GOD'S FITNESS TEST PART TWO

Sinful behavior is the inherent nature of fallen humanity. By God’s standards, you and I are dangerous criminals, and should be in jail right now. We are never more mistaken than when we think that we are good people.
When I got my driver’s license, it was the Department of Motor Vehicles that had been satisfied that I am good enough as a driver.
But by God’s standards, I am a sinner deserving death.
When I got a High School certificate, it was the Examination Board that had been impressed that my proficiency in the subjects sat for was good enough.
But by God’s standards, I am chief among sinners.
Those of us who are married, or once were, when my proposal for marriage was accepted, it was my partner who got satisfied that I would make a good spouse. But by God’s standards, I am a sinner of such wicked influence that I deserve solitary confinement.
When I was discharged, it was the Magistrate who had been convinced that I was not guilty. But by God’s standards, I deserve life imprisonment with hard labor.

Let us thank God that He does not parade our sins for public consumption. Someone expressed this thought so well, and I am sharing this with you. Had it been God’s habit, every time we fall in to sin, to write the sins on our skin, who among us would still be having blank space on their skin? Who among us would be putting on short sleeves? Who would venture out to the public with any attire cut above the knees; what with tattoos of the most private and shameful sins disgracing us before onlookers. Actually, dress reform would come along by itself without being promoted from the pulpit.

Let us thank God that He does not parade our character lapses.

Or imagine if it was God’s practice of screening on our foreheads our individual thought patterns and secret yearnings of the heart, for all to familiarize themselves with the plots, schemes and fantasies that preoccupy our minds. Who would go about without headgears that cover our foreheads right down to the eyes, for fear people will know us for who we really are?

You see, we should thank God that our private thoughts are hidden from public view.

In the great drama of all time, God intends to reclaim such like me to join the rest of the sinless worlds, where sin shall not rise the second time. What is the assurance then that it is safe to release an accomplished and habitual sinner like me to heaven? Don’t we know them, one-time mighty preachers and one-time great church leaders who today are moving beer halls? Don’t we also know them, one-time talented musicians in the church, who today do not get satisfied with one cigarette at a time? As if to cover up for lost time, you see them puffing at two at a time.

A brother of mine told me of an encounter with a smoker, who upon lighting a cigarette offered him one. Being a non-smoker, my brother politely turned down the offer with a,
Thank you, but I do not smoke.
The man cautioned,
Young man, with regards to cigarettes you should never say I don’t smoke.
You would rather say I do not smoke yet.
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YOUR BEST COMPANION IS A BOOK

"The book is a companion that does not praise you and does not entice you to evil. It is a friend that does not bore you, and it is a neighbor that causes you no harm. It is an acquaintance that desires not to extract from you favors through flattery, and it does not deceive you with duplicity and lies. When you are poring through the pages of a book, your senses are stimulated and your intellect sharpens... Through reading the biographies of others, you gain an appreciation of common people while learning the ways of kings. It can even be said that you sometimes learn from the pages of a book in a month, that which you do not learn from the tongues of men in a century. All this benefit, yet no loss in wealth and no need to stand at the door of the teacher who is waiting for his fees or to learn from someone who is lower than you in manners. The book obeys you by night as it does by day, both when you are traveling and when you are at home. A book is not impaired by sleep nor does it tire in the late hours of the night. It is the teacher who is there for you whenever you are in need of it, and it is the teacher who, if you refuse to give to it, does not refuse to give to you. If you abandon it, it does not decrease in obedience. And when all turn against you, showing you enmity, it remains by your side. As long as you are remotely attached to a book, it suffices you from having to keep company with those that are idle. It prevents you from sitting on your doorstep and watching those who pass by. It saves you from mixing with those that are frivolous in their character, foul in their speech, and woeful in their ignorance. If the only benefit of a book was that it keeps you from foolish daydreaming and prevents you from frivolity, it would certainly be considered a true friend who has given you a great favor." Al-Jaahiz

BENEFITS OF READING
1. Reading is an active mental process: Unlike sitting in front of the idiot box (TV), reading makes you use your brain. While reading you would be forced to reason out many things which are unfamiliar to you. In this process you would use the grey cells of your brain to think and become smarter.
2. Expanding comprehension of sentences: By reading often, one gains a mastery over many words and learns the different constructions of sentences; moreover, one improves his ability to grasp concepts and to understand what is written 'between the lines.' Good readers can understand the individual sentences and the organizational structure of a piece of writing. They can comprehend ideas, follow arguments, and detect implications. They know most of the words in the text already, but they can also determine the meaning of many of the unfamiliar words from the context. In summary, good readers can extract from the writing what is important for the particular task they are employed in. And they can do it quickly.
3. Helps understanding the subconscious: When reading certain kind of books explaining the human behavior one get to know the explanation of the human behavior, factors affecting it and human responses. This helps one understanding himself/herself better but also understanding others as well.

4. Reading improves your vocabulary: Remember in elementary school when you learned how to infer the meaning of one word by reading the context of the other words in the sentence? You get the same benefit from book reading. While reading books, especially challenging ones, you will find yourself exposed to many new words you wouldn’t be otherwise. Educational researchers have also found a strong correlation between reading and vocabulary knowledge. In other words, people who have a large vocabulary are usually good readers. This is not very surprising, since the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is to read extensively, and if you read extensively you are likely to be or become a good reader!
5. Improves concentration and focus: It requires you to focus on what you are reading for long periods. Unlike magazines, Internet posts or e-Mails that might contain small chunks of information, books tell the whole story. Since you must concentrate in order to read, like a muscle, you will get better at concentration.
6. Improves memory: Many studies show if you don’t use your memory, you lose it. Crossword puzzles are an example of a word game that staves off Alzheimer’s. Reading, although not a game, helps you stretch your memory muscles in a similar way. Reading requires remembering details, facts and figures and in literature, plot lines, themes and characters.
7. Improves creativity: Reading about diversity of life and exposing yourself to new ideas and more information helps to develop the creative side of the brain as it imbibes innovation into your thinking process.
8. Acquiring knowledge: By reading, one benefits from the experiences of others: the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of scholars. By reading often, one develops the ability to both acquire and process knowledge and to learn about the different fields of knowledge and their applications to life.
9. Builds self-esteem: The more you read, the more knowledgeable you become. With more knowledge comes more confidence. More confidence builds self-esteem. So it’s a chain reaction. Since you are so well read, people look to you for answers. Your feelings about yourself can only get better. But books can also give you the motivation to start acting on something you have learned.
10. Gives you a glimpse into other cultures and places of the world: How would you know about the life of people in Mexico if you don’t read about it? Reading gives you an insight into the diversity of ethnicity of people, their customs, their lifestyles etc. You become more aware about the different places and the code of conduct in those places.
11. An In-depth Insight of matters: Anyone who reads extensively seems to be able to discern matters from their onset, or consequences of some actions or decisions made due to their deep understanding. Reading makes one kind f ‘experienced’ on the matters (s)he is dealing with, and thus make him more competent to deal with such uncertain matters.
12. Understanding the future: For believers the practice of reading prepares them in understanding the prophecy and thus making them more prepared for the told future and not caught by surprise.
May God bless you, as you embrace the whole practice of reading books for your own good and that of others who will interact with you.

SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT VALENTINES DAY

Each year on February 14th countless millions of people celebrate a day known as "St. Valentine's Day." Millions of heart-shaped cards and boxes of chocolates are given as gifts, and even churches have Valentine parties on this so-called "Day of Love." In schools, from pre-school and kindergarten on up, children draw names from a box and exchange heart-shapes notes, which "pair off" the children and is said to be "all in fun???” People of all ages get into the act, and the words that are heard everywhere on that day are, "Be My Valentine."

The sad fact is that most people never question the origin of the customs that they involve themselves with. Most people do not ask questions but do what everybody else does, never stopping to consider how the Almighty God of Heaven feels about their activities. When we consider that Valentine's Day is a day of preoccupation with the heart, it is essential that we listen to the following words spoken by the Almighty, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart; I try the reins, even to give every man according to his wages, and according to the fruit of his doings." Jeremiah 17:9-10

Christians should be known by their discernment and should be asking questions regarding Valentine's Day. What is the origin of this unusual day? Why is there a preoccupation with the color red? Where did the heart shape come from, and what does it mean? These and other questions will now be answered, as we examine the roots and pagan origin of this popular day.

In the days of the Roman Empire, the month of February was the last and shortest month of the year. February originally had 30 days, but when Julius Caesar named the month of July after himself, he decided to make that month longer and shortened February to 29 days while making July a month of 31 days. Later when Octavius Caesar, also known as Augustus, came to power, he named the month of August after himself, and not be outdone he also subtracted a day from February and gave the month of August 31 days. To this very day it remains that way. The ancient Romans believed that every month had a spirit that gained in strength and reached its peak or apex of power in the middle or ides of the month. This was usually the 15th day, and it was a day when witches and augurs, or soothsayers worked their magic. An augur was a person filled with a spirit of divination, and from the word augur we get the word "inaugurate", which means to "take omens". Since February had been robbed by Caesars and had only 28 days, the ides of February became the 14th day of that month. Since the Ides of a month was celebrated on the preceding eve, the month of February was unique, because it was the 13th day that became the eve of the Ides that month, and it became a very important pagan holiday in the Empire of Rome. The sacred day of February 14th was called "Lupercalia" or "day of the wolf." This was a day that was sacred to the sexual frenzy of the goddess Juno. This day also honored the Roman gods, Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the legendary twin brothers, who supposedly founded Rome, Remus and Romulus. These two are said to have been suckled by wolves in a cave on Palatine Hill in Rome. The cave was called Lupercal and was the center of the celebrating on the eve of Lupercalia or February 14th. On this day, Lupercalia, which was later named Valentine's Day, the Luperci or priests of Lupercus dressed in goatskins form a bloody ceremony. The priests of Lupercus, the wolf god, would sacrifice goats and a dog and then smear themselves with blood. These priests, made red with sacrificial blood, would run around Palatine Hill in a wild frenzy while carving a goatskin thong called a "februa." Women would sit all around the hill, as the bloody priests would strike them with the goatskin thongs to make them fertile. The young women would then gather in the city and their names were put in boxes. These "love notes" were called "billets." The men of Rome would draw a billet, and the woman whose name was on it became his sexual lust partner with whom he would fornicate until the next Lupercalia or February 14th.

Thus, February 14th became a day of unbridled sexual lust. The color "red" was sacred to that day because of the blood and the "heart shape" that is popular to this day. The heart-shape was not a representation of the human heart, which looks nothing like it. This shape represents the human female matrix or opening to the chamber of sacred copulation.

When the Gnostic Catholic Church began to get a foothold in Rome around the 3rd century A.D., they became known as Valentinians. The Catholic Valentinians retained the sexual license of the festival in what they called "angels in a nuptial chamber", which was also called the "sacrament of copulation." This was said to be a reenactment of the marriage of "Sophia and the Redeemer." As the participants of the February 14th ritual began their sexual sacrament, presided over and watched by the priests known as Valentinians, the following literary was spoken: "Let the seed of light descend into thy bridal chamber, receive the bridegroom... open thine arms to embrace him. Behold, grace has descended upon thee."

As time went on, the Orthodox Church suppressed the Gnostic Catholics and manufactured "St. Valentine", whose day continues to be celebrated in these modern times.

It should be without saying that the Christians should avoid Valentine's Day like a plague. In God's eyes, it is still "Lupercalia", the "Day Of The Wolf." Men become wolves, as they carry on the satanic rituals of fornication, which means sexual intercourse without marriage. We have heard of the "wolf whistle", and we all know that wolves do not whistle. It is lustful men and women, who carry on Satan's blasphemy to this very day.

In conclusion, we must ask ourselves, "Should a true Christian be associated in any way with this celebration of evil roots? Should we be doing what the heathen have done for so many years and try to justify it as love?" Romans 12:2 answer this very well, "And be not conformed to this world: but are ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..."

Source:
Last Trumpet Ministries International
PO Box 806
Beaver Dam, WI 53916

GOD’S FITNESS TEST Part 1

Have you ever wondered why airplanes are tested before they fly, or why drivers are tested before being entrusted with vehicles on the road? Have you also wondered why applicants are tested before they are employed, or why even food is tasted before it is served? Has anyone ever stopped to think about why many countries the world over have Standards Associations through which manufactured products pass on their way to the market?
Perhaps you will agree with me that tests are administered to try and predict performance. When products are tested before they reach the market it is in order to ascertain how reliable they are. Testing then, is bringing quality under scrutiny before use of the product. To deserve marketing, the product has to measure up to a certain standard, failure of which, it is discarded as a reject. Testing therefore is an attempt to establish how a product will perform when put to the use for which it is designed. This reduces chances of flooding the market with defunct products that would cause operation-crippling faults and accidents.

In business accidents are expensive. This is because accidents cause work stoppages, which in turn reduce profits. Accidents are also expensive in that they damage equipment, incurring repair work costs. Apart from that, accidents cause injury and loss of life. That is why, before an airplane flies, it is tested as a way of estimating the chances of a successful trip and a safe landing. If mechanical faults are suspected or detected, the flight would rather be delayed, and the faults fixed than gamble with lives by flying a defective plane. That is why before anyone is entrusted with a vehicle on our roads, they should satisfy the examiners of their driving competency. This serves to predict the occurrence or non-occurrence of traffic accidents. If an aspiring driver has questionable traits, he would rather take more lessons than be released on the road as a danger to other road users.

Before anyone can be employed, they normally undergo a variety of tests as a way of establishing how they would perform the tasks of the job. If the applicant has ill health for example, the employer can predict therefrom that the condition will have a negative impact on production. The decision to employ will then be based on whether the applicant will not be a liability, spearheading loss to an enterprise whose sole reason for existence is profit-making. Tests therefore are meant to identify potential hazards and seek means to eliminate them. The testing exercise is very essential as a prelude to recruitment of new personnel at a work place, before goods and products are marketed or machinery put to use. We call them fitness tests.

God has a grand and ambitious plan, the greatest drama of all time. The whole universe is the ring of spectators, and planet Earth is the theater for the drama. The grand drama has popularly been known as the plan of salvation or the plan of redemption. The objective is to reclaim fallen humanity from the dark planet to join the rest of the sinless worlds. The desired results or expected outcome is that once the reclaimed sinners are granted heavenly citizenship, sin and sinful tendencies will reign never more in them. By any standards, this is a grand and ambitious project, one that even angels watch with curiosity.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO DO BEFORE YOU COMMIT YOURSELF

The challenge of making choice of a life partner has posed a challenge to human kind from the bible times to date. But in today’s world of moral decay, modern life style, egoism, multiple cultures in a single street even in the same house bloc makes the mate selection one of the most challenging tasks than never before.
Beside all that we will at one day or the other most of us get married, then what ought we to look to increases our chances of living a happy married life?

Prayers: “If men and women are in the habit of praying twice a day before they contemplate marriage, they should pray four times a day when such a step is anticipated. (Message to Young People pp 460.1). In essence what is being said here is one need to double his or her effort in prayers when (s)he is considering marriage. Also the company of those caring for you and the ones you would like to help in praying is worthy having, even as E.G. White puts it “Take God and your God-fearing parents into your counsel, young friends. Pray over the matter” (MYP 449.2).

Know what you need in a mate: All of us have something we need in a partner. Unfortunately to many of us, those criteria remain in our subconscious and we never come to realize them and we thus remain saying that we are feeling like we are not okay with our couples without knowing why. The truth is we have reasons but they are still buried in our subconscious, and to unearth them we need to do something on developing ourselves; learning is one of the ways that can help understanding our inner needs, desires and even our inner selves. The point is we can not get what we need if we don’t know what we need.

Make friends: Since we in most cases marry from the group of people we encounter either often or occasionally; for that matter then we need to be aware as to how important the people we interact with in our lives are. As Christians we need to make sure we make many good friends of different sexes. This has a lot of benefit as it will improve one’s ability to communicate with members of different sex; it helps us understand the personal details of the individuals (such as age, family background, education level, etc) we interact with which will in one way or the other help us in deciding wisely as to whom we do have chances of committing ourselves to; it also help us in knowing our friends true-color when they are still friends a fact which might prove to be difficult to learn when one is already involved with that individual.

Don’t rush: Our God is never late when we partner with him we are sure that we shall receive “good gifts” from Him (Jas 1:17). “The youth trust altogether too much to impulse. They should not give themselves away too easily, nor be captivated too readily by the winning exterior of the lover. Courtship, as carried on in this age, is a scheme of deception and hypocrisy, with which the enemy of souls has far more to do than the Lord” (MYP 451). “Love is patient” (1Cor 13:4).

My dear brothers and sisters these are simple tips on initiatives one need to take before (s)he commits himself. But most importantly many heart breaks can be avoided when such cautions are taken.

Many people know that it is hard to get into a meaning and lasting relationship, but the unfamiliar truth to most of us is that breaking a relationship is even harder than getting into one; you will realize that even the well deserving broken relationship still hearts the individuals when it breaks, even to the one breaking it with such conviction of breaking it. You may happen to know many guys who seriously think that their relationships are bad ones and yet they can’t figure out how they will untangle themselves from it, that is the power of love! Such wounds are hard to heal completely, and they tend to impede on how we will trust our following partners and with that we both get less than what we ought to get from that which were supposed to be a spring of blessings.

May God bless us as we take each step with Him in making these serious moves in our lives which, does surely have impact in our lives here and in the life to come.