Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 26 october 2015
(original script written in 10/25/2015)
If your heart finds the earthly things more desirable than God, God can give it over to them and let you perish with them. But if being enlighened by the truth, you find God exceedingly desirable and you find pleasure in fellowshiping with Him, He shall dwell (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 24 october 2015
(original draft written in 10/14/15)
"O God, You are my God;
early will I seek You;
my soul thirsts for You,
my flesh faints for You,
in a dry and thirsty land
with no water.
I have seen You in the sanctuary,
to see Your power and Your glory.
(... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 18 october 2015
The perfectly loving God doesn't just love mercy - He also loves justice and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24). God already made a way for sinners to be forgiven and be redeemed from the curse of sin through the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross - and this is how the perfect mercy, perfect justice, (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 5 october 2015
(8/21/2015)
God, Who are You in this life of mine?
You are the very Source of it. You are the Creator of all things, and none of all that began to exist existed apart from Your wonderful and unimaginable power of creation. From the farthest stars in the heavens to the abysmal depths of the (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 28 september 2015
A brother in a Christian forum asked this topical question, "If you die right at this very moment, do you have assurance of going to heaven?"
By the following points, I have the assurance that I am saved:
In light of the Scriptures, I know that I am saved because I see in my life how (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 21 september 2015
I was reviewing my Sunday school lesson for September 20, 2015 and the passage that I was meditating on was Mark 5:21-43. To be honest, I was tempted to settle with simply teaching my young pupils that Jesus is the Miracle Maker. But as I was meditating on the passage, I was reminded of these four wonderful (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 7 september 2015
DISCLAIMER: This only applies to the case of those who died in infancy. In no way does this imply universalist soteriology. Remember that God in His sovereignty has an appointed time for the salvation of every individual believer (Acts 13:48) - and that includes the infants.
How does God redeem (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 25 august 2015
"Moreover, the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, so that he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses."
- Exodus 9:12, MEV
Why did God hardened Pharaoh's heart? Because he committed the only unforgivable sin - to resist and blaspheme (i.e. to be defiantly irreverent (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 9 july 2015
* "Salvation is not a license to sin. A true Christian will continue to do good work, as Christians are not only appointed by God to be saved but they are also appointed to do good works before the foundation of the world. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 7 july 2015
The Trinitarian nature of God (i.e., God existing in three equally Divine Persons, and yet being one God) just one of the incomprehensible teachings in Biblical orthodoxy - meaning, no human mind (which is just finite and therefore limited) can fully comprehend this teaching. As it is written in Deuteronomy (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 2 july 2015
Somebody asked, "Why take so much interest in theology when you're just a children's department teacher? You're not a pastor, are you?"
First of all, in my humble opinion, I think that question is a bit of nonsense. To say that only pastors should study theology is somewhat (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 1 july 2015
Somebody (who is presumably a charismatic "Christian" of cultish kind) called me a "false teacher" just because my view about Christian perfection seems to be different from his own view.
I do agree with him that true Christians strive for spiritual perfection (Matthew 5:48). (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 23 june 2015
A friend in Facebook complains in her post, "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot, I only exist we you need something." I'm not sure whether or not she actually meant to address it to somebody. But I can only imagine if God will say the same complaint to us. And to be honest, I sometimes wonder (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 21 june 2015
As I start to write this composition, I honestly don't know what to say here. Hmmm... Should I start by saying, "Happy Fathers' Day, Dad"? Or, "I love you, Dad and God bless you"?
Nonsense. First of all, Dad won't be seeing this post for the simple reason that he (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 17 june 2015
♫ Throw a quarter in the sky, before it falls to the ground,
Gotta' call heads or tails
Throw my nickels and my pennies and my dimes
In the wishing well ♫
- Christon Gray
Throwing all that you got in "the wishing well" with hopes of "winning somehow" as you take (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 16 june 2015
As a young learner of history, I have observed that bloodshed is always involved in founding a new nation, kingdom, or state. Figuratively speaking, every kingdom or nation in current existence was founded on bloodshed.
Throughout the history, we learn about kings and statesmen who shed great amount (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 14 june 2015
Somebody said, "Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to."
I honestly am not sure what the author of that quote meant by that. But as for me, I believe that a wise believer uses his faith without having to absolutely abandon common sense. And I just can't understand (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 13 june 2015
Somebody asked, "If money is the root of all evil, was it money that caused the devil to be evil? If it was, how was it possible when there weren't yet any form of money in existence back then?"
Actually, it's not the money itself that is the root of all kinds of evil. Because (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 30 may 2015
I read the Bible and learned that God wants to perfect us.
Let's be clear there. I'm not saying God wants us to be perfect or else He'll not love us - that's called legalism. What I'm trying to say is, God, in His great loving kindness for us, wants to perfect us by His grace. (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 21 may 2015
Just keeping it real, it kinda' pisses me off when somebody passes a chain message to me which says, "Share this and you will have good luck; ignore this and you will have bad luck." And what would piss me off all the more is that those who share things like that to me are... *sighs* grown (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 10 may 2015
♪♪ When was the last time you said, "I'm sorry"?
When was the last time you said, "I love you"? ♪♪
This was the song that played in my mind as I was hearing a sermon in the church. The pastor asked the congregation in her sermon, "When was the last time you (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 7 may 2015
Let's say I am a citizen of a kingdom that is under traditional type of monarchy. And I am one of the king's closest friends.
Now, I have a brother who is a rebel. And because I love him, I sent petitions to the king, asking him to grant my brother an amnesty. As my close friend, the king (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 4 may 2015
Before you accuse me of being brainwashed by these people that you call "churchians," please know that I was once like you people who had so many doubts with Christianity.
I tell you what - I grew up in an ideally disappointing Evangelical family. With that kind of environment, I have (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 27 april 2015
A man that I deeply respect once said that "A happy wife equals a happy life." Well, he's married; so obviously, I believe him in that statement.
Problem is, that statement makes me hate the fact that I'm single. To be honest, I want to experience those joyfully painful headaches (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 19 april 2015
I just recently understood why the NYer animal rights activists want to ban balut in their state. I believe that the actual reason behind this is the fact that common sense is exponentially becoming a very scarce commodity in America... or pretty much, in this progressivistic world.
So, to the animal (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 14 april 2015
“Why can’t the rich people just be satisfied with the money that they have?”, a friend asked in Facebook.
First of all, this is not to generalize that all rich people are greedy. We’re not discounting the possibility that there are actually rich people who wish they can’t get any (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 11 april 2015
Let me get this right. So, aborting a human fetus is a woman's right, but cooking an underdeveloped duckling is wrong? Seriously, American liberals?
Okay, so when we Christians and conservatives protest against abortion, you'll say, "That's just a clump of tissue." Oh, well. (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 4 april 2015
Repentance is not only a matter of what one should turn from but also of Whom one should turn to. For repentance is a redirection of what the heart wants or so desires from something to something else. In it, the heart changes its course of direction and makes a half round turn from its former way; for (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 27 march 2015
I believe that only those who do not know what life is should fear death.
First of all, if a person would only observe the diversities in life, he should be convinced that there is one God Who created it. This should cause him to have a conscientious feeling that he might be offending this God in (... więcej)
Yehoshua ben Peleh Shim'onai, 22 march 2015
I remember a time when my Mom asked me to play my song on her phone. After playing it, I jokingly asked her, "So now, you love hip-hop?" She frankly replied (well, she's an Ilocana, so it's very natural that she would), "No, I hate [hip-hop]. I only listened to this song because (... więcej)
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