Funny Thoughts: Why Mary Magdalene IS NOT Jesus' Wife, etc

Sometimes I find it funny that "Christian Forums" are so much less edifying than "secular forums."

Sheesh.

On the other hand, I find it amazing how Ruth could embrace her mother-in-law's homeland, customs, family, and God. Reminds me of someone I love..

On still the other hand, I could not believe how some people could actually believe that Mary of Magdala was the wife of JESUS, MY LORD, MASTER and SAVIOR!

It's been two nights that I had been pondering how to answer that argument. While fixing my dishes earlier this evening, I came up with:

• God is a God of love. If Jesus impregnated Mary of Magdala even as He knew He was dying on the cross in a few months' time, that would be a pure act of selfishness. Why leave a widow, in a country like Israel, where, in those times, widows were social anathemas?! If Jesus cared even a tenth of how He loves the rest of us, surely He wouldn't leave a wife destitute and scorned like that!
• God is a HOLY God. If even MARRIED espiritistas could not have sex the night before they healed someone (source: Jaime Licauco's book, back when I was "searching," filched from memory), why would a HOLY God defile himself, even with a marriage to a woman who was a prostitute?! He knows that the woman would still pass on physical DNA that would still contain issues. That is just plain crazy if Jesus really did marry Mary Magdalene.
  
• Jesus, again, is a God of Love, a God of Justice. Would He allow us, and the women of His time to bicker if He chose a woman as a wife, supreme in position over the disciples and the rest of us?! If Peter could question Jesus about John's place in the Lord's heart, would they not question Mary of Magdala's position as the Lord's widow?! Then would Jesus actually allow that?!
  
• Also, a wife has her own interests to look after. Women tend to guard their children and their own properties. If Paul and Peter could still have personal issues even as they are the pioneer apostles of their time, even with the gift of the presence of the Counselor in them, would a wife, choked by the cares of this world, not nag Jesus? Would a widow not produce bitter children as bitterness would sometimes creep into her heart when her flesh makes her forget His role and His sovereignty? "Why did my husband leave me?! To save the human race! What foolery! What will I feed these children now?!"

Seriously. Thing about it, you guys. Dan Brown should be clubbed. And those who believed him should be jolted out of their deception. SHEESH.

For Missionaries: TWITTER May Well Be A Big Help

If you are a missionary in a critical region, and you may be at risk for getting yourself in deep doo-doo, maybe this story will inspire you.

Let's use technology in the way that would glorify God.. And save our necks in the process. Heheh. :p

Student 'Twitters' his way out of Egyptian jail

• Student James Karl Buck sent one-word text from detention about his arrest
  
• Twitter message allowed college to get word, hire a lawyer for him
  
• Now Buck's quest is to find translator Mohammed Maree, who was arrested with him
  
• Twitter is a micro-blogging tool that allows users to update their status
  

By Mallory Simon
CNN

(CNN) -- James Karl Buck helped free himself from an Egyptian jail with a one-word blog post from his cell phone.

Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley, was in Mahalla, Egypt, covering an anti-government protest when he and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested April 10.

On his way to the police station, Buck took out his cell phone and sent a message to his friends and contacts using the micro-blogging site Twitter.

The message only had one word. "Arrested."

Within seconds, colleagues in the United States and his blogger-friends in Egypt -- the same ones who had taught him the tool only a week earlier -- were alerted that he was being held.

Twitter is a social-networking blog site that allows users to send status updates, or "tweets," from cell phones, instant messaging services and Facebook in less than 140 characters.

Hossam el-Hamalawy, a Cairo-based blogger at UC-Berkeley, was one of the people who got word of Buck's arrest.

"At first I was worried about his safety," el-Hamalawy said.

Then, el-Hamalawy took to the Web and wrote regular updates in his own blog to spread the information Buck was sending by Twitter. Nobody was sure how long Buck would be able to communicate.See Buck describe what he saw and captured on film during the protests

But Buck was able to send updates every couple of hours saying he was still detained, he had spoken to the prosecutor, he still had not been charged, and he was worried about Maree.

"Usually the first thing the police go for is the detainees' cameras and cellular phones," el-Hamalawy said. "I'm surprised they left James with his phone."

Twitter is normally used to keep groups of people connected in less urgent situations.

But Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, said he and others knew that the service could have wide-reaching effects early on, when the San-Francisco, California-based company used it to communicate during earthquakes.

Stone said that as the service got more popular, they began to hear stories of people using Twitter during natural disasters with a focus on activism and journalism.

Buck's urgent message is proof of the value of Twitter, Stone said. Buck's entry set off a chain of events that led to his college hiring a lawyer on his behalf.

"James' case is particularly compelling to us because of the simplicity of his message -- one word, 'arrested' -- and the speed with which the whole scene played out," Stone said. "It highlights the simplicity and value of a real-time communication network that follows you wherever you go."

Initially, the Twitter message was a precaution -- something people could trace in case anything went wrong, Buck said.

"The most important thing on my mind was to let someone know where we were so that there would be some record of it ... so we couldn't [disappear]," Buck said. "As long as someone knew where we were, I felt like they couldn't do their worst [to us] because someone, at some point, would be checking in on them."

Buck began using Twitter as a way to keep up in touch with the bloggers at the heart of his project and the events going on in Egypt that he intended to cover. Buck was working on a multimedia project on Egypt's "new leftists and the blogosphere" as part of his master's degree thesis.

Buck found out from a Twitter message that a planned protest against rising food prices and decreasing wages in Mahalla had been shut down by Egyptian authorities April 6.

The next day, tensions rose as family and friends of protesters who had been detained took to the streets, eventually throwing Molotov cocktails and setting tires on fire, he said.

On April 10, Buck returned to Mahalla, where protests continued.

"I was worried about getting arrested, so I made sure to stay at a distance from the protest so there was no way I could be accused of being part of it," Buck said. "Mohammed and I had a bad sense; it was really tense."

When the men tried to escape, they were detained. That's when Buck thought of Twitter and sent out his message.

Buck and Maree were interrogated, released and then detained again by the same police officers.

"We are really worried that we are off the radar now," Buck said.

Eventually Buck was released, but Maree was transferred to another police station.

As he left the station, Buck reached into his pocket, as he did less than 24 hours earlier.

Another one-word blog entry said it all: "Free."

As happy as he was to be free, Buck said, his biggest frustration was leaving behind the translator who helped protect him during the riots.

Although the Twitter message helped him find contacts to get out of prison, he says it was more the power of the network he had as an American that enabled him to be released so quickly.

"Mohammed was sitting next to me," he said. "But he didn't have the network to call. I tried to use my network to shield him until they tore us apart."

Twitter may not have been able to secure Maree's release, but Buck hopes his initial reason for using Twitter will help find his missing friend.

"It was my big hope that people would get [the message] right away and at least put a thumbtack on the map as far as our location," Buck said.

There has been no official confirmation regarding Maree's whereabouts.

Attiya Shakran, press counsel for the Egyptian Consulate in San Francisco, said Maree was released April 13.

Maree's brother Ahmed Maree said that he had not heard from his brother and that he believes he is still in jail.

Government officials in Egypt could neither confirm nor deny Maree's release, despite repeated requests for comment.

Buck is now using his story and Twitter page as a way to rally people looking for answers about Maree's status. He's gone as far as publishing the phone number of the press counsel of the Egyptian Consulate in San Francisco and posting a petition for Maree's release.

For Buck, the main story is no longer about his quest for freedom from jail; it's a quest to find answers and, eventually, find his friend.

I Should Have Just Said No.

There had been many times in my life wherein I had overcommitted myself and I tried my best to deliver, but I ended up wrecking projects and relationships with people instead when, at the last minute, it finally hit me that I couldn't do it. Not because I really couldn't, but because my rebellious streak is making me passive-aggressive, and thus immobilizing me from being productive at all.

It's been an issue with me, this passive-aggressive streak. It's about time I asked God to heal me of this. It's been hampering my business relationships, and it harms my testimony for Christ.

I should learn to say NO.

No wonder Rick Joyner said "Human compassion is just as contrary to ME (God) as human oppression." (The Vision, I dunno if it's a paraphrase or it's verbatim, but that's what Rick Joyner said.)

To the people I've hurt, I truly am sorry. I should have just said "no."

Flowers Out My Window

A couple of months ago, I had established a couple of "love symbols" with God: flowers and dogs. Whether I get to just behold a flower or a dog with my eyes, or I get to pick the flower and press it in my diary, or just look at and admire the beauty of the dog or pet and play and communicate with it, either is a reminder of how God loves me, to me.

This is a very emotional time in my life, and I just couldn't help but be "businesslike," meaning just try to rush through my morning prayers, do my "duties" with God, and be on with my day and fill it with as much moneymaking as I can muster.

But as I was praying for an authority figure in my life, I noticed my inner voice grow faint. This is usually a sign that God wants me to stop, or there is sin in my heart. I started to pray again, asking God if there is sin in my heart. He said, "Don't pray."

Startled, I opened my eyes. And this is what I beheld:



This picture certainly does not give justice to the true beauty of the (are these Narra flowers?) flowers out my window.

I purposefully moved from my desk by my bed in order to behold them again. God is so loving. God is so kind. Even in my disobedience, He made the Narra bear flowers to comfort me in these dark hours of mine. :)

Friends, our peace is not of this world. That only when the rest of the world is calm do we have peace. But our peace is that of Christ's: in the midst of destruction and desecration, we are unfathomably placid.

I love my Lord and Savior, my Master, against whom I am so remiss... He is a better Lover than any human man could get, and to think...

I'm engaged.

Take it from me, girls. I love being loved by my fiance, but Jesus tops him anyday.

Women, Be Secure! (Take it from Deborah!)

When I was younger, I had read about the story of the judge Deborah, and I had been impressed with her life to the point of sheer admiration, then until now. But it's only today that I understood another dimension of her personhood.

The main lesson in her life that was the lesson that God is calcifying in me in this season is exactly Pastor Jim Laffoon's point in this article: that a woman should know her place in ministry: it is always behind men.

I had been ignorant, even rebellious, of that principle, because my generation saw women glorifying feminism and the rise of women's lib. I grew up being told by my parents, my teachers, and most adults around me of my potentials for "greatness." I grew up thinking that I should be doing what men are doing.

And yet, gloriously, God started steering me towards submission to men and understanding that when I would already be ready to fit the shoes He's shining for me, I still have to work in submission to men in authority. Though I had started to understand the non-negotiability of that, it was actually just early this year that I started realizing one reason why women are supposed to be in the background.

As I was going through my Victory Weekend late February, I had seen been witness to several anointed women preaching in public. I noticed that when they would speak up front, there would be subtle changes in their tone, body language, and even words, depending on the audience's reactions, and probably depending on the state of their heart. This is not to disparage women, but let me get to my point. I realized that our true gift as women is that we are more attuned to the Spirit: to the emotions, to the things that are unseen to the naked eye.

This gift is both a good and bad thing: because we are more attuned, we can pinpoint how our friends feel and react accordingly, we can better understand what they need at the moment, and we can minister better because of our sensitivity.

And yet, the downside is that in terms of preaching, decision-making and the like, I believe that women indeed do have to give the floor to the men, so to speak. In my walk with God, I noticed that I get flighty, I decide based on what the circumstances tell me, and I go back on my word. These past few weeks, God had been showing me that He is a PLAN A God. Meaning, even if I make the most unwise of decisions, He steers me back to where He had wanted me to be in, in the first place. He is a God who prefers discipline. Because in being disciplined, you learn the wisdom when to make exceptions.

I noticed that women need more boundaries as regards to time management, to caring about others, and in reacting to situations, or even just body language. This goes back to the trait of being sensitive in that women just find it easy to prioritize the need of a person, over the structure or systems of the way things should be run.

That is why men take precedence in running the structure and systems of the church and the ministry, while women should be the ones to take care of those who are wounded, need healing, and who need to be taught how to fly.

Indeed, the man is the haligi ng tahanan, while the woman is the ilaw ng tahanan. We are uniquely made; we need each other. There is God's glory all over our differences. We should understand our Shape, and understand where we belong and rest in the knowledge that God uses us even as we work behind and in support of men. :)

It is strange to me that I learned to move in contentment of my role, but I can only attribute that to God opening my eyes, one layer at a time. :)

I love You, JESUS!!!

Enjoy the article, ladies! (Gentlemen, you can enjoy this too, if you have a mind to peer into our world. This was written by another man, after all.:p)

Lessons in the Life of the Judges: Deborah - A Mother in Israel

By Jim Laffoon


Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.

She sent for Barak, son of Abinoam, from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariot and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’” Judges 4:4-7

“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned; travelers took to winding paths. Village life in Israel ceased, ceased until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel.” Judges 5:6-7


All of Israel had been cruelly oppressed for more than twenty years. Crushed repeatedly by the nine hundred iron chariots of Sisera, they had been reduced to an impoverished broken nation. The roads had been abandoned and normal life for many of the people had ceased. God, however, had not forgotten them.

In answer to their prayers, he raised up a leader. Her name was Deborah – a mother in Israel. Through her prophetic gifting and wise counsel, she challenged all of Israel to rise up and throw off the yoke of their oppressors.

Finally, because of her faith, an obscure warrior named Barak answered her call to lead the armies of Israel. Under their leadership, Sisera and his diabolical legions were utterly destroyed.

What lessons can we learn from this amazing story of how God used one woman to change a nation?

First, wherever you look in the body of Christ today, it is clear that God is calling women to rise up into their destiny. Whether they are students, professionals, or stay-at-home moms, God is calling them to take their place at the forefront of the spiritual battles that are defining our age.

Second, Deborah was a prophetess. If you are going to fully come into God’s unique purpose for your life, it is critical that you understand the gifts that He has given you. Whether your gift is evangelism, teaching, healing, or mercy, the understanding of how your gift operates is critical to your destiny.

Third, she was a mother. In an hour when much of society has denigrated motherhood, it is vital that you and I see its importance. Motherhood is at the very essence of God’s plan to change history, because he has given mothers the privilege of shaping the lives of their children in their most formative years.

It is typically the hand of a mother, not the hand of God, that carefully lays the initial blocks in a child’s spiritual foundation. These early moments in a child’s development cannot be minimized, because they will become the very foundation stones upon which the child’s whole life will rest.

Fourth, unlike some anointed women I have known, Deborah was secure enough in her anointing and her womanhood to understand and respect the role God had given men. Even though she was Israel’s prophetess, she realized that the responsibility of leading Israel’s armies belonged to a man.

Her acknowledgement of Barak’s leadership, despite his initial reluctance to obey God’s call, gives us a unique perspective on the role of women and men in ministry.

May your eyes be opened to the unique calling that God has placed on your life as you ponder these words today.



© Copyright 2005 by Jim Laffoon

Stay At Home Moms, This is For YOU (And me, too! In the future, that is...)

The day I had read Ms. Marie Bonifacio's blog last year, that was the day that I realized that it is truly important for a mom to make sure that her kids grow up right.

I am planning to be a stay at home mom when I become a mommy, and Jim Laffoon's sermon validated me. :)

Lessons from the Life of the Judges: Jael - The Stay-At-Home Mom By Jim Laffoon Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent and she put a covering over him. “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink and covered him up. “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say ‘No,’” But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died. Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went in with her and there lay Sisera, with a tent peg through his temple – dead. Judges 4:18-22 Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent dwelling women [stay-at-home moms]. Judges 5:24 As she cleaned her tent that day, the last thing on Jael’s mind was changing her nation. A faithful wife and tremendous mother, she had no aspirations beyond the life she had grown accustomed to. Yet, God had a surprise for his faithful servant that day, for destiny was knocking at her door. His name was Sisera; the ruthless commander of Israel’s most hated enemies. Although he claimed to be her husband’s friend, she knew that at heart, he was no more than a ruthless butcher. Now, with the human embodiment of all that was evil standing in her door, her heart was pounding with fear as she invited him in. He had been to her home on other occasions, but this was one of the first times she had ever been alone with him. Yet, as she considered his vulnerability, she realized that God had given this mass murderer into her hands. As Sisera slowly fell asleep, Jael’s eyes searched frantically for a weapon. Finally, when he was sleeping soundly, she took a sharpened tent peg and drove it into his head with the blows of a hammer. With those strokes, she ensured the freedom of her friends and family for a whole generation. If you are a stay-at-home mom today, or simply considering that as an option for your future, the message of this story is critical for you. One of the great lies of the enemy is that your role as a mother doesn’t really matter. He has tried to convince you that it is simply a menial task that anyone can do. This, however, is far from the truth. Even as God brought Sisera to Jael’s door, so there are a number of enemies standing at the door of your home which He has called you to kill. Whether it is the tide of immorality and amorality that it is flooding the airwaves, the deceptive lies that are shaping our society’s perspective of motherhood, or the loneliness and depression that seems to be the constant companion of many young mothers, your ability to defeat these enemies will have an incredible impact on more people than you can even imagine. That’s right, whether you realize it or not, you have an audience. Other mothers are watching the way you raise your children. The very fact that you live your life joyfully has caused them to question the enemy’s lies—lies that tell them that their only hope for lasting fulfillment lies outside the confines of home and family. Do you see it yet? Your willingness to stay at home and raise your children while they are young has put you at the very forefront of the battles that are raging in the cultures of our world. Far from limiting your destiny, staying at home has placed you in the very center of God’s will for your life. You have been given the opportunity to shape the lives of kingdom warriors who will continue to change the world long after you are gone. Furthermore, your joyful acceptance of God’s will for your life and the fulfillment you find through it endangers the enemy’s kingdom, because they contradict all the lies he has sown into the vulnerable hearts of mothers around the world. May God give you the grace to defeat the enemies that are knocking at your door, as you ponder these words today. © Copyright 2005 by Jim Laffoon

Why do I seriously feel so vindicated?! :D

http://www.biblebelievers.org/truetest.htm
http://www.biblebelievers.org/thusboyg.htm