Dangers of the wrong tunes - Part I of a Serious Issue

In the beginning God set the standards. Whatever is sinful, DO NOT TOUCH. Over the years things have changed.

Once it was TOUCH BUT DON'T TASTE.
Then it was TASTE BUT DON'T SWALLOW.

For more info, watch the shocking documentary "THEY SOLD THEIR SOULS FOR ROCK AND ROLL" available on YouTube. It might be the most disturbing thing you've ever seen but it would save your faith.

It was this type of mentality that made me feel it's ok to both be a Christian and to listen to hard rock and metal at the same time. Some pastors and all those abang-abang also said it was OK. They said it's ok to listen to such music as long as you don't get addicted. But no matter how much I keep my relationship with God equilibrium with secular rock music, I've always been addicted.

Not to criticize anyone but Jesus made it clear WE CAN NEVER SERVE TWO MASTERS. We will end up hating one and serving loyally to the other. But after watching the documentary, I've noticed that Heavy Metal is like a a prop to leave the door open for the devil and immediately giving him the dreaded foothold.

My faith has been turbulent yes. I've casted out violent movies but that didn't help much. It was clear to me that the music I listen to affected me the most.

The strange thing was when I swore not to listen to one such band, I'll always find another. And the bands I've listen to have got more and more evil. First there was mainstream bands like Linkin Park but I've later moved to more drug and rebellious music like Guns N Roses. The worse was the occultic bands like AC/DC and Black Sabbath.

During the time which I've listened to AC/DC and Black Sabbath, I recalled I was possessed once AT CHURCH. I've slowly left it, but it never left me.

I struck again, this time me and Jeffery stripped and destroy our Rock/Metal band t-shirts but as the years passed new ones replaced the once I've previously destroyed.

Metal can catch people by surprise. Music manipulated by Satan is the deadliest trap of all. Even those soft and melodic rock love ballads have subliminal meanings. Example, Stairway to Heaven has tabs on occult, sex and drugs while Hotel Calrifornia is about the Satanic Church and human worship.

So if you think it's OK to listen to metal and be a Christian at one time. I don't think so but I'm not in the position to judge. Of course I've known a good number of passionate believers who also listen to even Metallica. But results may vary, in my case it got the better of me. But BETTER BE SAFE THAN SORRY...

They Sold Their Souls For Rock N Roll

Note, if you are sensitive to violence and scary turths! DO NOT WATCH!

But those who are desperate. Please do, this video made me think twice about the music I listen to.

2 July - Sexuality

When the word SEX hits your head. We think dirty. The world has changed much but the idea of SEX = SIN has been around for millenniums. Don't believe me? Where did the word SODOMIZE come from. From Sodom, a sinful land described in the early Old Testaments.

Well that's not the way God sees it. He created sex as a means of intimacy, a very special way to express love. But only between one man and one woman who are married to each other. No but's, no if's and no exceptions.

Unfortunately the world doesn't see it that way. Because it feels good, they wanna have fun and end up tarnishing it. What comes of it?

Sure there is fun. But there is also HIV/AIDS, Syphilis and Hepatitis. Unwanted children, abortions, divorce, depression and of course suicide. What a hefty price to pay.

With the introduction of homosexualism, the world has practically turned away. I myself can't understand why men want to be women. Some say it's because the private parts look weird or something. Of course it's not as cool as Avatar, where their hairs have special strands to stimulate and bond each other. But it's actually a gift from God so to speak.

NOTE: The message was long but there's a lot I can't show because it's kinda sensitive and I don't want to go the wrong way.

25 June - Forgiveness Part II

While forgiving is important, there's a flipside to it. It's a time when we are fragile and emotionally drained with guilt. So what some people will do, mostly men is to take advantage.

In regular cases, they try to embarrass you. Like saying sorryx100 or bowing down and all that but what's more serious is that some men will actually take advantage of girls who ask for forgiveness. By asking them to have sex. Because this is so bad, it's acceptable to just break off and leave sexual misfits like these. Pastor even says "GIVE HIM THE MIDDLE FINGER!". Not sure if it meant it but it does imply how serious it is.

I don't know how women use this on men. Perhaps they ban their boyfriends/husbands from watching FIFA World Cup or Euro. Which is equally bad. LOL!

The bottomline is don't try to prove how sorry you are, even if told too.

And when we ask forgiveness, do it with depth, like you mean it. Just darting up, sating SORRY! and dart off is inappropriate. If possible,repeat the offense in case someone forgets it which is not really necessary because they probably never felt it. But of course, exceptions do happen more often than you think.

Forgiveness: More than Moving On

More than just moving on, forgiveness is one of the most effective ways to show love. How to keep loving others despite being wronged. Takes a lot of LOVE to do that. And Jesus showed the depth of His love by forgiving us.

God: Always Waiting

The first in the short message format....

When people have problems, they say God hates him/her or is simply void...

That applies to most humans, true. But not to God.

It's not true that God is never around when we need him. He is always there. The problem is WE are not near GOD when we need him the most.

New Format

Due to the difficulty to think and write a new article consistently and lack of time. I'm introducing a new format to HG's blog... Just simple quotes and bible passages will do...

Wei Lim

Forgiveness

Due to the fact that I'm the only one left, I guess the burden is on me to revive the blog. Swt, I NEED VOLUNTEERS because I have more than enough problems already! Anyways, here we go again.

This is a practically a summary of what Pastor has been teaching the past month.

For most of my life, I never believed in forgiveness. Because I knew bad things happen to nice people, why bother. Be nice and eventually people will take advantage of your kindness and spit on you in return. It makes pretty much sense to everyone to remember everything and forgive nothing but one thing for certain is that being a believer of God makes no sense literally. Does it make sense to risk your life to preach to strangers? Does it make sense to die on a cross? The Christian life doesn't make sense because the world is the exact opposite of God.

Well maybe you won't get anything in return for forgiving others but well people GOD COMMANDS IT! like it or not. Jesus gave us unconditional love and we are to do the same for Him. Easier said than done because I personally have stumbled to the point of what I call "temporary backsliding".

The reason for all of this is that The Lord first forgave us. Jesus told the parable of a man who was just freed from a seven figure debt by his master upon pleading. But the man despite being removed from his debt killed a man who owed him a few hundred. Face it, we have hurt God everyday without realizing. It doesn't matter if the same bastards scorn us everyday, we still owe a life debt to God.

However there are circumstances in which the things that happen to us are too much to bear, circumstances in which GOD DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. It does make sense, it's just that we don't understand it. We can't, haven't and will never understand why God lets the good people die. Why good people who fight for justice and freedom die. Think Mahatma Gandhi who wanted to unite India, Abraham Lincoln who freed the slaves, John F. Kennedy who refused to invade Vietnam. All three of these men were killed in cold blood. THINK JESUS who died to save the world. No matter what the pain we face, it is clear that it is our duty, all of us, to forgive.

Taking it up to the person we have wronged is also a necessary step. Most people think it is easier just to walk away but in truth, past sins will always haunt us. We can attempt to run away from our past, but our past follows us like a shadow.

Confrontation is possible but it must be in a way in which no one gets offended which means no raising our voices, foul language etc.

Some people deal with offenses by striking back. Like they say the best defense is offense. But when I brought this up, Pastor said....

"How many people can you whack"

Sure, you can whack male friends, siblings but you can't whack most of the people you know. Guys who whack women have serious mental issues. But how many people can we whack. We can't whack the prime minister or president but some cases people succeed like JFK, Gandhi, Lincoln.

Although whacking may enable us to put things behind, it's not worth it. A guy who spends his time whacking people every time he is wrong will rot in jail. A guy who neither whacks nor forgives will have anger in his heart. And anger shortens life span. If laughter can cure cancer, anger actually causes cancer.

According to one psychologist, half of his patients would have no need of his services if they'd simply forgive.

but we must remember, forgive is not forget. Some conflicts are so deep that relationships remain strained forever.

Like it or not guys, forgiveness is the best medicine, second only to laughter perhaps.

When Will Help Come

Recently I haven't being posting articles because I've been plagued by spiritual troubles. All the guilt and all. My faith came back recently yet something bad happened today. Something that could force me give up the cross and walk away. But I've used this incident to come up with something. Make lemonade out of lemons.

I've experience a very turbulent spiritual life. It was as if the moment I accepted the Christ the world became my enemy. Much like Psalms 31: 10-13

My life is consumed by anguish
And my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my affliction,
and my bones grow weak.
Because of all my enemies,
I am the utter contempt of my neighbors;
I am a dread to my friends—
Those who see me on the street flee from me.
I am forgotten by them as though I were dead;
I have become like broken pottery.
For I hear the slander of many;
There is terror on every side;
They conspire against me
And plot to take my life.

I've never enjoyed my social life outside of church. I've been mocked, laughed at, bullied, slandered and spat on(literally). These douche bags thought because I am a Christian, I was the one they could jerk off continuously. Like a dog.

Well what happened was an all too common scenario. I've had this feeling that I was ready to proudly say that I've lived a godly life without shame. Ready to carry out the cross. I've shedded most of the old addictive sins that weakened me before. As a matter of fact, I became overconfident that nothing could prevent me from falling.

Well, I was insulted really bad. As a usual response I laughed along. But soon I blacked out and did what I wasn't supposed to do. I've kept my mouth and my life clean for almost a month and now it all ended. All my hard work was laid to waste, blasted to rubbles and debris.

This wasn't the first time it happened. However, this was the one most difficult to bear. So I was very angry thinking that I've wasted my life on false hope.

But folks let us consider the facts. We are made to suffer, just like how the Lord was meant to die. Life on earth is not a holiday. It's actually a battlefield full of pain and suffering to test how worthy we are. To test our allegiance to God. It is always easy to say we love God when things are fine but when things start to go the way we don't want them, we just complain saying it's unfair and God doesn't care about me or we could just backslide and enjoy what little joy is left.

What makes it tougher is that in this specific battlefield, we are not allowed to fight back. If we do, we loose whatever the holy spirit gave us. We whack whoever messes with us, we insult when we are insulted. The Christian life is not about how hard we hit, but instead how much we can take. How to get whacked, hit or insulted yet keep moving forward.

Troubles are just like trials to determine the depth of our devotion. If we give up the cross at the first sight of trouble, it shows how shallow or devotion is. The one who endures the most wins. However, there are margin for errors. Perhaps God wants us to use these failures to learn how to prevent them again. That's why problems come in unexpected times and ways, so we can expect the unexpected.

If we fail, just get up and piece back the puzzle.

9th April 2010 - Formal Dress Week

After almost a decade of seeing the jeans/t-shirt format, pastor ordered us to switch to formal dressing which is very bizarre for most of us because most of us only wear them at weddings, grand dinners or funerals. But it was a fun sight to bestow. Nevertheless, three of us failed to adhere to the dressing code.

First, Pastor asked us to take a group photo but there was a catch. The boys were to get a chair, set it up and hold it as the girl sit. Many first timers here because none of us did this before.

Although the session had it's subtle share of light hearted moments, it was one of the most tense subjects touched. Discretion. We are thought to carry ourselves properly and to look out for sexual predators who act overly discreet and dump the girl/boy after they had their fill.

There was also the passage "I will not be mastered by anything". Basically means we must avoid being consumed/addicted/ mastered by anything of the world. Common examples include foul language, pornography, dirty jokes, violent movies(which I admit is kinda cool) or it could be anything. Indeed it is addictive and hard to let go but that doesn't make it okay for us to say it out. Be mastered only by God and you will be guaranteed of maximum discretion.

Pastor also chastised most of us by criticizing our foul language, regardless if it is spoken, typed or written. Which what gives people a bad name. How much of a difference can we make if we are no better than the people around us or if we're worse than them. Hard to swallow right, but it's the only way to do it.

Then there was dinner at McDonalds. Feels extra weird to be walking in all dressed up. Oh Gosh.