T C S (Testing, Compassion, Surrender)

1. Testing- Our God is a God of testings. He does not want blind followers. He wants people to obey Him from their own free will. He tested our first parents and they failed His test miserably. He tested Abraham with a promise and when Abraham believed God, it was credited to him as righteousness. He tested Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Daniel and even the disciples of Jesus. He tests all Christians for their faithfulness to Him and rewards them who pass the test.

2. Compassion- Our God is a very compassionate God. Because of His great love for mankind, He devised a plan to redeem fallen mankind from their own destruction and eternal death. Jesus died on the cross as a ransom for those who will accept Him as Lord and savior thus, gaining for themselves eternal life. Jesus had compassion for the people during His brief sojourn on earth, that is why He healed the sick who approached Him and fed a multitude of people. And even when He was dying on the cross, He was praying for His persecutors because they did not know what they were doing.

3. Surrender- Our response should be- total surrender to the Lord. Our God is a jealous God who will never countenance a rival king on our pedestals. He wants total love, obedience and surrender of the will of all His children to His divine will. And in return, He promises countless blessings and grace fro those who will obey His will. REMEMBER, OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S WILL RESULTS TO BLESSINGS AND DISOBEDIENCE TO HIS WILL RESULTS TO CURSES FROM GOD.

Tags: God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Testing, Compassion, Surrender, Will of God, Human Will, Free Will, Obedience, Disobedience, Blessings, Grace, Eternal Life, Curses, Destruction, Eternal Death, Word of God, Bible, Glory, Love, Joy, Peace

Posted by: Mel Avila Alarilla

Philippines

Spiritual/Inspirational/Motivational

Do You Eat Dinuguan? (Pork Innards Cooked In Pork Blood)

Do you eat dinuguan (pork innards cooked in pork blood)? It is so delicious especially with puto (rice cake). I used to love eating dinuguan in my younger days. I remember ordering dinuguan and puto from Goldilocks (a local delicatessen). But when I became a born again Christian in November 2000 and have studied the Bible thoroughly, I stopped eating dinuguan. It was expressly and clearly forbidden by God in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy to eat the blood of any living thing for the life is in the blood and God considered it sacred. We were asked once by my teaching pastor in our discipleship training whether we eat dinuguan. I answered vehemently in the negative. He was clearly upset by my answer and debated me vigorously on the issue. Perhaps I thought, he eats dinuguan and he wanted to prove that eating it was justified by God. He cited to me the verse where God declared all edible animals, clean and unclean, could already be eaten. I told him that animal blood was never considered as food and the prohibition still stood. I even told him that all viruses and bacteria that any slaughtered animal may be carrying are in the blood and may be transmitted to those who will eat it. (Certain viruses and bacteria withstand the heat of cooking and can still harm those who will eat the blood of the cooked animal). We ended our debate with the pastor clearly upset and agitated by my bold pronouncement and after that I was the object of his displeasure and indifference.

Lately, as I continued my thorough study of the Bible, my attention was caught by the ruling of the Council of Elders in Jerusalem in the time of Paul and Silas after the death of Jesus Christ. The council, counting James- the brother of Jesus, Peter and the other apostles, made this ruling for all Christians in the places visited by Paul and Silas. "You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality" (Acts 15:29). Ah, I feel vindicated after so many years.

Tags: God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Word of God, Holy Bible, Dinuguan, Blood, Pork Innards Cooked In Pig's Blood, Puto, Rice Cake, Biblical Prohibition, Goldilocks, Delicatessen, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Food, Old Testament, New Testament

Posted by: Mel Avila Alarilla

Philippines

Inspirational/Motivational