The promise of salvation is for the Gentiles

I am always in awe every time I encounter the word Israelites. In the bible, these people represents the chosen people of God. With Moses as their leader, their story will remain one of the best stories written.  God consider them His people, and the promise was given unto them, or so I believe.

Even in the movie industry, considers  the story of Israelites as one the of the best.

A movie was produced, The Ten Commandments,  a 1956 motion picture that dramatized the biblical story of Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince-turned deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. It was released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956. (courtesy of Wikipedia)

It’s box office performance ranked one of the highest in the industry:

This film was the #1 moneymaker of 1957, earning a net profit of $18,500,000.^[8]

Adjusted for inflation, it is the fifth-highest grossing movie of all time in the U.S. and Canada, with collections of $838,400,000.^[9] In non-adjusted dollars, it held the record as the highest-grossing film with a religious theme until the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ. (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Even in print, the story of the Ten Commandments which represents  the covenant of God with Moses and his people, the Israelites, is one of the best selling story of all time.

The Book of Exodus was written in their behalf. It is about their plight in the hands of the Pharaoh  and their subsequent release, their wandering in the wilderness to go to the promise land.

A song was was written in honor of this famous story in the bible. (This land is mine)

All my life I am in awe of the Israelites.

Lately, I have learned from our Weekly Thanksgiving – Member – Church of God International (MCGI), with Brother Eliseo Soriano as the Presiding Minister,   that the first promise of salvation was not given to the Israelites, or the Jews but to Abraham, the Gentile.

The promise of salvation was first given to the Gentiles. God made a covenant with Abraham, four hundred thirty years (430)  ahead of the promise God gave to the Israelites.

Galatians 3:16

¹⁶Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

According to Saint Paul,  the promise given to the Israelites four hundred thirty years later, cannot disannul the promise given to Abraham, earlier.

Galatians 3:17

¹⁷And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

For the promise of salvation was first given to Abraham, “to save all nations”.

Galatians 3:8

⁸And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

The covenant of God with Moses in Mt. Sinai, was for the Israelites only, and it came after the promise to Abraham was given.

Exodus 31:18

¹⁸And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

In the Christian dispensation, Jesus Christ took away the division between the Jews and the Gentiles.

Ephesians 2:14

¹⁴For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

The covenant of Jesus Christ comes from Jerusalem above.

Galatians 4:26

²⁶But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

In the end times, the Israelites do not believe in Jesus Christ. They are  still in bondage with  Mount Sinai.

In the end times, the Member Chiurch of God International with  Brother Eliseo Soriano, as the Presiding Minister, who comes from the Philippines, whose heritage was a bondage to the Spanish religious belief (catholic), for four hundred thirty years, is now free.

God give him an understanding that no one can dispute.

Luke 21:13-15

¹³And it shall turn to you for a testimony.

¹⁴Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:

¹⁵For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.

Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.

THIS LAND IS MINE – the song
Artist: Andy Williams
Music written for 1960 film “Exodus” by Ernest Gold, who won an Oscar for the
score. Words added in 1961 by Pat “White Bucks” Boone as “This Land Is Mine.”
This land is mine, God gave this land to me
This brave and ancient land to me
And when the morning sun reveals her hills and plain
Then I see a land where children can run free
So take my hand and walk this land with me
And walk this lovely land with me
Though I am just a man, when you are by my side
With the help of God, I know I can be strong
Though I am just a man, when you are by my side
With the help of God, I know I can be strong
To make this land our home
If I must fight, I’ll fight to make this land our own
Until I die, this land is mine.
(Transcribed by Ronald E. Hontz
ronhontz
worldnet.att.net)

Why God used a small plant

Ever since I was a small child, I was surrounded with small things. Our house was a one bedroom house,  with a small sala, a small kitchen for a family with eight children.

The food we ate were  in small portion. Our shoes were small because my mother has to stretched the months of usage, for she has eight children to buy one after the other.

We have a small sets of clothes. Most of those were hand me downs. So when I went to school I felt I was the smallest of all, not because of my physical being but because I  have nothing compared to my classmates. In those times, the classrooms were ranked as to section 1 to n, 1 being the  students with  most high in grades.

My mother was happy because I was in section 1 from grade 1 to 6. My father was not surprised. He had expected that from me, his eldest daughter second only to his favorite son.

And so, when my career was in bloom, I started to accumulate big stuff. My house was big for a family of four.

My line of clothes were large enough that for  months I don’t have to repeat the same set of clothes.  The same with my bags and shoes. And the same went for my whole family.

At the height of my career, my pride went big too. My thoughts were, I did all these: I  studied hard, worked hard and these are   my rewards  from God.

But God has a different path for me to take. Gone is my career, and so with my lines  of clothes, bags and shoes.

God introduced me  to small things again. God wanted me to see the glory in being small.

Even Moses saw the greatness of being small. He  declined to be called the son of the Pharaoh’s  daughter.

Hebrews 11:24

²⁴By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;

When  Jesus Christ  stripped himself of  His Godliness, and became man, He set the example of the humblest act of all.

Philippians 2:6

⁶Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

And so when God talked to Moses, God used a bush (small plant) to communicate with Moses.

God wanted Moses to act small when Moses delivered God’s message to His people.

Acts 7:30

³⁰And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

Being small is reachable. Approachable too.

In fact even Satan recognized this. He picked the smallest fruit bearing tree to tempt  for easy access to Eva.

Genesis 3:6

⁶And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

In my lifetime, God uses Brother Eliseo Soriano, Presiding Minister  Member – Church of God International to make me understand the wisdom of being small.

Thanks be to God fo his unspeakable gift.

Song review for Isang araw lang

Here is a song written by a man who wanted to change the  world full of wickedness and deceit.

The lyrics written in Tagalog, has an impact on the society that turns  its back on the true essence of living: to give yourself and what you have in the service of the needy.

I can see the writer in the midst of this turmoil, with sadness in his heart.   He knows his limitations, so he will do it, measured in  just one day,  (Isang Araw Lang).

And so he continuously do good daily, armed with the hope that is in his heart.

He extends his invitations to the willing, for he knows that the best antidote to wickedness is goodness.

He is aware that there is wisdom behind the turning of the clock, why the sun is giving its light in the morning and the night time, dusk.

For it is written:

Psalms 104:19 -

“He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.”

The writer knows that one turning of the earth around the sun and the moon is equivalent to one day.

JUST ONE DAY – which  also means the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega.

For it is written:

Revelations 1:8:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending saith the Lord, which was and which is to come, the Almighty.

And in JUST ONE DAY,  who  is Christ himself, in  a wink of an eye, goodness will overcome evil.

This is his forte, to help out to the needy. The Isang Araw Lang Project was primarily conceived  to finance his charity works.

A song is just a song, but in reality the writer’s struggle to reach out to the needy is strong. He will need the help of Someone from above to achieve his dream.

This is his song. This is his dream. This is his life.

Daniel Razon,  a spiritually minded person, wrote the lyrics of this song.

He sang it too.

May the good Lord bess you and keep you, and your family.

Isang Araw Lang

Sa isang kisap mata

Marami ang nagaganap sa ating mundo

Gawa ng masama ng bunga ng gulo

Sa pag ikot ng panahon

Maraming sugat ang dinulot ng poot

Maga suliranin ay hindi nagagamot

Tayo rin ang may lalang

Ngunit kaya lang gawin

Patulin ang takbo

Ang pag-asa ibinigay sa atin

Ay pang hawakan mo

At wag mong ibigay kailanman

Tayo na mag sama sama

Kumilos ang  bawat isa

Mabuting pag gawa

Ipandaig sa masama

At ang lahat ay mag sisimula

Sa isang araw lang

Sa pag ikot ng orasan

Isipin mong dakila ang dahilan

Bakit pagpatuloy sa pagikot itong mundo

May dakilang dahilan

Kaya kayang gagawin

Baguhin ang takbo

Ang pag-asang  ibinigay sa atin

Ay  panghawakan mo

At wag na bibtiwan kailanman

Kailanman

Tayo na mag sama -sama

Kumilos ang bawat isa

mabuting pag gawa

Ipandaig sa masama

At ang lahat ay mag sisimula

Sa isang araw lang

Mabuting pag gawa

Ipandaig sa masama

At ang lahat ay mag sisimula

Sa isang araw lang

At ang lahat ay nag sisimula

Sa isang araw lang.

My Thursday morning September 3, 2009

Thursday morning September 2, 2009

My morning starts early like 5:30 am. Three kids has different bus schedules.

Their breakfast are  easy to prepare, milk and bowls  of Apple Jacks, Cheerios, Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms and if by chance an ordinary Filipino child can read my blog will say, what in the world the American children are eating in the morning.

I have my own share of surprise too, when one morning Mr. Bob, the father said to the children, what do you want today, Lucky Charms?

What I know of Lucky Charm when I was still in the Philippines was it is either a bracelet or a pair of earrings.

Oh well, this is my life in the United States.

Thursday, September 3, 2009.

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