PRAISE GOD AND ALL GLORY BE TO HIM FOREVER!!!! AFTER THREE YEARS GOD CHOSEN SHEEPS TO LEAD HIS FLOCK ARE ON THE GO....YOUNG AND ENERGETIC SHEEP WILL TAKE THEIR OATH ON JULY 10,2010, DURING THE 24TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF THE CHSG, INFRONT OF GOD AND THE SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR OF THE CHSG, FR. DAVID PROCALLA,DCC DURING THE MASS. CONGRATULATIONS AND GOD BLESS... WE PRAY FOR YOU.
SHEPERDESS: SIS. YANNIE ROSE NISNISAN
INTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER : BRO. JUSTIN CADUNGOG
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER : SIS. HAYNEE BAYA
SECRETARY : SIS. GRACE KANDOG
STEWARD: SIS: JOANNA ETIC
EQUIPPING MINISTRY: BRO. RAMON VILLANUEVA
HEALING AND DELIVERANCE MINISTRY : BRO. BONG LOZANO
SERVICE MINISTRY : SIS: GERVERLYN MILA
MUSIC MINISTRY : BRO. RONALD CADUNGOG
WE ARE PROUD TO BE CATHOLIC
SPIRITUAL RENEWAL SEMINAR BATCH 3, APRIL 20-22, 2012
The BEATITUDES...Bro. David Henz Mejia, Bro. Butch Pascual, Sis. Kareen Ann Rodriguez, Sis. Roxane Sumaya, Sis. Frecian May Suyom, Sis. Shalyn Pascual, Sis. Shiela Hornido(not in the picture)
SILVER ANNIVERSARY
jULY 14, 2011
SPIRITUAL RENEWAL SEMINAR BATCH 2 April 9-11,2010
NEWLY COMMISSIONED Full pledge Members for Life...Bro. Justin Cadungog, Sis. Alma Urgel, Sis. Ophelia Cortez, Sis. Grace Kandog, Sis. Haynee Baya, Sis. Graziella Cajeta, Sis. Emelyn Castillon, Sis. Yannie Rose Nisnisan, Sis. Joanna Etic
SRS FIRST BATCH APRIL 2-4,2009 FULLPLEDGE MEMBERS
Ready to Make a Difference...
Friday, June 18, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
UNFULFILLED PREDICTIONS-PROPHESIES????
Date of the Second Coming Author Notes
1745–present Emanuel Swedenborg
Witnessed the Last Judgment in 1757 as one of many events recounted in his works resulting from visions of Jesus Christ returned. He tells of almost daily interaction with Christ over the course of almost 30 years. His return is not in the flesh, but in His Holy Spirit. "Neither shall they say see here or see there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20).
September 15, 1829 George Rapp
Founder and leader of the Harmony Society, predicted that on September 15, 1829, the three and one half years of the Sun Woman would end and Christ would begin his reign on earth. Dissension grew when Rapp's predictions went unfulfilled. In March 1832, a third of the group left and some began following a man named Bernhard Müller who claimed to be the Lion of Judah. Nevertheless, most of the group stayed and Rapp continued to lead them until he died on August 7, 1847. His last words to his followers were, "If I did not so fully believe, that the Lord has designated me to place our society before His presence in the land of Canaan, I would consider this my last."
October 22, 1844 William Miller and the Millerite Movement
The fact that this failed to happen the way people were expecting was later referred to as the Great Disappointment. Some Millerites continued to set dates; others founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Advent Christian Church, which continued to expect the Second Coming but no longer set dates for it (Members of the Bahá'í Faith believe that the event of the Second Coming did take place on 23 May 1844, when the Báb (the Gate), the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh (Glory of God)), declared his mission. Bahá'u'lláh later claimed that he was the return and second coming of Jesus Christ.
1874 Charles Taze Russell
The first president of what is now the Watchtower Society of the Jehovah's Witnesses, calculated 1874 to be the year of Christ's Second Coming, and until his death taught that Christ was invisibly present, and ruling from the heavens from that date prophesied. Russell proclaimed Christ's invisible return in 1874, the resurrection of the saints in 1875 and predicted the end of the "harvest" and a rapture of the saints to heaven for 1878, and the final end of "the day of wrath" in 1914 1874 was considered the end of 6,000 years of human history and the beginning of judgment by Christ.
1914 Jehovah's Witnesses
The "Second Coming" is important in the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, although they do not use this term. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Christ's visible (to humans) return will be at Armageddon. They believe that 1914 A.D. marked the beginning of Christ's invisible presence (Matt. 24:3 gr. "parousia") as the King of God's Kingdom (Psalm 110; Revelation 12:10), and the beginning of the last days of the human ruled system of society. They believe the signs Christ revealed about his return in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 began to occur starting in 1914. In a parallel Biblical account at Revelation 6, they believe the ride of the symbolic four horsemen began in the same year, and that the first rider on the white horse depicts the Christ. He goes forth to complete his conquest of the earth, while the rule by human leaders continues for a short while until they meet their end at Armageddon by the power of the Christ (Revelation 19:11-21).
1917–1930 Sun Myung Moon
The followers of Reverend Sun Myung Moon consider Reverend Moon to be the Lord of the Second Advent called by Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday at the age of 15 on a Korean Mountainside.
1930s Rudolf Steiner
Steiner described the physical incarnation of Christ as a unique event, but predicted that Christ would reappear in the etheric, or lowest spiritual, plane beginning in the 1930s. This would manifest in various ways: as a new spiritual approach to community life and between individuals; in more and more individuals discovering fully conscious access to the etheric plane (clairvoyance); and in Christ's appearance to groups of seekers gathered together.
1975 Herbert W. Armstrong
Armstrong, Pastor-General of the Radio Church of God, and then the Worldwide Church of God, felt the return of Jesus Christ might be in 1975. Of particular note was the book 1975 in Prophecy! written by Armstrong and published by the Radio Church of God in 1956. Though, never explicitly stating a date in the booklet, the title led people to believe the date was the second coming.
June 28, 1981 Bill Maupin Maupin, a pastor of the Lighthouse Gospel Tract Foundation in Tucson, Arizona, wrote a book predicting the date of the Second Coming. His congregation sold all their belongings and went to a hilltop on that day to await the event.
June 21, 1982 Benjamin Creme
The followers of the New Age Theosophical guru Benjamin Creme, like Alice A. Bailey, believe the Second Coming will occur when Maitreya (the being Theosophists identify as being Christ) makes his presence on Earth publicly known—Crème believes Maitreya has been on Earth since 1977, living in secret.
Creme put advertisements in many of the world's major newspapers in early 1982 stating that the Second Coming would occur on Monday, 21 June 1982 (summer solstice in the northern hemisphere), at which time Christ (Maitreya) would announce his Second Coming on worldwide television (this is called the Emergence or Day of Declaration ; this is when, Creme's followers believe, the Maitreya will telepathically overshadow all of humanity when he appears on worldwide television) When this event did not occur, Crème claimed that the "world is not yet ready to receive Maitreya"; his followers continue to believe it will happen "soon".
1994? And 2011 Harold Camping
Camping, one of the co-founders of Family Stations, Inc. and Bible teacher, published a book, 1994?, a prediction of Christ's return was likely pointing to 1994 but that the end will be on May 21, 2011. 2011 was also in the book 1994?. Camping wrote "Adam when?" and claimed the Biblical calendar meshes with the secular and is accurate from 11,013 BC–2011 AD.
1999 Through 2009 Jerry Falwell
Fundamentalist preacher who predicted in 1999 that the Second Coming would probably be within 10 years.
1999 Nostradamus
Predicted that "from the sky will come a great King of Terror" in 1999 This was interpreted by some as a prophecy about the second coming of Jesus. When this did not occur, some of his followers and those of Edgar Cayce claimed that Jesus was conceived in 1998, born in 1999, and is currently living on Earth as a reincarnated person.
September 13, 2007 Paul Sides Predicted that September 13, 2007 marks the end of seven years of "wars and rumors of war" that erupted when The Oslo Accords were annulled. Then he predicts a final seven year "tribulation period" that culminates in a war over the Holy Land that brings back the Messiah
September 30, 2008 Mark Biltz Pastor of El Shaddai Ministries, predicted September 30, 2008 (Rosh Hashanah) as the potential day of the second coming of Jesus based on four total Lunar Eclipses that occur seven years (Great Tribulation period) after September 30, 2008 in 2014 and 2015 that happen to fall on the two Jewish holidays Pesach and Succot in both 2014 and 2015. Mark believes this to be significant as the four Lunar Eclipses falling on the aforementioned Jewish holidays has happened in the past in 1492, 1948 and 1949 highlighting those years to be significant in Jewish history. In 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain, in 1948 Israel became a nation, and in 1949 Jerusalem became the capital of Israel. In addition, he attributed these Lunar events to the "signs in the heavens" that the Bible speaks of.
2012 Jack Van Impe
Televangelist who has, over the years, predicted many specific years and dates for the second coming of Jesus, but has continued to move his prediction later. Many of these dates have already passed, and he recently pointed to 2012 as a possible date for the second coming. Van Impe no longer claims to know the exact date of the Second Coming, but quotes verses which imply that mankind should know when the second coming is near.
2025 Alice A. Bailey
In January 1946, the New Age Theosophical guru prophesied that Christ would return "sometime after AD 2025" (Theosophists identify "Christ" as being identical to a being they call Maitreya) to inaugurate the Age of Aquarius; thus, this event will be, according to Bailey, the New Age equivalent of the Christian concept of the Second Coming.
Alice A. Bailey stated that St. Germain is the manager of the executive council of the Christ (Like C.W. Leadbeater, Alice A. Bailey refers to St. Germain as the Master Rakoczi or the Master R. in her books.). ; thus, according to Alice A. Bailey, St. Germain's primary task is to prepare the way for the Second Coming.
Unknown Master Beinsa Douno
Predicted the Second Appearance of Christ as: "Christ Impulse will gradually penetrate into the human being and will take over guidance during the further development of the humankind (sic). We are still in the beginning of all this now." (Master Beinsa Douno, The Master, The Life of the Sixth Race', 1900—1946, Society Byalo Bratstvo - Bulgaria)
Unknown Rastafari movement
The movement believes Haile Selassie is the second coming (although he himself did not encourage this belief). He embodied this when he became Emperor of Ethiopia, but is also expected to return a second time to initiate the apocalyptic day of judgment. Haile Selassie, also called Jah Ras Tafari, is often considered to be alive by members of the Rastafari movement.
By 2057 Frank J. Tipler
In 1994, general relativity theory expert physicist Frank J. Tipler published a book called The Physics of Immortality in which he claimed to scientifically prove the existence of God as a consequence of what he calls the Omega Point Theory. In 2007, he published a sequel to "The Physics of Immortality" called The Physics of Christianity which applies the principles of the Omega Point Theory to the Christian religion. In this 2007 book, he asserts in the first chapter that the Second Coming of Christ will occur within 50 years, i.e., by 2057, and will be coincident with what futurist Ray Kurzweil calls the Singularity (which Kurzweil himself predicts will occur by 2045).
Claimants of Christ
• The members of the Unification Church believe that Jesus anointed Sun Myung Moon to fulfill the mission of the Second Coming. Together with his wife Hak Ha Han they established the position of the True Parents of mankind restoring the failure of the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve failed and were expulsed from the Paradise.
• Emanuel Swedenborg and those in the New Church believe Jesus is making his second coming by revealing Himself in the spiritual meaning of the Bible. They believe that the Last Judgment was commenced in the beginning of the year 1757, and was fully accomplished at the end of that year. This Judgement on the Christian church, which took place in the spiritual world, marked the beginning of Christ's second coming.
• Bahá'u'lláh claimed to be the Return of Christ. Followers of the Bahá'í Faith believe that the fulfillment of the prophecies of the second coming of Jesus, as well as the prophecies of the 5th Buddha Maitreya and many other religious prophecies, were begun by the Báb in 1844 and then by Bahá'u'lláh. They commonly compare the fulfillment of Christian prophecies to Jesus' fulfillment of Jewish prophecies, where in both cases people were expecting the literal fulfillment of apocalyptic statements.
• Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, A 19th century figure from India, who claimed to be the second coming of and likeness of Jesus, the promised Messiah at the end of time, as well as being the promised Mahdi, being the only person in history to have claimed to be both. He preached the supremacy of his version of Islamic beliefs and promoted the spread of his movement through peaceful means, writing over eighty books. He gathered thousands of followers within his lifetime and founded the Ahmadiyya religious movement.
• The followers of the Neo-Theosophical guru Benjamin Creme believe the Second Coming will occur when the being known by Theosophists as the Maitreya publicly makes his presence on Earth known (they believe he has been on Earth since 1977, living in secret). This future event is called the Emergence or Day of Declaration ; this is when, Creme's followers believe, the Maitreya will telepathically overshadow all of humanity when he appears on worldwide television (this event was originally supposed to occur on 21 June 1982). Benjamin Creme's followers believe in the Nestorian/Gnostic doctrine promulgated by C.W. Leadbeater that Maitreya overshadowed the being called by Theosophists the Master Jesus during the Ministry of Jesus.
Contemporary American politics
The rise of fundamentalist Christianity as a political force in the United States has allegedly had an influence upon political decisions on the global stage. The majority of fundamentalist Christians in America subscribe to dispensationalist theology and biblical literalism, which predicts that at the Second Coming Jesus Christ will commence his reign over a re-established Jewish nation in the Middle East. The belief that the Jews must be returned to the Biblical lands of Judaea and Samaria before the world can end has, according to some, "driven up American support for an aggressive Israeli approach to its neighbours in the Holy Land." Most Americans feel a special solidarity with Israel and are sensitive about criticism of Israel. It is said to have nothing to do with the millennarian theology of certain Protestant groups, nor with political views
1745–present Emanuel Swedenborg
Witnessed the Last Judgment in 1757 as one of many events recounted in his works resulting from visions of Jesus Christ returned. He tells of almost daily interaction with Christ over the course of almost 30 years. His return is not in the flesh, but in His Holy Spirit. "Neither shall they say see here or see there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20).
September 15, 1829 George Rapp
Founder and leader of the Harmony Society, predicted that on September 15, 1829, the three and one half years of the Sun Woman would end and Christ would begin his reign on earth. Dissension grew when Rapp's predictions went unfulfilled. In March 1832, a third of the group left and some began following a man named Bernhard Müller who claimed to be the Lion of Judah. Nevertheless, most of the group stayed and Rapp continued to lead them until he died on August 7, 1847. His last words to his followers were, "If I did not so fully believe, that the Lord has designated me to place our society before His presence in the land of Canaan, I would consider this my last."
October 22, 1844 William Miller and the Millerite Movement
The fact that this failed to happen the way people were expecting was later referred to as the Great Disappointment. Some Millerites continued to set dates; others founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Advent Christian Church, which continued to expect the Second Coming but no longer set dates for it (Members of the Bahá'í Faith believe that the event of the Second Coming did take place on 23 May 1844, when the Báb (the Gate), the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh (Glory of God)), declared his mission. Bahá'u'lláh later claimed that he was the return and second coming of Jesus Christ.
1874 Charles Taze Russell
The first president of what is now the Watchtower Society of the Jehovah's Witnesses, calculated 1874 to be the year of Christ's Second Coming, and until his death taught that Christ was invisibly present, and ruling from the heavens from that date prophesied. Russell proclaimed Christ's invisible return in 1874, the resurrection of the saints in 1875 and predicted the end of the "harvest" and a rapture of the saints to heaven for 1878, and the final end of "the day of wrath" in 1914 1874 was considered the end of 6,000 years of human history and the beginning of judgment by Christ.
1914 Jehovah's Witnesses
The "Second Coming" is important in the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, although they do not use this term. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Christ's visible (to humans) return will be at Armageddon. They believe that 1914 A.D. marked the beginning of Christ's invisible presence (Matt. 24:3 gr. "parousia") as the King of God's Kingdom (Psalm 110; Revelation 12:10), and the beginning of the last days of the human ruled system of society. They believe the signs Christ revealed about his return in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 began to occur starting in 1914. In a parallel Biblical account at Revelation 6, they believe the ride of the symbolic four horsemen began in the same year, and that the first rider on the white horse depicts the Christ. He goes forth to complete his conquest of the earth, while the rule by human leaders continues for a short while until they meet their end at Armageddon by the power of the Christ (Revelation 19:11-21).
1917–1930 Sun Myung Moon
The followers of Reverend Sun Myung Moon consider Reverend Moon to be the Lord of the Second Advent called by Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday at the age of 15 on a Korean Mountainside.
1930s Rudolf Steiner
Steiner described the physical incarnation of Christ as a unique event, but predicted that Christ would reappear in the etheric, or lowest spiritual, plane beginning in the 1930s. This would manifest in various ways: as a new spiritual approach to community life and between individuals; in more and more individuals discovering fully conscious access to the etheric plane (clairvoyance); and in Christ's appearance to groups of seekers gathered together.
1975 Herbert W. Armstrong
Armstrong, Pastor-General of the Radio Church of God, and then the Worldwide Church of God, felt the return of Jesus Christ might be in 1975. Of particular note was the book 1975 in Prophecy! written by Armstrong and published by the Radio Church of God in 1956. Though, never explicitly stating a date in the booklet, the title led people to believe the date was the second coming.
June 28, 1981 Bill Maupin Maupin, a pastor of the Lighthouse Gospel Tract Foundation in Tucson, Arizona, wrote a book predicting the date of the Second Coming. His congregation sold all their belongings and went to a hilltop on that day to await the event.
June 21, 1982 Benjamin Creme
The followers of the New Age Theosophical guru Benjamin Creme, like Alice A. Bailey, believe the Second Coming will occur when Maitreya (the being Theosophists identify as being Christ) makes his presence on Earth publicly known—Crème believes Maitreya has been on Earth since 1977, living in secret.
Creme put advertisements in many of the world's major newspapers in early 1982 stating that the Second Coming would occur on Monday, 21 June 1982 (summer solstice in the northern hemisphere), at which time Christ (Maitreya) would announce his Second Coming on worldwide television (this is called the Emergence or Day of Declaration ; this is when, Creme's followers believe, the Maitreya will telepathically overshadow all of humanity when he appears on worldwide television) When this event did not occur, Crème claimed that the "world is not yet ready to receive Maitreya"; his followers continue to believe it will happen "soon".
1994? And 2011 Harold Camping
Camping, one of the co-founders of Family Stations, Inc. and Bible teacher, published a book, 1994?, a prediction of Christ's return was likely pointing to 1994 but that the end will be on May 21, 2011. 2011 was also in the book 1994?. Camping wrote "Adam when?" and claimed the Biblical calendar meshes with the secular and is accurate from 11,013 BC–2011 AD.
1999 Through 2009 Jerry Falwell
Fundamentalist preacher who predicted in 1999 that the Second Coming would probably be within 10 years.
1999 Nostradamus
Predicted that "from the sky will come a great King of Terror" in 1999 This was interpreted by some as a prophecy about the second coming of Jesus. When this did not occur, some of his followers and those of Edgar Cayce claimed that Jesus was conceived in 1998, born in 1999, and is currently living on Earth as a reincarnated person.
September 13, 2007 Paul Sides Predicted that September 13, 2007 marks the end of seven years of "wars and rumors of war" that erupted when The Oslo Accords were annulled. Then he predicts a final seven year "tribulation period" that culminates in a war over the Holy Land that brings back the Messiah
September 30, 2008 Mark Biltz Pastor of El Shaddai Ministries, predicted September 30, 2008 (Rosh Hashanah) as the potential day of the second coming of Jesus based on four total Lunar Eclipses that occur seven years (Great Tribulation period) after September 30, 2008 in 2014 and 2015 that happen to fall on the two Jewish holidays Pesach and Succot in both 2014 and 2015. Mark believes this to be significant as the four Lunar Eclipses falling on the aforementioned Jewish holidays has happened in the past in 1492, 1948 and 1949 highlighting those years to be significant in Jewish history. In 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain, in 1948 Israel became a nation, and in 1949 Jerusalem became the capital of Israel. In addition, he attributed these Lunar events to the "signs in the heavens" that the Bible speaks of.
2012 Jack Van Impe
Televangelist who has, over the years, predicted many specific years and dates for the second coming of Jesus, but has continued to move his prediction later. Many of these dates have already passed, and he recently pointed to 2012 as a possible date for the second coming. Van Impe no longer claims to know the exact date of the Second Coming, but quotes verses which imply that mankind should know when the second coming is near.
2025 Alice A. Bailey
In January 1946, the New Age Theosophical guru prophesied that Christ would return "sometime after AD 2025" (Theosophists identify "Christ" as being identical to a being they call Maitreya) to inaugurate the Age of Aquarius; thus, this event will be, according to Bailey, the New Age equivalent of the Christian concept of the Second Coming.
Alice A. Bailey stated that St. Germain is the manager of the executive council of the Christ (Like C.W. Leadbeater, Alice A. Bailey refers to St. Germain as the Master Rakoczi or the Master R. in her books.). ; thus, according to Alice A. Bailey, St. Germain's primary task is to prepare the way for the Second Coming.
Unknown Master Beinsa Douno
Predicted the Second Appearance of Christ as: "Christ Impulse will gradually penetrate into the human being and will take over guidance during the further development of the humankind (sic). We are still in the beginning of all this now." (Master Beinsa Douno, The Master, The Life of the Sixth Race', 1900—1946, Society Byalo Bratstvo - Bulgaria)
Unknown Rastafari movement
The movement believes Haile Selassie is the second coming (although he himself did not encourage this belief). He embodied this when he became Emperor of Ethiopia, but is also expected to return a second time to initiate the apocalyptic day of judgment. Haile Selassie, also called Jah Ras Tafari, is often considered to be alive by members of the Rastafari movement.
By 2057 Frank J. Tipler
In 1994, general relativity theory expert physicist Frank J. Tipler published a book called The Physics of Immortality in which he claimed to scientifically prove the existence of God as a consequence of what he calls the Omega Point Theory. In 2007, he published a sequel to "The Physics of Immortality" called The Physics of Christianity which applies the principles of the Omega Point Theory to the Christian religion. In this 2007 book, he asserts in the first chapter that the Second Coming of Christ will occur within 50 years, i.e., by 2057, and will be coincident with what futurist Ray Kurzweil calls the Singularity (which Kurzweil himself predicts will occur by 2045).
Claimants of Christ
• The members of the Unification Church believe that Jesus anointed Sun Myung Moon to fulfill the mission of the Second Coming. Together with his wife Hak Ha Han they established the position of the True Parents of mankind restoring the failure of the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve failed and were expulsed from the Paradise.
• Emanuel Swedenborg and those in the New Church believe Jesus is making his second coming by revealing Himself in the spiritual meaning of the Bible. They believe that the Last Judgment was commenced in the beginning of the year 1757, and was fully accomplished at the end of that year. This Judgement on the Christian church, which took place in the spiritual world, marked the beginning of Christ's second coming.
• Bahá'u'lláh claimed to be the Return of Christ. Followers of the Bahá'í Faith believe that the fulfillment of the prophecies of the second coming of Jesus, as well as the prophecies of the 5th Buddha Maitreya and many other religious prophecies, were begun by the Báb in 1844 and then by Bahá'u'lláh. They commonly compare the fulfillment of Christian prophecies to Jesus' fulfillment of Jewish prophecies, where in both cases people were expecting the literal fulfillment of apocalyptic statements.
• Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, A 19th century figure from India, who claimed to be the second coming of and likeness of Jesus, the promised Messiah at the end of time, as well as being the promised Mahdi, being the only person in history to have claimed to be both. He preached the supremacy of his version of Islamic beliefs and promoted the spread of his movement through peaceful means, writing over eighty books. He gathered thousands of followers within his lifetime and founded the Ahmadiyya religious movement.
• The followers of the Neo-Theosophical guru Benjamin Creme believe the Second Coming will occur when the being known by Theosophists as the Maitreya publicly makes his presence on Earth known (they believe he has been on Earth since 1977, living in secret). This future event is called the Emergence or Day of Declaration ; this is when, Creme's followers believe, the Maitreya will telepathically overshadow all of humanity when he appears on worldwide television (this event was originally supposed to occur on 21 June 1982). Benjamin Creme's followers believe in the Nestorian/Gnostic doctrine promulgated by C.W. Leadbeater that Maitreya overshadowed the being called by Theosophists the Master Jesus during the Ministry of Jesus.
Contemporary American politics
The rise of fundamentalist Christianity as a political force in the United States has allegedly had an influence upon political decisions on the global stage. The majority of fundamentalist Christians in America subscribe to dispensationalist theology and biblical literalism, which predicts that at the Second Coming Jesus Christ will commence his reign over a re-established Jewish nation in the Middle East. The belief that the Jews must be returned to the Biblical lands of Judaea and Samaria before the world can end has, according to some, "driven up American support for an aggressive Israeli approach to its neighbours in the Holy Land." Most Americans feel a special solidarity with Israel and are sensitive about criticism of Israel. It is said to have nothing to do with the millennarian theology of certain Protestant groups, nor with political views
WARNING BE ON ALERT CHRISTIANS THE DEVIL ROAMS LIKE A LION.....
Occult Check List
When counseling people for deliverance, it is important that all occultic involvement is exposed, including that of ancestors, where possible, as it opens the door for curses. Here is a list of things to check for - which can be handed to the person seeking deliverance.
Possible Demonic Entry Points:
[ ] Abstract art (under hallucinogenic stimulus)
[ ] Acupuncture
[ ] Amulets (tigers claw, sharks tooth, horseshoe over door, mascots, talisman (magic picture)
[ ] Ankh (a cross with a ring top used in satanic rites)
[ ] Apparitions - occultic
[ ] Astral travel
[ ] Astrology
[ ] Augury (interpreting omens)
[ ] Automatic writing
[ ] Birth signs
[ ] Black arts
[ ] Black magic (involving hidden powers for bad ends)
[ ] Black mass
[ ] Blood subscriptions (pacts)
[ ] Cartomancy (using playing cards)
[ ] Chain letters
[ ] Charming or enchanting (attempts to use spirit power)
[ ] Charms and charming for wart removal
[ ] Chinese astrology
[ ] Clairaudience (ability to hear voices and sounds super-normally - spirited voices alleging to be those of dead people giving advice or warnings)
[ ] Clairsentience (supernormal sense perception)
[ ] Clairvoyance (ability to see objects or events spontaneously or supernormally above their normal range of vision - second sight)
[ ] Colour therapy
[ ] Concept therapy
[ ] Conjuration (summoning up a spirit by incantation)
[ ] Coven (a community of witches)
[ ] Crystal ball gazing
[ ] Crystals
[ ] Death magic (where the name of the sickness plus a written spell is cast into coffin or grave)
[ ] Demon worship
[ ] Disembodied spirits
[ ] Divining rod or twig or pendulum (Hosea 4:12)
[ ] Dowsing or witching for water, minerals, under-ground cables, finding out the sex of unborn child using divining rod, pendulum, twig or planchette
[ ] Dream interpretation (as with Edgar Cayce books)
[ ] Dungeons and dragons
[ ] Eastern meditation/religious - Gurus, Mantras, Yoga, Temples etc
[ ] Ectoplasm (unknown substance from body of a medium)
[ ] Enchanting
[ ] E.S.P. (extra sensory perception)
[ ] Findhorn Community
[ ] Floating trumpets
[ ] Fortune telling
[ ] Gothic rock music
[ ] Gurus
[ ] Gypsy curses
[ ] Hallucinogenic drugs (cocaine, heroin, marijuana, sniffing glue etc)
[ ] Handwriting analysis (for fortune telling)
[ ] Hard rock music - Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones
[ ] Most non-Christian Heavy metal and hard rock music - Slayer, Behemoth, AC/DC, Guns and Roses
[ ] Hepatoscopy (examination of liver for interpretation)
[ ] Hex signs (hexagrams)
[ ] Horoscopes
[ ] Hydromancy (divination by viewing images in water)
[ ] Hypnosis
[ ] Idols
[ ] Incantations
[ ] Iridology (eye diagnosis)
[ ] Japanese flower arranging (sun worship)
[ ] Jonathan Livingstone Seagull (Reincarnation, Hinduism)
[ ] Kabbala (Occult Lore)
[ ] Karma
[ ] Levitation
[ ] Lucky charms or signs of the Zodiac or birthstones
[ ] Magic (not sleight of hand but use of supernatural power)
[ ] Mantras
[ ] Martial arts (Aikido, Judo, Karate, Kung fu, Tae Kwan Do etc)
[ ] Matthew Manning
[ ] Mediums
[ ] Mental suggestion
[ ] Mental telepathy
[ ] Mental therapy
[ ] Mesmerism
[ ] Metaphysics (study of spirit world)
[ ] Mind control
[ ] Mind Dynamics
[ ] Mind mediumship
[ ] Mind reading
[ ] Moon-mancy
[ ] Motorskopua (mechanical pendulum for diagnosing illness)
[ ] Mysticism
[ ] Necromancy (conjuring up spirits of the dead)
[ ] Numerical symbolism
[ ] Numerology
[ ] Occultic games
[ ] Occult letters of protection
[ ] Occult literature, eg The Greater World, The 6th & 7th Book of Moses, The Other side, The book of Venus, Pseudo-Christian works of Jacob Lorber, works by Edgar Cayce, Aleister Crowley, Jean Dixon, Levi Dowling, Arthur Ford (The Overt Worship of Spirit Beings), Johann Greber, Andrew Jackson Davis, Anton Le Vay, Ruth Montgomery, John Newborough, Eric Von Daniken, Dennis Wheatley.
* Such books should be burned, regardless of cost.
[ ] Omens
[ ] Ouija boards
[ ] Pagan fetishes
[ ] Pagan religious objects, artifacts and relics
[ ] Pagan rites (Voodo, Sing sings, Corroborees, Fire walking, Umbahda, Macumba)
[ ] Palmistry
[ ] Pk (parakineses - control of objects by the power of the mind and will)
[ ] Parapsychology (PS) - especially study of demonic activity
[ ] Pendulum diagnosis
[ ] Phrenology (divining/analysis from the skull)
[ ] Planchette (divining)
[ ] Precognition (foreknowledge of the occurrence of events)
[ ] Psychic healing
[ ] Psychic sight
[ ] Psychography (use of heart shaped board)
[ ] Psychometry (telling fortunes by lifting or holding object belonging to the enquirer)
[ ] Punk rock music
[ ] Pyramidology (mystic powers associated with models of pyramids)
[ ] Rebirthing
[ ] Reincarnation
[ ] Rhabdomancy (casting sticks into the air for interpreting omens)
[ ] Satanism
[ ] Seances
[ ] Self hypnosis
[ ] Significant pagan days
[ ] Silva Mind Control (SMC - Psychorientology)
[ ] Sorcery
[ ] Spells
[ ] Spirit knockings or rappings
[ ] Star signs
[ ] Stichomancy (fortune telling from random reference to books)
[ ] Stigmata - ie occultic types.
[ ] Superstitions (self or parents or grandparents)
[ ] Table tipping
[ ] Tarot cards (22 picture cards for fortune telling)
[ ] Tea-leaf reading
[ ] Thought transference
[ ] Tk (telekineses - objects move around room, instruments play, engines start...)
[ ] TM (Transcendental Meditation
[ ] Trances
[ ] Transmigration
[ ] Travel of the soul
[ ] UFO fixation
[ ] Uri Geller
[ ] White magic (invoking hid-den powers for `good ends')
[ ] Witchcraft
[ ] Yoga (involves Eastern demon worship
[ ] Zodiac charms, birthdates
[ ] Zodiac signs
* Acts 19:19: "Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver."
* Deuteronomy 7:25&26: "You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.
Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it; but you shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing."
APPENDIX 2: NON CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS AND CULTS
* 1 Timothy 4:1 says: "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons..."
Ananda Marga Yoga Society, Anthroposophical Society (Eurythmy, Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf Schools); Astara, Bubba Free John; Bahai; Buddhism; Children of God (Family of Love); Christadelphians; Christian Science; Church of the Living Word (John Robert Stevens "The Walk"); Church Universal and Triumphant (Elizabeth Clare Prophet); Confucianism; Divine Light Mission (Guru Maharaj Ji); Druids Lodge; ECKANKAR (Paul Twitchell); Enlightment (heightened awareness, nirvana, satori, transcendental bliss, god-realisation, expanded consciousness, altered perception of reality, cosmic consciousness etc); Esalen Institute (Michael Murphy); e.s.t. (Erhard Seminar Training); Foundation faith of the Millenium (Robert de Grimston); Foundation of Human Understanding (Roy Masters); Freemasonry; Gurdjieff/Subud/Renaiisance (Esoteric Christianity); Hare Krishna; Hinduism (Karma, reincarnation, avatars, Bhagavad-Gita, Yoga, T.M.); Holy Order of MANS; Inner Peace Movement; International Community of the Christ/The Jamilans; Jehovah's Witnesses (Dawn Bible Students); Krisnamurti Foundation of America; Meher Baba (Sufism Reorientated Inc); Mind Sciences; Mormons (Church of the Latter Day Saints); Mukatananda Paramahansa (Siddha Yoga Dham Centres); Neo-Gnosticism; New Age Movement; Nichiren Shoshu/Soka Gakkai (NSA Lotus Sutra); Rastafarianism; Ratanaism; Religious Science; Rev Ike (Frederick Eikeren Koetter); Rev Sun Myung Moon (Moonies, Unification Church); Rosecruicianism (AMORC); Sathya Sai Baba; Scientology (L. Ron Hubbard Dianetics); Self Realisation Fellowship; Sharmanism; Shintoism; Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship; Spiritualism/Spiritism; Sri Chimnoy; Swami Kriyananda; Swami Rami; Swami Vivekananda (Vedanta Society); Swedenborgianism; Taoism; Theosophy; Urantia; Unity School of Christianity (Charles Myrtle and Lowell Fillmore); Yogi Bhajan (Sikh Foundation/3HO Foundation); Zen.
When counseling people for deliverance, it is important that all occultic involvement is exposed, including that of ancestors, where possible, as it opens the door for curses. Here is a list of things to check for - which can be handed to the person seeking deliverance.
Possible Demonic Entry Points:
[ ] Abstract art (under hallucinogenic stimulus)
[ ] Acupuncture
[ ] Amulets (tigers claw, sharks tooth, horseshoe over door, mascots, talisman (magic picture)
[ ] Ankh (a cross with a ring top used in satanic rites)
[ ] Apparitions - occultic
[ ] Astral travel
[ ] Astrology
[ ] Augury (interpreting omens)
[ ] Automatic writing
[ ] Birth signs
[ ] Black arts
[ ] Black magic (involving hidden powers for bad ends)
[ ] Black mass
[ ] Blood subscriptions (pacts)
[ ] Cartomancy (using playing cards)
[ ] Chain letters
[ ] Charming or enchanting (attempts to use spirit power)
[ ] Charms and charming for wart removal
[ ] Chinese astrology
[ ] Clairaudience (ability to hear voices and sounds super-normally - spirited voices alleging to be those of dead people giving advice or warnings)
[ ] Clairsentience (supernormal sense perception)
[ ] Clairvoyance (ability to see objects or events spontaneously or supernormally above their normal range of vision - second sight)
[ ] Colour therapy
[ ] Concept therapy
[ ] Conjuration (summoning up a spirit by incantation)
[ ] Coven (a community of witches)
[ ] Crystal ball gazing
[ ] Crystals
[ ] Death magic (where the name of the sickness plus a written spell is cast into coffin or grave)
[ ] Demon worship
[ ] Disembodied spirits
[ ] Divining rod or twig or pendulum (Hosea 4:12)
[ ] Dowsing or witching for water, minerals, under-ground cables, finding out the sex of unborn child using divining rod, pendulum, twig or planchette
[ ] Dream interpretation (as with Edgar Cayce books)
[ ] Dungeons and dragons
[ ] Eastern meditation/religious - Gurus, Mantras, Yoga, Temples etc
[ ] Ectoplasm (unknown substance from body of a medium)
[ ] Enchanting
[ ] E.S.P. (extra sensory perception)
[ ] Findhorn Community
[ ] Floating trumpets
[ ] Fortune telling
[ ] Gothic rock music
[ ] Gurus
[ ] Gypsy curses
[ ] Hallucinogenic drugs (cocaine, heroin, marijuana, sniffing glue etc)
[ ] Handwriting analysis (for fortune telling)
[ ] Hard rock music - Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones
[ ] Most non-Christian Heavy metal and hard rock music - Slayer, Behemoth, AC/DC, Guns and Roses
[ ] Hepatoscopy (examination of liver for interpretation)
[ ] Hex signs (hexagrams)
[ ] Horoscopes
[ ] Hydromancy (divination by viewing images in water)
[ ] Hypnosis
[ ] Idols
[ ] Incantations
[ ] Iridology (eye diagnosis)
[ ] Japanese flower arranging (sun worship)
[ ] Jonathan Livingstone Seagull (Reincarnation, Hinduism)
[ ] Kabbala (Occult Lore)
[ ] Karma
[ ] Levitation
[ ] Lucky charms or signs of the Zodiac or birthstones
[ ] Magic (not sleight of hand but use of supernatural power)
[ ] Mantras
[ ] Martial arts (Aikido, Judo, Karate, Kung fu, Tae Kwan Do etc)
[ ] Matthew Manning
[ ] Mediums
[ ] Mental suggestion
[ ] Mental telepathy
[ ] Mental therapy
[ ] Mesmerism
[ ] Metaphysics (study of spirit world)
[ ] Mind control
[ ] Mind Dynamics
[ ] Mind mediumship
[ ] Mind reading
[ ] Moon-mancy
[ ] Motorskopua (mechanical pendulum for diagnosing illness)
[ ] Mysticism
[ ] Necromancy (conjuring up spirits of the dead)
[ ] Numerical symbolism
[ ] Numerology
[ ] Occultic games
[ ] Occult letters of protection
[ ] Occult literature, eg The Greater World, The 6th & 7th Book of Moses, The Other side, The book of Venus, Pseudo-Christian works of Jacob Lorber, works by Edgar Cayce, Aleister Crowley, Jean Dixon, Levi Dowling, Arthur Ford (The Overt Worship of Spirit Beings), Johann Greber, Andrew Jackson Davis, Anton Le Vay, Ruth Montgomery, John Newborough, Eric Von Daniken, Dennis Wheatley.
* Such books should be burned, regardless of cost.
[ ] Omens
[ ] Ouija boards
[ ] Pagan fetishes
[ ] Pagan religious objects, artifacts and relics
[ ] Pagan rites (Voodo, Sing sings, Corroborees, Fire walking, Umbahda, Macumba)
[ ] Palmistry
[ ] Pk (parakineses - control of objects by the power of the mind and will)
[ ] Parapsychology (PS) - especially study of demonic activity
[ ] Pendulum diagnosis
[ ] Phrenology (divining/analysis from the skull)
[ ] Planchette (divining)
[ ] Precognition (foreknowledge of the occurrence of events)
[ ] Psychic healing
[ ] Psychic sight
[ ] Psychography (use of heart shaped board)
[ ] Psychometry (telling fortunes by lifting or holding object belonging to the enquirer)
[ ] Punk rock music
[ ] Pyramidology (mystic powers associated with models of pyramids)
[ ] Rebirthing
[ ] Reincarnation
[ ] Rhabdomancy (casting sticks into the air for interpreting omens)
[ ] Satanism
[ ] Seances
[ ] Self hypnosis
[ ] Significant pagan days
[ ] Silva Mind Control (SMC - Psychorientology)
[ ] Sorcery
[ ] Spells
[ ] Spirit knockings or rappings
[ ] Star signs
[ ] Stichomancy (fortune telling from random reference to books)
[ ] Stigmata - ie occultic types.
[ ] Superstitions (self or parents or grandparents)
[ ] Table tipping
[ ] Tarot cards (22 picture cards for fortune telling)
[ ] Tea-leaf reading
[ ] Thought transference
[ ] Tk (telekineses - objects move around room, instruments play, engines start...)
[ ] TM (Transcendental Meditation
[ ] Trances
[ ] Transmigration
[ ] Travel of the soul
[ ] UFO fixation
[ ] Uri Geller
[ ] White magic (invoking hid-den powers for `good ends')
[ ] Witchcraft
[ ] Yoga (involves Eastern demon worship
[ ] Zodiac charms, birthdates
[ ] Zodiac signs
* Acts 19:19: "Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver."
* Deuteronomy 7:25&26: "You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.
Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it; but you shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing."
APPENDIX 2: NON CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS AND CULTS
* 1 Timothy 4:1 says: "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons..."
Ananda Marga Yoga Society, Anthroposophical Society (Eurythmy, Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf Schools); Astara, Bubba Free John; Bahai; Buddhism; Children of God (Family of Love); Christadelphians; Christian Science; Church of the Living Word (John Robert Stevens "The Walk"); Church Universal and Triumphant (Elizabeth Clare Prophet); Confucianism; Divine Light Mission (Guru Maharaj Ji); Druids Lodge; ECKANKAR (Paul Twitchell); Enlightment (heightened awareness, nirvana, satori, transcendental bliss, god-realisation, expanded consciousness, altered perception of reality, cosmic consciousness etc); Esalen Institute (Michael Murphy); e.s.t. (Erhard Seminar Training); Foundation faith of the Millenium (Robert de Grimston); Foundation of Human Understanding (Roy Masters); Freemasonry; Gurdjieff/Subud/Renaiisance (Esoteric Christianity); Hare Krishna; Hinduism (Karma, reincarnation, avatars, Bhagavad-Gita, Yoga, T.M.); Holy Order of MANS; Inner Peace Movement; International Community of the Christ/The Jamilans; Jehovah's Witnesses (Dawn Bible Students); Krisnamurti Foundation of America; Meher Baba (Sufism Reorientated Inc); Mind Sciences; Mormons (Church of the Latter Day Saints); Mukatananda Paramahansa (Siddha Yoga Dham Centres); Neo-Gnosticism; New Age Movement; Nichiren Shoshu/Soka Gakkai (NSA Lotus Sutra); Rastafarianism; Ratanaism; Religious Science; Rev Ike (Frederick Eikeren Koetter); Rev Sun Myung Moon (Moonies, Unification Church); Rosecruicianism (AMORC); Sathya Sai Baba; Scientology (L. Ron Hubbard Dianetics); Self Realisation Fellowship; Sharmanism; Shintoism; Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship; Spiritualism/Spiritism; Sri Chimnoy; Swami Kriyananda; Swami Rami; Swami Vivekananda (Vedanta Society); Swedenborgianism; Taoism; Theosophy; Urantia; Unity School of Christianity (Charles Myrtle and Lowell Fillmore); Yogi Bhajan (Sikh Foundation/3HO Foundation); Zen.
Monday, May 24, 2010
A TEACHERS PRAYER
MY PRAYER
(A Teachers Prayer)
Bro.Bong Lozano
Almighty and Ever loving God, The One and Only powerful God. who made heaven and earth, The source of wisdom, knowledge and understanding, Great Teacher and Model. I acknowledge you, I Praise and Glorify your Holy and Powerful Name. You are worthy to be Adored. Your name be magnified.
My yesterday is done, it may be dark and cloudy or it may be as shining as the sun, whatever it is, I am still Me. My today awaits it may be as colorful as the rainbow or cloudy as the storm, whatever it may be I offer it to you, I do not know what lies ahead, but you alone knows, what my future be. I have so many great and wonderful plans for my self and family for our tomorrow, I lay it down to you for I know you have much better and much greater plans for me. I lift it up to you and, Let your Will be Done, I pray.
Bear in me your wisdom, because I know your wisdom can not be measured and weighed by human understanding. I humbly submit to you, Oh Lord.
I can not understand why you chose me to be a teacher, But what I know is that you have a purpose why you created me. A special kind of missionary of values in shaping young peoples lives. I accept it, Lord, imperfect I maybe, Here I am Lord, send me. You made me imperfect Lord, so that I will come to you and call on you, to become perfect.
Human as I am, weak and sinful, Lord, Make me an instrument of your wisdom and knowledge. Make me an instrument of your Love and peace to my fellow teacher missionaries and my students who are hungry and thirsty for knowledge. Lord, where there is hatred around, let me sow love. When there is injury, help me to forgive and be forgiven. When I feel doubt and troubled, strengthen my faith. When I am in despair give me hope. When I am blind to the truth, be my light to be the light of others. When I feel sad, be my joy so that I will find happiness in where I am now and what I am doing as a teacher-missionary.
Help me, dear Lord, to be a molder, a model and a witness of your Love to my students and co missionary teachers in spite of my imperfections, let me spread your fragrance as teachers, counselors, second parent and most of all to be a friend to whom I meet every day. May I take this task, as a mission in life. Flood my soul with your Love, because only Love can make me serve the least fortunate and, the most unloved children.
Shine in me so that in every soul I will encounter from today onwards, they may see, feel, and experience your presence in me, no longer me, but you Oh Lord in me.
Lord, help me do something good for others in my daily life, especially the least fortunate so that at the end of each day I can say I am proud to be a teacher. And at the end of this life I can say, Lord I obeyed you and have done my part, Thank you for the great gift of life as a teacher…let me die in your arms Lord, not as a teacher but your obedient child. AMEN.
(A Teachers Prayer)
Bro.Bong Lozano
Almighty and Ever loving God, The One and Only powerful God. who made heaven and earth, The source of wisdom, knowledge and understanding, Great Teacher and Model. I acknowledge you, I Praise and Glorify your Holy and Powerful Name. You are worthy to be Adored. Your name be magnified.
My yesterday is done, it may be dark and cloudy or it may be as shining as the sun, whatever it is, I am still Me. My today awaits it may be as colorful as the rainbow or cloudy as the storm, whatever it may be I offer it to you, I do not know what lies ahead, but you alone knows, what my future be. I have so many great and wonderful plans for my self and family for our tomorrow, I lay it down to you for I know you have much better and much greater plans for me. I lift it up to you and, Let your Will be Done, I pray.
Bear in me your wisdom, because I know your wisdom can not be measured and weighed by human understanding. I humbly submit to you, Oh Lord.
I can not understand why you chose me to be a teacher, But what I know is that you have a purpose why you created me. A special kind of missionary of values in shaping young peoples lives. I accept it, Lord, imperfect I maybe, Here I am Lord, send me. You made me imperfect Lord, so that I will come to you and call on you, to become perfect.
Human as I am, weak and sinful, Lord, Make me an instrument of your wisdom and knowledge. Make me an instrument of your Love and peace to my fellow teacher missionaries and my students who are hungry and thirsty for knowledge. Lord, where there is hatred around, let me sow love. When there is injury, help me to forgive and be forgiven. When I feel doubt and troubled, strengthen my faith. When I am in despair give me hope. When I am blind to the truth, be my light to be the light of others. When I feel sad, be my joy so that I will find happiness in where I am now and what I am doing as a teacher-missionary.
Help me, dear Lord, to be a molder, a model and a witness of your Love to my students and co missionary teachers in spite of my imperfections, let me spread your fragrance as teachers, counselors, second parent and most of all to be a friend to whom I meet every day. May I take this task, as a mission in life. Flood my soul with your Love, because only Love can make me serve the least fortunate and, the most unloved children.
Shine in me so that in every soul I will encounter from today onwards, they may see, feel, and experience your presence in me, no longer me, but you Oh Lord in me.
Lord, help me do something good for others in my daily life, especially the least fortunate so that at the end of each day I can say I am proud to be a teacher. And at the end of this life I can say, Lord I obeyed you and have done my part, Thank you for the great gift of life as a teacher…let me die in your arms Lord, not as a teacher but your obedient child. AMEN.
COME FOLLOW ME....SIS. CHRISTINE JOY MARTINEZ...SIS.HAYNEE BAYA...Calling for Religious Life.
PRAISE GOD!!! HE IS GOOD AND FULL OF LOVE
Sis. Christine Joy Martinez and Sis. Haynee Baya will be entering the religious life under the congregation of Immaculate Heart of Mary of St. Clare based in Italy but has a formation house in Quezon City Philippines. Sis. Marti and Sis. Haynee answered yes to the call to be a religious nun. We are so much blessed to have 1 fullpledge nun under the same congregation in the person of SISTER ARMINDA SUMALPONG from Cotabato City. She is now in the South of Italy. We include in our prayers the success of our two beloved sisters, to go on with Gods calling and continue to serve God in their vocation. To Sis. Christine Joy and Sis. Haynee God Bless and Hope to see you wearing your congregation habit in the near future. We will miss you and Bring our Love from our hearts.
Go make a Difference......
Sis. Christine Joy Martinez and Sis. Haynee Baya will be entering the religious life under the congregation of Immaculate Heart of Mary of St. Clare based in Italy but has a formation house in Quezon City Philippines. Sis. Marti and Sis. Haynee answered yes to the call to be a religious nun. We are so much blessed to have 1 fullpledge nun under the same congregation in the person of SISTER ARMINDA SUMALPONG from Cotabato City. She is now in the South of Italy. We include in our prayers the success of our two beloved sisters, to go on with Gods calling and continue to serve God in their vocation. To Sis. Christine Joy and Sis. Haynee God Bless and Hope to see you wearing your congregation habit in the near future. We will miss you and Bring our Love from our hearts.
Go make a Difference......
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
HAPPY BIRTHDAY...CATHOLICS!!!!
All CHSGians are excited to Celebrate the Birthday of the church, PENTECOST DAY...the day when the Holy Spirit Descended to the Apostles with Mama Mary in a closed and locked doors....When the Holy Spirit came down to them they were filled with the gifts and power...since then Peter and the Apostles started to preach the church started to to grow and grow and grow...Until now the church founded by Jesus Christ still exists and still growing as Jesus promised before He ascended into heaven.
On saturday, May 22, 2010 the Archdiocese of Cotabato will celebrate the Pentecost Vigil till May 23, 2010 dawn at the Rosary Heights Parish from, 5:00 pm to 6:00 am the next day. Speakers from Manila are expected to come, Sister Annie Tan and Fr. Justin of the Aliance of two hearts are expected to join the celebration.
Let us celebrate the Birthday of the Catholic Church...Let us Praise, Worship,and Adore God through the Holy Spirit in power and truth. Come and Rejoice for the Lord is our God He is, He was and He will be forever and ever, and ever and ever......AMEN!!! ALELLUIA!!!!! LET US ALL BE EXCITED..LET US ALL BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT...LET THE HOLY SPIRIT TAKE CONTROL OF OUR LIFE!!!!!AMEN!!!!
On saturday, May 22, 2010 the Archdiocese of Cotabato will celebrate the Pentecost Vigil till May 23, 2010 dawn at the Rosary Heights Parish from, 5:00 pm to 6:00 am the next day. Speakers from Manila are expected to come, Sister Annie Tan and Fr. Justin of the Aliance of two hearts are expected to join the celebration.
Let us celebrate the Birthday of the Catholic Church...Let us Praise, Worship,and Adore God through the Holy Spirit in power and truth. Come and Rejoice for the Lord is our God He is, He was and He will be forever and ever, and ever and ever......AMEN!!! ALELLUIA!!!!! LET US ALL BE EXCITED..LET US ALL BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT...LET THE HOLY SPIRIT TAKE CONTROL OF OUR LIFE!!!!!AMEN!!!!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
AN INVITATION TO ALL
CIAO!!!!!! ALL GLORY AND PRAISE TO OUR ALMIGHTY GOD!!!! OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT!!!!ALELLUIA!!!! PLEASE JOIN US IN OUR 24TH YEAR FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY ON JULY 10,2010 AT THE TANGHALANG MICHAEL CLARK, NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY, COTABATO CITY, PHILIPPINES FOR A DAY OF PRAISE, WORSHIP, SHARING, DANCING AND REJOICING FOR THE LORD!!!!! PLEASE INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO ATTEND. YOU CAN ALSO SHARE WITH US YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THE FOOD, VENUE AND STIPEND EXPENSES OF THE SAID 24TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHSG....PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR SAND YELLOW TSHIRT FOR PRINTING TO BRO. JUSTIN CADUNGOG AT THE 2ND FLOOR LAND BANK MAGALLANES BRANCH. YOU CAN SEND US YOUR CASH DONATION AT OUR RCBC SAVINGS ACCOUNT: PRISCO III R. LOZANO SAVINGS ACCOUNT #6019715801058511 or TO JUSTIN CADUNGOG via MLHUILLER PERA PADALA or WESTERN UNION: JUSTIN CADUNGOG, LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES, MAGALLANES BRANCH, COTABATO CITY. WE ASSURE YOU THAT YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND PLEDGE WILL BE ACCOUNTED AND WILL GO TO THE THRUST FUND OF THE CHSG.....WE ALSO NEED YOUR PRAYERS AND MORAL SUPPORT.....AS ONE FLOCK LET US BUILD THE KINGDOM OF GOD HERE ON EARTH AND SAVE MORE SOULS FOR GODS GLORY... THANK YOU SO MUCH AND WE WILL BE VERY HAPPY TO HEAR FROM YOU...OUR PRAYERS FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY...... THE SHEPHERD
Sunday, April 11, 2010
CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME TO THE FLOCK OF THE LORD
THE SPIRITUAL RENEWAL SEMINAR BATCH 2 HAD JUST VICTORIOUSLY ENDED LAST APRIL 11, 2010.THE SRS STARTED LAST APRIL 9, 2010 AT THE DIVINE MERCY SPIRITUAL CENTER AT OMI COMPOUND TAMONTAKA, D.O.S, PHILIPPINES WITH 9 GODS CHOSEN ONES OUT OF 13 BEING CALLED. SIS. ALMA URGEL, SIS. OFELIA CORTEZ, SIS. HAYNEE BAYA, SIS. GRAZIELLA CAJETA, SIS. YANNI ROSE NISNISAN, SIS. GRACE KANDOG, SIS. JOANNA ETIC, SIS.EMELYN CASTILLON, AND THE ONLY CHOSEN BROTHER, JUSTIN CADUNGOG.
IT WAS A VERY MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE WITH THE LORD, AND TO BOND WITH OTHER ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE FLOCK.THE SPEAKERS GAVE THEIR BEST TO LET THE SEMINARIANS LISTEN AND DIGEST GODS WORDS OF WISDOM TO BE USED FROM DAY TO DAY. WE WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND OUR THANKS TO: SISTER ANNIE TAN OF CHARISMATIC COMMUNITY OF MANILA WHO STAYED WITH US OVER NIGHT AND CONDUCTED THE SPIRITUAL PROCESSING OF THE SEMINARIANS INCLUDING THE FACILITATORS. BRO. RONALD CADUNGOG FOR THE SONGS AND THE HOLY SCRIPTURE, SIS. JUVY VILLARUBIA, ON SALVATION,SIS. CHRISTINE JOY MARTINEZ ON SACRAMENTS, BRO. RAMON VILLANUEVA FOR INPUTS ON DISCIPLESHIP. FOR THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF OUR BENEFACTORS LIKE: SIS. LIZA ZAFRA OF DUBAI, SIS. LOURDES FERNANDEZ OF GEN SANTOS CITY, BRO. ALFRED SONGCAYAUON, M.D, BRO. MICHAEL MACION,MD, BRO. ROQUE CALIBO OF COTABATO CITY, SIS. ALMA RODRIGUEZ OF COTABATO CITY, BRO. BERNARD CARMELO OF COTABATO CITY AND SIS. ROSALIE ROSALES CLAGUE OF UNITED KINGDOM, Mr. NICOLAS CORTEZ OF COTABATO CITY AND SIS. LUZ BASILIO OF COTABATO CITY. TO THE FACILITATORS: SIS. KAREEN KAY ELIACA,SIS. GERVERLYN MILA, SIS. CHRISTINE JOY MARTINEZ, SIS. ALYN GRACE PARAGES, SIS.JUVY VILLARUBIA, SIS. ANNA MAE TAN, BRO. RAMON VILLANUEVA, BRO. ARNOLD BALUYOS, BRO. RONALD CADUNGOG, BRO. JOEL CADELINA FOR THE MULTI MEDIA PRESENTATIONS, AND FR. RICHARD WEIXELMAN, OMI OUR SPIRITUAL ASSISTING ADVISER IN THE ABSENCE OF FR. DAVID PROCALLA,DCC. TO ALL CHSG MEMBERS WHO ARE NOT PRESENT PHYSICALLY BUT SUPPORTED US IN PRAYER. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THE LORD JESUS WILL SURELY BLESS YOU WITH BOUNTIFUL BLESSINGS THROUGH OUT YOUR LIFE. YOU ARE ALWAYS IN OUR PRAYERS...
WE ASK THE VIEWERS AND VISITORS OF THIS BLOG TO CONTINUOUSLY SUPPORT OUR MISSION IN SAVING MORE SOULS AND BRING THEM TO JESUS BY EXTENDING US YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT BY PLEDGING MONTHLY FOR THE FUND OF THE CHSG SO THAT WE COULD CONTINUE IN OUR MISSIONS THIS YEAR.JUST CONTACT BRO. JUSTIN CADUNGOG OUR STEWARD IN HIS FACEBOOK ACCOUNT JUSTIN SIBLA CADUNGOG OR MY YAHOO ACCOUNT: stevenstormwaterworld@yahoo.com. we pray that more financial help will be extended to the Flock.
THE 24TH YEAR CHSG ANNIVERSARY IS FAST TRACKING ON JULY 10-14, 2010 the venue will be AT THE TANGHALANG MICHAEL CLARK IN NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY, COTABATO CITY ON JULY 10, 2010, A WHOLE DAY OF PRAISING, WORSHIPING, SHARING, SINGING AND DANCING FOR THE LORD. DIFFERENT CHAPTERS IN THE DIFFERENT SCHOOLS ARE EXPECTED TO ATTEND FROM NORTH COTABATO AREA AND COTABATO CITY. PLEASE SUPPORT US AND BE UNITED TO US..." GO MAKE A DIFFERENCE...CHSGians...." PLEASE PRAY FOR THE VICTORY OF THE LORD!!!!!
FOR MORE OF OUR UPDATES PLEASE KEEP ON BLOGGING IN HERE.
thank you so much and God Bless You always. GOD LOVES YOU....
IT WAS A VERY MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE WITH THE LORD, AND TO BOND WITH OTHER ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE FLOCK.THE SPEAKERS GAVE THEIR BEST TO LET THE SEMINARIANS LISTEN AND DIGEST GODS WORDS OF WISDOM TO BE USED FROM DAY TO DAY. WE WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND OUR THANKS TO: SISTER ANNIE TAN OF CHARISMATIC COMMUNITY OF MANILA WHO STAYED WITH US OVER NIGHT AND CONDUCTED THE SPIRITUAL PROCESSING OF THE SEMINARIANS INCLUDING THE FACILITATORS. BRO. RONALD CADUNGOG FOR THE SONGS AND THE HOLY SCRIPTURE, SIS. JUVY VILLARUBIA, ON SALVATION,SIS. CHRISTINE JOY MARTINEZ ON SACRAMENTS, BRO. RAMON VILLANUEVA FOR INPUTS ON DISCIPLESHIP. FOR THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF OUR BENEFACTORS LIKE: SIS. LIZA ZAFRA OF DUBAI, SIS. LOURDES FERNANDEZ OF GEN SANTOS CITY, BRO. ALFRED SONGCAYAUON, M.D, BRO. MICHAEL MACION,MD, BRO. ROQUE CALIBO OF COTABATO CITY, SIS. ALMA RODRIGUEZ OF COTABATO CITY, BRO. BERNARD CARMELO OF COTABATO CITY AND SIS. ROSALIE ROSALES CLAGUE OF UNITED KINGDOM, Mr. NICOLAS CORTEZ OF COTABATO CITY AND SIS. LUZ BASILIO OF COTABATO CITY. TO THE FACILITATORS: SIS. KAREEN KAY ELIACA,SIS. GERVERLYN MILA, SIS. CHRISTINE JOY MARTINEZ, SIS. ALYN GRACE PARAGES, SIS.JUVY VILLARUBIA, SIS. ANNA MAE TAN, BRO. RAMON VILLANUEVA, BRO. ARNOLD BALUYOS, BRO. RONALD CADUNGOG, BRO. JOEL CADELINA FOR THE MULTI MEDIA PRESENTATIONS, AND FR. RICHARD WEIXELMAN, OMI OUR SPIRITUAL ASSISTING ADVISER IN THE ABSENCE OF FR. DAVID PROCALLA,DCC. TO ALL CHSG MEMBERS WHO ARE NOT PRESENT PHYSICALLY BUT SUPPORTED US IN PRAYER. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THE LORD JESUS WILL SURELY BLESS YOU WITH BOUNTIFUL BLESSINGS THROUGH OUT YOUR LIFE. YOU ARE ALWAYS IN OUR PRAYERS...
WE ASK THE VIEWERS AND VISITORS OF THIS BLOG TO CONTINUOUSLY SUPPORT OUR MISSION IN SAVING MORE SOULS AND BRING THEM TO JESUS BY EXTENDING US YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT BY PLEDGING MONTHLY FOR THE FUND OF THE CHSG SO THAT WE COULD CONTINUE IN OUR MISSIONS THIS YEAR.JUST CONTACT BRO. JUSTIN CADUNGOG OUR STEWARD IN HIS FACEBOOK ACCOUNT JUSTIN SIBLA CADUNGOG OR MY YAHOO ACCOUNT: stevenstormwaterworld@yahoo.com. we pray that more financial help will be extended to the Flock.
THE 24TH YEAR CHSG ANNIVERSARY IS FAST TRACKING ON JULY 10-14, 2010 the venue will be AT THE TANGHALANG MICHAEL CLARK IN NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY, COTABATO CITY ON JULY 10, 2010, A WHOLE DAY OF PRAISING, WORSHIPING, SHARING, SINGING AND DANCING FOR THE LORD. DIFFERENT CHAPTERS IN THE DIFFERENT SCHOOLS ARE EXPECTED TO ATTEND FROM NORTH COTABATO AREA AND COTABATO CITY. PLEASE SUPPORT US AND BE UNITED TO US..." GO MAKE A DIFFERENCE...CHSGians...." PLEASE PRAY FOR THE VICTORY OF THE LORD!!!!!
FOR MORE OF OUR UPDATES PLEASE KEEP ON BLOGGING IN HERE.
thank you so much and God Bless You always. GOD LOVES YOU....
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
SPIRITUAL RENEWAL SEMINAR BATCH 2
GLORY AND PRAISE TO GOD!!!! HE IS GOD OF GOODNESS!!!!
We are proud to present to you our Candidates for Spiritual Seminar( Full pledge Membership Seminar) Batch 2 on April 9-11, 2010 at the Divine Mercy Retreat House:
1. Bro. Justin Cadungog --- Land Bank of the Philippines, Cotabato City
2. Bro. Reinier Navos -------- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
3. Sis. Grace Cinco Kandog --- Notre Dame University Faculty, Cot. City
4. Sis. Alma Urgel ----------- Land Bank of the Philippines, Cotabato City
5. Sis. Ofelia Cortez -------- Land Bank of the Philippines, Cotabato City
6. Sis. Joanna Etic ---------- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
7. Sis. Mae Aragones --------- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
8. Sis. Graziella Cajeta ----- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
9. Sis. Yanie Rose Nisnisan -- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
10.Sis. Haynee Baya ---------- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
11.Sis. Emelyn Castillon ----- Notre Dame University, Cotabato City
12.Sis. Elle Mae Banguis ----- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
13.Sis. Airies Hermoso ------- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
****Please for the success of the Second Batch of the Spiritual Renewal Seminar****
NAMASTE!!!! GOD BLESS......
We are proud to present to you our Candidates for Spiritual Seminar( Full pledge Membership Seminar) Batch 2 on April 9-11, 2010 at the Divine Mercy Retreat House:
1. Bro. Justin Cadungog --- Land Bank of the Philippines, Cotabato City
2. Bro. Reinier Navos -------- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
3. Sis. Grace Cinco Kandog --- Notre Dame University Faculty, Cot. City
4. Sis. Alma Urgel ----------- Land Bank of the Philippines, Cotabato City
5. Sis. Ofelia Cortez -------- Land Bank of the Philippines, Cotabato City
6. Sis. Joanna Etic ---------- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
7. Sis. Mae Aragones --------- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
8. Sis. Graziella Cajeta ----- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
9. Sis. Yanie Rose Nisnisan -- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
10.Sis. Haynee Baya ---------- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
11.Sis. Emelyn Castillon ----- Notre Dame University, Cotabato City
12.Sis. Elle Mae Banguis ----- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
13.Sis. Airies Hermoso ------- Notre Dame Village National High School, Cot. City
****Please for the success of the Second Batch of the Spiritual Renewal Seminar****
NAMASTE!!!! GOD BLESS......
Sunday, March 28, 2010
WORDS OF THANKS
To Bro. Johny Gabe and Sis.Annie Tan of Manila our PATHWAYS Speakers last March 28, 2010 at the 2nd floor of Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Cotabato City, Philippines we Praise, Glorify and Thank God for the Powerful Words of Wisdom and Knowledge you have given us. We will treasure those words from the Lord. For all the members who supported us in prayers, and for the financial support shared by Bro. Justin Cadungog and Sis. Alma Urgel our prayers to you, thank you for your generosity for with out your financial support the Pathways will not be able to pursue. For the Padre Pio Group thank you for lending us your speakers and thank you for the support. TO GOD BE THE GLORY AND PRAISE FOREVER. We pray for the Next PATHWAYS to give us enlightenment and guidance going to God...ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!!!!!
THE GEN. FLOCK SHEPHERD
THE GEN. FLOCK SHEPHERD
Friday, March 19, 2010
SHEPHERDS VOICE:
REPENT...REPENT...REPENT...REPENT...REPENT....REPENT...
AND RETURN TO GOD BELIEVE IN JESUS...PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY
AND NEVER STOP PRAYING!!!!!!! PLEASE PRAY!!!!!!!REPENT!!!!!!
bro. bong
AND RETURN TO GOD BELIEVE IN JESUS...PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY
AND NEVER STOP PRAYING!!!!!!! PLEASE PRAY!!!!!!!REPENT!!!!!!
bro. bong
Thursday, March 18, 2010
SPIRITUAL RENEWAL SEMINAR BATCH 2
SHEPHERDS VOICE:
I ENCOURAGE ALL THE CHSG MEMBERS TO PLEASE PRAY AND FAST FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE SPIRITUAL RENEWAL SEMINAR BATCH 2 ON APRIL 9-11, 2010 AT THE DIVINE MERCY RETREAT HOUSE TAMONTAKA DINAIG MAGUINDANAO. YOUR PRAYERS CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE... PLEASE SUPPORT THE SPIRITUAL RENEWAL SEMINAR BY OFFERING YOUR PRAYERS AND FINANCIAL HELP. JUST CONTACT BRO. JUSTIN CADUNGOG THE STEWARD OF THE CHSG AT LAND BANK DON RUFINO ALONZO ST. COTABATO CITY OR TEXT HIM AT 09215918718. THANK YOU SO MUCH. GOD WILL REWARD A PERSON WITH GENEROUS HEART. GOD BLESS.
BRO. BONG LOZANO
I ENCOURAGE ALL THE CHSG MEMBERS TO PLEASE PRAY AND FAST FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE SPIRITUAL RENEWAL SEMINAR BATCH 2 ON APRIL 9-11, 2010 AT THE DIVINE MERCY RETREAT HOUSE TAMONTAKA DINAIG MAGUINDANAO. YOUR PRAYERS CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE... PLEASE SUPPORT THE SPIRITUAL RENEWAL SEMINAR BY OFFERING YOUR PRAYERS AND FINANCIAL HELP. JUST CONTACT BRO. JUSTIN CADUNGOG THE STEWARD OF THE CHSG AT LAND BANK DON RUFINO ALONZO ST. COTABATO CITY OR TEXT HIM AT 09215918718. THANK YOU SO MUCH. GOD WILL REWARD A PERSON WITH GENEROUS HEART. GOD BLESS.
BRO. BONG LOZANO
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Just Pray…
Luke 9:28-36
Bong Lozano
March 13, 2010
Jesus maintains His ultimate relationship with the Father. He is always in contact with God through prayers. Jesus spends more time in prayer in His ministry. He is in touch with the Father. Jesus mediates God with us. He Himself is the cross as He prays for us. The cross is a symbol of mediation of Jesus to God the Father. Jesus connects us vertically to the Father and horizontally to the world. Jesus loves us, so much that even His coming to us, He humbles Himself, though He is God, He wants us to be in touch always to the Father.
Jesus shows us the way to the Father and that is through prayer. Jesus Himself is the way; He brought us to the Father through Him in prayer. So we must pray to reach the Father through Jesus, the only way.
Prayer can be the start of a renewed life. Jesus taught us to pray and even Himself He prays. He went up to a mountain, He went to a deserted place, He went to a lonely place just to be in contact with the Father, in prayer.
Prayer is Jesus’ part of life, miracles do happen, unbelievers listened and believed, many where converted, healing of physical body and soul happen. Prayer is power. If you want power, pray at all times. Miracles do happen. Pray…pray...pray…
“Jesus brought His apostles Peter, James and John up on a hill to pray, with Him. While, He was praying His face changed His appearance and His clothes became dazzling white.” Luke. 9:28-29. Jesus wants His apostles to pray, Isn’t it very clear? He wants all of us to pray, to be always connected and in touch with the Father in heaven. There are many instances in the scriptures when Jesus prayed and brought His apostles with Him. Jesus is encouraging us to pray. As what the scripture says Jesus went up a hill to pray, in our life we need to “silence” our lives find a place where we can commune with God in prayer. Find time and a place to communicate and be in touched with the Father. Have a quality time with God in our prayer. As we pray, our life will be connected to God, changes will happen, it may not be an instant change. We may not notice it, but other people may notice the changes in our life. They will be noticing it in many ways, in our words, actions and spirituality. Jesus Himself transfigured as the apostles have noticed Him changing and dazzling in white. We will also be like Jesus if we have an intimate personal relationship with God, we will be change if we surrender to Him with all our heart mind, soul and strength. Allow the Holy Spirit to come to you and through Jesus precious and Holy blood cleansed you from all the sins you have done. As we continuously pray and develop that personal intimate relationship with God we are cleansed spiritually and we become a child of the Father. He will be a Father to us and we His children. What the Father wants for His children is to inherit His kingdom and to be with Him forever and ever and ever and ever….To be a Christian, a true Christian, follow Jesus and obey Him. Pray to be change. Pray to become a child of the Father. Like a child talking to the Father. Pray to have a connection to the Father. Pray and have a quality time with God. Pray at all times. Pray and you will see the difference. God wants to talk to you in prayer. Just pray never complain. Pray with love in love and for love. Just pray… God will make a difference in your life. Start praying… Just pray… Go now and pray!!! The heavenly Father is waiting now, He is so excited to see you and hear from you. Be excited to talk to the Father now. Go and pray… Just Pray!!!!
Luke 9:28-36
Bong Lozano
March 13, 2010
Jesus maintains His ultimate relationship with the Father. He is always in contact with God through prayers. Jesus spends more time in prayer in His ministry. He is in touch with the Father. Jesus mediates God with us. He Himself is the cross as He prays for us. The cross is a symbol of mediation of Jesus to God the Father. Jesus connects us vertically to the Father and horizontally to the world. Jesus loves us, so much that even His coming to us, He humbles Himself, though He is God, He wants us to be in touch always to the Father.
Jesus shows us the way to the Father and that is through prayer. Jesus Himself is the way; He brought us to the Father through Him in prayer. So we must pray to reach the Father through Jesus, the only way.
Prayer can be the start of a renewed life. Jesus taught us to pray and even Himself He prays. He went up to a mountain, He went to a deserted place, He went to a lonely place just to be in contact with the Father, in prayer.
Prayer is Jesus’ part of life, miracles do happen, unbelievers listened and believed, many where converted, healing of physical body and soul happen. Prayer is power. If you want power, pray at all times. Miracles do happen. Pray…pray...pray…
“Jesus brought His apostles Peter, James and John up on a hill to pray, with Him. While, He was praying His face changed His appearance and His clothes became dazzling white.” Luke. 9:28-29. Jesus wants His apostles to pray, Isn’t it very clear? He wants all of us to pray, to be always connected and in touch with the Father in heaven. There are many instances in the scriptures when Jesus prayed and brought His apostles with Him. Jesus is encouraging us to pray. As what the scripture says Jesus went up a hill to pray, in our life we need to “silence” our lives find a place where we can commune with God in prayer. Find time and a place to communicate and be in touched with the Father. Have a quality time with God in our prayer. As we pray, our life will be connected to God, changes will happen, it may not be an instant change. We may not notice it, but other people may notice the changes in our life. They will be noticing it in many ways, in our words, actions and spirituality. Jesus Himself transfigured as the apostles have noticed Him changing and dazzling in white. We will also be like Jesus if we have an intimate personal relationship with God, we will be change if we surrender to Him with all our heart mind, soul and strength. Allow the Holy Spirit to come to you and through Jesus precious and Holy blood cleansed you from all the sins you have done. As we continuously pray and develop that personal intimate relationship with God we are cleansed spiritually and we become a child of the Father. He will be a Father to us and we His children. What the Father wants for His children is to inherit His kingdom and to be with Him forever and ever and ever and ever….To be a Christian, a true Christian, follow Jesus and obey Him. Pray to be change. Pray to become a child of the Father. Like a child talking to the Father. Pray to have a connection to the Father. Pray and have a quality time with God. Pray at all times. Pray and you will see the difference. God wants to talk to you in prayer. Just pray never complain. Pray with love in love and for love. Just pray… God will make a difference in your life. Start praying… Just pray… Go now and pray!!! The heavenly Father is waiting now, He is so excited to see you and hear from you. Be excited to talk to the Father now. Go and pray… Just Pray!!!!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
PRAYER OF COMMITMENT and DEDICATION
Heavenly Father, our Creator, and Our God, we praise you, we honor you and we glorify you for this privilege of coming to you with humble and contrite hearts. We acknowledge you as our Abba and God, the source of our life, strength and all wisdom, knowledge and understanding; the fountain of blessings and graces. You are the Word of Life, the Light of the world and our Good Shepherd. We dedicate ourselves to you and commit our life as full pledge members of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group.
We commit to follow your Commandment of Love --To Love God with all our minds, with all our hearts, with all our strength and with all our Life to put you First before everything else and to Love our fellow men as ourselves.
We commit and dedicate ourselves in prayer, Reading, Studying, Sharing and Living Your Holy Words in the scripture all the time and be the light and salt of the world.
We commit to attend the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and receive the sacrament of penance regularly, pray the Holy Rosary daily, give time for a dialogue with you in the Blessed Sacrament and a devotion to the Divine Mercy and apostolate work.
We commit and dedicate to attend our regular Bible Study and Sharing, Flock Prayer Assembly, and other activities of your flock.
We commit and dedicate to fulfill our mission, “Go into all the World and Preach the Gospel to all creation…” written in Mark 16:15 we will Preach and Heal and bring your Words of Life to every one.
We commit and dedicate to serve you in the ministry of your Preaching and Healing and defend and Live the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Abba our Father, we beg you to bless us, strengthen us and give us the grace of fulfilling all these commitments we made to you.
We beg you to pour on us your Holy Spirit and the gifts that we need in Preaching and Healing this ailing world. Protect us with your Love and use us so that we could proclaim your Good News boldly like your beloved apostles. May we be your voice, healing hands and light as we go and make a difference.
As we kneel and pray in front of you and as our Spiritual Adviser and your representative of the church, bless us, be with us Father wherever you want us to be, to proclaim your Good News of salvation. We submit to your Most Holy Will.
As you commanded your apostles to go and preach, Here I am Lord, your servant, Send Me….
We ask all of these in Jesus’ powerful name in the unity of the Holy Spirit One God forever and ever….AMEN.
Mary the Mother of the Word incarnate… Pray for us.
St. Benedict.Pray for us.
St. Francis of Assisi …Pray for us.
St.Anthony of Padua … Pray for
Heavenly Father, our Creator, and Our God, we praise you, we honor you and we glorify you for this privilege of coming to you with humble and contrite hearts. We acknowledge you as our Abba and God, the source of our life, strength and all wisdom, knowledge and understanding; the fountain of blessings and graces. You are the Word of Life, the Light of the world and our Good Shepherd. We dedicate ourselves to you and commit our life as full pledge members of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group.
We commit to follow your Commandment of Love --To Love God with all our minds, with all our hearts, with all our strength and with all our Life to put you First before everything else and to Love our fellow men as ourselves.
We commit and dedicate ourselves in prayer, Reading, Studying, Sharing and Living Your Holy Words in the scripture all the time and be the light and salt of the world.
We commit to attend the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and receive the sacrament of penance regularly, pray the Holy Rosary daily, give time for a dialogue with you in the Blessed Sacrament and a devotion to the Divine Mercy and apostolate work.
We commit and dedicate to attend our regular Bible Study and Sharing, Flock Prayer Assembly, and other activities of your flock.
We commit and dedicate to fulfill our mission, “Go into all the World and Preach the Gospel to all creation…” written in Mark 16:15 we will Preach and Heal and bring your Words of Life to every one.
We commit and dedicate to serve you in the ministry of your Preaching and Healing and defend and Live the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Abba our Father, we beg you to bless us, strengthen us and give us the grace of fulfilling all these commitments we made to you.
We beg you to pour on us your Holy Spirit and the gifts that we need in Preaching and Healing this ailing world. Protect us with your Love and use us so that we could proclaim your Good News boldly like your beloved apostles. May we be your voice, healing hands and light as we go and make a difference.
As we kneel and pray in front of you and as our Spiritual Adviser and your representative of the church, bless us, be with us Father wherever you want us to be, to proclaim your Good News of salvation. We submit to your Most Holy Will.
As you commanded your apostles to go and preach, Here I am Lord, your servant, Send Me….
We ask all of these in Jesus’ powerful name in the unity of the Holy Spirit One God forever and ever….AMEN.
Mary the Mother of the Word incarnate… Pray for us.
St. Benedict.Pray for us.
St. Francis of Assisi …Pray for us.
St.Anthony of Padua … Pray for
Thursday, March 4, 2010
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS
PREAMBLE
We, the members of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group (CHSG) conscientiously committed to operate a spiritual renewal and transformation organization of men and women; uphold the significance of the Holy Scripture as the living word of God as interpreted by the magisterium of the Catholic Church and promote the holiness of the Catholic Faith do hereby ordain and promulgate this constitution.
ARTICLE I
GENERAL PROVISION
Section 1 This is a catholic renewal organization known as “the flock” the Catholic
Holy Scripture Group or CHSG of Cotabato City.
Section 2 The members of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall organize themselves
and attain the goals and objectives of the organization.
Section 3 The Catholic Holy Scripture Group means preaching, studying, sharing and
living the teachings of Jesus Christ according to the Sacred Scriptures as
Renewed Catholic, regardless of race, culture, status, and social state.
Section 4 The establishment of Catholic Holy Scripture Group vital functions shall be
legally recognized as trans parochial/school based organization and approved
by the Catholic Church.
ARTICLE II
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES
Section 1 The Catholic Holy Scripture Group believes in the following:
1.1 that spiritual consciousness and renewal should be a must in every
individual for salvation.
1.2 that the Holy Scripture is the book inspired by the Holy Spirit to teach,
reproof, and to correct and to transform every person, to live as Jesus lived.
1.3 that the Holy Scripture is the basis of the transformation of every CHSG
member.
1.4 that Jesus Christ is the only way the truth and the life. That in Him alone
Salvation can be attained.
Section 2 The Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall uphold its three (3) major
objectives which shall be the following:
2.1 to glorify praise and worship God, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit
2.2 spiritual transformation (Renewal) of its members
2.3 preaching, evangelization and shepherding (missionary works).
ARTICLE III
VISION
Section 1 Conversion of souls through the teachings of Jesus Christ from the Holy
Scripture with the guidance of the Roman Catholic Church magisterium
for ones salvation.
ARTICLE IV
MISSION
Section 1 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” Mark 16:15
ARTICLE V
MOTTO
Section1 “To bring Jesus in every heart and soul of every man”
ARTICLE VI
THE SEAL
Section 1 The recognized seal is the dove above the apostolic cross which is above the
Holy Scripture and under the book is the world. There are nine (9) rays coming
from the cross to the world.
Section 2 The apostolic cross represents Christ’s love for us. He died on the cross to
redeem us from our sins. The nine (9) rays symbolize the nine (9) fruits of the
Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all
creation” Mark 16:15. The world symbolizes God’s creation and God as the
creator. The book symbolizes the Holy Scripture which is the word of God for
the salvation of the world.
ARTICLE VII
FOUNDATION
Section 1 The Catholic Holy Scripture Group was founded on July 14, 1986 at Notre
Dame University, Cotabato City, Philippines.
ARTICLE VIII
ORGANIZED CHSG CHAPTERS
Section 1 Local Chapters
Notre Dame University, Cotabato City, Philippines - 1986
Notre Dame of Cotabato Boys Department,
Cotabato City, Philippines - 1990
Notre Dame of Cotabato for Girls Department,
Cotabato City, Philippines - 1990
Notre Dame of Pikit, Pikit, North Cotabato, Phil - 1991
Kabacan National High School, Kabacan, North
Cotabato, Philippines - 1992
Notre Dame Village National High School,
Cotabato City, Philippines - 1993
St. Benedict College, Cotabato City, Philippines - 1994
San Vicente Academy, Cotabato City, Philippines - 1994
Dr. Pedro Ocampo College, Cotabato City,Phil - 1994
Rojas National High School, Cotabato City, Phil. - 2008
St. Francis Academy, Upi, Maguindanao - 2008
Section 2 International Chapters
Qatar, Saudi Arabia - 2008
Alberta, Canada - 2008
London, England - 2008
ARTICLE IX
EMAIL ADDRESS/BLOGSPOT/ADDRESS/BARN
Section 1 Email address
chsg1986@yahoo.com
Section 2 Blogspot
catholicholyscripturegroup.blogspot.com
Section 3 Address/Barn
#004 Bishop Mongeau Avenue, Corner Mercury Street, Barangay Notre Dame
Village, Rosary Heights 8, Cotabato City, Philippines
ARTICLE X
ACTIVITIES
Section 1 The Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall have the following major and minor
Activities:
1.1 Major Activities
1.1.1 Bible Study and Sharing – Read, study and share Gods words by chapter
at least once a week .
1.1.2 Flock Prayer Assembly – Praise and worship activity by chapter once
every month.
1.1.3 General Prayer Flock Assembly- gathering of all chapters held once
every 6 months. One Flock Praising and Worshipping God in songs
prayers, sharing and God’s given gifts/talents.
1.1.4 Spiritual Renewal Seminar (SRS) - once a year during summer season.
Full pledge membership and renewal seminar for 3 days.
1.1.5 Eucharistic Celebration – sponsorship at least once a month
1.1.6 Read, Study, Share and Live the words of Jesus in the Holy Scripture
Daily
1.1.7 United Prayer Time- every 4:00 – 6:00 am daily.
1.1.8 Shepherding: Preaching, Evangelization and Missionary works.
1.2 Minor Activities
1.2.1 Devotion to the Divine Mercy – daily at 3:00 pm and 4:00 am
1.2.2 Holy Rosary - every 4:00 a.m daily
1.2.3 Visitation to the Blessed Sacrament – any time of the day
1.2 .4 Apostolate works like, jail visitation, home for the aged visitation,
Street children feeding.
1.2.5 Fasting and Abstinence – as requested by the flock shepherd and during
Lenten season
1.2.6 Mass and confession – every first Friday of the month and day specified
by the flock shepherd.
1.2.7 Birthday service, Death service, Prayer for the Sick, Thanks Giving
service, Graduation service, Funeral service and other services for the
Glory of God.
1.2.8 Spiritual development and growth seminars – occasional
1.2.9 Pathways- Catholic Doctrines and Teachings (once a month during the
Flock Prayer Assembly
ARTICLE XI
SPIRITUALITY
Section 1 Read, Study, Share and Live the words of Jesus in the Holy Scripture daily
and Prayer life.
ARTICLE XII
MEMBERSHIP
Section 1 Any baptized Catholic individual can be a member of the organization provided
he/she will abide with the rules and regulations stated in this by laws and
constitution..
Section 2 Membership in this organization shall be of two (2) stages: Lamb and Sheep
2.1 Lamb – he/she is a members who is willing to embrace the principles,
objectives, mission, vision and spirituality of the group but has not completed
the Spiritual Renewal Seminar (SRS).
2.2 Sheep – he/she is a member who has embraced the principles, objectives,
mission, vision and spirituality of the group and completed the Spiritual
Renewal Seminar (SRS).
Section 3 The Requirements for full- pledge membership shall be the following:
3.1 regular attendance in all the Major and minor activities of the groups
3.2 willingness to embrace the principles, objectives, mission, vision and
spirituality of the group.
3.3 attendance and completion of the Spiritual Renewal Seminar (SRS)
Section 4 Full pledged members of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group should commit
themselves in spiritual obligations particularly the major and minor activities
and be loyal, committed, and dedicated to the group.
Section 5 Members of the group shall maintain constant spiritual knowledge and
significant instructions by the spiritual adviser and the flock elders.
Section 6 Full pledge members should wear the CHSG recognized and official cross
which is the St. Damiano’s cross (Franciscan cross) and insignia where ever he/
she may be, as a sign of dedication, commitment, and love for Jesus.
ARTICLE XIII
FUNDS
Section 1 The general funds of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall consist of :
tithing, love offering, voluntary contributions from the members and from fund
raising activities.
Section 2 The funds shall be used only for spiritual and group activities as approved by
the general flock officers/elders.
ARTICLE XIV
OFFICERS: DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Section 1 The Officers of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall be the following:
1.1 School / Campus based Officers
1.1.1 Shepherd/Shepherdess – head shepherd of the community/school
based chapter. Responsible in taking care of the flock, preside over all
meetings, and over seer of the flock and plans activities, in consonance
to the by laws and constitution of the group. Submit report and should
have a constant communication with the General Flock Shepherd.
Promote mutual understanding and relationship among its members.
Give systematic instruction to the members on how to attain effective
function and compliance of the future spiritual and group activities.
1.1.2 Secretary – main responsibility is to keep all the records of the
Organization, minutes of the meetings, activity attendance and must be
the registration officer for any activities conducted by the school based
CHSG chapter. Submit reports as may be required by the General Flock
Shepherd or Flock of Elders.
1.1.3 Steward – must keep the funds and other assets of the school based
chapter in the form of cash or check in the name of the CHSG. He/she
must keep the records of all the funds of the school based chapter and
submit a report to the General Flock Shepherd and remit 10% of
its fund to the General Flock Fund monthly. Substitute the secretary
when ever he/ she is absent.
1.1.4 Assistant Steward – take the place of the steward during his/her absence.
1.1.5 Internal Affairs Minister (I.A.M) – substitute the shepherd/shepherdess
in his/her absence. Take over the spiritual activities of the group and
plans activities for the spiritual enrichment of each member as approved
by the shepherd and other CHSG school based officers. The General
Flock Shepherd must be informed in writing.
1.1.6 External Affairs Minister (E.A.M) – take over the position of the I.A.M if
He/she is absent. He/she is the officer in charge of the Non spiritual acti
vities of the group. Plans the non spiritual activities of the flock and act
as the organizations auditor. Work with, monitor and gives advice to the
Service Ministry before, during and after any CHSG activity.
Section 2 General Flock Officers
2.1 Spiritual Director/Spiritual Adviser – a priest/religious/layman where
spiritual directions of the group come from. He/she must be recommended
by the Flock of Elders and approved by the parish priest where the chapter
is based.
2.2 General Flock Shepherd- the highest position given to the leader servant. of
the CHSG. Has the authority given by the spiritual adviser to take care of
the Flock of the Lord. Presides all the over all meetings, gatherings,
assemblies, and non spiritual activities of the group and may represent the
CHSG in any spiritual or non spiritual conferences or gatherings called
upon by the community. Over seer of all the CHSG school/campus based
chapters and monitor each chapter in all its activities. Gives appointments
and mission orders to any CHSG members. Must be spiritually matured,
knowledgeable of the Catholic faith and teachings, morally upright and
possess fear of the Lord. Promote mutual understanding and good
relationship among its members. Give systematic instructions to the
members on how to attain effective function and compliance of the future
spiritual and group activities.
2.3 General Flock Secretary – main responsibility is to keep all the records of
The organization, minutes of the meetings, activity attendance and act as
the registration officer for any activities conducted by the CHSG. Archive
officer of the group. Responsible in making letters of communication and
follow up activities. Must have constant communication with the General
Flock Shepherd.
2.4 General Flock Steward – must keep the funds and other assets of the
General Flock in the form of cash or check in the name of the CHSG.
Collect all dues/fees/donations/love offering and tithes from the members.
Disburse money needed and prescribed by the shepherd or officers.
Submit audited financial reports to the general flock officers every month
during the General Flock Officers Meeting.
He/she must keep the records of all the funds of all the school based
Chapters and report to the General Flock Shepherd and receives the 10%
Share of the school based funds every monthly. Substitute the General
Flock Secretary when ever he/ she is absent.
2.5 General Flock Assistant Steward – take over and perform the duties and
responsibilities of the steward in his/her absence.
2.6 General Flock Internal Affairs Minister (I.A.M)
– substitute the shepherd/shepherdess in his/her absence. Take over the
spiritual activities of the group and plans activities for the spiritual
enrichment of each member as approved by the General Flock Shepherd
and may be presented to the General Flock Officers/spiritual adviser.
Coordinate with the Ministry heads for planning and implementation of
the activities.
2.7 General Flock External Affairs Minister (E.A.M)
– take over the position of the I.A.M if he/she is absent. He/she is the
officer in charge of the Non spiritual activities of the group. Plan
non spiritual activities of the group and acts as the groups auditor. Work
with, monitor and gives advice to the Service Ministry before, during and
after any CHSG activity. Act as property custodian of the group,
meaning officer in charge of all the physical properties of the CHSG.
Section 3 Each General Flock Officer must be a full pledge member of the Catholic Holy
Scripture Group or in any case he/she may be appointed by the General Flock
Shepherd.
ARTICLE XV
MINISTRIES
Section 1 Equipping Ministry
– in charge of the teaching (Didache) and preaching
(Kerygma) of the words of God. Members of this
ministry must possess the gift of preaching/teaching.
Section 2 Healing Ministry
– administering for the sick persons. Including Physical,
Emotional, Psychological, Financial, Family, Inner
Healing and Deliverance.
Section 3 Music Ministry
– the choir, and the persons involved in accompaniment, song
preparations, compositions, and schedule practices in
preparation for a certain activity of the organization. The
ministry is intended for the praise and worship services in
songs of the group for the greater glory of God in Jesus
Christ.
Section 4 Service Ministry
– over all in charge including the preparation decoration,
restoration of the hall/venues, lights, sound system and
food. Keep all group properties and put it in proper place.
ARTICLE XVI
ORGANIZATIONAL FLOW CHART
SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
GENERAL FLOCK SHEPHERD
INTERNAL SECRETARY STEWARD EXTERNAL
AFFAIRS MINISTRY AFFAIRS MINISTRY
EQUIPPING HEALING SERVICE MUSIC
MINISTRY MINISTRY MINISTRY MINISTRY
SCHOOL BASED SHEPHERD
INTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY
SECRETARY STEWARD
ARTICLE XVII
QUALIFICATION OF CANDIDATES FOR ELECTION
Section 1 All candidates for an office must be a Full pledge member of the CHSG.
Section 2 Must possess at least the following qualities:
2.1 sense of humility and honesty
2.2 sense of consciousness in work and mission
2.3 sense of reconciliation
2.4 sense of fellowship
2.5 sense of holiness
Section 3 The candidates must have at least the following spiritual qualities
(Galatians 5: 22-25)
3.1 Love
3.2 Joy
3.3 Patience
3.4 Endurance
3.5 Kindness
3.6 Generous
3.7 Faithfulness
3.8 Gentleness
3.9 Chaste
ARTICLE XVIII
TERM OF OFFICE
Section 1 The term of office of each officer shall be two (2) years, unless otherwise
the officer is terminated / unable to perform his/her functions due to
immorality/ resignation/change of residence/inactive/ disability or death he/she
may be replaced by appointment of the General Flock Shepherd or the General
Flock Officers.
Section 2 An officer stated in Article XVIII, section 1 can be re- appointed by the
General Flock Shepherd or the General Flock Officers.
ARTICLE XIX
PROCESS OF ELECTION
Section 1 Votation may be done by secret balloting; raising of hand or by drawing of lots
depending on the decision of the body of the elders (sheep).
Section 2 In case of absentia of the qualified candidate for valid reasons, he/she may be
nominated with his/her consent.
Section 3 Election for the General Flock Officers shall be held with in the second week
of June a month before the expiration of the two (2) years term of office of the
current officers on July 14.
ARTICLE XX
CHAIRMAN OF THE ELECTION
Section 2 The External Affairs Ministry head will act as the Chairman of the Election
ARTICLE XXI
ELECTED OFFICERS
Section 1 Two thirds (2/3) vote of the Flock Elders (sheep) are required to declare an
elected office.
Section 2 In case of a tie, the External Affairs Ministry head will be the tie breaker
ARTICLE XXII
QUORUM
Section 1 Fifty percent (50%) of the active elders (sheep) must be present to declare
a quorum for election/meeting/assemblies.
ARTICLE XXIII
AMENDMENTS
Section 1 The constitution of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall be amended
every two years (2) only by the affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the
flock elders provided that copies of the proposed amendment(s) shall be sent to
all the members at the last month prior to its consideration.
Section 2 Any amendment to or provision of the constitution shall be valid when ratified
in the same manner as the adoption of this constitution provided for in the next
succeeding section.
ARTICLE XXIV
EFFECTIVITY
Section 1 This constitution shall take effect upon the approval of the Flock Elders (sheep)
and the Spiritual Director, the authority of the Catholic Church.
We, the members of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group (CHSG) conscientiously committed to operate a spiritual renewal and transformation organization of men and women; uphold the significance of the Holy Scripture as the living word of God as interpreted by the magisterium of the Catholic Church and promote the holiness of the Catholic Faith do hereby ordain and promulgate this constitution.
ARTICLE I
GENERAL PROVISION
Section 1 This is a catholic renewal organization known as “the flock” the Catholic
Holy Scripture Group or CHSG of Cotabato City.
Section 2 The members of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall organize themselves
and attain the goals and objectives of the organization.
Section 3 The Catholic Holy Scripture Group means preaching, studying, sharing and
living the teachings of Jesus Christ according to the Sacred Scriptures as
Renewed Catholic, regardless of race, culture, status, and social state.
Section 4 The establishment of Catholic Holy Scripture Group vital functions shall be
legally recognized as trans parochial/school based organization and approved
by the Catholic Church.
ARTICLE II
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES
Section 1 The Catholic Holy Scripture Group believes in the following:
1.1 that spiritual consciousness and renewal should be a must in every
individual for salvation.
1.2 that the Holy Scripture is the book inspired by the Holy Spirit to teach,
reproof, and to correct and to transform every person, to live as Jesus lived.
1.3 that the Holy Scripture is the basis of the transformation of every CHSG
member.
1.4 that Jesus Christ is the only way the truth and the life. That in Him alone
Salvation can be attained.
Section 2 The Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall uphold its three (3) major
objectives which shall be the following:
2.1 to glorify praise and worship God, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit
2.2 spiritual transformation (Renewal) of its members
2.3 preaching, evangelization and shepherding (missionary works).
ARTICLE III
VISION
Section 1 Conversion of souls through the teachings of Jesus Christ from the Holy
Scripture with the guidance of the Roman Catholic Church magisterium
for ones salvation.
ARTICLE IV
MISSION
Section 1 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” Mark 16:15
ARTICLE V
MOTTO
Section1 “To bring Jesus in every heart and soul of every man”
ARTICLE VI
THE SEAL
Section 1 The recognized seal is the dove above the apostolic cross which is above the
Holy Scripture and under the book is the world. There are nine (9) rays coming
from the cross to the world.
Section 2 The apostolic cross represents Christ’s love for us. He died on the cross to
redeem us from our sins. The nine (9) rays symbolize the nine (9) fruits of the
Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all
creation” Mark 16:15. The world symbolizes God’s creation and God as the
creator. The book symbolizes the Holy Scripture which is the word of God for
the salvation of the world.
ARTICLE VII
FOUNDATION
Section 1 The Catholic Holy Scripture Group was founded on July 14, 1986 at Notre
Dame University, Cotabato City, Philippines.
ARTICLE VIII
ORGANIZED CHSG CHAPTERS
Section 1 Local Chapters
Notre Dame University, Cotabato City, Philippines - 1986
Notre Dame of Cotabato Boys Department,
Cotabato City, Philippines - 1990
Notre Dame of Cotabato for Girls Department,
Cotabato City, Philippines - 1990
Notre Dame of Pikit, Pikit, North Cotabato, Phil - 1991
Kabacan National High School, Kabacan, North
Cotabato, Philippines - 1992
Notre Dame Village National High School,
Cotabato City, Philippines - 1993
St. Benedict College, Cotabato City, Philippines - 1994
San Vicente Academy, Cotabato City, Philippines - 1994
Dr. Pedro Ocampo College, Cotabato City,Phil - 1994
Rojas National High School, Cotabato City, Phil. - 2008
St. Francis Academy, Upi, Maguindanao - 2008
Section 2 International Chapters
Qatar, Saudi Arabia - 2008
Alberta, Canada - 2008
London, England - 2008
ARTICLE IX
EMAIL ADDRESS/BLOGSPOT/ADDRESS/BARN
Section 1 Email address
chsg1986@yahoo.com
Section 2 Blogspot
catholicholyscripturegroup.blogspot.com
Section 3 Address/Barn
#004 Bishop Mongeau Avenue, Corner Mercury Street, Barangay Notre Dame
Village, Rosary Heights 8, Cotabato City, Philippines
ARTICLE X
ACTIVITIES
Section 1 The Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall have the following major and minor
Activities:
1.1 Major Activities
1.1.1 Bible Study and Sharing – Read, study and share Gods words by chapter
at least once a week .
1.1.2 Flock Prayer Assembly – Praise and worship activity by chapter once
every month.
1.1.3 General Prayer Flock Assembly- gathering of all chapters held once
every 6 months. One Flock Praising and Worshipping God in songs
prayers, sharing and God’s given gifts/talents.
1.1.4 Spiritual Renewal Seminar (SRS) - once a year during summer season.
Full pledge membership and renewal seminar for 3 days.
1.1.5 Eucharistic Celebration – sponsorship at least once a month
1.1.6 Read, Study, Share and Live the words of Jesus in the Holy Scripture
Daily
1.1.7 United Prayer Time- every 4:00 – 6:00 am daily.
1.1.8 Shepherding: Preaching, Evangelization and Missionary works.
1.2 Minor Activities
1.2.1 Devotion to the Divine Mercy – daily at 3:00 pm and 4:00 am
1.2.2 Holy Rosary - every 4:00 a.m daily
1.2.3 Visitation to the Blessed Sacrament – any time of the day
1.2 .4 Apostolate works like, jail visitation, home for the aged visitation,
Street children feeding.
1.2.5 Fasting and Abstinence – as requested by the flock shepherd and during
Lenten season
1.2.6 Mass and confession – every first Friday of the month and day specified
by the flock shepherd.
1.2.7 Birthday service, Death service, Prayer for the Sick, Thanks Giving
service, Graduation service, Funeral service and other services for the
Glory of God.
1.2.8 Spiritual development and growth seminars – occasional
1.2.9 Pathways- Catholic Doctrines and Teachings (once a month during the
Flock Prayer Assembly
ARTICLE XI
SPIRITUALITY
Section 1 Read, Study, Share and Live the words of Jesus in the Holy Scripture daily
and Prayer life.
ARTICLE XII
MEMBERSHIP
Section 1 Any baptized Catholic individual can be a member of the organization provided
he/she will abide with the rules and regulations stated in this by laws and
constitution..
Section 2 Membership in this organization shall be of two (2) stages: Lamb and Sheep
2.1 Lamb – he/she is a members who is willing to embrace the principles,
objectives, mission, vision and spirituality of the group but has not completed
the Spiritual Renewal Seminar (SRS).
2.2 Sheep – he/she is a member who has embraced the principles, objectives,
mission, vision and spirituality of the group and completed the Spiritual
Renewal Seminar (SRS).
Section 3 The Requirements for full- pledge membership shall be the following:
3.1 regular attendance in all the Major and minor activities of the groups
3.2 willingness to embrace the principles, objectives, mission, vision and
spirituality of the group.
3.3 attendance and completion of the Spiritual Renewal Seminar (SRS)
Section 4 Full pledged members of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group should commit
themselves in spiritual obligations particularly the major and minor activities
and be loyal, committed, and dedicated to the group.
Section 5 Members of the group shall maintain constant spiritual knowledge and
significant instructions by the spiritual adviser and the flock elders.
Section 6 Full pledge members should wear the CHSG recognized and official cross
which is the St. Damiano’s cross (Franciscan cross) and insignia where ever he/
she may be, as a sign of dedication, commitment, and love for Jesus.
ARTICLE XIII
FUNDS
Section 1 The general funds of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall consist of :
tithing, love offering, voluntary contributions from the members and from fund
raising activities.
Section 2 The funds shall be used only for spiritual and group activities as approved by
the general flock officers/elders.
ARTICLE XIV
OFFICERS: DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Section 1 The Officers of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall be the following:
1.1 School / Campus based Officers
1.1.1 Shepherd/Shepherdess – head shepherd of the community/school
based chapter. Responsible in taking care of the flock, preside over all
meetings, and over seer of the flock and plans activities, in consonance
to the by laws and constitution of the group. Submit report and should
have a constant communication with the General Flock Shepherd.
Promote mutual understanding and relationship among its members.
Give systematic instruction to the members on how to attain effective
function and compliance of the future spiritual and group activities.
1.1.2 Secretary – main responsibility is to keep all the records of the
Organization, minutes of the meetings, activity attendance and must be
the registration officer for any activities conducted by the school based
CHSG chapter. Submit reports as may be required by the General Flock
Shepherd or Flock of Elders.
1.1.3 Steward – must keep the funds and other assets of the school based
chapter in the form of cash or check in the name of the CHSG. He/she
must keep the records of all the funds of the school based chapter and
submit a report to the General Flock Shepherd and remit 10% of
its fund to the General Flock Fund monthly. Substitute the secretary
when ever he/ she is absent.
1.1.4 Assistant Steward – take the place of the steward during his/her absence.
1.1.5 Internal Affairs Minister (I.A.M) – substitute the shepherd/shepherdess
in his/her absence. Take over the spiritual activities of the group and
plans activities for the spiritual enrichment of each member as approved
by the shepherd and other CHSG school based officers. The General
Flock Shepherd must be informed in writing.
1.1.6 External Affairs Minister (E.A.M) – take over the position of the I.A.M if
He/she is absent. He/she is the officer in charge of the Non spiritual acti
vities of the group. Plans the non spiritual activities of the flock and act
as the organizations auditor. Work with, monitor and gives advice to the
Service Ministry before, during and after any CHSG activity.
Section 2 General Flock Officers
2.1 Spiritual Director/Spiritual Adviser – a priest/religious/layman where
spiritual directions of the group come from. He/she must be recommended
by the Flock of Elders and approved by the parish priest where the chapter
is based.
2.2 General Flock Shepherd- the highest position given to the leader servant. of
the CHSG. Has the authority given by the spiritual adviser to take care of
the Flock of the Lord. Presides all the over all meetings, gatherings,
assemblies, and non spiritual activities of the group and may represent the
CHSG in any spiritual or non spiritual conferences or gatherings called
upon by the community. Over seer of all the CHSG school/campus based
chapters and monitor each chapter in all its activities. Gives appointments
and mission orders to any CHSG members. Must be spiritually matured,
knowledgeable of the Catholic faith and teachings, morally upright and
possess fear of the Lord. Promote mutual understanding and good
relationship among its members. Give systematic instructions to the
members on how to attain effective function and compliance of the future
spiritual and group activities.
2.3 General Flock Secretary – main responsibility is to keep all the records of
The organization, minutes of the meetings, activity attendance and act as
the registration officer for any activities conducted by the CHSG. Archive
officer of the group. Responsible in making letters of communication and
follow up activities. Must have constant communication with the General
Flock Shepherd.
2.4 General Flock Steward – must keep the funds and other assets of the
General Flock in the form of cash or check in the name of the CHSG.
Collect all dues/fees/donations/love offering and tithes from the members.
Disburse money needed and prescribed by the shepherd or officers.
Submit audited financial reports to the general flock officers every month
during the General Flock Officers Meeting.
He/she must keep the records of all the funds of all the school based
Chapters and report to the General Flock Shepherd and receives the 10%
Share of the school based funds every monthly. Substitute the General
Flock Secretary when ever he/ she is absent.
2.5 General Flock Assistant Steward – take over and perform the duties and
responsibilities of the steward in his/her absence.
2.6 General Flock Internal Affairs Minister (I.A.M)
– substitute the shepherd/shepherdess in his/her absence. Take over the
spiritual activities of the group and plans activities for the spiritual
enrichment of each member as approved by the General Flock Shepherd
and may be presented to the General Flock Officers/spiritual adviser.
Coordinate with the Ministry heads for planning and implementation of
the activities.
2.7 General Flock External Affairs Minister (E.A.M)
– take over the position of the I.A.M if he/she is absent. He/she is the
officer in charge of the Non spiritual activities of the group. Plan
non spiritual activities of the group and acts as the groups auditor. Work
with, monitor and gives advice to the Service Ministry before, during and
after any CHSG activity. Act as property custodian of the group,
meaning officer in charge of all the physical properties of the CHSG.
Section 3 Each General Flock Officer must be a full pledge member of the Catholic Holy
Scripture Group or in any case he/she may be appointed by the General Flock
Shepherd.
ARTICLE XV
MINISTRIES
Section 1 Equipping Ministry
– in charge of the teaching (Didache) and preaching
(Kerygma) of the words of God. Members of this
ministry must possess the gift of preaching/teaching.
Section 2 Healing Ministry
– administering for the sick persons. Including Physical,
Emotional, Psychological, Financial, Family, Inner
Healing and Deliverance.
Section 3 Music Ministry
– the choir, and the persons involved in accompaniment, song
preparations, compositions, and schedule practices in
preparation for a certain activity of the organization. The
ministry is intended for the praise and worship services in
songs of the group for the greater glory of God in Jesus
Christ.
Section 4 Service Ministry
– over all in charge including the preparation decoration,
restoration of the hall/venues, lights, sound system and
food. Keep all group properties and put it in proper place.
ARTICLE XVI
ORGANIZATIONAL FLOW CHART
SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
GENERAL FLOCK SHEPHERD
INTERNAL SECRETARY STEWARD EXTERNAL
AFFAIRS MINISTRY AFFAIRS MINISTRY
EQUIPPING HEALING SERVICE MUSIC
MINISTRY MINISTRY MINISTRY MINISTRY
SCHOOL BASED SHEPHERD
INTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY
SECRETARY STEWARD
ARTICLE XVII
QUALIFICATION OF CANDIDATES FOR ELECTION
Section 1 All candidates for an office must be a Full pledge member of the CHSG.
Section 2 Must possess at least the following qualities:
2.1 sense of humility and honesty
2.2 sense of consciousness in work and mission
2.3 sense of reconciliation
2.4 sense of fellowship
2.5 sense of holiness
Section 3 The candidates must have at least the following spiritual qualities
(Galatians 5: 22-25)
3.1 Love
3.2 Joy
3.3 Patience
3.4 Endurance
3.5 Kindness
3.6 Generous
3.7 Faithfulness
3.8 Gentleness
3.9 Chaste
ARTICLE XVIII
TERM OF OFFICE
Section 1 The term of office of each officer shall be two (2) years, unless otherwise
the officer is terminated / unable to perform his/her functions due to
immorality/ resignation/change of residence/inactive/ disability or death he/she
may be replaced by appointment of the General Flock Shepherd or the General
Flock Officers.
Section 2 An officer stated in Article XVIII, section 1 can be re- appointed by the
General Flock Shepherd or the General Flock Officers.
ARTICLE XIX
PROCESS OF ELECTION
Section 1 Votation may be done by secret balloting; raising of hand or by drawing of lots
depending on the decision of the body of the elders (sheep).
Section 2 In case of absentia of the qualified candidate for valid reasons, he/she may be
nominated with his/her consent.
Section 3 Election for the General Flock Officers shall be held with in the second week
of June a month before the expiration of the two (2) years term of office of the
current officers on July 14.
ARTICLE XX
CHAIRMAN OF THE ELECTION
Section 2 The External Affairs Ministry head will act as the Chairman of the Election
ARTICLE XXI
ELECTED OFFICERS
Section 1 Two thirds (2/3) vote of the Flock Elders (sheep) are required to declare an
elected office.
Section 2 In case of a tie, the External Affairs Ministry head will be the tie breaker
ARTICLE XXII
QUORUM
Section 1 Fifty percent (50%) of the active elders (sheep) must be present to declare
a quorum for election/meeting/assemblies.
ARTICLE XXIII
AMENDMENTS
Section 1 The constitution of the Catholic Holy Scripture Group shall be amended
every two years (2) only by the affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the
flock elders provided that copies of the proposed amendment(s) shall be sent to
all the members at the last month prior to its consideration.
Section 2 Any amendment to or provision of the constitution shall be valid when ratified
in the same manner as the adoption of this constitution provided for in the next
succeeding section.
ARTICLE XXIV
EFFECTIVITY
Section 1 This constitution shall take effect upon the approval of the Flock Elders (sheep)
and the Spiritual Director, the authority of the Catholic Church.
Friday, February 26, 2010
SOUL SICKNESS-SPIRITUAL HEALING
A. What are the SYMPTOMS of soul-sickness?
1. One symptom is coldness, deadness, hardness, a lack of life and feeling in the soul, so different from the zeal and activity that it once experienced. What a prevailing complaint, among the people of God, is their deadness, coldness, hardness, lack of feeling in the things of God! And this attended with a sense of complete inability to raise themselves out of this dead unfeeling state! They seem as if they had been struck with palsy--a withering, paralyzing stroke, which prevents them from lifting up their hands in prayer, from looking unto Jesus, from walking and talking with him as in times past.
2. Carnality and worldly mindedness is another symptom of the soul's being sick. It is a strange thing, but so it is, that when the soul is sick in the things of God, then is the time for the carnal mind, so to speak, to be in health. The more weak and enfeebled that the new nature is, the more active and vigorous is the old; and the more weak and enfeebled the old man is, the more active and vigorous is the new. It is a symptom, then, of soul-sickness, when the carnal heart is grasping after the things of time and sense. When covetousness and pride, worldly mindedness, levity, frivolity, and thoughtlessness take such strong possession of a man's heart that he seems to have scarcely any desire whatever after the things of God, he may indeed be said to be sick.
3. Another symptom is prayerlessness. When the Lord begins a work of grace on the soul, he usually communicates a spirit of grace and of supplication. How prayerful a new-born soul is! What desires are then felt! What longings after manifested mercy! What hungerings and thirstings after righteousness! What power is felt in the heart to pour out its needs before the mercy-seat! Then the soul is healthy. But when prayer becomes a burden, and the heart is utterly unable to raise itself up from earth to heaven; when all spiritual desires seem to languish and fade away; when no hungerings and thirstings, no ardent desires, no pantings after the sweet manifestations of mercy are felt within, then indeed it is a symptom that sickness is spreading over the soul.
4. To find the Word of God without savor, sweetness, or power is another symptom of the soul being sickly. When, instead of taking down the Bible, and reading it with sweetness and pleasure, we let the dust gather on it, and allow the spider to spin its web over the cover, O, that is a sad symptom of the soul being in a sickly state! So when, in coming to chapel, the body is rather dragged there as a custom than from any real longing that the Lord would bless the Word with power to the soul, that is a symptom of the soul's being in a sickly state. When, instead of crying to the Lord that he would bless the Word, there is nothing within but sleepiness and indifference, so that we can sit asleep under the Word, and have no more care whether it comes into our heart with power, or whether it passes us by altogether, that is indeed a symptom of a sickly state of soul.
5. When we feel no affection to the people of God; when we do not desire their company; when we would rather go out of their way than meet them; when our hearts are not knit to them in the bonds of tenderness and love; when we spy out their faults, instead of covering their infirmities with a mantle of love; that is another symptom of a sickly state of soul. When backbiting and slander prevail, and we feel a devilish pleasure in feasting on the infirmities and failings of God's dear children, O, that is a sad sign of the soul having backslidden from God, and being in a sickly state.
6. When we can substitute the letter for the power, and the form for the spirit, being satisfied with a name to live, that is another symptom of the soul being in a sickly state.
7. When we can be satisfied whether we have the Lord's presence or not; when we can go for days, and weeks, and months, without craving one smile, one intimation, one word, one whisper, one token of love; when we can be as easy in the Lord's absence as if he had never made his presence known; this is another symptom of the soul being in a sickly state.
8. When the ordinances of God's house are despised, and we see no beauty or sweetness in them; when we are glad to shun them; and get away from them, and even dislike the company of God's people because we see them spiritual and heavenly-minded; that is another symptom of the soul being in a sickly state.
9. When, instead of loving the more spiritual part of God's family, and those most who have most of God's fear in their heart, we rather cleave to mere professors, and to those who have not a clear and gracious experience, that is another symptom of the soul being in a sickly state.
10. When earthly things are pursued and heavenly things neglected; when the world rises in the estimation, and Jesus and his blood and righteousness sink; when we can be comfortable with carnal people and take an interest in all the carnality of children and relations, and really feel more happy with them than with the broken, contrite people of God; when we can talk more about the business, the shop, the farm, and the railway than the real teachings of God in the soul; that is another symptom of the soul being in a sickly state.
Are there no such sickly ones here, no such diseased souls who feel certain in their minds they are not what they used to be? Now, if you are in the state I have been describing, you are in a sickly, diseased state; and you know it, too, if you are a child of God. Your conscience bears witness to it, and you sometimes cry out, "I long for the years gone by when God took care of me, when he lighted the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness." (Job 29:2,3). "I would rather," say you, "be in trouble than in this dead, lukewarm state. I read of the Laodicean church, of which the Lord said, 'So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue you out of my mouth' (Rev.3:16).
Am I a Laodicean, a deceived character, an empty professor? I, who have been slaying and backbiting at professors? What! Am I come to the same spot, as careless, as dead, and as stupid as they? O! What is the matter with my soul? Put forth your hand, and work in me, Lord. Let me rather go through a thousand hells than be deceived at last. Let me have stripe upon stripe, rod upon rod, affliction upon affliction, though my coward heart shrinks from them, rather than be at ease in Zion."
These are a few of the symptoms of the soul's being in a sickly state.
B. But what are the CAUSES of the soul's being in a sickly state?
1. One cause is things in providence going well. Temporal prosperity and ease in worldly circumstances are one grand source of the soul being in a sickly state. When things are against us in providence, when the body is afflicted, when worldly circumstances are straitened, and the mind is troubled and exercised about it, the soul then is often in its most flourishing state. It resembles the two buckets of a well. When the bucket of temporal prosperity is sinking, then the bucket of spiritual prosperity is rising; and when the bucket of temporal prosperity is rising then, too often, the bucket of spiritual prosperity is sinking. Therefore, we need not wish to have health and strength or great success in temporal things, or the world to smile upon us, and to have everything that our carnal heart could wish. What does the Scripture say of such characters? "Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish" (Psalm.73:7).
2. Another cause is the Lord's withholding his rod. It is strange to say, but most true, that we cannot do without stripes. The Lord is obliged, so to speak, to drive us on by blow upon blow, stripe upon stripe, and stroke upon stroke; for, without these continual goads, we would not move a single step, but, like the sluggish donkey, would rather turn aside to the hedges and ditches to consume the thistles, than trudge along the rough and narrow way. Therefore the Lord is obliged to give us blows and stripes to make us move forward in the path that leads to glory. Now, when the Lord withholds his stripes and does not rebuke as sharply with internal or external troubles, then the world, and the things of time and sense catch our eye and attract our wandering heart, and we crave something to feed our lusts with.
3.The withholding of the dew and rain from heaven makes the soul become barren before God. The soul can no more do without the dew and rain--the sacred operations and divine teachings of God the Spirit upon the heart and conscience, than the natural soil can do without the dew and rain of heaven. We get parched, dried up, barren, withered, and unfruitful, when the dew and rain of the blessed Spirit do not descend into the heart.
4. No, more, sickness generates sickness. It is the same with health; health begets health. When part of our body is diseased, it affects the whole. So, as a person gets sickly in his soul, he gradually becomes worse and worse, unless that sickness be relieved. Thus, if the Lord spares his rod, and withholds his dew and rain, soul-sickness spreads and increases like the leprosy of old. And if the Lord did not, at last, put forth his hand, this sickness would terminate altogether in the death of the soul. In all sickness, whether natural or spiritual, there is a tendency to mortality and death. And if the Lord did not, in mercy, put forth his hand, and, by renewing the work, bring health into the soul, it would go on languishing and pining away.
C. But now let us take a short glimpse at the CURE. We have looked at the symptoms, and we have seen some of the causes; now let us glance at the cure. The Lord cures us in two ways, though, after all, we may say, it is but one way. Yet, as far as our feelings are concerned, it is in two ways: afflictions and the other is by his consolations. One is by the secret woundings and cuttings of the Spirit, and the other by the secret balm which he drops into the bleeding wound.
AFFLICTIONS. The first thing we must experience, if we have got sickly in the way I have described, is to have the wound cut into, before it can be effectually healed. We must have the affliction before the smile, and the rod before the kiss. The Lord has various ways of bringing this about.
1. Sometimes he sends sharp convictions into a man's conscience, and thus awakes him out of sleep. He has been sleeping on the top of a mast, unmindful of the rolling billows beneath; and, but for God's preservation, one roll of the ship would have hurled him headlong into the sea. But the Lord brings sharp convictions into his conscience, wakes him up, and makes him wonder what he has been about. He is now astonished and ashamed at his folly; how he could so have backslidden from God; how he could have gone on so long with so little prayerfulness and so little spirituality; how everything holy and heavenly had become a burden, and yet, all the time, professing to be a child of God.
2. The Lord sometimes lays sickness on a man that he may show him his great transgressions. He thus dealt with Hezekiah; and Elihu speaks of it as a usual mode of the Lord's dealing: "He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: so that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out" (Job 33:19- 21). The Lord afflicts the body with disease, and brings before the eyes judgment and eternity, that he may awake him out of sleep, and show him how awfully he has backslidden from him.
3. Sometimes by cutting dispensations in providence, by taking away a child, cutting off a husband or wife, bringing down to poverty and distress in circumstances, the Lord cures sickness of soul--the black blood of prosperity let out by the sharp lancet of adversity.
4. Sometimes the Lord drives away soul-sickness by sending a whole troop of fears into his heart, whether he is a hypocrite or not; sometimes by bringing cutting convictions under the preached Word, or through conversation with God's people; sometimes in reading, by bringing a sentence with convicting power into his heart to show him how little he is like a Christian. Sometimes he cures sickness by a frown on his countenance; so that when the poor soul would get near to the Lord he withdraws himself and veils his face. Darkness covers the face of God, and nothing but darkness is felt in the soul.
Now, by these and various other modes, the backslider in heart is filled with his own ways. The rod of affliction drives out sickness from the soul; as the wise man declares: "Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being." (Prov.20:30). But after these bitter purges have had a wholesome effect, in due time the Lord will manifest himself and restore to him the joy of his salvation, and will overrule this very sickness for his spiritual good. There is no throwing stones at people then. No; not at the greatest backslider. Humility and self-loathing prevail in the soul, and he walks softly before the Lord all his days upon earth.
II. But I pass on, with God's blessing, to consider what are the symptoms and, what are the causes of SPIRITUAL HEALTH. "Even as your soul prospers." The greatest blessing that God can bestow upon a man is to give him soul-prosperity. We cannot always believe this. We want to prosper in our bodies, in our families, in our circumstances, in that which feeds and gratifies its lusts. To obtain this we would, in our carnal mind, sacrifice all soul-prosperity. So base is our heart, so depraved is our fallen nature, that we would sacrifice the greatest spiritual benefits for a little ease and fleshly indulgence. But the Lord will not let his people rest there. He will, of his own free mercy and grace, cause their souls, in due time, to prosper.
Now when the Lord, by afflicting us, cures us, and thus revives us out of a state of sickness, he strengthens that principle of health which he at first communicated; and, as he strengthens that principle of health, the soul manifestively prospers and is healthy in the things of God. But, just in proportion as the soul prospers and is in health, the old man becomes weakened, the health of the one being mutually the disease of the other; nature decaying as grace prospers, and grace decaying as nature prospers.
1. One symptom of health is to feel the heart alive to the things of God. There is a being very cold, dead, and stupid, with the heart as hard as adamant; and there is such a thing as the soul feeling alive in the things of God. When we experience the power of eternal things, and feel them to be our element, our food and drink, the desire of our heart and the joy of our soul, then the soul prospers; and as the soul prospers, every grace and every fruit of the Spirit prospers with it. It is just the same in soul-sickness. As one grace declines, all the other graces of the Spirit decline too; as faith grows weak, hope and love grow cold; but, as faith prospers, all the fruits and all the graces of the Spirit flourish and prosper with it.
It is spiritually as naturally. If one limb of the body decays, the others decay with it; and when one member of the flesh is strong, the other members are strong with it. Now, when a soul is in a state of prosperity, the things of God are our element, and that which we feel most interest in. This is the thermometer of the soul. If the world, the things of time and sense, the cares and anxieties of this present life, most engage our minds, then it shows that the soul is sickly. But if the things of God, the precious realities in the Word of Truth, are the things that we chiefly think of, take most interest in, and give the most attention to, that is a sign and symptom of prosperity in the soul. When this is the case, every member of the new man, every grace and fruit of the spirit, is active and lively too.
But how weak faith is when the soul is sickly. It is like the hand of a sickly man; it can grasp nothing; but when the soul is in prosperity and in health, faith is strong; it can take hold of the promises in God's Word, can embrace the things of eternity, feel them to be solemn realities, deal with the Word of God as a divine revelation, and feed upon it as sweet to the soul.
2. So with prayerfulness. When the soul is healthy and vigorous, then prayer flourishes in the heart; it is no longer a burden to bend the knee, but prayer then flows forth freely. There is a spring in the heart, gushing out in living water; there is a thirsting, breathing, longing, and panting after the Lord; and these flow out of the heart; not of custom, not of necessity; but they flow freely like a fountain; gushing because they must gush; freely flowing forth out of the heart into the bosom of God.
3. Again, when the soul is alive to God, the reality of the truth of God is powerfully felt. We see the world to be a passing shadow, a dream of the night that affords no pleasure, that yields no gratification, that cannot fill up the aching void of the soul. But the Lord of life and glory, his blood, his righteousness, his grace, his truth, his love, are powerfully felt. They occupy and fill up this void in the soul, and everything connected with Jesus is sweet and precious. The savor of his good name is like ointment poured forth, and all that he is, and has, is blessed and sweet to the heart.
4. Again, in seasons of soul-prosperity we feel a sweet union with the people of God; especially with the more heavenly-minded, the deeply taught. The more powerfully exercised, the nearer they are to us. Our heart flows out towards and feels a sweet union with them, a knitting together in the bonds of affection and love. We then hate the form of an empty profession, and feel no more in union with such than with the profane of the world. We then can cover the infirmities of God's children. There is then no picking out their faults and frailties; no rejoicing in their slips, falls, and backslidings; but rather tenderness, sympathy, and affection.
5. Again, when the soul is in prosperity we can bear affliction without murmuring or rebellion. Patience then has its perfect work; sweet submission to the will of God prevails; we can kiss the rod and him who appointed it, and bless God for the very affliction.
6. Humility, sweet humility in precious exercise, is another symptom of the soul being in prosperity. A humble heart, melted down to feel itself less than the least, the vilest of the vile, and the very chief of sinners.
7. Another symptom of soul-prosperity is spirituality of mind and heavenliness of affection. A heart going out after the Lord, trusting in him, looking to him, communing with him, enjoying his presence, walking in the light of his countenance, tasting his favor, seeing his glory, and being enamored of his beauty. When a man feels this, his soul is in health; he is under the teachings of God the Spirit; he is like a watered garden; the scents flow out as the south wind blows, and the Word of God becomes to him like honey and the honeycomb.
8. When the man can look back, and see how the Lord has led him in providence; how he has appeared for him in time of need, and opened up doors which before were shut; when he can see the hand of God leading him, step by step, in the path he has traveled for years, and can bless the Lord for every crook, and cross, then his soul is in prosperity.
9. When, too, the man can see that the Lord has led him by a right way; when he has a clear view of the work of God in his soul, seeing the beginning clear, the carrying on clear, and looking in faith to the accomplishing of it; when he has bright marks and evidences of God's Spirit in his heart, then his soul is prospering.
10. When the man has the witness of the Spirit that he is child of God, a pouring out of his heart into his ear as a listening father, and a sympathizing parent, then his soul is prosperous and in health. When as he walks he talks with God, enjoys sweet communion with him, prizes one smile from the Lord more than a thousand worlds; when he can delight himself in the Almighty; loves the Lord and the Lord only, and cleaves to him with purpose of heart, then his soul is in prosperity.
11. When the man's eye is single to God's glory, and his conscience tender in God's fear; when he hates the garment spotted with the flesh; comes out of the world; walks in the Spirit; and lives, speaks, and acts to the glory of God in all things, then his soul is in prosperity.
12. When his temper is subdued, his pride laid low, his corruptions weakened, and his heart is a quiet place where the King of Zion reigns, so as to enjoy pardon, peace, salvation, love, and blood shed abroad therein, then his soul is prosperous, and is in health.
O what a difference when the soul is sickly and when it is in health! Of all wretched feelings to a child of God, a feeling of soul-sickness is the worst; and of all blessed feelings to a child of God, a feeling of spiritual health is one of the best. Especially if a man has ever enjoyed in his soul the presence and testimony of God, walked with the Lord, had his heart in some measure watered by the blessed Spirit, then he feels the sickness more. It is then the desire of his soul that the Lord would, by any means, make it to prosper. He counts spiritual prosperity to be the greatest blessing God can give, and temporal prosperity without spiritual prosperity little else but a curse.
Now the Lord brings about this state of spiritual prosperity sometimes by his rod and sometimes by his smile. We need both. We need the bitter medicine to purge out the filthiness, and we need the presence of God in the heart to make the soul prosper in his ways. All afflictions will not do; all smiles will not do. If the Lord were to give nothing but smiles, we would be like children indulged with sweets. If we had not sharp afflictions and cutting convictions, we would argue thus: "What does it matter whether I sin or not? My backslidings do not provoke the Lord. It is all one how I live, speak, or act. The Lord smiles all the same." Thus, if the Lord were to only to indulge us with his favors, it would feed our pride and sinfulness.
Therefore the Lord, to correct this cursed recklessness, fills the backslider with his own ways, teaches him to loathe himself by laying his rod sharper upon him, and makes him groan and sigh over his baseness, before he applies the blood of Jesus, which cleanses from all sin, and restores to him the joys of salvation.
The apostle John, therefore, could not wish a greater blessing for his beloved Gaius than that "his soul might prosper and be in health." What would it profit Gaius that the farm flourished, that the business was going on successfully, that money was coming in like water, if the Lord frowned, and his soul was sickly. But if the Lord was prospering Gaius's soul, watering it and making him fruitful, would he not, when he came to be stretched on the deathbed, bless the Lord for his dealings with him, however painful they might have been at the time; mercifully withholding those things which only feed the flesh, and giving him those which made his soul prosper?
"Dear Jesus, I am in need of healing. Please touch my heart, my mind, and my body and bring me complete healing. I wish to know you more and to follow you with all my heart, mind, and strength. Please forgive me for my sins and bring healing to my life.AMEN.
1. One symptom is coldness, deadness, hardness, a lack of life and feeling in the soul, so different from the zeal and activity that it once experienced. What a prevailing complaint, among the people of God, is their deadness, coldness, hardness, lack of feeling in the things of God! And this attended with a sense of complete inability to raise themselves out of this dead unfeeling state! They seem as if they had been struck with palsy--a withering, paralyzing stroke, which prevents them from lifting up their hands in prayer, from looking unto Jesus, from walking and talking with him as in times past.
2. Carnality and worldly mindedness is another symptom of the soul's being sick. It is a strange thing, but so it is, that when the soul is sick in the things of God, then is the time for the carnal mind, so to speak, to be in health. The more weak and enfeebled that the new nature is, the more active and vigorous is the old; and the more weak and enfeebled the old man is, the more active and vigorous is the new. It is a symptom, then, of soul-sickness, when the carnal heart is grasping after the things of time and sense. When covetousness and pride, worldly mindedness, levity, frivolity, and thoughtlessness take such strong possession of a man's heart that he seems to have scarcely any desire whatever after the things of God, he may indeed be said to be sick.
3. Another symptom is prayerlessness. When the Lord begins a work of grace on the soul, he usually communicates a spirit of grace and of supplication. How prayerful a new-born soul is! What desires are then felt! What longings after manifested mercy! What hungerings and thirstings after righteousness! What power is felt in the heart to pour out its needs before the mercy-seat! Then the soul is healthy. But when prayer becomes a burden, and the heart is utterly unable to raise itself up from earth to heaven; when all spiritual desires seem to languish and fade away; when no hungerings and thirstings, no ardent desires, no pantings after the sweet manifestations of mercy are felt within, then indeed it is a symptom that sickness is spreading over the soul.
4. To find the Word of God without savor, sweetness, or power is another symptom of the soul being sickly. When, instead of taking down the Bible, and reading it with sweetness and pleasure, we let the dust gather on it, and allow the spider to spin its web over the cover, O, that is a sad symptom of the soul being in a sickly state! So when, in coming to chapel, the body is rather dragged there as a custom than from any real longing that the Lord would bless the Word with power to the soul, that is a symptom of the soul's being in a sickly state. When, instead of crying to the Lord that he would bless the Word, there is nothing within but sleepiness and indifference, so that we can sit asleep under the Word, and have no more care whether it comes into our heart with power, or whether it passes us by altogether, that is indeed a symptom of a sickly state of soul.
5. When we feel no affection to the people of God; when we do not desire their company; when we would rather go out of their way than meet them; when our hearts are not knit to them in the bonds of tenderness and love; when we spy out their faults, instead of covering their infirmities with a mantle of love; that is another symptom of a sickly state of soul. When backbiting and slander prevail, and we feel a devilish pleasure in feasting on the infirmities and failings of God's dear children, O, that is a sad sign of the soul having backslidden from God, and being in a sickly state.
6. When we can substitute the letter for the power, and the form for the spirit, being satisfied with a name to live, that is another symptom of the soul being in a sickly state.
7. When we can be satisfied whether we have the Lord's presence or not; when we can go for days, and weeks, and months, without craving one smile, one intimation, one word, one whisper, one token of love; when we can be as easy in the Lord's absence as if he had never made his presence known; this is another symptom of the soul being in a sickly state.
8. When the ordinances of God's house are despised, and we see no beauty or sweetness in them; when we are glad to shun them; and get away from them, and even dislike the company of God's people because we see them spiritual and heavenly-minded; that is another symptom of the soul being in a sickly state.
9. When, instead of loving the more spiritual part of God's family, and those most who have most of God's fear in their heart, we rather cleave to mere professors, and to those who have not a clear and gracious experience, that is another symptom of the soul being in a sickly state.
10. When earthly things are pursued and heavenly things neglected; when the world rises in the estimation, and Jesus and his blood and righteousness sink; when we can be comfortable with carnal people and take an interest in all the carnality of children and relations, and really feel more happy with them than with the broken, contrite people of God; when we can talk more about the business, the shop, the farm, and the railway than the real teachings of God in the soul; that is another symptom of the soul being in a sickly state.
Are there no such sickly ones here, no such diseased souls who feel certain in their minds they are not what they used to be? Now, if you are in the state I have been describing, you are in a sickly, diseased state; and you know it, too, if you are a child of God. Your conscience bears witness to it, and you sometimes cry out, "I long for the years gone by when God took care of me, when he lighted the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness." (Job 29:2,3). "I would rather," say you, "be in trouble than in this dead, lukewarm state. I read of the Laodicean church, of which the Lord said, 'So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue you out of my mouth' (Rev.3:16).
Am I a Laodicean, a deceived character, an empty professor? I, who have been slaying and backbiting at professors? What! Am I come to the same spot, as careless, as dead, and as stupid as they? O! What is the matter with my soul? Put forth your hand, and work in me, Lord. Let me rather go through a thousand hells than be deceived at last. Let me have stripe upon stripe, rod upon rod, affliction upon affliction, though my coward heart shrinks from them, rather than be at ease in Zion."
These are a few of the symptoms of the soul's being in a sickly state.
B. But what are the CAUSES of the soul's being in a sickly state?
1. One cause is things in providence going well. Temporal prosperity and ease in worldly circumstances are one grand source of the soul being in a sickly state. When things are against us in providence, when the body is afflicted, when worldly circumstances are straitened, and the mind is troubled and exercised about it, the soul then is often in its most flourishing state. It resembles the two buckets of a well. When the bucket of temporal prosperity is sinking, then the bucket of spiritual prosperity is rising; and when the bucket of temporal prosperity is rising then, too often, the bucket of spiritual prosperity is sinking. Therefore, we need not wish to have health and strength or great success in temporal things, or the world to smile upon us, and to have everything that our carnal heart could wish. What does the Scripture say of such characters? "Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish" (Psalm.73:7).
2. Another cause is the Lord's withholding his rod. It is strange to say, but most true, that we cannot do without stripes. The Lord is obliged, so to speak, to drive us on by blow upon blow, stripe upon stripe, and stroke upon stroke; for, without these continual goads, we would not move a single step, but, like the sluggish donkey, would rather turn aside to the hedges and ditches to consume the thistles, than trudge along the rough and narrow way. Therefore the Lord is obliged to give us blows and stripes to make us move forward in the path that leads to glory. Now, when the Lord withholds his stripes and does not rebuke as sharply with internal or external troubles, then the world, and the things of time and sense catch our eye and attract our wandering heart, and we crave something to feed our lusts with.
3.The withholding of the dew and rain from heaven makes the soul become barren before God. The soul can no more do without the dew and rain--the sacred operations and divine teachings of God the Spirit upon the heart and conscience, than the natural soil can do without the dew and rain of heaven. We get parched, dried up, barren, withered, and unfruitful, when the dew and rain of the blessed Spirit do not descend into the heart.
4. No, more, sickness generates sickness. It is the same with health; health begets health. When part of our body is diseased, it affects the whole. So, as a person gets sickly in his soul, he gradually becomes worse and worse, unless that sickness be relieved. Thus, if the Lord spares his rod, and withholds his dew and rain, soul-sickness spreads and increases like the leprosy of old. And if the Lord did not, at last, put forth his hand, this sickness would terminate altogether in the death of the soul. In all sickness, whether natural or spiritual, there is a tendency to mortality and death. And if the Lord did not, in mercy, put forth his hand, and, by renewing the work, bring health into the soul, it would go on languishing and pining away.
C. But now let us take a short glimpse at the CURE. We have looked at the symptoms, and we have seen some of the causes; now let us glance at the cure. The Lord cures us in two ways, though, after all, we may say, it is but one way. Yet, as far as our feelings are concerned, it is in two ways: afflictions and the other is by his consolations. One is by the secret woundings and cuttings of the Spirit, and the other by the secret balm which he drops into the bleeding wound.
AFFLICTIONS. The first thing we must experience, if we have got sickly in the way I have described, is to have the wound cut into, before it can be effectually healed. We must have the affliction before the smile, and the rod before the kiss. The Lord has various ways of bringing this about.
1. Sometimes he sends sharp convictions into a man's conscience, and thus awakes him out of sleep. He has been sleeping on the top of a mast, unmindful of the rolling billows beneath; and, but for God's preservation, one roll of the ship would have hurled him headlong into the sea. But the Lord brings sharp convictions into his conscience, wakes him up, and makes him wonder what he has been about. He is now astonished and ashamed at his folly; how he could so have backslidden from God; how he could have gone on so long with so little prayerfulness and so little spirituality; how everything holy and heavenly had become a burden, and yet, all the time, professing to be a child of God.
2. The Lord sometimes lays sickness on a man that he may show him his great transgressions. He thus dealt with Hezekiah; and Elihu speaks of it as a usual mode of the Lord's dealing: "He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: so that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out" (Job 33:19- 21). The Lord afflicts the body with disease, and brings before the eyes judgment and eternity, that he may awake him out of sleep, and show him how awfully he has backslidden from him.
3. Sometimes by cutting dispensations in providence, by taking away a child, cutting off a husband or wife, bringing down to poverty and distress in circumstances, the Lord cures sickness of soul--the black blood of prosperity let out by the sharp lancet of adversity.
4. Sometimes the Lord drives away soul-sickness by sending a whole troop of fears into his heart, whether he is a hypocrite or not; sometimes by bringing cutting convictions under the preached Word, or through conversation with God's people; sometimes in reading, by bringing a sentence with convicting power into his heart to show him how little he is like a Christian. Sometimes he cures sickness by a frown on his countenance; so that when the poor soul would get near to the Lord he withdraws himself and veils his face. Darkness covers the face of God, and nothing but darkness is felt in the soul.
Now, by these and various other modes, the backslider in heart is filled with his own ways. The rod of affliction drives out sickness from the soul; as the wise man declares: "Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being." (Prov.20:30). But after these bitter purges have had a wholesome effect, in due time the Lord will manifest himself and restore to him the joy of his salvation, and will overrule this very sickness for his spiritual good. There is no throwing stones at people then. No; not at the greatest backslider. Humility and self-loathing prevail in the soul, and he walks softly before the Lord all his days upon earth.
II. But I pass on, with God's blessing, to consider what are the symptoms and, what are the causes of SPIRITUAL HEALTH. "Even as your soul prospers." The greatest blessing that God can bestow upon a man is to give him soul-prosperity. We cannot always believe this. We want to prosper in our bodies, in our families, in our circumstances, in that which feeds and gratifies its lusts. To obtain this we would, in our carnal mind, sacrifice all soul-prosperity. So base is our heart, so depraved is our fallen nature, that we would sacrifice the greatest spiritual benefits for a little ease and fleshly indulgence. But the Lord will not let his people rest there. He will, of his own free mercy and grace, cause their souls, in due time, to prosper.
Now when the Lord, by afflicting us, cures us, and thus revives us out of a state of sickness, he strengthens that principle of health which he at first communicated; and, as he strengthens that principle of health, the soul manifestively prospers and is healthy in the things of God. But, just in proportion as the soul prospers and is in health, the old man becomes weakened, the health of the one being mutually the disease of the other; nature decaying as grace prospers, and grace decaying as nature prospers.
1. One symptom of health is to feel the heart alive to the things of God. There is a being very cold, dead, and stupid, with the heart as hard as adamant; and there is such a thing as the soul feeling alive in the things of God. When we experience the power of eternal things, and feel them to be our element, our food and drink, the desire of our heart and the joy of our soul, then the soul prospers; and as the soul prospers, every grace and every fruit of the Spirit prospers with it. It is just the same in soul-sickness. As one grace declines, all the other graces of the Spirit decline too; as faith grows weak, hope and love grow cold; but, as faith prospers, all the fruits and all the graces of the Spirit flourish and prosper with it.
It is spiritually as naturally. If one limb of the body decays, the others decay with it; and when one member of the flesh is strong, the other members are strong with it. Now, when a soul is in a state of prosperity, the things of God are our element, and that which we feel most interest in. This is the thermometer of the soul. If the world, the things of time and sense, the cares and anxieties of this present life, most engage our minds, then it shows that the soul is sickly. But if the things of God, the precious realities in the Word of Truth, are the things that we chiefly think of, take most interest in, and give the most attention to, that is a sign and symptom of prosperity in the soul. When this is the case, every member of the new man, every grace and fruit of the spirit, is active and lively too.
But how weak faith is when the soul is sickly. It is like the hand of a sickly man; it can grasp nothing; but when the soul is in prosperity and in health, faith is strong; it can take hold of the promises in God's Word, can embrace the things of eternity, feel them to be solemn realities, deal with the Word of God as a divine revelation, and feed upon it as sweet to the soul.
2. So with prayerfulness. When the soul is healthy and vigorous, then prayer flourishes in the heart; it is no longer a burden to bend the knee, but prayer then flows forth freely. There is a spring in the heart, gushing out in living water; there is a thirsting, breathing, longing, and panting after the Lord; and these flow out of the heart; not of custom, not of necessity; but they flow freely like a fountain; gushing because they must gush; freely flowing forth out of the heart into the bosom of God.
3. Again, when the soul is alive to God, the reality of the truth of God is powerfully felt. We see the world to be a passing shadow, a dream of the night that affords no pleasure, that yields no gratification, that cannot fill up the aching void of the soul. But the Lord of life and glory, his blood, his righteousness, his grace, his truth, his love, are powerfully felt. They occupy and fill up this void in the soul, and everything connected with Jesus is sweet and precious. The savor of his good name is like ointment poured forth, and all that he is, and has, is blessed and sweet to the heart.
4. Again, in seasons of soul-prosperity we feel a sweet union with the people of God; especially with the more heavenly-minded, the deeply taught. The more powerfully exercised, the nearer they are to us. Our heart flows out towards and feels a sweet union with them, a knitting together in the bonds of affection and love. We then hate the form of an empty profession, and feel no more in union with such than with the profane of the world. We then can cover the infirmities of God's children. There is then no picking out their faults and frailties; no rejoicing in their slips, falls, and backslidings; but rather tenderness, sympathy, and affection.
5. Again, when the soul is in prosperity we can bear affliction without murmuring or rebellion. Patience then has its perfect work; sweet submission to the will of God prevails; we can kiss the rod and him who appointed it, and bless God for the very affliction.
6. Humility, sweet humility in precious exercise, is another symptom of the soul being in prosperity. A humble heart, melted down to feel itself less than the least, the vilest of the vile, and the very chief of sinners.
7. Another symptom of soul-prosperity is spirituality of mind and heavenliness of affection. A heart going out after the Lord, trusting in him, looking to him, communing with him, enjoying his presence, walking in the light of his countenance, tasting his favor, seeing his glory, and being enamored of his beauty. When a man feels this, his soul is in health; he is under the teachings of God the Spirit; he is like a watered garden; the scents flow out as the south wind blows, and the Word of God becomes to him like honey and the honeycomb.
8. When the man can look back, and see how the Lord has led him in providence; how he has appeared for him in time of need, and opened up doors which before were shut; when he can see the hand of God leading him, step by step, in the path he has traveled for years, and can bless the Lord for every crook, and cross, then his soul is in prosperity.
9. When, too, the man can see that the Lord has led him by a right way; when he has a clear view of the work of God in his soul, seeing the beginning clear, the carrying on clear, and looking in faith to the accomplishing of it; when he has bright marks and evidences of God's Spirit in his heart, then his soul is prospering.
10. When the man has the witness of the Spirit that he is child of God, a pouring out of his heart into his ear as a listening father, and a sympathizing parent, then his soul is prosperous and in health. When as he walks he talks with God, enjoys sweet communion with him, prizes one smile from the Lord more than a thousand worlds; when he can delight himself in the Almighty; loves the Lord and the Lord only, and cleaves to him with purpose of heart, then his soul is in prosperity.
11. When the man's eye is single to God's glory, and his conscience tender in God's fear; when he hates the garment spotted with the flesh; comes out of the world; walks in the Spirit; and lives, speaks, and acts to the glory of God in all things, then his soul is in prosperity.
12. When his temper is subdued, his pride laid low, his corruptions weakened, and his heart is a quiet place where the King of Zion reigns, so as to enjoy pardon, peace, salvation, love, and blood shed abroad therein, then his soul is prosperous, and is in health.
O what a difference when the soul is sickly and when it is in health! Of all wretched feelings to a child of God, a feeling of soul-sickness is the worst; and of all blessed feelings to a child of God, a feeling of spiritual health is one of the best. Especially if a man has ever enjoyed in his soul the presence and testimony of God, walked with the Lord, had his heart in some measure watered by the blessed Spirit, then he feels the sickness more. It is then the desire of his soul that the Lord would, by any means, make it to prosper. He counts spiritual prosperity to be the greatest blessing God can give, and temporal prosperity without spiritual prosperity little else but a curse.
Now the Lord brings about this state of spiritual prosperity sometimes by his rod and sometimes by his smile. We need both. We need the bitter medicine to purge out the filthiness, and we need the presence of God in the heart to make the soul prosper in his ways. All afflictions will not do; all smiles will not do. If the Lord were to give nothing but smiles, we would be like children indulged with sweets. If we had not sharp afflictions and cutting convictions, we would argue thus: "What does it matter whether I sin or not? My backslidings do not provoke the Lord. It is all one how I live, speak, or act. The Lord smiles all the same." Thus, if the Lord were to only to indulge us with his favors, it would feed our pride and sinfulness.
Therefore the Lord, to correct this cursed recklessness, fills the backslider with his own ways, teaches him to loathe himself by laying his rod sharper upon him, and makes him groan and sigh over his baseness, before he applies the blood of Jesus, which cleanses from all sin, and restores to him the joys of salvation.
The apostle John, therefore, could not wish a greater blessing for his beloved Gaius than that "his soul might prosper and be in health." What would it profit Gaius that the farm flourished, that the business was going on successfully, that money was coming in like water, if the Lord frowned, and his soul was sickly. But if the Lord was prospering Gaius's soul, watering it and making him fruitful, would he not, when he came to be stretched on the deathbed, bless the Lord for his dealings with him, however painful they might have been at the time; mercifully withholding those things which only feed the flesh, and giving him those which made his soul prosper?
"Dear Jesus, I am in need of healing. Please touch my heart, my mind, and my body and bring me complete healing. I wish to know you more and to follow you with all my heart, mind, and strength. Please forgive me for my sins and bring healing to my life.AMEN.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
BLESSINGS AND CURSES
Primary reason for curses:
(a) Not hearing God's voice
(b) Not doing what He says There are seven blessings and seven curses referred to in the law in Scripture.
Seven blessings: (Deuteronomy 28)
(1) Exaltation
(2) Reproductiveness
(3) Health
(4) Prosperity, success
(5) Victory
(6) That we are the head and not the tail
(7) That we will be above and not beneath
There are seven curses referred to in the same chapter:
(1) Humiliation
(2) Barrenness
(3) Sickness of every kind
(4) Poverty, failure
(5) Defeat
(6) We will be the tail and not the head
(7) We will be below and not above
Indications of Curses:
(1) Mental, emotional breakdown
(2) Repeated sickness, especially hereditary sickness -doctors can't find the cause
(3) Feminine problems -barrenness, miscarriage, menstruation problems
(4) Breakdown of marriage -family alienation
(5) Financial insufficiency, poverty. Sometimes poverty for a short period is just a test but if we are always in poverty it could be a curse.
(6) Accident prone
(7) History of unnatural deaths
A curse can be something like an evil thing moving up from the past. It is like a deep shadow.
Note:
Proverbs 26:
2. A curse is:
"Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight."
Therefore, a curse requires a cause to alight.
REASONS FOR CURSES:
(1) Having false gods (Exodus 20: 3& 4, Deuteronomy 27: 15)
(2) Disrespect for parents (Deuteronomy 27: 16)
(3) Treachery against a neighbour (Deuteronomy 27: 17)
(4) Injustice to the weak (Deuteronomy 27: 18& 19)
(5) Illicit sex (Deuteronomy 27: 20-23)
(Effect of wrong sexual relationships, particularly those outside of marriage or with members of one's family)
(6) Perjury (Deuteronomy 27: 25)
(7) Stealing (Zechariah 5: 1-4)
(8) Stinginess towards God (Malachi 3: 9)
(9) Perverting gospel (Galatians 1: 8& 9)
(10) Depending on the flesh (Jeremiah 17: 5)
(11) Anti-Semitism (Genesis 12: 3, Genesis 28: 3& 14)
SOURCE OF CURSES:
1. God Himself God blesses and curses (Exodus 20: 3&5) Breaking the first two commandments:
(a) To have no other Gods
(b) Idolatry
Our God is a jealous God
2. All occult practices Making occultism your God, eg a fortune teller. It is the power behind the fortune teller that matters. In four generations we can have upwards of 30 ancestors.
3. Men who speak on behalf of God
(a) Joshua 6: 26, ie Joshua said, "Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds the city Jericho, he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates." This was fulfilled in 1 Kings 16: 34 nearly 500 years later when Hiel of Bethel built Jericho, he laid its foundation with Abriam, his first born, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates according to the Word of the Lord which he had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun. Thus curses are self-perpetuating.
(b) 2 Samuel 1: 21 Statement by David: "Oh mountains of Gilboa, Let there be no dew, nor let there be rain upon you, Nor fields of offerings.
For the shield of the mighty is cast away there!" These were the fields of Gilboa upon which Saul and Jonathan had died and David was cursing them. Nearly 3, 000 years later this same curse was upon this land and the Jewish people had great difficulty a few years ago in trying to get trees to grow on it.
(c) 2 Kings 5 (Naaman) verse 27, cursed his servant with leprosy forever.
4. God's servants can do this today eg Jesus cursed the fig tree and said, "You can do this also."
5. Persons with relational authority eg husband over wife, parents over children. Words spoken have supernatural powers. The blessing of the father is important.
(a) Genesis 31 -Jacob and Rachel: Rachel had stolen her father's gods. Jacob did not know this and he said to her father, Laban: "`With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you. ' For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them." (Genesis 31: 32) ie, he was in effect saying that she should die, although, of course, he did not know she had stolen them and that she would feign sickness to avoid being discovered. She later died in childbirth.
(b) Examples where husband curses his wife or parents curse their children, eg a husband says to his wife, "You cannot cook", or the following statements are made in respect of other people including children:
"You are no good"
"You are useless"
"You are a failure"
"You will never be any good"
"You are hopeless"
"You will never achieve anything"
"You are ugly"
"You are a bad person"
"You are always a liar"
"It's in the family and you are sure to get it" etc etc.
6. Self-imposed curses which become like inner vows. Examples:
"I'll never be any good"
"I'll never forgive myself"
"God doesn't love me"
"I'll never speak to ..... again"
"I hate myself"
"No-one loves me"
"I want to die, I'm better off dead"
Examples from Scripture:
(a) Genesis 27: 13 Rebekah said: "Let your curse be on me" and in verse 46 she said: "I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; ... what good will my life be to me?" She brought a curse on herself.
(b) Matthew 27: 24& 25, the Jews said, "Let His blood be on us and our descendants".
(c) Peter denied the Lord three times
7. Curses brought on by unscriptural covenants:
Exodus 23: 32: "You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods." We are to make no covenant with those who are not committed as Christians. Freemasonry is an example of that with self-imposed curses, eg the 32nd degree
2 Corinthians 6: 14-17: "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people." Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you."
8. Curses put on by the servants of Satan eg witch doctors, medicine men, tohungas etc. Example: Numbers 22: 4& 6. Note this was a request by Moab to Balam to pronounce curses on Israel. It was a matter of their gods versus the true God. When people fought one another in the old days, they regarded it as a fight between their gods and the other gods, eg David and Goliath.
1 Samuel 17: 43: " So the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods."
Other reasons for curses:
1. Objects in homes (Deuteronomy 7: 26) We are to have no abominable thing our home. This can cause children to be disturbed.
2. Soul ties These are soul ties which are contrary to God's purposes. Eg, in adultery, fornication (especially past sexual relationships). Ungodly soul ties can bring spiritual sickness. 1 Corinthians 6: 18: "Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body."
Examples of wrongful sex are as follows:
Pre-marital sex Perverted sex
Trial marriages Homosexuality
Lesbianism Pornography and fantasy
Bestiality Transvestism
Sexual abuse
Consequences:
(a) Establishment of soul ties and bondings in the flesh other than with God's intended partner.
(b) Guilt and condemnation.
(c) Demonisation
(d) Emotional disturbance
What is sexual abuse?
Uninvited caressing
Uninvited handling of the sexual areas
Anal handling
Masturbation in front of a person
Forced oral sex
Forced mutual masturbation
Forced intercourse and rape
Bestiality
Ritualistic sex
Incest
All of these cause fear, confusion, deception.
Long term problems:
(a) Confusion of one's identity, sexuality, physical position and emotional situation.
(b) Causes regression and repression of memories. Causes fantasy.
(c) Breaking of trust.
(d) Causes rebellion including (i) self rejection (ii) fear of rejection and (iii) anger.
(e) Causes guilt and fear.
(f) Causes inability to respond to love.
(g) Causes desire to die.
(h) Causes physical illness.
(i) Causes damage to the spirit.
Also domination by one person over another, eg where a father dominates or sexually abuses his daughter.
HOW TO BE RELEASED FROM THE CURSE:
1. We must recognise that there is a curse.
2. We must repent from all sin.
3. We must renounce in the name of Jesus Christ.
4. We must resist, eg James 4: 7: "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
5. Use the Word of God. The Word of God is powerful and such Scriptures as the following can be used:
Psalm 118: 17: "I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of the LORD." We must realise that where there is a negative there should also be a positive. We recall that Peter denied the Lord three times but three times Jesus asked him, "Do you love me?" Peter had to revoke his earlier statement three times. Where curses have arisen from the servants of Satan, we must recognise Luke 10: 19: "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."
SUMMARY
1. Confess our faith in Jesus Christ.
2. Commit ourselves to be obedient to God and to hear and do what He says.
3. Confess any known sins on our own part or of our ancestors.
4. Forgive others.
5. Renounce the occult on our own part or on the part of our ancestors.
6. Renounce all contact with heathen objects.
CONTINUING WITH THE LORD
1. Pray the Holy Spirit will fill every area of the person's life.
2. Give as much love and encouragement as is necessary and the person can receive.
3. Assure the person that where deliverance has taken place, they need not fear the enemy if they walk properly with God.
4. Encourage the person:
(a) To be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit.
(b) Read the Word of God daily.
(c) Wear the armour of God at all times.
(d) Be on their guard against the enemy's counter attacks.
(e) Be in good fellowship with other Christians.
(f) Walk continuously in forgiveness.
(g) Praise God in all circumstances.
(h) Keep the right company.
5. (a) Encourage people to be fully rehabilitated in their emotional responses
(b) To present themselves properly, eg in dress.
(c) To continue to re-learn right relationships with others.
(d) Avoid long-term dependency on others.
6. (a) Acknowledge the truth of Ephesians 1: 6, ie we are accepted in the beloved.
(b) Break free from any feeling of being cursed or being an abuse victim.
7. Walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, ie in the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and temperance.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE FOLLOWING SEMINAR ON DELIVERANCE AND CURSES
1. THE BLOOD SCRIPTURES
Ask everybody to stand and say the following Scriptures: Psalm 107: 2:
"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy."
Ephesians 1: 7: "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."
THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS I AM REDEEMED OUT OF THE HAND OF THE DEVIL. THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS ALL MY SINS ARE FORGIVEN.
1 John 1: 7:
"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST, GOD'S SON, IS CLEANSING ME NOW AND CONTINUALLY FROM ALL SIN.
Romans 5: 9: "Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."
THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS I AM JUSTIFIED, MADE RIGHTEOUS, JUST AS THOUGH I HAD NEVER SINNED.
Hebrews 13: 12: "Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate."
THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS I AM SANCTIFIED, MADE HOLY, SET APART TO GOD.
1 Corinthians 6: 19& 20: "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's"
MY BODY IS A TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. I AM REDEEMED, CLEANSED, SANCTIFIED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS. THEREFORE THE DEVIL HAS NO MORE PLACE IN ME AND NO MORE POWER OVER ME. THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS I OVERCOME SATAN BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB AND THE WORD OF MY TESTIMONY.
(Revelation 12: 11)
2. OCCULT
(a). Go through the occult check list and get people to tick anything that they have been in relating to the occult.
(b) Ask those who have been in the occult to stand and ask others to stand with them in order to pray for them.
(c) Then say the following prayer in regard to the occult:
"Lord Jesus Christ, I confess you are the only Son of God, that You died on the Cross for my sins and rose again. In Your name I now renounce all contact with the occult and in particular I renounce the following involvements in the occult .................... I receive Your forgiveness. Thank You Heavenly Father for delivering me in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ."
(d) The counsellors (ie those standing with the candidates for deliverance) should command the demons to go.
3. SOULISH TIES
(a) Ask those to come forward who know that they still have soulish ties, that is sense there is still some tie between them and some other person with whom they have had a previous relationship. This includes cases where women feel under the domination of their mother or men feel under the domination of their mother.
(b) Get people to stand with them to pray for them.
(c) Pray the general prayer for deliverance from soul ties:
"Dear Heavenly Father, as I come to You in the name of Jesus Christ in the authority that is in that name, I break every soul tie affecting my body, soul or spirit, which has existed between myself and ................... (name the individual). In the name of Jesus Christ, I specifically speak to every demonic power that has taken advantage of that link and I tell it that it has no rights here and it must leave now without going into any other member of my family. Thank you Lord Jesus that through Your shed blood and through Your wonderful name, I am able to be absolutely free. Thank you Lord."
(d) Get the people who need deliverance to cut the soulish ties around the people. Show them how to do this with a motion across the front of the body and across the head.
(e) The counsellors should command the demons to go.
4. INNER VOWS
(a) Ask those who know that they have made inner vows for which they need release to come forward and ask others to stand with them to pray for them again.
(b) Say the prayer and get the people to renounce those inner vows and as they do expect deliverance. "In the name of Jesus Christ, I specifically renounce all vows which I have made, knowing or unknowingly, against myself. I specifically renounce.....( name those vows which you have made and which you know to be wrong). I ask you to totally cleanse me and set me free from the results of those vows and I thank you for doing it."
(c) The counsellors should command the demons to go.
5. PRONOUNCEMENT AND CURSES
(a) Ask those who feel that they have had pronouncements or curses placed upon them to stand and get somebody to stand with them to pray for them.
(b) They should then say the following prayer: "Heavenly Father, I come to You in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the authority of that name I specifically renounce all curses that have been placed upon my life through the words of those who have abused and damaged me. I forgive them and I ask You Lord to release me from their consequences. Thank You Father, in Jesus' name."
(c) The counsellors should command the demons to go.
6. FINAL PRAYER:
"Dear Heavenly Father, I come to You in the name of Jesus Christ. I thank You Lord for Your love for me. I confess that Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Saviour and that He died and rose again from the dead.
I believe that through the blood of Jesus Christ I have been redeemed from the hand of the devil. I believe that through the blood of Jesus Christ all my sins have been forgiven.
I believe that through the blood of Jesus Christ I have been sanctified, made holy to God. I believe that through the blood of Jesus Christ I have been justified just as if I had never sinned.
I now confess all my sins. I confess that in my own strength I have been unable to defeat the attacks of the enemy. I specifically renounce the following sexual sin .......... I confess I have been wrong. I renounce all pleasure connected with these sins. I now turn from my sin. I ask You, Father, to forgive me all that is past and give me discernment when the temptation arises and the strength to resist it. I ask You to heal my memories and to heal the hurts and forgive me in Jesus name.
I also specifically renounce any other sins such as rejection, unforgiveness. I especially forgive the following persons .................
I specifically honour my parents and I forgive them. I renounce my own sins and the sins of my ancestors in the name of Jesus Christ. I especially renounce all idolatry, witchcraft and everything of the occult and all the hidden things of darkness. I especially renounce all idolatry, witchcraft and everything of the occult and all hidden things of darkness. I believe that at the Cross of Jesus Christ I was delivered from every curse of the law. I call upon You, Lord Jesus, to set me free from every demonic power that has affected me.
Lord, I now renounce Satan and all his works. I hate his demons. I count them my enemies in the name of Jesus. I loose myself from every dark spirit, from every evil influence, from every satanic bondage, from any spirit in me that is not the Spirit of God. I command all such spirits to leave me now in the name of Jesus.
I call upon You, Lord Jesus, to set me free from every demonic power that has affected me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Risen Saviour, I command every demonic power that has lived within me or oppressed me to leave me now in the name of Jesus Christ. I declare that I am a child of the Living God and that Satan has no right to inhabit any part of me or to oppress me. I thank You Lord Jesus and I give You the glory. Amen."
REMEMBER.....
To be delivered:
(1) Confess the spirit in the name of Jesus.
(2) Renounce the spirit in the name of Jesus.
(3) Reconcile, and Forgive others.
(4) Call on the name of the Lord Jesus.
(5) attend mass if possible daily/receive the holy communion-body and blood of Jesus
(6) go to confession
(7) pray the rosary/pray at all times
(8) never be separated again with Jesus
(9) go to the blessed sacrament spend time at least 1 hour daily
(10)find time daily to read, study, share, live the words of God in the Holy
Scripture
*********************
(a) Not hearing God's voice
(b) Not doing what He says There are seven blessings and seven curses referred to in the law in Scripture.
Seven blessings: (Deuteronomy 28)
(1) Exaltation
(2) Reproductiveness
(3) Health
(4) Prosperity, success
(5) Victory
(6) That we are the head and not the tail
(7) That we will be above and not beneath
There are seven curses referred to in the same chapter:
(1) Humiliation
(2) Barrenness
(3) Sickness of every kind
(4) Poverty, failure
(5) Defeat
(6) We will be the tail and not the head
(7) We will be below and not above
Indications of Curses:
(1) Mental, emotional breakdown
(2) Repeated sickness, especially hereditary sickness -doctors can't find the cause
(3) Feminine problems -barrenness, miscarriage, menstruation problems
(4) Breakdown of marriage -family alienation
(5) Financial insufficiency, poverty. Sometimes poverty for a short period is just a test but if we are always in poverty it could be a curse.
(6) Accident prone
(7) History of unnatural deaths
A curse can be something like an evil thing moving up from the past. It is like a deep shadow.
Note:
Proverbs 26:
2. A curse is:
"Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight."
Therefore, a curse requires a cause to alight.
REASONS FOR CURSES:
(1) Having false gods (Exodus 20: 3& 4, Deuteronomy 27: 15)
(2) Disrespect for parents (Deuteronomy 27: 16)
(3) Treachery against a neighbour (Deuteronomy 27: 17)
(4) Injustice to the weak (Deuteronomy 27: 18& 19)
(5) Illicit sex (Deuteronomy 27: 20-23)
(Effect of wrong sexual relationships, particularly those outside of marriage or with members of one's family)
(6) Perjury (Deuteronomy 27: 25)
(7) Stealing (Zechariah 5: 1-4)
(8) Stinginess towards God (Malachi 3: 9)
(9) Perverting gospel (Galatians 1: 8& 9)
(10) Depending on the flesh (Jeremiah 17: 5)
(11) Anti-Semitism (Genesis 12: 3, Genesis 28: 3& 14)
SOURCE OF CURSES:
1. God Himself God blesses and curses (Exodus 20: 3&5) Breaking the first two commandments:
(a) To have no other Gods
(b) Idolatry
Our God is a jealous God
2. All occult practices Making occultism your God, eg a fortune teller. It is the power behind the fortune teller that matters. In four generations we can have upwards of 30 ancestors.
3. Men who speak on behalf of God
(a) Joshua 6: 26, ie Joshua said, "Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds the city Jericho, he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates." This was fulfilled in 1 Kings 16: 34 nearly 500 years later when Hiel of Bethel built Jericho, he laid its foundation with Abriam, his first born, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates according to the Word of the Lord which he had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun. Thus curses are self-perpetuating.
(b) 2 Samuel 1: 21 Statement by David: "Oh mountains of Gilboa, Let there be no dew, nor let there be rain upon you, Nor fields of offerings.
For the shield of the mighty is cast away there!" These were the fields of Gilboa upon which Saul and Jonathan had died and David was cursing them. Nearly 3, 000 years later this same curse was upon this land and the Jewish people had great difficulty a few years ago in trying to get trees to grow on it.
(c) 2 Kings 5 (Naaman) verse 27, cursed his servant with leprosy forever.
4. God's servants can do this today eg Jesus cursed the fig tree and said, "You can do this also."
5. Persons with relational authority eg husband over wife, parents over children. Words spoken have supernatural powers. The blessing of the father is important.
(a) Genesis 31 -Jacob and Rachel: Rachel had stolen her father's gods. Jacob did not know this and he said to her father, Laban: "`With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you. ' For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them." (Genesis 31: 32) ie, he was in effect saying that she should die, although, of course, he did not know she had stolen them and that she would feign sickness to avoid being discovered. She later died in childbirth.
(b) Examples where husband curses his wife or parents curse their children, eg a husband says to his wife, "You cannot cook", or the following statements are made in respect of other people including children:
"You are no good"
"You are useless"
"You are a failure"
"You will never be any good"
"You are hopeless"
"You will never achieve anything"
"You are ugly"
"You are a bad person"
"You are always a liar"
"It's in the family and you are sure to get it" etc etc.
6. Self-imposed curses which become like inner vows. Examples:
"I'll never be any good"
"I'll never forgive myself"
"God doesn't love me"
"I'll never speak to ..... again"
"I hate myself"
"No-one loves me"
"I want to die, I'm better off dead"
Examples from Scripture:
(a) Genesis 27: 13 Rebekah said: "Let your curse be on me" and in verse 46 she said: "I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; ... what good will my life be to me?" She brought a curse on herself.
(b) Matthew 27: 24& 25, the Jews said, "Let His blood be on us and our descendants".
(c) Peter denied the Lord three times
7. Curses brought on by unscriptural covenants:
Exodus 23: 32: "You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods." We are to make no covenant with those who are not committed as Christians. Freemasonry is an example of that with self-imposed curses, eg the 32nd degree
2 Corinthians 6: 14-17: "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people." Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you."
8. Curses put on by the servants of Satan eg witch doctors, medicine men, tohungas etc. Example: Numbers 22: 4& 6. Note this was a request by Moab to Balam to pronounce curses on Israel. It was a matter of their gods versus the true God. When people fought one another in the old days, they regarded it as a fight between their gods and the other gods, eg David and Goliath.
1 Samuel 17: 43: " So the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods."
Other reasons for curses:
1. Objects in homes (Deuteronomy 7: 26) We are to have no abominable thing our home. This can cause children to be disturbed.
2. Soul ties These are soul ties which are contrary to God's purposes. Eg, in adultery, fornication (especially past sexual relationships). Ungodly soul ties can bring spiritual sickness. 1 Corinthians 6: 18: "Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body."
Examples of wrongful sex are as follows:
Pre-marital sex Perverted sex
Trial marriages Homosexuality
Lesbianism Pornography and fantasy
Bestiality Transvestism
Sexual abuse
Consequences:
(a) Establishment of soul ties and bondings in the flesh other than with God's intended partner.
(b) Guilt and condemnation.
(c) Demonisation
(d) Emotional disturbance
What is sexual abuse?
Uninvited caressing
Uninvited handling of the sexual areas
Anal handling
Masturbation in front of a person
Forced oral sex
Forced mutual masturbation
Forced intercourse and rape
Bestiality
Ritualistic sex
Incest
All of these cause fear, confusion, deception.
Long term problems:
(a) Confusion of one's identity, sexuality, physical position and emotional situation.
(b) Causes regression and repression of memories. Causes fantasy.
(c) Breaking of trust.
(d) Causes rebellion including (i) self rejection (ii) fear of rejection and (iii) anger.
(e) Causes guilt and fear.
(f) Causes inability to respond to love.
(g) Causes desire to die.
(h) Causes physical illness.
(i) Causes damage to the spirit.
Also domination by one person over another, eg where a father dominates or sexually abuses his daughter.
HOW TO BE RELEASED FROM THE CURSE:
1. We must recognise that there is a curse.
2. We must repent from all sin.
3. We must renounce in the name of Jesus Christ.
4. We must resist, eg James 4: 7: "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
5. Use the Word of God. The Word of God is powerful and such Scriptures as the following can be used:
Psalm 118: 17: "I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of the LORD." We must realise that where there is a negative there should also be a positive. We recall that Peter denied the Lord three times but three times Jesus asked him, "Do you love me?" Peter had to revoke his earlier statement three times. Where curses have arisen from the servants of Satan, we must recognise Luke 10: 19: "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."
SUMMARY
1. Confess our faith in Jesus Christ.
2. Commit ourselves to be obedient to God and to hear and do what He says.
3. Confess any known sins on our own part or of our ancestors.
4. Forgive others.
5. Renounce the occult on our own part or on the part of our ancestors.
6. Renounce all contact with heathen objects.
CONTINUING WITH THE LORD
1. Pray the Holy Spirit will fill every area of the person's life.
2. Give as much love and encouragement as is necessary and the person can receive.
3. Assure the person that where deliverance has taken place, they need not fear the enemy if they walk properly with God.
4. Encourage the person:
(a) To be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit.
(b) Read the Word of God daily.
(c) Wear the armour of God at all times.
(d) Be on their guard against the enemy's counter attacks.
(e) Be in good fellowship with other Christians.
(f) Walk continuously in forgiveness.
(g) Praise God in all circumstances.
(h) Keep the right company.
5. (a) Encourage people to be fully rehabilitated in their emotional responses
(b) To present themselves properly, eg in dress.
(c) To continue to re-learn right relationships with others.
(d) Avoid long-term dependency on others.
6. (a) Acknowledge the truth of Ephesians 1: 6, ie we are accepted in the beloved.
(b) Break free from any feeling of being cursed or being an abuse victim.
7. Walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, ie in the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and temperance.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE FOLLOWING SEMINAR ON DELIVERANCE AND CURSES
1. THE BLOOD SCRIPTURES
Ask everybody to stand and say the following Scriptures: Psalm 107: 2:
"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy."
Ephesians 1: 7: "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."
THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS I AM REDEEMED OUT OF THE HAND OF THE DEVIL. THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS ALL MY SINS ARE FORGIVEN.
1 John 1: 7:
"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST, GOD'S SON, IS CLEANSING ME NOW AND CONTINUALLY FROM ALL SIN.
Romans 5: 9: "Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."
THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS I AM JUSTIFIED, MADE RIGHTEOUS, JUST AS THOUGH I HAD NEVER SINNED.
Hebrews 13: 12: "Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate."
THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS I AM SANCTIFIED, MADE HOLY, SET APART TO GOD.
1 Corinthians 6: 19& 20: "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's"
MY BODY IS A TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. I AM REDEEMED, CLEANSED, SANCTIFIED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS. THEREFORE THE DEVIL HAS NO MORE PLACE IN ME AND NO MORE POWER OVER ME. THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS I OVERCOME SATAN BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB AND THE WORD OF MY TESTIMONY.
(Revelation 12: 11)
2. OCCULT
(a). Go through the occult check list and get people to tick anything that they have been in relating to the occult.
(b) Ask those who have been in the occult to stand and ask others to stand with them in order to pray for them.
(c) Then say the following prayer in regard to the occult:
"Lord Jesus Christ, I confess you are the only Son of God, that You died on the Cross for my sins and rose again. In Your name I now renounce all contact with the occult and in particular I renounce the following involvements in the occult .................... I receive Your forgiveness. Thank You Heavenly Father for delivering me in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ."
(d) The counsellors (ie those standing with the candidates for deliverance) should command the demons to go.
3. SOULISH TIES
(a) Ask those to come forward who know that they still have soulish ties, that is sense there is still some tie between them and some other person with whom they have had a previous relationship. This includes cases where women feel under the domination of their mother or men feel under the domination of their mother.
(b) Get people to stand with them to pray for them.
(c) Pray the general prayer for deliverance from soul ties:
"Dear Heavenly Father, as I come to You in the name of Jesus Christ in the authority that is in that name, I break every soul tie affecting my body, soul or spirit, which has existed between myself and ................... (name the individual). In the name of Jesus Christ, I specifically speak to every demonic power that has taken advantage of that link and I tell it that it has no rights here and it must leave now without going into any other member of my family. Thank you Lord Jesus that through Your shed blood and through Your wonderful name, I am able to be absolutely free. Thank you Lord."
(d) Get the people who need deliverance to cut the soulish ties around the people. Show them how to do this with a motion across the front of the body and across the head.
(e) The counsellors should command the demons to go.
4. INNER VOWS
(a) Ask those who know that they have made inner vows for which they need release to come forward and ask others to stand with them to pray for them again.
(b) Say the prayer and get the people to renounce those inner vows and as they do expect deliverance. "In the name of Jesus Christ, I specifically renounce all vows which I have made, knowing or unknowingly, against myself. I specifically renounce.....( name those vows which you have made and which you know to be wrong). I ask you to totally cleanse me and set me free from the results of those vows and I thank you for doing it."
(c) The counsellors should command the demons to go.
5. PRONOUNCEMENT AND CURSES
(a) Ask those who feel that they have had pronouncements or curses placed upon them to stand and get somebody to stand with them to pray for them.
(b) They should then say the following prayer: "Heavenly Father, I come to You in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the authority of that name I specifically renounce all curses that have been placed upon my life through the words of those who have abused and damaged me. I forgive them and I ask You Lord to release me from their consequences. Thank You Father, in Jesus' name."
(c) The counsellors should command the demons to go.
6. FINAL PRAYER:
"Dear Heavenly Father, I come to You in the name of Jesus Christ. I thank You Lord for Your love for me. I confess that Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Saviour and that He died and rose again from the dead.
I believe that through the blood of Jesus Christ I have been redeemed from the hand of the devil. I believe that through the blood of Jesus Christ all my sins have been forgiven.
I believe that through the blood of Jesus Christ I have been sanctified, made holy to God. I believe that through the blood of Jesus Christ I have been justified just as if I had never sinned.
I now confess all my sins. I confess that in my own strength I have been unable to defeat the attacks of the enemy. I specifically renounce the following sexual sin .......... I confess I have been wrong. I renounce all pleasure connected with these sins. I now turn from my sin. I ask You, Father, to forgive me all that is past and give me discernment when the temptation arises and the strength to resist it. I ask You to heal my memories and to heal the hurts and forgive me in Jesus name.
I also specifically renounce any other sins such as rejection, unforgiveness. I especially forgive the following persons .................
I specifically honour my parents and I forgive them. I renounce my own sins and the sins of my ancestors in the name of Jesus Christ. I especially renounce all idolatry, witchcraft and everything of the occult and all the hidden things of darkness. I especially renounce all idolatry, witchcraft and everything of the occult and all hidden things of darkness. I believe that at the Cross of Jesus Christ I was delivered from every curse of the law. I call upon You, Lord Jesus, to set me free from every demonic power that has affected me.
Lord, I now renounce Satan and all his works. I hate his demons. I count them my enemies in the name of Jesus. I loose myself from every dark spirit, from every evil influence, from every satanic bondage, from any spirit in me that is not the Spirit of God. I command all such spirits to leave me now in the name of Jesus.
I call upon You, Lord Jesus, to set me free from every demonic power that has affected me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Risen Saviour, I command every demonic power that has lived within me or oppressed me to leave me now in the name of Jesus Christ. I declare that I am a child of the Living God and that Satan has no right to inhabit any part of me or to oppress me. I thank You Lord Jesus and I give You the glory. Amen."
REMEMBER.....
To be delivered:
(1) Confess the spirit in the name of Jesus.
(2) Renounce the spirit in the name of Jesus.
(3) Reconcile, and Forgive others.
(4) Call on the name of the Lord Jesus.
(5) attend mass if possible daily/receive the holy communion-body and blood of Jesus
(6) go to confession
(7) pray the rosary/pray at all times
(8) never be separated again with Jesus
(9) go to the blessed sacrament spend time at least 1 hour daily
(10)find time daily to read, study, share, live the words of God in the Holy
Scripture
*********************
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)