I have been meaning to review 2008 for a bit, but still am late.
My punctuality (lack thereof) is a growing problem, and most friends have had a taste of it.
I have concluded that my detachment from the company has culminated in an untamedness disciplinary-wise, and am pretty sure that enlistment will phase out all of my slothiness.

I look forward to shaving my head, and pairing up with a mob of pungent males.
I look forward to long marches, soggy and smelly feet, and caressing my rifle, unnecessary activities and movements, and extremely early mornings.
Yet while belonging to one of the few who can live through an intermission before enlisting, I have the added woe of determining how to spend my time.

It's pretty subjective in labelling any year, or any thing really as 'good' or 'lousy' because our persons live out the same days differently.

2008 has been pivotal for Song Leng, however.
It has been a very rich year. Not economically of course, quite the opposite in that sense.

I have had many more laughs and many more woes, bouts of distress and etcetera.
I have cemented friendships, forged new relationships and learned new things and undergone a major upheaval as to what I thought I already knew.

"The righteous live by faith"-We only are righteous by virtue of our faith and we live and are faithful only by God's mercy, permission and provision.

I've rediscovered what's important, and although my answer will make people cringe or flush, I will stand by it. Jesus is most important. 18th October was a monumental date when God began to work on me.

I understood the difference between lust and love.
Lust is physical. Love is personal. Lust desires and pines. Love accepts and encompasses. Lust destroys, Love heals. Lust weakens, Love empowers.

Love is something we claim we know and believe we live out, but we actually don't.
Whatever relationship most people have now, it hardly can be Love. God's love for us, parental love, and the bond between man and wife in a real marriage (not Hollywood pairings) are real models of Love.

The world is often driven by self-interest. To do otherwise will mean that you have to suffer. And yet this is what Christians are called to do in suffering like our Lord also did when He was here.

I can no longer say I'm growing up. Rather, I'm getting old. Some person said this, and I might have said it before. We begin dying the moment we live. Since the sand in the hour-glass is running out, are we to try and live as rampantly and uncontrolledly before time is up, or should we behave in a manner worthy of Christ.

I've moved from being aggressive to being something mild in my temperament, where Crystal pointed out that I was an angry person. Ah, Crystal is a real brick. She infuriates me, and I infuriate her in return. We incite each other to think, which is precious. I treasure her company a lot.

Derek and Hakim, who are sensitive males that I'm close with, have been with me through fun and distress and also romance, though not with each other though.
Kah Kee and Zicong are dependable exercise partners; Jeremy and Dickson promise fun most times.

I have a store of new statements that I want to meditate on and develp into .
Like: People are just hiccups in one another's lives.
I might pursue the opponent of that statement and say too: People are like gum, which sticks to u, and when you remove them, a considerable blob of the gum will still remain; when u try to remove it with a tough chemical, you burn your flesh.

I will work on it, and hopefully it will make me a Nobel laureate for my revolutionary achievement.

But one thing I am sure of, People do impact one another and induce some change. But God rules over all of it and works mostly.
Just came off chatting with Ke Yi online. At risk of sounding non-masculine, it was heart-warming. It validates the above observation I just made. I've really enjoyed her abuse and will miss her and her treatment of me now on.

It makes me pretty sad to admit that the simplicity of last time will not be lived out again. I will miss this kind of life, way of living. It's already passed.
In Mandarin-"There is no banquet that goes on forever."

I will miss/ I already miss:

• The TKD bunch who change in the toilets next to the AVA room on Mondays;
• Being sheer lazy in TKD with Zhan Yi and co;
• The abuse I get from females who I suspect actually really adore me-a long list;
• The first JC 1 Orientation, which to me was pretty perfect because of the thrill and the people;
• The class gatherings, chalets, BBQ and games at those occasions;
• Pre-U Seminar with Derek in the carpark;
• The long bus ride on 5 with Hakim;
• Walking to college with Crystal;
• Running with my sister to Changi Village;
• Chinese New Year;
• Prom and especially shopping for clothes for it;
• Being in the classroom, canteen, in the food queue, in the Lecture Theatre; and so much more.

I don't often like to reminisce, because it opens me up to a peculiar feeling which I find will hampers my rational thought process. I prefer to let it slide.

The Bible is God's word, and our directory for living.

ACCOLADE
Best movie of the year: "The Dark Knight"
People who've impressed me: Heath Ledger
Usain Bolt
Michael Phelps

New Year Resolution:
To live by the Spirit and in obedience.
To love.

"If your heart takes more pleasure in reading novels or watching television, or going to the movies, or talking to friends, rather than just sitting alone with God and embracing him, sharing his cares and burdens, weeping and rejoicing with him, then how are you going handle forever and ever in his presence? You'd be bored to tears in heaven, if you're not ecstatic about God now!"

Leonard Ravenhill

Maybe you think Song Leng is very preachy. Maybe you should skip over all the 'Christian' things that I have recently begun to say, and fast-forward to the flashy, cool, smart and witty things I normally would include in my ravings?

Maybe.

I feel something stir inside my chest, when I read and hear people talking about God.
I'm worried that they don't know the authentic God and instead are buying into the mainstream popular and liberal idea of a God who's ya-know, vaguely there but is letting the world run itself, and according to frail, varied human opinions of morality.

Take sex for instance. Our (moral) stand on it changes. 50 years ago, it was a taboo and could not be mentioned on television, drama and literature. Sex was disgusting, adult and immoral and most of all-private.

50 years later, sex is the best thing that sells.
Any novel, movie, television programme with no bed scene is passed over as boring, old and stale. We are now living in a society where sexuality and sensuality is pronounced okay and marketed widely.

'Sex and the City', 'Desperate Housewives', 'Cashmere Mafia'...
How about the sex industry,which transcends borders, international boundaries and bandwidths?

The media has undergone a phenomenal change of mind from being highly conservative in 1960 to grossly permissible in a span of 40 years.

Adultery is freely discussed and portrayed on all forms of media as acceptable.

Did you think that homosexuality is a recent farce? It was already noted in the Bible during Abraham's time, when God destroyed the city of Sodom, saving only Lot and his two daughters because of its decadence and immorality.

Greek culture in the archaic period(750 BC - 480 BC) condoned pederasty, which was a relationship and bond between an adolescent boy and a man that contained sexual aspects.

Do we call this social improvement, or backsliding?

A god of our own construct will agree and endorse whatever wild and immoral thing we want to do, whereas a real God will challenge and offend us.
And why can't He? He's God.

I've always been hearing people say that the Bible is not a perfect cultural fit because 2000 years ago was too far and detached, and society's moral standards are erratic.
But if man has not changed in essence in his wants and desires, and sin has not changed, why should Scripture not be relevant in talking and teaching about man?

When I said authentic God above, I meant the God of Scripture-God in Scripture is consistent and unchanging. Does He change His mind or the way He does things?

Malachi 3:6
I the LORD do not change.

God does not give suggestions on how to live your life, like what preachers make it seem like.
God gives commands; orders and decrees. Because He is the LORD, and not a liberal, head of a democratic system that men come up with so that their wants are always considered.

Why cannot God's commands contradict your suppositions and ideas?

Romans 9:20
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?" Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble uses and some for common use?

God helps those who helps themselves!?
So you're saying that there isn't a need for God's help, but you're fine on your own, thanks?
How many of this kinds of cliches are there around?
Christ came down to die for us precisely because we could not save ourselves.

To quote Jeff Noblit-"Why, if you're so darn good and desirable, did it take the death of God's Son to fix you?"

I'm beginning to specialize in making people feel lousy and low-spirited?
Well we all like to believe that there is something good inside of us, some inherent goodness in our nature. There is no such thing. On some level we know that we are rotten and we spend effort trying to package and bury our rot.

I've learned some things these days.

I found myself very hasty in casting judgement and discriminating against everybody.
I was pretty agitated and angry previously. But it's somewhat tempered out, thanks to close friends who tell you things you don't enjoy hearing but pretty much know is true.

I have a problem with people telling me I'm wrong; I have a problem with being wrong.

Yet Christians are works-in-progress and I want to quote a pastor I met who said this and it is so true. Christians will always disappoint you. Rather, put your hope and trust in God.

Isaiah 49:22
This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
"See, I will beckon to the Gentiles,
I will lift up my banner to the peoples;
they will bring your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
Kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground;
they will lick the dust at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the LORD;
those who hope in me will not be disappointed."

To Christian friends and Preachers who are eager to tell the world,
Stop sugarcoating God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Just present it entirely and God will do the rest.

I'm comforted that despite bad teaching, God has power over salvation.
But this is not a premise for us to teach inaccurately.
Rather, stay true to Scripture because it's accuracy and relevance is timeless.

If the gospel of Jesus Christ relied on human preaching, it would have died even before it took shape; before there would have been the first church.

But, God is in control.

God's way is best and most ideal. Our perspectives are fogged and we don't make decisions with discernment. We should tailor our plans so they are in accordance with God's will. What is God's will? In scripture of course!

*

Lastly, I have a small treatise on love and relationship.
It's very hard to love a person. Often we love their merits and appeal.
We should instead love them for their flaws also, which then adds up to the whole package.
Love the unloveable.

There's a fair amount of crazy in everyone of us, and we will have to be able to accomodate it.

finis

I'm pretty gleeful that I won't be a fashion disaster at prom.
But this verdict would be passed by the fashion police and not something I can award myself.

I've read somewhere, and its common knowledge, that shopping is repugnant to males. Yet Jem, Jay and I were out for 4 days at least roaming places to get outfits and ruining our feet.
The great thing was that us guys had some extent of fun, all credit to our respective virtues.
(Song Leng is electric.)

I cannot fathom why women love to shop.
Do they love their purchasing power or do they like the pain in the legs?

At the MRT, you might hear an announcement that asks you to move to areas that are less crowded. I thought this was common sense, but judging from our excursions to and fro City Hall, Bugis and Habourfront, a lot of Singaporeans are deficient in common sense.

In short, people are selfish and simply assholes on the public transport, in the elevator, on the escalator and in their nakedness.
There isn't any point in moving out of the train to let people get off, because the rest of the world would rush into the train at your expense.

If you still strive to be nice, you will lose out.
If you don't, you are also an asshole.
It's splendid that its so clear-cut.

Since we're on this topic, I would also like to add that my world, and I think naturally, the world is absolute and allows for no middle ground.

It is either yes or no; right or wrong, and any in-between is just a move to stall for more time before one finally chooses a side.

The Sovereignty of God:
Some people like to think that God has already determined how it would be at the very end, but is letting things progress freely for now.

If God has fine control over the very end, wouldn't He also be in control of the next minute, hour, days? Things that happen only happen because God allows it to, and only if it is within His will.

Very few things in the world that occur I care about.
The world loves its performers, promiscuous people and liars.
The world is eager to accept shabby excuses that exclude any sort of godliness and reins in the lawlessness they are swimming in.
The world shuns men who refuse to collude with them. Luckily there aren't any such men.

Beauty:



Were you expecting my pretty face in this section?
I'm sorry to disappoint you.

Parting Shot:

There is no such thing as atheism. It is just gross denial of divinity, which they want to keep underneath the carpet. Self-professed atheists are eager to reject the idea of a God that they would have to submit to, and subscribe to every other alternative in their escape.

It severely grates my nerves especially when some person starts going "that's right", at the end of every sentence the preacher says.

It's blind, unthinking acceptance where the person does not give much thought to the message but gobbles it all up without understanding.

Instead of trying to seem as if you're following what is being taught, you should be examining yourself and listening. Not grunting like an animal.

It sets me off, because you're not giving any consideration to the message, but being a docile, non-thinking beast.

Stop it.

*

I have not written more about the wrongness of modern theology because judging from what I wrote previously, people haven't understood anything I said.

The things that I've written, you do not give much thought to, but you're taking some of it up to supplement your wrongful belief about Christ and God so that you feel better and sleep easy at night, and discarding the harsher truths, that condemn and convict you.

You agree with what I said, but you know not what you are agreeing with.

The Christian has a hard time sleeping because he would be in tune with God and God is grieved at what the Church has become. Our Churches have become a den of robbers and thieves like it was in Jesus' time.

Throw away all your false impressions about the Christian faith and read Scripture. All that you need to know is inside. How can you profess to be a Christian and yet not have read most of the Bible? You're not a Christian. You're a liar.

You think Jesus came to unite the world? You've not read scripture then.
Do not flaunt your horrible ignorance. It's disgusting.

Luke 12: 49
"I have come to bring fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

Have you understood this?

How do you tell who is a disciple of Christ? By his fruit.
A good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good food.

Your outward actions, speech will reflect your inner belief. Is Christ in any of these?

No? I thought so.

2 Corinthians 5: 17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Stop assuming or presuming.

I'm so angry at people who think they're Christians when they have not read Scripture or understood any of these.

And do not assume you're on the good side of this division that Christ brought.
By default, we're all lost and rotten.

If you're waiting or wanting a miracle before you believe, I'm so sorry, you've missed it.
Christ has already resurrected and ascended. There is the one other miracle you have a chance to partake in.

"I think the greatest miracle is where God takes an unholy person in a wicked and unholy world, makes him holy, and puts him back into the unholy and wicked world and keeps him holy. "

This was said by Leonard Ravenhill. Google him.
Read Isaiah 59, which convicts us of our sin.

Isaiah 59: 15-16

Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.

If you think you're righteous, you're not. God calls us righteous and justifies this actually absurd claim if we have faith in his Son. No man is righteous. In Hebrews 11, Abraham's faith was creditted to him as righteousness.

Yet this faith is not something that we have in ourself. We're like the firewood that has been doused with water so many times that we can't light a fire, with Elijah. Rather Jesus, from above, who brought fire, kindled the spark of faith in our deadness.

Read Romans, Ephesians, Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians, Hebrews...
Read the Bible.

*

Pardon me if my posts now do not appeal to your wit or humour.
But this is the only thing I want to write on currently.
I'm not that sorry for my harsh and agitated tone.

I'm in a good mind to sweep away the tissue packets that office workers in Singapore use to reserve seats in food places. It sounds absurd, especially if they say it themselves.
Could you imagine:

"Excuse me, this seat is reserved."
Huh? There isn't anybody seating here reserving it what.

"Can't you see that we've reserved it with the tissue packets?"
Do you know how stupid you sound!?

I'll probably do this next time. Singaporean are fundamentally cowards who are afraid of hassle and trouble that comes along with confrontation, even if they have reason on their side. All we do is complain, and then let it slide. That is pathetic.

They should try using their tissue packets to reserve parking lots. Or maybe use tissue boxes. More visible. Try and see if the drivers would entertain their childish pique.

*

I always liked white tigers. Even though they're zoo animals, we cannot destress the second part of the phrase. They are animals after all.


(Image courtesy of Shuan Lo from Singapore)

We have reduced the gospel into hearer-friendly material, which introduces you to 3 things.

1) The goodness of God in loving you for whatever you are.
2) Promising you eternal life.
3) Showering you with gifts and blessings.

Everybody loves a God like that. That is why everybody celebrates Christmas, because it sells the idea of an old fat dude, who drops in and gives you gifts for no good reason and assures you you're being a good boy/ girl, keep up your good work.
Of course you would welcome such a god.

If you believe, you're only believing in the goodness and abundant gifts this god has to offer and you're intaking a god that prospers you, agrees with whatever you are doing no matter how immoral it is, and leaves you alone to enjoy yourself at most of the time.

That is not the God of scripture or Yahweh, but a man-made consultant you've crafted to serve your own sinful desires. This god you've made serves your own human whims and desires instead of you serving him.

This is what is the gospel is:

1) Men are so wicked and fallen that we have no hope, no control over ourselves.
2) God's wrath is upon us because of our sin.
3) He had mercy on us and sacrificed his Son to redeem us which we could not have done for ourselves previously.

The gospel is unsavoury and offensive. It is like a slap to your face.
If you accept it casually, you have not understood it.

We have diluted the meaning of believing in Christ.
Scripture indeed does say that you are to believe in Christ, and that is the route to salvation.
You firstly would have believed in all the nice things about Jesus, and are looking for more promise of goodness.

You are like the five thousand whom Jesus fed and are looking for him. You're looking to benefit more, not because you believe in Jesus' divine power.

John 6: 26
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill."

The Bible says to believe and confess that Jesus is the Christ and Son of God. And so you think your frivolous verbal declarations are enough and you believe in him would mean that you have faith and you are saved.

Do you really know what it means to believe? It is not just to acknowledge and accept what is said. It is to devote and to hope in Jesus and to give up your life for him.
In those times, if you were to confess Christ is Lord, you would be killed.

To believe is to throw yourself, your hopes and your confidence onto Him that He is your sustenance, He is your provider and He is your God.

Is this the depth of your belief?
Or do you treat 'believing' like a vaccination and an insurance where you've bought a unit in heaven?
Can you be sure this is the depth of your belief?

Peter disowned Jesus thrice, even though he declared Jesus to be the 'Holy One of God' earlier.
Are you better than him?

A common blasphemous belief is that once you believe, you're a Christian and you're automatically guaranteed a place in heaven.
Who told you that? Firstly, is your belief and faith of God and in God?
Then, are you behaving like a Christian?

Matthew 7: 13
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

In addition to the gate being small, the path that leads to the gate is narrow and many will fall off. Do you think Jesus was lying when he said that only a few will find it?

Beware. Firstly, your belief could be false and misplaced. You do not believe in the unbelievable gospel of Jesus Christ because it makes sense to you or it appeals to you.
God has mercy on you and gives you the gift of faith. Otherwise you would never swallow the gospel's message.

If you have been marked out by God, he will have changed you and put in you a God-loving and seeking heart that will continously walk after him. God will give you the ability you never had to turn away from and stop sinning like you were before.

If such a change has not taken place in you, you have not been saved. Nobody has a heart that seeks and wants God. God gives you such a heart and changes you.

When God saves you, you will know that you are different and you will be born again, having a new heart and new wants that are of God. When he takes you as one of his, he will keep you and discipline you and teach you.

If you continue to enjoy living like you once did, still remaining preoccupied about worldly concerns of pleasure and fun, you can be sure you have not been touched by God.

You profess to be Christians, yet you do not read God's word. If you do read, you're reading it to gratify yourselves and to use Scripture to justify your carnal desires. Read scripture and read it carefully and pray that the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob reveals himself to you.

Not everyone has known God. Your human efforts to try and find and reach God is futile and misguided. You would not be able to get to God no matter how hard you try. That is why there is a need for Jesus. Even then, you remain blocked, your hearts are still stone and you will not be able to get to God.

John 6:44
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day."

After Jesus said this, many of the disciples who believed in Jesus rejected his teachings and deserted him.

A lot of us are the disciples who do not know Jesus yet and we would be driven away if we know the entirety of the gospel, unless God keeps us.

John 6: 63
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they have life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

Jesus knows who of us believe because he has already marked us out.
Do not presume yourself to be included in his flock of sheep, but rather examine yourselves.

Jesus' sheep hear his voice and follow after him. If you do not hear and you're not following after him, you are not his sheep.

John 10: 14
"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-just as the Father knows me and I know the Father-and I lay down my life for the sheep."

John 10: 24-
The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

Jesus' sheep are those whom he has enabled to believe in him, and they will follow unwaveringly after him and not fall away. He guarantees that no one will be able to snatch them away from him, the shepherd and that their salvation is assured.

Jesus' elect is not a broad net. It is a small pen which is reserved for those God has designated.
Rather, you should be very afraid and concerned if you are one of Jesus' sheep.

If you do not understand the above, then I will have this to say:

John 8: 47
He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.

Instead of presuming you are one of Jesus' sheep, pray rather that you will receive his mercy and be included in his flock.

To Christians, those who believe themselves to be Christians, Church-goers and Church Members:

I've been recently made to see things that have gone awry with Christianity and the modern gospel today, and I've been led to see these things in a way that is not based on my own intelligence or my perception, but in a way that is supernatural.

There are things and teachings so wrong and so perverse and contrary to the gospel that Christ and his disciples brought to the world.

I get enraged when Christians claim they've saved people or they can save people. You are mistaken! God does the saving. God is the one who makes people who do not want God believe in the unbelievable.

If you believe easily, you have then not believed in the gospel, and you must not have heard it fully.

There is no such thing as human free will.
I get really mad when I hear Churches and people saying that you can make a choice and decide for yourselves if you want to believe. Where in scripture is it like that?

We are so wicked and so lost and so steeped in sin that we cannot save ourselves.
We are drowning in our own sin, and when we're drowning, how can we pull ourselves out of the water? Only Jesus can pull you out!

You claim you have control over yourself? But then you're so wicked and sinful that all of your control would be devoted to sin. You deceive yourselves if you profess to have control. We are enslaved by our sinful desires and no matter what we do, it is motivated by our own sinful desires.

So if you dare say you have and exercise human free will, you mean that you are in full control of your sinful acts and you're saying that you can get out by yourselves without Jesus.

Romans 8: 5-8
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful men is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

If you do not think you're evil, you're in denial. Do you remember the worst thing you've done and said? Do you remember the evil thoughts you've entertained in your head and evil thoughts about your friends? You hate God's sovereignty because it will expose your wickedness.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is so amazing that you would either believe in it or abhor it. It denounces man, and exposes him for all his wickedness and unworthiness. When man is concerned about enjoyment and pleasure and having a good time living his best life now, God's laws will remind him that he cannot do what he has been doing or what he likes to do.

Believing in God is not something you can do. It is a supernatural work that is all God and not you. We have been separated from God because of our sins, and God must reach out and make first contact. We man cannot do it by ourselves!

In Acts 16:11-15, it speaks of a true authentic conversion. It talks about a woman called Lydia, who was listening to Paul. In verse 14, it is written: The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. She did not believe out of her own sense, but because God had mercy on her and allowed her to come to him.

The entire gospel is about God's mercy and how he could have carted us all to hell, but instead he put together an elaborate plan that spanned thousands of years and is charted in the Bible to reconcile God and man.

Isaiah 48:8-11
You have neither heard or understood;
from of old your ear has not been opened.
Well I do know how treacherous you are;
you were called a rebel from birth.
For my own name's sake I delay my wrath;
for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you,
so as not to cut you off.
See, I have refined you, though not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
How can I let myself be defamed?
I will not yield my glory to another.

Do you understand what you're reading? God reveals what he is actually doing.

You cannot believe in God by yourself. You will not believe in God by yourself. Instead God has mercy on you and gives you the gift of faith in him and his Spirit so that you may be able to walk in a way that pleases him. How much are we dependent on God and his mercy.

I get disgusted when people believe that God chooses them because they have some quality or abilities that God likes. You're only buffing up your own ego when you believe this.
God does not choose people because they have some merit. He chooses the weak and the foolish to mock the people in the world who believe in their own strength and ability.
God chose Rahab the prostitute; Jesus was a carpenter, and Jesus' disciples were sinful men-tax collectors and uneducated men-fishermen. He set these men up against the religious authority of the day against the Chief Priest and the Pharisees who were thoroughly educated in God's Laws.

Isaiah 46:10
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times,
what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Do you think that God does what he does to make you live better and happier?
God does everything for his own glory because he cannot allow his name to be defiled. He does not do this to satisfy or pacify your selfish human sinful desires. Do you recognize that this is the God you claim you believe in?

Or do you think your worldly worth has bolstered you qualifications for salvation? If you must have confidence, have confidence in Christ. Why are you so pleased with yourselves. God delivers victory into our hands.

Do you think your merit has weight in God's sight? You've done work for God? You're supposed to do work for God!

God hates sinners. God is love, yes. But we've dimmed the other attribute of God which is as important, and as real. God is righteous. God hates all who does iniquity. If he is righteous, he must hate what is evil. If you love babies, you must hate abortions.

God loves us, yes. But because of his righteousness, we have aroused his wrath and his hatred. If God's love could cancel out his wrath and holiness, then he would not have to go to the trouble of having Jesus come down to die on the cross and suffer God's wrath on our behalf!

God's wrath and justice must be satisfied. For the wages of sin is death, we must die for our sins. However, there is a lamb, a pure sacrificial offering that is Jesus. Jesus took on God's wrath for us and paid for our sins in full. So our debts have been cleared in full if we believe in Jesus and hope in him.

But if you reject Jesus, do you think it would be fair for him to have died for you?
Your blood then will be on your own head and you will face God's wrath yourself this time.

You have better go read Romans.

I detest how churches evangelise and try to present the gospel in a tamer way that censors out the 'harsher' aspects of our God. If they believe, they would not have believed in the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, but a god you have fashioned and tailored to increase your membership. You go on and on about God, but you have not known him.

Do you know that God knows you and everything that you think about? He reads your heart and knows what is inside. Isn't that scary?

Do you honestly think God is a judge who pardons freely? He is a judge who judges and passes sentences. What kind of man-made God have you been subscribing to? Certainly not the God in Scripture!

I have this to say to people who evangelise and try to save people.
The gospel is not a gospel of man, but of God. Whatever you do to evangelise is useless. Only God saves. You, you're just a loudhailer that must continue to shout his gospel out to the world. God makes people believe in the unbelievable.

The people who claim to believe after you've summarized the gospel for them are only believing in your concept of Jesus Christ, a Jesus Christ and a God who blesses and forgives indefinitely. The way you're making Jesus sound like an upgrade to someone's life is popular and not from God. Everybody would want this kind of God. Nobody would say no to living forever, as well as receiving gifts.
You are on the path to doom and bringing others down with you!
You cannot package the gospel or edit it, because the gospel is not from man.

2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith, test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you, unless of course, you fail the test?

God has already chosen his very elect. Jesus knows his sheep and his sheep hears his voice and knows him. Do not presume you've been saved because of something you've done. Nothing you do can save yourselves.

If the things I've said are very different from what you believe in, then you had better start reading the Bible properly, and not because you want affirmation or you want comfort from verses that gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.

The gospel is not the New Testament! It is the Old and New Testament. The real gospel will offend you because it speaks out against what you've been doing all this time!

I am not a model Christian, but a wicked and immoral human being who has recognized my own need for God's mercy and for Jesus Christ and I've been compelled to shout all of these out. Praise be to God.
For non-believers, if you've bothered to read, its not just angry banter.

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Finally, I think (but mostly hope) that Barack Obama will change the world for better.
The 'A' levels are extremely infuriating.