No more 'Mr. Nice Guy'...

Hee hee, don't worry. I'm still the 'good Miggy' (as quoted by ZWei) made by the grace of God. But today's sermon by Pastor Prince was rather towards this topic in the sense of not being nice to a threat to the Body of Christ (the entire Christian family).

I won't describe the sermon to much detail, as I assume it was a sermon made out of anger against the 'soft Christians' and so I doubt I'd have the perfect mind to explain the terms. But what I'll depict, though, is this: Brothers and sisters of Christ, if you know about someone(s) who is conning the Church, please do not hesitate to have actions against him. Don't use the love of Christ as an excuse - the love for a person not willing to trust in the Lord should not be made at an expence of the disadvantage of many others who want to seek Him more.

Even Jesus Himself rebuked people who were trying to preach the wrong message because they wanted to have their own credit. An example of this would be in Luke 13:10-17. The passage states (as from the NIVersion) that;

10On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." 13Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

You should be thinking that everyone present would be rejoicing in great happiness that Christ had healed this woman, right? Well, apparently, not everyone liked the idea that Jesus was gaining credit for healing someone...

14Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath."

For those who are already aware, Christ died for everyone - past, present and future - so through the blood of Jesus we have the authority over life. That includes healing. And it also includes 24/7 sustaining. But this synagogue ruler decided to preach to the people that it was wrong to heal on the Sabbath.

Now take note that this is NOT Jesus' synagogue. Of course, Jesus owned everything that was dedicated to the Messiah, but as a man He had no ownership on that building. And as such, Jesus was something like a 'guest speaker' at that momment, and not a 'full-time pastor'. And yet, he still had the guts...

15The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"

In front of the synagogue ruler, He'd actually reprimand him face-to-face and call him a 'hypocrite' ('fraud' or 'playactor' in other versions). Not even a calm "I don't mean to be rude,..." or anything of that sort, but a flat "You hypocrites!".

17When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

And if you think Jesus had the guts only because He knew he was directly related to God, well there are many men in the Bible who followed this 'strictness' against those who tried to spread false messages or con the Church.

6They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus.

(For those who don't know their Arabian, the term 'Bar-' is used as a prefix to mean 'Son of', a little something like 'Bin-' but not necessarily Muslim. So to think that this sorcerer, a man of witchcraft, actually had the cheek to say he was the 'Son of Jesus'...)

The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.

So the proconsul wants to seek God now - but nooooooooo, Elymas wanted to go against the way of the Lord, probably because he didn't want to be fired from the post of attendant. So what does he get for this move?

9Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10"You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun."

Note that Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit before he said those harmful words. So even the Holy Spirit was angry at Elymas for trying to stop Him/It from woking into the heart of a willing new-believer. And also note that God's mercy was also present in this forfiet (..., and for a time you will be unable...) so you can't blame Him for not showing any compassion for the guy.

Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

So don't wait if you know that someone is faking the Church and taking advantage of It, whether it be offerings or sermons, and quickly do something about it already!

After Church, Mom, Morriel and I went back home to fetch Daddy and Choppy so we could go for Lunch at a restaraunt near-by Mom's office. Nic efood, I must say, and I love the olive rice!

Then we went home to slack off for the day. For my share, I stayed in my room and watched some old episodes of 'Whose Line Is It Anyway' on my computer. Played a few rounds of MineSweeper with Shil on Msn (Yay! I won him 2-1!), discussed some details on my B-day party with Raam and recieved word from Tim that he wanted to let me listen to another song from the Believers again.

I don't know how I could thank Tim at this stage - he's been giving me songs after songs, and I can't give anything back in return as he has literally every song I have (Christian, Musical, Pop, even High School Musical!...). But like in Acts 3, I'll assist him in anything he needs and that I can give as a Christian, just like how Peter gave what he had - the authority of healing - onto the lame man. And don't get me wrong - if any of my friends need help, whether Believing or non-Believing, I'll do what I can to help you through the situation and will pray for you. Just tell me your problem (I'll promise to keep it secret, if you'd like), and I'll pray for you.

Soon in the evening, Spider-man II was on TV, of which the family gathered around the Living Room to watch 'Uncle Wu' attempt to fight against Spider-man [Morriel thinks that Dr. Octopus is actually Uncle Wu, and I must admit they both are very similiar - just as chubby and with the same facial features as each other, and both love to play around with robotics (One, robotic arms; another, robotic toys) - only difference is just that one has brown hair and one has mid-black.]

Morriel even cried when she watched 'Uncle Wu' drown himself along with "the power of the sun" in order to save New York, and for a few seconds was afraid Uncle Wu was gone forever. How touching.

Well, I'll just end off with these two bloopers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4D7yXmiWfw&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgVJF0xQPH4&NR=1 (For those from 2.10, listen carefully at 2.42, and you may be creeped out...)

God bless y'all! Romans 5:20!