The Valley

This song is sang by Christian in Pilgrim's Progress, when he reached to the end of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 

O World of wonders (I can say no less),
That I should be preserved in that distress
That I have met with here! Oh, blessed be
That hand that from it hath deliver'd me!
Dangers in darkness, devils, Hell, and sin,
Did compass me while I this vale was in;
Yea, snares, and pits, and traps, and nets did lie
My path about, that worthless, silly I
Might have been caught, entangled, and cast down:
But since I live, let Jesus wear the crown!

I Was Blind

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Eye Vision
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My eye vision is generally good. Most of my friends do not have a good eye vision; therefore, they have to wear glasses. Out of the people in my family, 3 out of 7 members do not need to wear glasses. Whether we need them or not, gratitude should be expressed in the creation of lenses so that we could see. 

I do not have any friends or people that I know of who are blind, but I have seen blind people getting onto buses, and they have first priority to the seat. 
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Color Vision
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On the other hand, my color vision is not very great. I have trouble telling colors apart. For those who read this entry, I have to be blunt and honest with myself. I absolutely hate it when people test my color vision because it is very personal to me, and I do not enjoy it. Even though people may have good intentions of wanting to know me and my color vision problem, it makes me feel stupid and uncomfortable for not being able to tell apart a pink from a purple apart. 
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Intermission
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What do people with bad color vision and bad eye vision have in common? For one, they know that their eye sight is limited in discerning color or distance. Most important of all, it is good that they are aware of their problem, and it is good that people can go to the doctor to check their eye sight. There is another blindness that I want to speak about. It is a blindness that always proves very deadly to us. 
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Spiritual Vision
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All of us have a spiritual vision. When I talk about a spiritual vision, I am not speaking about seeing the spiritual realm or seeing God per se. The spiritual vision that I am speaking about is knowing and placing one's faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ - the Gospel. A person who is spiritually blind cannot see Christ. If he or she cannot see Christ, then that person cannot see God. All of us are born under this grievous condition, but some of us have found healing for it, which I will provide details for later.

Those who are spiritually blind also cannot understand the Word of God (Matthew 13:13-17; 1 Corinthians 2:14; John 14:17).

What caused the blindness? 2 Corinthians 4:4 makes it very clear, "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." Satan is described as the "god of this world". Satan's schemes, tactics, and half-truths cause people to believe in the lies rather than the whole truth.  Satan wants us to love and enjoy what the world has to offer us, rather than what Jesus has to offer us (1 John 2:15-17; John 10:10). Satan leads us to think that we are doing "okay", hiding the fact that we're wretched, foolish and blind.  Therefore, we buy into his lies (John 8:44). 

At the same time, some of us walk in darkness, and are eventually blinded by the moral darkness of hatred (1 John 2:11) because they choose not to love even though they say they walk in the light; thus developing a false sense of believe.

This blindness is different from the two blindness I mentioned. One of the major difference is that we do not know that we are blind, even though spiritually speaking we are. Satan has blinded us from knowing that we are blind. That's extremely deadly. 

Paul also applies this blindness in Romans 11:7-8 with Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10 to the Jew. That passage speaks about the Jews (some of them) rejecting Christ as the Messiah. John 9:39-41 speaks about this issue as well.

The only solution to overcoming this condition is to overcome it through Jesus Christ. When our faith is in Christ, He gives us the Holy Spirit and opens the eyes of our heart to understand and see Christ (1 John 4:13). The Holy Spirit illuminates the Scripture to us so that we can understand it (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). Therefore, believers are to abide in Christ and take up the armor of God so that the enemy cannot damage us (Ephesians 6; John 15). We can be assured that once we are born-again Christians, God will protect us from the evil one (1 John 5:18-19). If you cannot see God or understand Him and the Bible, then I gladly invite you to humbly pray to Him and ask Him to help you to comprehend your own sins, His love, His grace and His mercy.  

In John 9, not only did Jesus heal the blind man from physical blindness, but the blind man also saw Christ for who He is and worshiped Him. 

"I was blind, now I see." - The Blind Man

Jude 5 - 7

Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 1:5-7)

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Introduction
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We continue with our study on the letter of Jude. (Link: Introduction, Part 1, and Part 2). Let me provide for us some reminders about this letter. We want to be reminded that the theme of Jude is that "the church must contend for the one true faith once for all delivered to the saints and people of faith must persevere to the end by resisting the false teachers and following the truth." (ESV Study Bible, Introduction to Jude) The purpose for which Jude wrote this letter is found in verse 3, where believers are to "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." With thoughtful and careful biblical exegesis, and biblical hermeneutics, we will today examine the three stories that Jude uses in the OT as an example of judgments for apostasy and false teachers for his contemporaries.
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Jude 5 - 7
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Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

After presenting the purpose of his letter, which comes because of false teacher and apostasy, Jude builds his case by reminding his audience about something that they already knew. His audience would most likely be Jewish because he uses OT stories as an example for his contemporaries. 

The first story that he uses is the Exodus. After the Israelites have been rescued from slavery, and after they have crossed through the Red Sea, they are on their way to the Promised Land. The wilderness would be the most dramatic part of the story. The Jews, or the Israelites, disobeyed God and did not believe in Him (for many reasons). Because of their rebellion against God, God said that the same generation (twenty years old and upward) who was led out of Egypt would not see the Promised Land, except for Joshua and Caleb (see Numbers 14:20-38). After having been rescued from Egypt, having followed God's way, and then turning to rebellion against Him and turning away from Him is a form of apostasy. As a result, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. This part of the OT history and narrative Jude uses is an example of an apostasy.

When reading Numbers, it is very obvious that it was God, YHWH who destroyed those who did not believe. His act of judgement is well-defined and reasonable as I have explained briefly. However, Jude says it was "Iesous" (in Greek) that did it. Other translations say it was "the Lord" (kyrios). But, a number of Greek manuscripts have the Greek word for Jesus. It was Jesus who destroyed those who did not believe. Similarly, Paul speaks about a similar point in 1 Corinthians 10:4-10. 

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day

The second example that Jude uses is not clear and is a bit confusing. The first and third example (Sodom and Gomorrah) are more apparent. It is apparent that the angels had been entrusted with a certain authority by God, but they have abandoned their proper dwelling place by rebelling against God. God has kept these beings in eternal chains ever since. Scholars suggest that this event relates to Genesis 6:1-4. Whatever the case is, angels can't be redeemed. Christ did not come to earth to help the angels, but to help the elect (Hebrews 2:16), who are human beings. Therefore, whenever the judgement of the great day is, the are angels destined for destruction. We will elaborate more on this subject in Jude 14-15.

just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.


Jude transitions from the rebellious angels to the event in Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18 - 19), where the inhabitants practiced fornication and homosexual acts - "pursued unnatural desire". The people in those cities wanted to have sex with the angels, not with the daughters that Lot wanted to give them to (which was also a horrendous thing). But it does not imply that the men knew that it was angels they were seeking to have sex with. After Abraham rescued Lot, God punished those cities by destroying them with sulfur and fire that came out from the sky. Therefore, Jude associates God's judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah with the homosexual practices of their inhabitants. They served as an example of those who suffer the punishment from God.
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Application
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This topic is hard to swallow because it speaks about homosexuality, which is a sensitive issue. In the modern "sexual revolution", homosexuality has been accepted and tolerated in our society within a short period of time. Because most people tolerate and accept it, homosexuality is considered to be a "normal" thing. 

Christians struggle with these changes and we are not immune. We are affected by changes in culture in many different ways. Churches are attempting or tempted to re-evaluate their views on homosexuality. Secular society brands the church as homophobic and in err for calling it a sin. Some Christian scholars and Christian activists see the consideration of homosexuality as a sin to be a misunderstanding of what the New Testament teaches on the matter. Because society and culture are changing, they would rationalize the texts in the Bible to make homosexuality an acceptable act and not a sin.

On a wider scope of the teachings of the Bible, Paul teaches that homosexuality is a sin (Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 1:9-10). In the example of Jude 7, those who practice homosexuality will also suffer the punishment of eternal fire if they do not repent. 

People who are homosexuals will find this entry offensive and will think I am being intolerant. You may have been hurt by Christians and the churches, such as Westboro Baptist Church. Because of them, you do not want to have anything to do with Christians and the churches, nor with God. 

Let me clarify myself by saying this: I do love you even though we differ. I am called to love my enemies, which I genuinely do. I am not simply talking about homosexuals alone. The Scriptures that I presented above do not only speak about the practice of homosexuality, but also about other sins such as adultery, fornication, idolatry, greed and etc. Those who rebel against God will not inherit eternal life, like the example of the Israelites in the wilderness illustrates. 

People go to hell not simply because they do not believe in Jesus Christ, although that's implied (John 3:36), but because they chose to be there (if you read C.S Lewis' writings) and because they are sinners, since sin separates us from God (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23). That's the bottom line. Whether if you are a homosexual, a porn addict, murderer, greedy, selfish, prideful, adulterer, fornicator, and etc (Galatians 5:19-21), you are a sinner who is in dire need of receiving God's love and grace through Jesus Christ. 

The same goes for me. Because of sin, we are all sexually broken one way or the other. However, I found someone who healed and transformed me from being sexually broken to being sexually pure although it may be not be an immediate process.

God can heal and God can transform a person who had been hooked onto pornography into a person who is no longer an addict, which is a very difficult change. God can heal and transform a person who was an alcoholic or a drug-addict into a person who is no longer an addict, which is a very challenging change. God can transform a person who is greedy into person who is giving, which involves a lot of struggle in the change. Surely, God can heal and transform a homosexual into a heterosexual, which may be a struggle and which may take a lot of time. Scripture teaches that in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. An encounter with Christ produces radical transformation to those who did practice those sins. 

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Perceiving New Things

The Bible contains God's Word, which is filled with treasure and wisdom. God's Word is "living and active" according to Hebrews 4:12. God's Word is breathed out according to 2 Timothy 3:16.

I have read through the Bible, cover-to-cover and word-for-word, a couple of times. The amazing thing about the Bible is that you will never stop learning something new. And today, I am very humbled and astonished to read a text from the New Testament and notice something that I have never took notice before.

I am currently reading through the Gospels in chronological order by using a plan with the Psalms. I encountered a text that I have overlooked, which is Matthew 17:24-27. I was tense, filled with curiosity with what this text was saying. There were deep questions as to what this text says and what it means. I want to find out and I want to understand. After doing a brief study, I was filled with worship and praise to God for pointing out something new to me, when I have read through it many times without noticing what it is saying.

I think Christians do that very often. I heard a story of a little kid at my church who knows the story of the Bible. She might be tired of learning the story that she's familiar with. 

Today, I am greatly moved to learn that a sense of the familiar can sometimes blind us from the things that God wants to show us. So it's an encouraging and a challenging thing to put off our familiarity and read the Bible as if it's your first time.  

Where Are You, God?

People seldom express a deep level of their personal life in public and in social media. I acknowledge that there are people who do not mind sharing their issues and problems in life in a public environment. Most people, however, are not like that.

Some of us only want to share our personal life to a few of our closest friends and family members. Some of us want to keep things to ourselves. 

Reading the book of Psalms is a tremendous honor because the Psalms are filled with different types of deep and personal expression. Psalms technically means "songs". If you listen to music, then you would recognize the different types of genre and tone that give us insight into the author's emotions. I think that's the same with Psalms, they give us insight into the author's life - at a more emotional and personal level. 

The type of Psalm that I want to talk about is the "Psalm of Lament". According to the notes in the ESV Study Bible, the primary function of laments is to lay a troubled situation before the Lord, asking him for help. There are community laments, dealing with trouble faced by the people of God as a whole (e.g., Psalm 12), and individual laments, where the troubles are faced by a particular member of the people (e.g., Psalm 13). The lament category is the largest by far, including as much as a third of the whole Psalter. 

The Psalmists express themselves with real emotions in a real setting - suffering, depression, loneliness, and betrayal. It was as if "God left the author". 

There are many questions that the author ask in prayer to God: 

• "Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" (Psalm 10:1) 
• "How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?" (Psalm 13:1)
• "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?" (Psalm 22:1)
• "O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?" (Psalm 88:14)

After the Psalmists question God and express their emotion, they regain faith in God and express gratitude and worship Him because the negative emotions they're going through is temporary. Psalm 88 is personally the most depressing Psalm in the entire book because the author finds no answers to his situation.

It is possible that these questions from the Psalms reside in your own heart. You may also be asking the same questions the authors asked. I honestly do not know how long they were experiencing the tough moments, but they knew that they can trust God and His faithfulness and love towards His people. Their experiences - personal life and emotion - are shared to the world in the Bible.

These Psalms do not invite us to become more depress as we read them, but they give us hope and joy to trust God because these authors ultimately chose to trust God while going through real pain and unanswered questions. (Job is also a good example of a person who did not get all his questions "answered" in the time of his suffering but he trusted in what God told him in Job 38)

Jesus is the best example of a person who lamented. He was labeled as the "man of sorrow" (Isaiah 53:3). He experienced betrayal by Judas. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, His cry echoed Psalm 22:1. It was one of the most painful moments when Jesus experienced separation from the Father for the first time in eternity. Jesus became fully human in every respect (except for sin) so that he could represent believers as their high priest who can sympathize with their weaknesses. (Hebrews 2:17-18, 4:15) 

Because He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, believers can have confidence in Christ as the high priest and "draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16) If you're suffering and going through doubts and questioning, then let me invite you to talk to Jesus and read the passages in Hebrews and Psalms. 

Biblical Literacy

Do you read the Bible? If so, how do you read the Bible? You may read the Bible and love the Bible enough, but chances are, you might not know how to read the Bible.

Are you biblically literate? Is it important? Does every Christian have to be biblically literate (with the exception of those with mental illness and other forms of disorder)?

Dr. Larry Perkins provided a brief description of what "Biblical Literacy" is. (Link Here)

“Biblical Literacy” describes the ability and motivation of people to read the Bible with sufficient understanding so that they can explain its basic meaning, having sufficient knowledge and skill to use resources that enable them to discern the basic meaning of a biblical text. It includes the ability to apply this discerned meaning, i.e. biblical wisdom, to contemporary life. Biblical literacy only attains its full potential when scriptural truth (i.e. wisdom) is applied for salvation and shalom individually and collectively in Canadian society.

You can read more on why it is important to be biblically literate. Some Christians suffer for being biblically illiterate.