, where Jagad Guru led many astray in IBC-13, and Judiel Narvasa claimed to see Mary the "queen mother" in Agoo.

Judiel Narvasa is now a lady. And he was a boy. *smirk*

My generation was ushered in by protests, by pomp and revelry, and by sexual immorality that reached to high heavens. My generation saw the last of Flying House and Superbook on free tv. My generation was probably the last of those who wondered if there was still a God.

Today's kids... Are pure of heart. They see something "good," they embrace it. They see something the rest of the crowds gather around, they like it, they copy it, they go do it, now they breathe it.

But tracing back to the generations of my fathers, I... I saw that something malevolent was at work. Aum Shinri Kyo did not rise from some abyss, only to be forgotten. Jagad Guru did not have an origin, and surely, those we think are God's sons... They were not placed there randomly just because God is a sick child longing for attention and He just liked to mess up our lives.

As I was resting from church and religion in the past two days (praise God for vacations!), I was reading up on random theology stuff... One of my passions, as you would notice. I bumped into this church that was related to someone I know.

I had held the notion that whoever puts up a church, the generations after it would have some of the spirit, if not all the spirit of the one who put it up. I realized this and held onto this notion months back, when I would agonize how much MY church is still so much like the church it used to be, in some pockets of OUR society. We don't mean to be like this, but it's just a sick residue of the past. Thankfully, the Lord is doing a new thing in our midst, and changes are rapidly happening, and to echo MorningStar Ministries' song, "There's a New Generation rising up."

Anyway, as I read up on that church and blanched on how uncannily the same abuse its (false) "apostle" had committed happened to a very dear friend of mine, I fully realized that the notion I had been holding onto, that whatever we start: church, discipleship, etc., who we are goes into that person or church we put up.

Reading the stuff I read gave me a mixture of revulsion and a notion of "Help! Are WE prepared?" and "Oh man. Does MY generation even remember the Fatima 'prophecies?!'"

To be honest, if you are from Victory and you have notions of reaching the lost, ask yourself: "Are you prepared to handle a person who has been hurt by mindsets that had crippled his or her life? Are you prepared to be Jesus' donkey in ushering HIM in to his/her life?"

Too often, we at Victory tend to be pressured by the "Go and make disciples" credo that even before we are free of our own chains, we already want to go out and disciple the world. But are we ready to handle the victimized, the robbed, the weary, and the bereft?!

Me, I am seriously not.

We are looking at a mass of people who had been raped by corrupt priests, robbed by pastors who felt entitled to God's "provision," and abused and battered by mindsets that bring death. Are we equipped?

And yet, even though we are not as equipped to the level that we should be, there is definitely no reason to shirk from the task that is ahead of us.

I believe that there is only one way to handle this bruised, bleeding, and weary crowd: Focus our eyes on Jesus!

On the practical level, that translates to being a leader who:

• Practices what he preaches.
• Serves, and not imposes himself on others to be served.

The previous generations before us were grieved by pastors, priests and preachers who preached that we should give and give to God, but lived lives of opulence on the people's money. They were also grieved by pastors who committed extramarital affairs, and even raped the members of their own congregations. Of late, these apostate preachers have relentlessly been exposed and removed from power, but the people... Most of them were left too hurt to want God anymore. Some became atheists, and some... Bitter creatures who would only spill bile on others.

I believe that the pastor should be allowed to be free to actually serve God. I like Victory's system of checks and balances, and removing the pastor's support from the tithes, but making them go out and actually solicit for support. The only sad part is on their part: when their supporters fall on hard times, their finances would suffer too.

I am on the guilty end here. I have been remiss on my duties to my pastors, and God is convicting me to focus, to streamline my energies, and to actually do restitution to the pastors to whom I had reneged on my agreements. My mother may not like it, but God would not like it all the more if I keep being unfaithful to His people. I only pray for an opening up of MY coffers, so that I will keep myself faithful to those I had promised to provide for. (While also paying my debts and saving up in case my parents get sick too. :p)

These realizations also opened my eyes to the fact that I should raise money on my own. My future husband and I are gearing up to be church planters, and he's going to be a pastor, so we cannot afford to make the same mistakes that the men before us had committed. Already, I am on the lookout for signs of greed, pride, and what-not on his part, and I am the first to rebuke him when this happens. His family had been grieved before by a pastor (from another church) who had taken his brother's equipment, feeling entitled to the "donation." I don't want us, as a family, to hurt others with this same sin, so I am already praying for strategies to amass legal wealth that would sustain us without needing to ask for ministry support.

I am thankful that my parents taught me to be financially independent. So now I see the value of this lesson to my future. I pray that my generation, especially my generation of future pastors and pastors' wives, would see the value of learning to work with their own skills, and the value of the time it would take to prepare for their ministry, so as not to grieve the people who do not understand the concept of giving and Jesus' returns.

Thankfully, I am currently rising up from the things I needed to unlearn: spending as if today is my last, spending my time as if I had eternities on earth (I don't), and thinking like a teenager still and living for myself. There are days when I actually need to make a decision to not go to parties or get togethers because they would actually hurt my budget, then I pray for circumstances to agree with me (sorry, Grav peeps, we do need to grow up).

Sometimes I slip and I treat myself to a good meal and stuff, because there were times when I was deprived for so long, but then, lately, I discovered that my cooking was so much more delicious than KFC, so sorry na lang KFC and Pizza Hut, I'm sticking to eating my monggo-rice and delicious menu. :)

All this is in preparation for the role I am about to fill. While my fiance is still in his season of waiting on the Lord and amassing his own finances so he can earn more, I will be working to get out of debt and to set up the system wherein I would be in a position to give more, aside from living in comfort on my own money.

Pastor Robert Hern was so right when he said that we must be people who "walk the talk" (paraphrased): people who live their lives in purity and holiness, living what they are teaching. Unless we be like that, we will never be able to help Jesus bind up the brokenhearted. Instead, we will only be functioning the way our forefathers functioned: with the tendency to wait on other people for provision, thus dancing with the possibility that we abuse them.

If you ask me, is it hard to live without the things I used to take comfort in?

I would be the first to tell you: yes.

I live in a house of 4 men. No longer rat-infested because my landlord cleaned the place up, heheh. In this house, two of these guys smoke. I do not see them, but sometimes I do feel the urge to want to smoke, even though I've lived without smoking for quite a while. The only way I battle the urge is to remember how red my face was while I was still smoking, and how confused and dark my brain was when I would be high on nicotine.

If you ask me is it hard living without seeing my fiance, I would be the first to scream, YES.

The last time I saw him was when I stayed in his place on my 23rd birthday: May 15, 2007, I believe. It's been a year, and if you ask us if we miss each other, we would scream, YES.

He's grown prettier, and I've grown prettier, and I'm excited to get married already. But the fact remains that we have to wait on the Lord for our marriage to happen, because if we take things by force: having sex before we do, living together before God moves my fiance's mountains, these acts would only cut us off from God's promised land for us.

My mom sometimes fears that I am still the same old Lorie: profligate, promiscuous, hard of heart. To be honest, hard of heart, yes. I'm still Ruthless Lorie sometimes. Sometimes I care more for the principle rather than the person the principle is supposed to serve.

There was this time when my mom was texting me the entire night, and I only got to answer in the morning, and she was fearing that I was with another man, sleeping around, and I was like, "WHAT ON EARTH?!" I think I was with a girl friend that time or was just asleep in my room or something. I cannot blame her for her fears. I had my mottled past, and my generation is so dead guilty of being a generation of unrepentant Women by the Well (the Samaritan woman guilty of a profligate lifestyle). I cannot blame her if she thinks that I am like the other women before me: all heart and who are only more than willing to say "yes" to sin in the name of "love." (horrid, really).

Thankfully, God is such a jealous God that He will not allow that to happen to His daughters. Thankfully, my season of being in the wilderness was there to teach me, and not for me to keep living. Thankfully, miracles still exist, and I know He will be there to guard and guide me, even if my parents may think otherwise. I may buck under human control, but it's only because I am painfully aware that Jesus has other plans for me and I have to work on the paradigm that HE has set, and not any other's.

I firmly believe in accountability, and I firmly believe that we should be kept in check, or else pride may rule us. But I also firmly believe that Jesus is the head of every person, and that the true essence of wisdom is knowing the rules enough to know when to make exceptions.

Back to my litany on how to deal with the generation of broken hearts.

Walk the talk: Keep tethered to the Lord and have people keep you in check. Keep your life pure and blameless, but do it by living on His grace, and you do it out of love for Him.

Focus on living for Jesus, and not for man, not for self.


Serve instead of expecting to be served: Recognize every opportunity to serve the Lord and always take the stance of being ready to pull up a chair, give up a seat, pass the food to someone else first, etc.

I still have to unlearn my brattiness, which is the portion of the only child, and living under "relative deprivation." My generation was fed with notions of wanting more and more, and we forgot to be content with sunsets and flowers.

I was very fortunate, and well-provided for, but I wanted more, and this had created a serious breach in my personhood. Slowly, Jesus is healing me in this department.

I am, by no means, perfect. I am still in the process of being perfected, so don't expect me to be. I may be angry Lorie, ruthless Lorie, I may promise to show up at a reunion one day, but then realize that my budget is so gonna be killed if I do, and that I have a monumental task ahead of me (four commissioned articles and at least five blogs to revive, and a few more to set up. Oh man.), but life goes on, right?

I may want to take a rest from church and be given two weeks to run around and do whatever I feel like, but that doesn't make me any less of a Christian. :p

It's not about religion, cults, legalism, folks, it's about LOVE. Wanting Jesus so bad that you would take a break from the things that kill your passion for Him. Wanting to stay sane in this insane world by taking breaks and making sure that your body and mind are rested, so you beg off some activities. Wanting Jesus' purposes to be realized in your life so desperately that you would actually push everyone else's agenda aside.

And that, to me, is a satisfied life.



So this brings me to the answer to how we bind up MY broken generation (ugh, sorry, this hurts):

Jeremiah 8-14, Message Bible, Jeremiah 15:19-21, New Living Translation

1-2 "And when the time comes"—God's Decree!—"I'll see to it that they dig up the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the princes and priests and prophets, and yes, even the bones of the common people. They'll dig them up and spread them out like a congregation at worship before sun, moon, and stars, all those sky gods they've been so infatuated with all these years, following their 'lucky stars' in doglike devotion. The bones will be left scattered and exposed, to reenter the soil as fertilizer, like manure.

3"Everyone left—all from this evil generation unlucky enough to still be alive in whatever godforsaken place I will have driven them to—will wish they were dead." Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

To Know Everything but God's Word

4-7"Tell them this, God's Message:

"'Do people fall down and not get up?
Or take the wrong road and then just keep going?
So why does this people go backward,
and just keep on going—backward!
They stubbornly hold on to their illusions,
refuse to change direction.
I listened carefully
but heard not so much as a whisper.
No one expressed one word of regret.
Not a single "I'm sorry" did I hear.
They just kept at it, blindly and stupidly
banging their heads against a brick wall.
Cranes know when it's time
to move south for winter.
And robins, warblers, and bluebirds
know when it's time to come back again.
But my people? My people know nothing,
not the first thing of God and his rule.

8-9"'How can you say, "We know the score.
We're the proud owners of God's revelation"?
Look where it's gotten you—stuck in illusion.
Your religion experts have taken you for a ride!
Your know-it-alls will be unmasked,
caught and shown up for what they are.
Look at them! They know everything but God's Word.
Do you call that "knowing"?

10-12"'So here's what will happen to the know-it-alls:
I'll make them wifeless and homeless.
Everyone's after the dishonest dollar,
little people and big people alike.
Prophets and priests and everyone in between
twist words and doctor truth.
My dear Daughter—my people—broken, shattered,
and yet they put on Band-Aids,
Saying, "It's not so bad. You'll be just fine."
But things are not "just fine"!
Do you suppose they are embarrassed
over this outrage?
Not really. They have no shame.
They don't even know how to blush.
There's no hope for them. They've hit bottom
and there's no getting up.
As far as I'm concerned,
they're finished.'" God has spoken.

13"'I went out to see if I could salvage anything'"
—God's Decree—
"'but found nothing:
Not a grape, not a fig,
just a few withered leaves.
I'm taking back
everything I gave them.'"

14-16So why are we sitting here, doing nothing?
Let's get organized.
Let's go to the big city
and at least die fighting.
We've gotten God's ultimatum:
We're damned if we do and damned if we don't—
damned because of our sin against him.
We hoped things would turn out for the best,
but it didn't happen that way.
We were waiting around for healing—
and terror showed up!
From Dan at the northern borders
we hear the hooves of horses,
Horses galloping, horses neighing.
The ground shudders and quakes.
They're going to swallow up the whole country.
Towns and people alike—fodder for war.

17"'What's more, I'm dispatching
poisonous snakes among you,
Snakes that can't be charmed,
snakes that will bite you and kill you.'"
God's Decree!

Advancing from One Evil to the Next

18-22I drown in grief. I'm heartsick. Oh, listen! Please listen! It's the cry of my dear people reverberating through the country. Is God no longer in Zion? Has the King gone away? Can you tell me why they flaunt their plaything-gods, their silly, imported no-gods before me? The crops are in, the summer is over, but for us nothing's changed. We're still waiting to be rescued. For my dear broken people, I'm heartbroken. I weep, seized by grief. Are there no healing ointments in Gilead? Isn't there a doctor in the house? So why can't something be done to heal and save my dear, dear people?

Jeremiah 9

1-2 I wish my head were a well of water and my eyes fountains of tears So I could weep day and night for casualties among my dear, dear people. At times I wish I had a wilderness hut, a backwoods cabin, Where I could get away from my people and never see them again. They're a faithless, feckless bunch, a congregation of degenerates.

3-6"Their tongues shoot out lies
like a bow shoots arrows—
A mighty army of liars,
the sworn enemies of truth.
They advance from one evil to the next,
ignorant of me."
God's Decree.
"Be wary of even longtime neighbors.
Don't even trust your grandmother!
Brother schemes against brother,
like old cheating Jacob.
Friend against friend
spreads malicious gossip.
Neighbors gyp neighbors,
never telling the truth.
They've trained their tongues to tell lies,
and now they can't tell the truth.
They pile wrong upon wrong, stack lie upon lie,
and refuse to know me."
God's Decree.

7-9Therefore, God-of-the-Angel-Armies says:

"Watch this! I'll melt them down
and see what they're made of.
What else can I do
with a people this wicked?
Their tongues are poison arrows!
Deadly lies stream from their mouths.
Neighbor greets neighbor with a smile,
'Good morning! How're things?'
while scheming to do away with him.
Do you think I'm going to stand around and do nothing?"
God's Decree.
"Don't you think I'll take serious measures
against a people like this?

10-11"I'm lamenting the loss of the mountain pastures.
I'm chanting dirges for the old grazing grounds.
They've become deserted wastelands too dangerous for travelers.
No sounds of sheep bleating or cattle mooing.
Birds and wild animals, all gone.
Nothing stirring, no sounds of life.
I'm going to make Jerusalem a pile of rubble,
fit for nothing but stray cats and dogs.
I'm going to reduce Judah's towns to piles of ruins
where no one lives!"

12I asked, "Is there anyone around bright enough to tell us what's going on here? Anyone who has the inside story from God and can let us in on it?

"Why is the country wasted?

"Why no travelers in this desert?"

13-15God's answer: "Because they abandoned my plain teaching. They wouldn't listen to anything I said, refused to live the way I told them to. Instead they lived any way they wanted and took up with the Baal gods, who they thought would give them what they wanted—following the example of their parents." And this is the consequence. God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so:

"I'll feed them with pig slop.

"I'll give them poison to drink.

16"Then I'll scatter them far and wide among godless peoples that neither they nor their parents have ever heard of, and I'll send Death in pursuit until there's nothing left of them."

A Life That Is All Outside but No Inside

17-19A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

"Look over the trouble we're in and call for help.
Send for some singers who can help us mourn our loss.
Tell them to hurry—
to help us express our loss and lament,
Help us get our tears flowing,
make tearful music of our crying.
Listen to it!
Listen to that torrent of tears out of Zion:
'We're a ruined people,
we're a shamed people!
We've been driven from our homes
and must leave our land!'"

20-21Mourning women! Oh, listen to God's Message!
Open your ears. Take in what he says.
Teach your daughters songs for the dead
and your friends the songs of heartbreak.
Death has climbed in through the window,
broken into our bedrooms.
Children on the playgrounds drop dead,
and young men and women collapse at their games.

22Speak up! "God's Message:

"'Dead bodies everywhere, scattered at random
like sheep and goat dung in the fields,
Like wheat cut down by reapers
and left to rot where it falls.'"

23-24God's Message:

"Don't let the wise brag of their wisdom.
Don't let heroes brag of their exploits.
Don't let the rich brag of their riches.
If you brag, brag of this and this only:
That you understand and know me.
I'm God, and I act in loyal love.
I do what's right and set things right and fair,
and delight in those who do the same things.
These are my trademarks."
God's Decree.

25-26"Stay alert! It won't be long now"—God's Decree!—"when I will personally deal with everyone whose life is all outside but no inside: Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab. All these nations are big on performance religion—including Israel, who is no better."

Jeremiah 10

The Stick Gods

1-5 Listen to the Message that God is sending your way, House of Israel. Listen most carefully:

"Don't take the godless nations as your models.
Don't be impressed by their glamour and glitz,
no matter how much they're impressed.
The religion of these peoples
is nothing but smoke.
An idol is nothing but a tree chopped down,
then shaped by a woodsman's ax.
They trim it with tinsel and balls,
use hammer and nails to keep it upright.
It's like a scarecrow in a cabbage patch—can't talk!
Dead wood that has to be carried—can't walk!
Don't be impressed by such stuff.
It's useless for either good or evil."

6-9All this is nothing compared to you, O God.
You're wondrously great, famously great.
Who can fail to be impressed by you, King of the nations?
It's your very nature to be worshiped!
Look far and wide among the elite of the nations.
The best they can come up with is nothing compared to you.
Stupidly, they line them up—a lineup of sticks,
good for nothing but making smoke.
Gilded with silver foil from Tarshish,
covered with gold from Uphaz,
Hung with violet and purple fabrics—
no matter how fancy the sticks, they're still sticks.

10But God is the real thing—
the living God, the eternal King.
When he's angry, Earth shakes.
Yes, and the godless nations quake.

11-15"Tell them this, 'The stick gods
who made nothing, neither sky nor earth,
Will come to nothing
on the earth and under the sky.'"
But it is God whose power made the earth,
whose wisdom gave shape to the world,
who crafted the cosmos.
He thunders, and rain pours down.
He sends the clouds soaring.
He embellishes the storm with lightnings,
launches wind from his warehouse.
Stick-god worshipers looking mighty foolish,
god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods!
Their gods are frauds—dead sticks,
deadwood gods, tasteless jokes.
When the fires of judgment come, they'll be ashes.

16But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing.
He put the whole universe together
And pays special attention to Israel.
His name? God-of-the-Angel-Armies!

17-18Grab your bags,
all you who are under attack.
God has given notice:
"Attention! I'm evicting
Everyone who lives here,
And right now—yes, right now!
I'm going to press them to the limit,
squeeze the life right out of them."

19-20But it's a black day for me!
Hopelessly wounded,
I said, "Why, oh why
did I think I could bear it?"
My house is ruined—
the roof caved in.
Our children are gone—
we'll never see them again.
No one left to help in rebuilding,
no one to make a new start!

21It's because our leaders are stupid.
They never asked God for counsel,
And so nothing worked right.
The people are scattered all over.

22But listen! Something's coming!
A big commotion from the northern borders!
Judah's towns about to be smashed,
left to all the stray dogs and cats!

23-25I know, God, that mere mortals
can't run their own lives,
That men and women
don't have what it takes to take charge of life.
So correct us, God, as you see best.
Don't lose your temper. That would be the end of us.
Vent your anger on the godless nations,
who refuse to acknowledge you,
And on the people
who won't pray to you—
The very ones who've made hash out of Jacob,
yes, made hash
And devoured him whole,
people and pastures alike.

Jeremiah 11

The Terms of This Covenant

1The Message that came to Jeremiah from God:

2-4"Preach to the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them this: 'This is God's Message, the Message of Israel's God to you. Anyone who does not keep the terms of this covenant is cursed. The terms are clear. I made them plain to your ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt, out of the iron furnace of suffering.

4-5"'Obey what I tell you. Do exactly what I command you. Your obedience will close the deal. You'll be mine and I'll be yours. This will provide the conditions in which I will be able to do what I promised your ancestors: to give them a fertile and lush land. And, as you know, that's what I did.'"

"Yes, God," I replied. "That's true."

6-8God continued: "Preach all this in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Say, 'Listen to the terms of this covenant and carry them out! I warned your ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt and I've kept up the warnings. I haven't quit warning them for a moment. I warned them from morning to night: "Obey me or else!" But they didn't obey. They paid no attention to me. They did whatever they wanted to do, whenever they wanted to do it, until finally I stepped in and ordered the punishments set out in the covenant, which, despite all my warnings, they had ignored.'"

9-10Then God said, "There's a conspiracy among the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. They've plotted to reenact the sins of their ancestors—the ones who disobeyed me and decided to go after other gods and worship them. Israel and Judah are in this together, mindlessly breaking the covenant I made with their ancestors."

11-13"Well, your God has something to say about this: Watch out! I'm about to visit doom on you, and no one will get out of it. You're going to cry for help but I won't listen. Then all the people in Judah and Jerusalem will start praying to the gods you've been sacrificing to all these years, but it won't do a bit of good. You've got as many gods as you have villages, Judah! And you've got enough altars for sacrifices to that impotent sex god Baal to put one on every street corner in Jerusalem!"

14"And as for you, Jeremiah, I don't want you praying for this people. Nothing! Not a word of petition. Indeed, I'm not going to listen to a single syllable of their crisis-prayers."

Promises and Pious Programs

15-16"What business do the ones I love have figuring out how to get off the hook? And right in the house of worship! Do you think making promises and devising pious programs will save you from doom? Do you think you can get out of this by becoming more religious? A mighty oak tree, majestic and glorious— that's how I once described you. But it will only take a clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning to leave you a shattered wreck.

17"I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who planted you—yes, I have pronounced doom on you. Why? Because of the disastrous life you've lived, Israel and Judah alike, goading me to anger with your continuous worship and offerings to that sorry god Baal."

18-19God told me what was going on. That's how I knew.
You, God, opened my eyes to their evil scheming.
I had no idea what was going on—naive as a lamb
being led to slaughter!
I didn't know they had it in for me,
didn't know of their behind-the-scenes plots:
"Let's get rid of the preacher.
That will stop the sermons!
Let's get rid of him for good.
He won't be remembered for long."

20Then I said, "God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
you're a fair judge.
You examine and cross-examine
human actions and motives.
I want to see these people shown up and put down!
I'm an open book before you. Clear my name."

21-23That sent a signal to God, who spoke up: "Here's what I'll do to the men of Anathoth who are trying to murder you, the men who say, 'Don't preach to us in God's name or we'll kill you.' Yes, it's God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaking. Indeed! I'll call them to account: Their young people will die in battle, their children will die of starvation, and there will be no one left at all, none. I'm visiting the men of Anathoth with doom. Doomsday!"

Jeremiah 12

What Makes You Think You Can Race Against Horses?

1-4 You are right, O God, and you set things right. I can't argue with that. But I do have some questions: Why do bad people have it so good? Why do con artists make it big? You planted them and they put down roots. They flourished and produced fruit. They talk as if they're old friends with you, but they couldn't care less about you. Meanwhile, you know me inside and out. You don't let me get by with a thing! Make them pay for the way they live, pay with their lives, like sheep marked for slaughter. How long do we have to put up with this— the country depressed, the farms in ruin— And all because of wickedness, these wicked lives? Even animals and birds are dying off Because they'll have nothing to do with God and think God has nothing to do with them.

5-6"So, Jeremiah, if you're worn out in this footrace with men,
what makes you think you can race against horses?
And if you can't keep your wits during times of calm,
what's going to happen when troubles break loose like the Jordan in flood?
Those closest to you, your own brothers and cousins,
are working against you.
They're out to get you. They'll stop at nothing.
Don't trust them, especially when they're smiling.

7-11"I will abandon the House of Israel,
walk away from my beloved people.
I will turn over those I most love
to those who are her enemies.
She's been, this one I held dear,
like a snarling lion in the jungle,
Growling and baring her teeth at me—
and I can't take it anymore.
Has this one I hold dear become a preening peacock?
But isn't she under attack by vultures?
Then invite all the hungry animals at large,
invite them in for a free meal!
Foreign, scavenging shepherds
will loot and trample my fields,
Turn my beautiful, well-cared-for fields
into vacant lots of tin cans and thistles.
They leave them littered with junk—
a ruined land, a land in lament.
The whole countryside is a wasteland,
and no one will really care.

12-13"The barbarians will invade,
swarm over hills and plains.
The judgment sword of God will take its toll
from one end of the land to the other.
Nothing living will be safe.
They will plant wheat and reap weeds.
Nothing they do will work out.
They will look at their meager crops and wring their hands.
All this the result of God's fierce anger!"

14-17God's Message: "Regarding all the bad neighbors who abused the land I gave to Israel as their inheritance: I'm going to pluck them out of their lands, and then pluck Judah out from among them. Once I've pulled the bad neighbors out, I will relent and take them tenderly to my heart and put them back where they belong, put each of them back in their home country, on their family farms. Then if they will get serious about living my way and pray to me as well as they taught my people to pray to that god Baal, everything will go well for them. But if they won't listen, then I'll pull them out of their land by the roots and cart them off to the dump. Total destruction!" God's Decree.

Jeremiah 13

People Who Do Only What They Want to Do

1-2 God told me, "Go and buy yourself some linen shorts. Put them on and keep them on. Don't even take them off to wash them." So I bought the shorts as God directed and put them on. 3-5Then God told me, "Take the shorts that you bought and go straight to Perath and hide them there in a crack in the rock." So I did what God told me and hid them at Perath.

6-7Next, after quite a long time, God told me, "Go back to Perath and get the linen shorts I told you to hide there." So I went back to Perath and dug them out of the place where I had hidden them. The shorts by then had rotted and were worthless.

8-11God explained, "This is the way I am going to ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem—a wicked bunch of people who won't obey me, who do only what they want to do, who chase after all kinds of no-gods and worship them. They're going to turn out as rotten as these old shorts. Just as shorts clothe and protect, so I kept the whole family of Israel under my care"—God's Decree—"so that everyone could see they were my people, a people I could show off to the world and be proud of. But they refused to do a thing I said.

12"And then tell them this, 'God's Message, personal from the God of Israel: Every wine jug should be full of wine.'

"And they'll say, 'Of course. We know that. Every wine jug should be full of wine!'

13-14"Then you'll say, 'This is what God says: Watch closely. I'm going to fill every person who lives in this country—the kings who rule from David's throne, the priests, the prophets, the citizens of Jerusalem—with wine that will make them drunk. And then I'll smash them, smash the wine-filled jugs—old and young alike. Nothing will stop me. Not an ounce of pity or mercy or compassion will slow me down. Every last drunken jug of them will be smashed!'"

The Light You Always Took for Granted

15-17Then I said, Listen. Listen carefully: Don't stay stuck in your ways! It's God's Message we're dealing with here. Let your lives glow bright before God before he turns out the lights, Before you trip and fall on the dark mountain paths. The light you always took for granted will go out and the world will turn black. If you people won't listen, I'll go off by myself and weep over you, Weep because of your stubborn arrogance, bitter, bitter tears, Rivers of tears from my eyes, because God's sheep will end up in exile.

18-19Tell the king and the queen-mother,
"Come down off your high horses.
Your dazzling crowns
will tumble off your heads."
The villages in the Negev will be surrounded,
everyone trapped,
And Judah dragged off to exile,
the whole country dragged to oblivion.

20-22Look, look, Jerusalem!
Look at the enemies coming out of the north!
What will become of your flocks of people,
the beautiful flocks in your care?
How are you going to feel when the people
you've played up to, looked up to all these years
Now look down on you? You didn't expect this?
Surprise! The pain of a woman having a baby!
Do I hear you saying,
"What's going on here? Why me?"
The answer's simple: You're guilty,
hugely guilty.
Your guilt has your life endangered,
your guilt has you writhing in pain.

23Can an African change skin?
Can a leopard get rid of its spots?
So what are the odds on you doing good,
you who are so long-practiced in evil?

24-27"I'll blow these people away—
like wind-blown leaves.
You have it coming to you.
I've measured it out precisely."
God's Decree.
"It's because you forgot me
and embraced the Big Lie,
that so-called god Baal.
I'm the one who will rip off your clothes,
expose and shame you before the watching world.
Your obsessions with gods, gods, and more gods,
your goddess affairs, your god-adulteries.
Gods on the hills, gods in the fields—
every time I look you're off with another god.
O Jerusalem, what a sordid life!
Is there any hope for you!"

Jeremiah 14

Time and Again We've Betrayed God

1-6 God's Message that came to Jeremiah regarding the drought: "Judah weeps, her cities mourn. The people fall to the ground, moaning, while sounds of Jerusalem's sobs rise up, up. The rich people sent their servants for water. They went to the cisterns, but the cisterns were dry. They came back with empty buckets, wringing their hands, shaking their heads. All the farm work has stopped. Not a drop of rain has fallen. The farmers don't know what to do. They wring their hands, they shake their heads. Even the doe abandons her fawn in the field because there is no grass— Eyes glazed over, on her last legs, nothing but skin and bones."

7-9We know we're guilty. We've lived bad lives—
but do something, God. Do it for your sake!
Time and time again we've betrayed you.
No doubt about it—we've sinned against you.
Hope of Israel! Our only hope!
Israel's last chance in this trouble!
Why are you acting like a tourist,
taking in the sights, here today and gone tomorrow?
Why do you just stand there and stare,
like someone who doesn't know what to do in a crisis?
But God, you are, in fact, here, here with us!
You know who we are—you named us!
Don't leave us in the lurch.

10Then God said of these people: "Since they loved to wander this way and that,
never giving a thought to where they were going,
I will now have nothing more to do with them—
except to note their guilt and punish their sins."

The Killing Fields

11-12God said to me, "Don't pray that everything will turn out all right for this people. When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won't listen to a thing they say. When they redouble their prayers, bringing all kinds of offerings from their herds and crops, I'll not accept them. I'm finishing them off with war and famine and disease."

13I said, "But Master, God! Their preachers have been telling them that everything is going to be all right—no war and no famine—that there's nothing to worry about."

14Then God said, "These preachers are liars, and they use my name to cover their lies. I never sent them, I never commanded them, and I don't talk with them. The sermons they've been handing out are sheer illusion, tissues of lies, whistlings in the dark.

15-16"So this is my verdict on them: All the preachers who preach using my name as their text, preachers I never sent in the first place, preachers who say, 'War and famine will never come here'—these preachers will die in war and by starvation. And the people to whom they've been preaching will end up as corpses, victims of war and starvation, thrown out in the streets of Jerusalem unburied—no funerals for them or their wives or their children! I'll make sure they get the full brunt of all their evil.

17-18"And you, Jeremiah, will say this to them:

"'My eyes pour out tears.
Day and night, the tears never quit.
My dear, dear people are battered and bruised,
hopelessly and cruelly wounded.
I walk out into the fields,
shocked by the killing fields strewn with corpses.
I walk into the city,
shocked by the sight of starving bodies.
And I watch the preachers and priests
going about their business as if nothing's happened!'"

19-22God, have you said your final No to Judah?
Can you simply not stand Zion any longer?
If not, why have you treated us like this,
beaten us nearly to death?
We hoped for peace—
nothing good came from it;
We looked for healing—
and got kicked in the stomach.
We admit, O God, how badly we've lived,
and our ancestors, how bad they were.
We've sinned, they've sinned,
we've all sinned against you!
Your reputation is at stake! Don't quit on us!
Don't walk out and abandon your glorious Temple!
Remember your covenant.
Don't break faith with us!
Can the no-gods of the godless nations cause rain?
Can the sky water the earth by itself?
You're the one, O God, who does this.
So you're the one for whom we wait.
You made it all,
you do it all.

Jeremiah 15:19-21, NLT

This is how the Lord responds:

“If you return to me, I will restore you
so you can continue to serve me.
If you speak good words rather than worthless ones,
you will be my spokesman.
You must influence them;
do not let them influence you!
20 They will fight against you like an attacking army,
but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze.
They will not conquer you,
for I am with you to protect and rescue you.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
21 Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men.
I will rescue you from their cruel hands.”

Psalm 37 God's Word Translation - Study This Chapter

1 Do not be preoccupied with evildoers. Do not envy those who do wicked things. 2 They will quickly dry up like grass and wither away like green plants. 3 Trust the LORD, and do good things. Live in the land, and practice being faithful. 4 Be happy with the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Entrust your ways to the LORD. Trust him, and he will act [on your behalf]. 6 He will make your righteousness shine like a light, your just cause like the noonday sun. 7 Surrender yourself to the LORD, and wait patiently for him. Do not be preoccupied with [an evildoer] who succeeds in his way when he carries out his schemes. 8 Let go of anger, and leave rage behind. Do not be preoccupied. It only leads to evil. 9 Evildoers will be cut off [from their inheritance], but those who wait with hope for the LORD will inherit the land. 10 In a little while a wicked person will vanish. Then you can carefully examine where he was, but there will be no trace of him. 11 Oppressed people will inherit the land and will enjoy unlimited peace. 12 The wicked person plots against a righteous one and grits his teeth at him. 13 The Lord laughs at him because he has seen that his time is coming. 14 Wicked people pull out their swords and bend their bows to kill oppressed and needy people, to slaughter those who are decent. 15 [But] their own swords will pierce their hearts, and their bows will be broken. 16 The little that the righteous person has is better than the wealth of many wicked people. 17 The arms of wicked people will be broken, but the LORD continues to support righteous people. 18 The LORD knows the daily [struggles] of innocent people. Their inheritance will last forever. 19 They will not be put to shame in trying times. Even in times of famine they will be satisfied. 20 But wicked people will disappear. The LORD's enemies will vanish like the best part of a meadow. They will vanish like smoke. 21 A wicked person borrows, but he does not repay. A righteous person is generous and giving. 22 Those who are blessed by him will inherit the land. Those who are cursed by him will be cut off. 23 A person's steps are directed by the LORD, and the LORD delights in his way. 24 When he falls, he will not be thrown down headfirst because the LORD holds on to his hand. 25 I have been young, and now I am old, but I have never seen a righteous person abandoned or his descendants begging for food. 26 He is always generous and lends freely. His descendants are a blessing. 27 Avoid evil, do good, and live forever. 28 The LORD loves justice, and he will not abandon his godly ones. They will be kept safe forever, but the descendants of wicked people will be cut off. 29 Righteous people will inherit the land and live there permanently. 30 The mouth of the righteous person reflects on wisdom. His tongue speaks what is fair. 31 The teachings of his God are in his heart. His feet do not slip. 32 The wicked person watches the righteous person and seeks to kill him. 33 But the LORD will not abandon him to the wicked person's power or condemn him when he is brought to trial. 34 Wait with hope for the LORD, and follow his path, and he will honor you by giving you the land. When wicked people are cut off, you will see it. 35 I have seen a wicked person [acting like] a tyrant, spreading himself out like a large cedar tree. 36 But he moved on, and now there is no trace of him. I searched for him, but he could not be found. 37 Notice the innocent person, and look at the decent person, because the peacemaker has a future. 38 But rebels will be completely destroyed. The future of wicked people will be cut off. 39 The victory for righteous people comes from the LORD. He is their fortress in times of trouble. 40 The LORD helps them and rescues them. He rescues them from wicked people. He saves them because they have taken refuge in him.

Arise, Lord!

1 Jesus told his disciples, "Situations that cause people to lose their faith are certain to arise. But how horrible it will be for the person who causes someone to lose his faith! 2 It would be best for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large stone hung around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to lose his faith. 3 So watch yourselves! "If a believer sins, correct him. If he changes the way he thinks and acts, forgive him. 4 Even if he wrongs you seven times in one day and comes back to you seven times and says that he is sorry, forgive him." 5 Then the apostles said to the Lord, "Give us more faith." 6 The Lord said, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Pull yourself up by the roots, and plant yourself in the sea!' and it would obey you. 7 "Suppose someone has a servant who is plowing fields or watching sheep. Does he tell his servant when he comes from the field, 'Have something to eat'? 8 No. Instead, he tells his servant, 'Get dinner ready for me! After you serve me my dinner, you can eat yours.' 9 He doesn't thank the servant for following orders. 10 That's the way it is with you. When you've done everything you're ordered to do, say, 'We're worthless servants. We've only done our duty.'"

11 Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee on his way to Jerusalem. 12 As he went into a village, ten men with a skin disease met him. They stood at a distance 13 and shouted, "Jesus, Teacher, have mercy on us!" 14 When he saw them, he told them, "Show yourselves to the priests." As they went, they were made clean. 15 When one of them saw that he was healed, he turned back and praised God in a loud voice. 16 He quickly bowed at Jesus' feet and thanked him. (The man was a Samaritan.) 17 Jesus asked, "Weren't ten men made clean? Where are the other nine? 18 Only this foreigner came back to praise God." 19 Jesus told the man, "Get up, and go home! Your faith has made you well."
20 The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. He answered them, "People can't observe the coming of the kingdom of God. 21 They can't say, 'Here it is!' or 'There it is!' You see, the kingdom of God is within you." 22 Jesus said to his disciples, "The time will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 People will say, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Don't run after those people. 24 The day of the Son of Man will be like lightning that flashes from one end of the sky to the other. 25 But first he must suffer a lot and be rejected by the people of his day. 26 "When the Son of Man comes again, the situation will be like the time of Noah. 27 People were eating, drinking, and getting married until the day that Noah went into the ship. Then the flood destroyed all of them. 28 "The situation will also be like the time of Lot. People were eating, drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But on the day that Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from the sky and destroyed all of them. 30 The day when the Son of Man is revealed will be like that. 31 "On that day those who are on the roof shouldn't come down to get their belongings out of their houses. Those who are in the field shouldn't turn back. 32 Remember Lot's wife! 33 Those who try to save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives will save them. 34 "I can guarantee that on that night if two people are in one bed, one will be taken and the other one will be left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together. One will be taken, and the other one will be left." 37 They asked him, "Where, Lord?" Jesus told them, "Vultures will gather wherever there is a dead body."

I entered Victory Pioneer while (Kuya or Pastor?) Hym was preaching on the pulpit, and was able to catch the tail-end of the prayer meeting, as we prayed for the transition tonight.

The room was quiet, with a certain stillness in the house, a quietness that is not bothersome; rather, it’s a kind of stillness that is rather comfortable; looking back, I believe it must have been the same stillness that had come upon Bethlehem when the Angel had appeared to the shepherds.

Right after the prayer meeting was food and fellowship.. The kind of bonding that could only be construed as family gatherings around a potluck meal. While most of the people got their food early, I gorged on the leftovers and took two helpings of the last-minute donuts.

Then, the main event was brought on. As the opening bars of Mission Impossible’s theme ripped through the air, people watched in anticipation as Pioneer presented a video directed and edited with such excellence by the Creative Team + the leadership team wonderwoman extraordinaire (name withheld for our dear Ate’s protection), even the video’s seeming “week points” proved to be strengths, as they added a dose of humor to the entire vid. The overall effect was one thrilling, exciting, welcoming video for Pastor Robert Hern.

It seemed to me like the ceremony of two rulers, presidents, or even kings, as one acquiesced his throne, for greater work to be done, and the other one received the baton or scepter, as he assumes the helm of Victory Pioneer.

Even though the ceremony had poignant undertones, I felt the poignancy only as I write this; indeed, as a dear Ate told me, I wouldn’t even feel the transition. Rather, the entire Team Pioneer was rallied to the new season that it is entering in: to a season where we would see a fierier Victory Pioneer, as we spur each other on, under the leadership of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Himself, Jesus Christ.

I was so elated that Pastor Robert Hern reminded us of how we should be on our knees and praying, worshiping, reporting for duty before our ultimate Captain, before we even take a step for any work to be done in church. The admonishment of: “If you are burning out, it only means one thing, you’re doing it from your own strength.”

So, yes, we catch up to the rest of those in the Race of Life, and we rally behind our Captain Ball, Jesus Christ, submit to our human leaders and human Captain Ball Pastor Robert Hern, but let us not forget, that before we run off to join the race, we first have Milk spiked with a bit of Coffee with our King of Kings and Lord of Lords; let’s enjoy breakfasts with Him, reading our spiritual newspaper (the Bible), as well as drink our spiritual milk (the Bible pa rin) spiked with a bit of Coffee (preachings/podcasts), and we worship Him because all the work we have to do is for Him and WITH Him anyway.

If Jesus took the entire night sweating blood before the Father to enable Him to do the task of being publicly humiliated, flogged, carrying the cross, and finally being crucified before the mass of people who hated Him, it is only fitting that we emulate our Lord and Master, and agonize before Him in prayer, even before our day starts.

But if we are too busy with Life, why not take every opportunity to be with Him and worship Him? Bus, jeep, mall, as you look outside the window and see the world He has created, take the time to give honor and worship due to the Hand that created it; and like the book Cat and Dog Theology states, it’s much like a mini worship service then and there.

Victory Pioneer, we’re going places; we are no longer babies who need to be cuddled and hugged. Now is the time to play ball with the world and take dominion for AND with Jesus!






Thank you Pastor Luther for fathering us. Team Pioneer, let’s pray for Pastor Luther, Ate Net (his wife), and his children more, as he and his family birth more spiritual babies to come.