[Book Review] The Longest Bridge Across Water by Jeremy Mangerchine

This book was recommended by Praying Medic on his Twitter account when the Kindle version was $0.99.  I started reading it yesterday and couldn’t stop.  I am at a point where I could hear the Holy Spirit in me but I keep looking for more, for even closer contact with God and Jesus and for the last few weeks have been wondering how far I could go.  Then came this revealing book of how God intensely pursues those of us who are willing and obedient to Him, to let Him do the driving and the subsequent blessings He showers on us.  It’s not just your normal blessing of finances and employment.  It includes the gift of healing, prophesy, visions, peeks of God’s feelings and perspectives, and His immense love for everyone of us open to Him. As I read, I looked up each bible verse and the context especially from Paul’s epistles and for the first time, I understand how constrained Paul was in his replies to the churches.  If only he didn’t have to deal with the spiritual immaturity and the church matters, he could have expounded so much more on what God wanted to bestow on us – the mystery of the Kingdom of God.  Oh how I wished the bible was longer.  But on the other hand, after reading this book, I now know that all we need to do is ask the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God to show us.

This book comes at a most opportune time.  If you are searching how faith works, Jeremy wrote an explosive chapter on it.  I’m buying a hardcopy for my new born-again Christian son.  I want him to bypass all the sin and brokenness talk and go straight to the source – God – who lives in us now.

I suggest an alternative online store if you are buying the hardbacks.  Alibris sends out their books almost immediately and has way faster service than the other big online store and at times, Alibris sends $1 to $3 coupons for you to redeem.  I’m switching.  Or you could buy directly from the author.

[Movie Review] Noah by Russell Crowe

I took my two good friends to watch this movie just because we have never seen a Noah’s Ark on the big screen before and wondered what it would look like.  The movie was LOOOOOONNNGGG!  It felt like the director didn’t want to waste all the lovely footage and kept every single thing he shot like the Battle of the Red Cliffs which became two movies in Asia.  Long!  Too long for a simple story.  I have to agree with my friends.  The director sure had a lot of imagination.  Not only are there rock monsters called Watchers, the devolvement of which was totally biblically incorrect (SPOILER ALERT – HIGHLIGHT TO READ :  The fallen angels were expelled because they followed Lucifer who rebelled, not because they wanted to help a human and therefore were condemned into rock monsters), their ending were unbiblical too. (SPOILER ALERT – HIGHLIGHT TO READ : Fallen angels do not get to be redeemed.  They along with Lucifer get thrown into the lake of sulfur at the end of the day.)

And what’s with the family of 6 instead of 8? Groan.  (SPOILER ALERT – HIGHLIGHT TO READ :  Noah’s family of 8 went into the ark.  Period.  3 sons and 3 daughters-in-laws and his wife.  So all that wife seeking business is imagined.)

Don’t believe Methulselah having healing power.  It was never mentioned in the bible.  Nor was Cain, the first son of Adam, mentioned ever again after being sent away. Whether he lived that long or not, it’s doubtful.  See chart of different interpretations of time of the patriachs here.  But definitely, Cain was not in the ark.  If he were, the bible would have said so.  So don’t believe it.

I suggest everyone to read the bible chapters here before or after the movie to see how the director put in so much distortion into the bible story.  Granted, it’s entertainment, but there are some scary concepts introduced too.

What Does The Letter To The Church In Laodicea Mean?

This was the term paper I wrote for my Biblical Exegesis class and I was so thrilled that my lecturer gave me 100% Excellent with the following comment: “You really did follow the instruction.  You did an excellent job with this paper, well researched and yet concise!”  So I’m sharing it here.

Translation: New International Version 1984

Revelations 3:14-22

14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

[Movie Review] Son of God

Yesterday, I took my two boys and the girlfriend and my 85 year old missionary friend to watch the Son of God.  Parents, singles, atheists, agnostics, everyone reading this, if you have a chance to watch this movie, please watch it, and preferably on the big screen.  The Gladiator folks were hired to work on this movie too and it’s above my expectation for a bible recount.  The people who produced The Bible, 10 part TV series did this one and that series was one of the top ratings show last year.

This story starts from Jesus’ birth to his resurrection, unlike the Passion which was only about the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life.  I love how Jesus was portrayed as loving and compassionate, full of human emotion.  After that, my favorite character is the very flawed Peter.  The opening scene of him fishing somehow touches me.  That invitation to join Jesus – to some goal and future unknown – that was how I felt when I yielded totally to Him that day, and even now, everyday, it’s an adventure. My middle one asked why Peter was the leader even when he made so many mistakes.  It’s exactly because he made so many mistakes – he learnt through them and would not repeat them again.  2 Corinthians 12:9 In the end, (this part is not in the movie), though Peter became the rock on which the church was built, and the leader of all, he deemed himself still unworthy of Jesus and when he was crucified himself, he chose to be hanged upside down as a statement that he could never come close to Jesus and therefore did not deserve the same treatment.

Back to the movie. While the crucifixion was touching too, the reassurance that Jesus would always be there for us was translated very well throughout the movie.  So much so that even my little rebel, aka my youngest son, was overwhelmed when He appeared to the apostles once more.  My middle one said he cried a bit, but even better, after 6 months of my evangelizing and retelling of the gospels on the morning drive to school every day, everything on screen seemed to finally all fit together.  All that he heard about at his literature, English and cinema classes, they all mentioned the bible in some way and for the first time, they all gelled together to make sense of who Jesus really was.

So if you have kids heading to high school and college, take them to this movie so that they could at least have an idea what the humanities classes in higher education would require.  This used to be basic knowledge for every kid until parents stopped taking the kids to Sunday school and schools took the secular route, yet in general education in tertiary education, you need to have this side of the story, not just science and pantheism, new age, philosophy or Buddhism or whatever you happen to adhere to.

This production is high quality big screen material with politics fleshed out during that period of time and closely followed the Gospel of Mark. Don’t believe what other reviewers said. Don’t even read them.  See for yourself.  Most reviewers are non-Christian and don’t even read the bible.  When the movie ended, my heart went out to my missionary friend sitting quietly feeling very full.  He and his wife spent 45 years doing exactly what Jesus did, in Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines spreading the good news and healing the sick through miracles.  How dare anyone say that Jesus Christ is bogus or that God does not exist? 45 years doing just that, performing miracles.  Don’t be narrow minded.  Go find a real church and find their missionaries and talk to them.  God works in miracles even to this day.

I look forward to their next movie, AD, which will be about the early church movement.

The Dying Words of Unbelievers

My professor lent me Billy Graham’s Till Armageddon: A Perspective on Suffering so that I could be more well versed on how to articulate the subject when I talk to unbelievers.  It’s a decent book but he didn’t deal much on the Book of Job as I really wanted. If you have the book The Reason For God by Timothy Keller, you don’t need to especially buy this book. Anyway, there is one part that I really liked.  He listed the dying words of atheists, infidels and agnostics and I quote directly from the book:

    “I am abandoned by God and man! I shall go to hell! O Christ, O Jesus Christ!” Voltaire, the infidel.

    “When I lived, I provided for everything but death; now I must die, and I am unprepared to die,” Cesare Borgia.

    “What blood, what murders, what evil councils have I followed.  I am lost! I see it well!” Charles IX, King of France.

    Thomas Paine is reported to have cried: ” I would give worlds, if I had them, if The Age of Reason had never been published.  O Lord, help me!  Christ, help me! Stay with me! It is hell to be left alone!”

I have to say that if you need to disagree with Jesus Christ, read the New Testament thoroughly, study it inside out and get a pastor to explain all the parts that appear unattainable, unreasonable, untenable before you make your decision.   Jesus’ teachings may be in the form of parables but they are not easy to understand.  He told them so that those who are not hungry for his word will shrug them off but true believers like his apostles will run after him and ask him to explain what he meant.  Those are the people he wants.  And unless you study it with an open mind, it will go over your head just like it did for writers like Bertrand Russell and Thomas Paine.

The closer I walk with Jesus, the more I understand His words.  And these days, I am blessed that when I ask Him to reveal the meaning, He does it without fail, either speaking to me in my sleep, via a mentor, via a situation or from the bible itself, on the same day.

Why We Should Worry About Our High Schoolers!

My sons believe this is a joke written by someone but it says it is compiled by a high school teacher in Minnesota.  Roll eyes.  May God save our nation’s education!

A Not Quite Perfect World History

If you are from the US, you will know how wrong some of these spellings and sentences are.  I’ll shed light on the Christian aspect for those who are not so familiar with it.  Read below:

My cheap finds

For the last two months, I have been debating which bible translation I should get for my three kids.  There are over 200 translations out there and if you combine the different formats, type size, cover size, there are thousands and thousands to choose from.  But I also know that you have to see the book itself to verify that you like the print size before you buy it. Some of them are just so small and awkward that it puts you off totally. I live in a an ex-hippie and a meth-ful country where the occult, athesism, agnosticism, pantheism and Eastern philosophy have 10 levels on the bookshelves and bibles at most half a row. And more Catholic than Christian bibles for some reason. If there is a God word on the cover, the title are more like God is dead, God is a delusion and so on. It’s depressing to walk into these bookstores whether they are selling new books or used books.

[Movie Review] The Book of Eli by Denzel Washington

I missed watching this movie the first round when we rented it because back then, I was not into the bible but now, I’m totally eager and this movie is superb.  Of all post apocalyptic movies, this one is the most meaningful of all.  I have been thinking about some movies with Christian content to show to my kids and this one fits the bill perfectly.

Boys want to watch action and this one has action, not just meaningless shots and explosions, but done with a purpose. A man carrying the bible set out to find the rightful place it belongs to and along the way, gets hunted down. I love it that the hero quotes so many bible verses.

The Book of Revelation

I have deleted whatever I wrote last time because now I realize that the only truths come from the Word of God, the Bible.  I am not going to watch any more youtube videos on the subject and I urge you not to either.  Just study the Bible. We don’t know if any of the visions are engineered by demonic forces or not.

 

Comment from this thread:

I am so happy you’ve come to that realization. I was almost on
the verge of sending you an email saying almost that exact same
thing. Blessings to you.

Ahjumma at August 16, 2013 02:08 AM

 

Posted August 8, 2013:

I finished the book last night at 11 pm.  It’s a long book and rather bloody.  Hopefully I could prepare my kids before that time comes.