God bless Christians like Tony Miano of Living Waters for his faithfulness to the call of the Great Commission.  Whatever the mood of people is, he will preach the Gospel like it's his last day to do it.  Watch what we mean in the video below:

Watch this ASK DENNIS clip from July 2010.  Here Dennis Mark Y. Aglosolos discusses the necessity of repentance for a person to be saved.  We felt it necessary to bring this video back as there have been Christians who are preaching that one just needs to believe in Jesus to be saved and no more need for a godly sorrow that works repentance to salvation.

A Christian blog site managed by Nitoy Gonzales (http://delightinggrace.wordpress.com), Delighting Grace, recently posted their interview with Living Waters Asia's managing director.  Read the blog with the title "Follow the Way of the Master: Delighting Grace Interviews Dennis Mark Y. Aglosolos of Living Waters-Asia" by going to this link.

This is a question thrown by people who would like to sway others to believe that there is no God.  This question is the relative of the question, "If there is a loving God, then why are there so many evil in this world." 

One trait of God is His omniscience (He is all-knowing).  He knows what will happen for all of eternity.  The things that man know are not even a tip of a nail compared to what God knows.  He even knows what will happen to you a minute from now which you don't have an idea of.  That established, atheists and agnostics would argue that God, if He does exists, with His omniscience, should have decided NOT to give man free will because He knows that they'll just use it to rebel against Him which will result to them going to Hell to pay for their sins.  If He does exists then He must enjoy seeing people go to Hell?

First of all, the Bible makes it clear that God has no pleasure in seeing sinners die which lead them to eternal punishment (Ezekiel 33:11).  He created man for His glory and for His pleasure (Revelations 4:11).  Now here's a question... If you're God, will you derive pleasure from the "love" your created gives you if in the first place, you have programmed them like robots to give you love (they have no choice but to love you)?  I believe that you'll agree that "love" that's not freely given is not true love.  God had to give man a free will so that He can experience true love from His created so that pleasure is achieved.  He wanted man to love Him willingly.  Free will allows man to love God willingly.  That's why God gave us free will. Not doing so goes against reason.  God is a logical Person that's why He saw it right to give man the freedom to choose for himself and He hoped that we'd use it to give Him pleasure. 

But how about the fact that in man's use of his free will to do evil, it results to suffering in Hell? Shouldn't have God just sacrificed His desire to experience true love from His created so that no one goes to Hell?  I believe that God could have chosen to do that... IF He had no power to use evil to bring out good.  What do I mean about that?  God used the evil of the cross to solve man's problem of sin.  The cross is a reflection of all the evil of man.  The cross is a picture of what any criminal should deserve.  God experienced the cruelty of the cross as if He was a hardened criminal just so He can make a payment for man's sins.  Buddha had no solution for the penalty of man's sins.  Mohammed offered no real solution either.  Catholicism, although claiming to be Christian in beliefs, still gives man a big responsibility in saving himself. The New Age movement can only suggest something that will make you focus on the "here and now" so that you'll not be burdened with what's ahead in eternity. This makes Christianity unique.  It offered a solution.  Jesus was the solution.  God turned evil to good by transferring all of man's evil on His beloved Son so He could pay for them.  The chains of sin on us were broken because Jesus let himself experience the evil of men.

God still uses evil in our time to bring out good.  How many people have turned to God for assurance of life in Heaven after they've realized how fragile and short life is through the death of someone they know?  I believe you and your other Christian friends can name some.  God uses natural calamities like the tsunami in Japan and the big earthquakes that rocked major cities early this year to bring to the minds of people that there is a powerful God that they should fear, or better yet, be reconciled with.  Crimes around us, heavy and petty crimes alike, show how man has gone low in their morals, and therefore, disqualifies them from the future joys of Heaven. Your own offense of God's Moral Standards, the Ten Commandments, should bring you to the realization that you're not a good person, that's why you need Jesus' perfection to be transferred on you to enter into His Kingdom. For Christians, God uses circumstances to bring out new strength from us so that, we, in turn, can also be used by Him to strengthen others. He also uses sufferings to re-focus ourselves to Him so that we can enjoy Him even in this world. 

In conclusion, God gave man free will even if He knew it will cause problems through man's wrong use of it because He also knows the solution to it... Jesus. When God finished making this world on the sixth day, He looked on the whole of His creation and saw that it was all good, including the free will He gave man.  To you who are still living in sin, use your free will by deciding to forsake your sins and to have Jesus be your Lord and Savior.  To us, His children, let us use the free will God gave us to bring pleasure to the only One who can use evil to bring out good for our benefit.  Praise be the Lord!

Yesterday, people heard the news that Apple co-founder and recently resigned CEO, Steve Jobs, died after years of fighting pancreatic cancer.  This iconic man has definitely contributed immensely to advancing technology and without any argument, a genius as he always tried to think "out of the box". I only own one Apple product, a hand-me-down iPhone from my brother-in-law.  And even with only that item as a basis for my evaluation of how good Jobs is, I can easily agree that he was way up there in his field.

People all over the world right away voiced their sadness with Jobs passing away.  There are those in tears because they've realized that they will not see him anymore unveiling a new Apple product in his trademark black shirt and Levi's jeans.  People are sad about his death because of what he has done during his 56 years in this world.  Very few though are sad for him for what he has NOT done while here on earth... to entrust his eternity to his Creator.

Steve Jobs is known to be a Zen Buddhist.  As much as I love the guy, I disagree with his choice of spirituality as that does not give him forgiveness of sin and life eternal in Heaven that only Jesus Christ can give anyone who humbly decides to repent of his sins and puts his trust on Him.  Yeah, Jobs desired to help and change this world for others.  In his speech he delivered at Stanford University's commencement ceremony in 2005, Jobs said that he does not care if he is the richest man in the cemetery.  What he cares about is doing something wonderful in life.  Wow!  For a while there, I thought Jobs had it right.  Proverbs 11:4 tells us that "Riches profit not in the day of wrath...", until you realized that what he means of "doing something wonderful in life" is not about having the righteousness of Jesus imputed to him.  How I hope that one day in Heaven, I'll see Steve and learn that before he was separated from our world, someone who cared enough shared to him the Gospel and he responded to it's call of repentance and faith.

Steve Jobs' death or anybody's death is really sad news.  Not because we will miss what they contribute to making this vain life easier to live, but because of where they'll end up at if Christ is not their Savior.  56 years.  That's how long God gave Jobs to make a choice in favor of Him.  How long do you think God will give you the chance to make your choice?  Treat today your D-day (decision day).  Choose to heed the call of the Gospel before it's too late.

Here's one video you must watch.  Ravi Zacharias was a guest speaker in a university symposium when a Muslim student during the Q & A challenged him to distinguish the difference between Jesus' "code of life" (a term the student used) and the rules set forth by the Islam faith as stated in the Koran. The student believes the moral code of Islam is way higher than the moral code advocated by the Bible (the Ten Commandments) as it covers almost all areas of human life.

Watch how Ravi Zacharias answered the student's question and how he explained the true purpose of the Ten Commandments in a man's life.  Furthermore, you will see how Jesus is exalted in his response.

Watch this video uploaded at YouTube by the "Lawman", Tony Miano.  Ray Comfort just finished preaching in the open-air in Cerritos College when Jason, a professing Christian, criticized Ray for talking about sin and Hell to the audience instead of talking about how much God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives.  What you will see in this video are two very different messages. Jason's unbiblical gospel and the gospel of Jesus Christ. See how Tony responds to Jason.

Here's a video documentary from The National Center for Family-Integrated Churches (http://www.ncfic.org/).  Below is the story behind the movie from the movie's official website http://dividedthemovie.com/.

The Background
Young filmmaker, Philip Leclerc, notices that the youth of his generation are abandoning the faith. He sets out on a journey to discover the truth about modern youth ministry, with this question in mind: “Is it an issue with the church, the kids, the parents?”

The Journey
Interviewing youth, youth ministry experts, and pastors and understanding the history of age-segregated youth ministry, Leclerc learns that modern youth ministry is not founded upon the Word of God but upon the ideas of men. As a result, youth ministries are noticing a widespread youth exodus as kids abandon the faith for the world.

The Solution
Conformity to the Scriptures and the blessing of God are the keys to rescuing youth. The Scripture does identify the way to reach the next generation with the gospel — biblical discipleship. Through his journey, Leclerc asks questions, tackles problems, and discovers that the Bible is sufficient for the area of youth ministry: both in the content as well as in the methodology.

The video has valid points like the need for fathers to have a major participation in leading their children to Christ instead of putting all the responsibility to the church, and the errors of operating the church in accordance to what the world offers to get young people excited with Christianity.  But there are other points in the movie that lends itself to discussion.  Watch the video and feel free to give your comments You can watch the movie by going to this link.

"But why use a butter knife (a life-enhancement Gospel) to cut down a Redwood when you can use a chain saw (the 10 Commandments)." --- Steve P. Sanchez

That's a great quote about the place of the Law in our Gospel presentation from Steve P. Sanchez' article about the message delivered in the recent Harvest Crusade in his weblog at http://stonethepreacher.com.  Pastor Greg Laurie delivered the message.  See if you agree with Steve's opinion on how Pastor Laurie could have improved significantly on the Gospel message he delivered in the event attended by thousands of non-believers.  You can read the article by clicking this link.

You can also watch Pastor Laurie as he delivered the said message by going to this link.

Technology, when used incorrectly, can bring you to the lowest kind of morality.  But if it's used for God's glory, it can help clearly declare the truth.  Here's an example.  Watch it and then send the link to your unsaved friends and relatives.