Monday, April 30, 2012

Do you trust an "arranged marriage"?



* 2nd May 2012 additions





Matthew 22:2
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

Matthew 22:10
So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.



Many years ago when I was staying at Taman Putri Wangsa near Ulu Tiram, my sister and I walked a few doors down to our neighbour's house (Mr & Mrs Kadir) to attend their daughter's (Siti) beautiful wedding ceremony/luncheon. The wedding couple was the result of an arranged marriage by both the bride and groom's parents. 
Even in an arranged marriage, the couple still had to choose to a certain degree and choose to agree with the arrangements.  Ironically, their parents own marriages however were not from such arrangements - both their parents got to marry their childhood sweethearts!. Mr & Mrs Kadir grew up in the same neighbourhood and went to the same school and they were very fond of each other since childhood.


While people in general have always cried "FREE WILL" since the beginning of time when the first sons of god saw fair maidens and took them as wives of all whom they CHOSE.

Genesis 6:2
"That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." 


Free will or FREEDOM to chose your spouse, choose what to eat, choose what to wear, choose where to work, choose where to live, choose who to believe in and some even chose when to die.

Look where the freedom of choice landed Adam and Eve, when they chose to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

It is not that man is incapable to make his own decisions but each decision that we make may have two entirely different end result, on which the outcome can be either victorious or catastrophe.  
IT IS NOT that GOD do not want you to make your own decision or wants you to follow HIM like a robot or a simpleton completely devoid of brain activity.    
To do the will of God is not a monumental or an impossible task; it is GOD teaching us discernment and harnessing our god given ability to make the right decisions.  

Is this not what each country's judicial court justice system do?  - To keep law and order, and to sentence those found guilty.  

It is just finding contentment in what the LORD has prepared for us, although most of the time we may not understand it at first or the initial stage maybe straineous.  GOD's will is basically stated in Deuteronomy 30:16.

Doing God's will or predestination has NOTHING to do with God telling us what to do in every aspect of our lives and we must do each and everything without question.  Had Adam and Eve consulted the LORD before making their decision to eat from that TREE, I am sure the LORD would have explained to them the results.  The LORD does not want BLIND OBEDIENCE, the LORD Most High only hopes for our love, respect, faithful acknowledgement of HIS authority JUST as a child respects his parents.  

[ It feels very eerie to see that the mimicking of the "speaking in tongues" spirits after the so called "will of the LORD" where "the evil spirits" ask those people they control to follow their every will and command, even in matters such as marriage. - There are cases where people who speak in tongues, actually marry the person that the "spirit" in their mouths and ears command them to do so and tells them that this is the person that they should marry.]



My mother asked the LORD to choose a spouse for her and she accepted the LORD's choice, even though my parent's meeting was by chance, but my mother believed it was the will of the LORD answering her prayers.

GOD does not dictate who we should or should not marry.  The LORD Most High listens to our prayers and will "arrange" or prepare someone for us to marry.

Same goes for anything that we need and what we want, we only need to ask and inquire from the LORD.  As a child would ask from his parents, wealthy parents can give much to their children; what more of GOD who is infinitely RICH and HE CAN give us things and fulfill our requests beyond our wildest dreams. 

James 1:5
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

John 15:7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 


What other arranged marriage do we have in the Bible?

Adam and Eve;

Abraham and Hagar (for the purpose of bearing a child)

Isaac and Rebecca;

Jacob and Rachel / Leah and (+2 more);

Joseph and Mary;
so on and so forth......


Adam and Eve did not have any choice, did they? Adam was all alone and could not find a help suitable for him on the entire planet and GOD "arranged" for somebody to be made from Adam. 


Genesis 2:18
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Genesis 2:20
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

It feels quite weird to see that some people interview or look for potential wives (or vice versa) while they are interviewing job applicants?  As weird as it may sound but it happens. They look at your "hobbies" section to see if you have similar hobbies or if you like to cook and clean! Of COURSE we all have to clean up after ourselves... but if you are looking for a wife SOLELY to cook and clean.... PLEASE APPLY FOR A MAID.

Adam DID not complain on why GOD gave him Eve.  Well, today with so many choices on the streets, you might say that it was easy for Adam to be faithful to Eve, because Eve was the only woman there. 
Marriage is never supposed to feel like prison or slavery to a person.
If you truly love someone, you would want to be bound to your spouse forever. Pray for the strength to follow according to the will of GOD, then marriage can be eternal bliss where endless possibilities can happen on what two persons can do together through tough times and good times. Choice of marriage must be mutual to the least and cannot be forced upon another person who has no desire to be a husband or a wife.


 
Ephesians 3:9
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

The first Woman (Eve) has never experienced loneliness while the first Man (Adam) on the other hand had been alone for quite a while. 
God created The Woman from the Man’s expressed innermost heart’s desire.  The first Woman was being created as equally as Man was, became as independent as Man was because she was taken out from Man.  The Woman was not created separately and directly from mud as God did with Man. She was allowed by the LORD to make her own decisions, chose her own path and etc, just as her husband did.

The Woman made an independent decision to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  After the fall, God had to curse Eve to turn her heart and desire back to her husband.  Just as GOD is trying to turn our heart back to HIM.  Too much independence in a fallen state can be catastrophic to both genders.  That is why both husband and wife should consult with each other and depend on each other to solve any problems.  The husband as the head of the house should take the lead in making the FINAL decision after seeking guidance from the LORD. 

However, today in many countries like Saudi Arabia where women are completely bound to the will of another man is too much of a perverted method.  How can a man be head of the house if he is a minor or an uneducated person - just because he is the only man in a house full of mature women? 

A mature man is only head of the house over his own wife and children if he is a married man. Individual men and women are independent if they are not married. A single child below 21 years old is subject to his or her parents as head of the house.


1 Corinthians 11:3
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

1 Corinthians 11:7
For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.



Even as God made Man to be groomed up to make his own independent decision to name the animals independently as God did not tell Adam what name to use. Naming animals was the first step in teaching Man to make decision for himself.  But Adam was basically still a child and is still very much dependent upon his creator to teach and guide him. God had infinite knowledge to share with Adam but growth is a gradual process.  Sons of God are meant to be independent beings and yet working together for a greater purpose and greater good.

The story of Adam and Eve is to turn all human beings back to the desire of all things godly and godliness.  


Genesis 3:16
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.


Adam and Eve learned to love and support each other through thick and thin, for all man are created equal - both man and woman are called ADAM (Genesis 5:2). 
Of course there are obvious differences between MALE and FEMALE...i.e. Outward physique, certain visible strengths and weaknesses. But do you notice that what are INVISIBLE to both male and female is where both are the same.... for a woman came from "inside" of a man.
Both are spiritually the same and with the same non visible abilities or disabilities.  

Physical differences are just for procreation purposes.  Just as Adam cannot reproduce by himself and GOD created Woman in order for Man to have meaningful relationship and reproduction (forget about cloning).  God created Man in order to have a meaningful relationship and expansion / growth in the family of GOD. 

If you call a woman emotional or a woman is governed by her emotions; can you really say that all men in this world are not emotional?
Actually it is quite the opposite sometimes. 
Is it not men that came up with the phrase, "Shoot first and ask later"?
Men can be so emotionally fearful that they would fire away without weighing the consequences first. 

Do you normally run cross a busy street or highway without looking both ways? If you want to survive longer, you would look to your left and right before determining if it is safe to cross the street. Being careful is not about fear or emotions, its about survival; but even the most careful person can just drop dead tomorrow if the LORD were to take his life. 
When I was about 3 years old, I was in a hairdressing shop with my mother and sister, all of a sudden, I dashed from my mother's sight and ran crossed a 4 lane busy street without looking to my left or right because I wanted to get to my dad's car that was parked across the street. My mom got the fright of her life and told me never to do
that again. I guess I was not thinking and just did what I felt like doing – and I am still alive.  Come on, since when does a child sit around weighing the pros and cons of life?


Genesis 5:1
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

Genesis 5:2
Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

Genesis 5:3
And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth:


Adam had many sons and daughters but the LORD only mentioned about a son in his own likeness and after his image, in the line of Seth, which meant Seth had godly traits (i.e. faithfullness) of a "son of God" like his own father Adam who was called a son of God (Luke 3:38).  


Romans 6:1
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?"

Romans 6:2
"God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"

Even for those who did not choose to follow the LORD at first but later repented; the LORD still forgives 7 times or 77 times or 777 x ............
It is not how many times that the LORD needed to forgive you and HE can forgive you indefinitely but it is whether you took the initiative of a repentant person. Understand where and what you have done wrong. Try to stop sinning.
Does the great mercy of GOD mean anything to you? 

If a murderer asked for forgiveness and continues his butchering people tomorrow until the end of his life, then it is very obvious that his repentance was false.

John 8:11
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

In the Bible, when the LORD told the adulterous woman who was spared from being stoned to death...... "go and sin no more"......nobody did a follow up on that woman's story.... Did she really repented and sin no more? Or Did she continue committing adultery?

If you asked for forgiveness today, will you go on sinning tomorrow?
If the LORD forgave a prostitute, will she go on with her prostitution tomorrow?
Mary Magdalene stopped her prostitution and followed the ways of the LORD.
If the LORD forgave a homosexual person, will he go on committing the acts of homosexuality? Apparently many of them still do.

Which PART of the words, “GO AND SIN NO MORE” that you do not understand?

John 5:14
"Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
"

Revelation 2:20
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Revelation 2:21
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

Revelation 9:21
Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.


Even after Lucifer and the fallen angels are bound, the bestiality and the beastly behaviour that has been controlling mankind taken away... time will be prolonged for mankind to repent until they die of old age or by whatever means, (Daniel 7:12) then judgement will come after your physical death. 
You are given your lifetime to repent but if obeying the LORD means nothing to you now, rest assured, it will not mean anything to you when you are judged and separated from the Light of GOD for eternity.

Daniel 7:12
As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.




SET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER


What do they mean, when doctors tell you to "set your house in order", you have only a few months to live?

That was what the doctors told my father when he was hospitalized back in the late 80's but he lived for another 15 years. My dad died at the age of 65.

Even Moses the prophet of Israel, was told that he will die at 120 years old and he was still in his full strength (he did not become a frail old man at 120).

Deuteronomy 34:7 -  "And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated."

What will you do if you have just a few months to live?
Write up a list of things you want to do before you die? (like in the movie "The Bucket List"?)
People without money "cannot afford" to draw up a bucket list. 
People with money are reminded by doctors to draw up a "Will" if they haven't already. 

I asked my mother and sister;
My mum don't really think about it (she sometimes feel that she will be transformed at the second coming of Jesus Christ and she does not have to go through the process of dying), while my sister hopes for the same.
They will probably continue to do what they normally do.  


1 Corinthians 15:51
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,


Hypothetical question.   If I had just a few months to live, what would I do?
I do not have the monetary means to draw up a bucket list.
Come to think of it, even if I had money, there is nothing I can do.
When its time to go, its time to go.
I'll try to stay around with my family.  
I am sorry that I can't do more for them.  
There are so many things left unsaid to the people I love. 
My mother told me just mentioned to me recently that she has never been to a buffet meal in a restaurant in her entire life.   It is very trivial, I know but nevertheless I am sorry I never got the chance to bring my mother out of the house for more than 6 years as we were financially unable to go anywhere.

I would like to apologize to anyone whom I might have unintentionally offended……
(and I guess I have never intentionally wished to offend anyone , but who knows if sometimes words or deeds might be misinterpreted...... I have been told that I sometimes write very condescendingly……..sorry…. no injury intended….. ) 

[Even those people that I hate (the people who despise the GOD of ISRAEL) but I will try not to offend, although I might have in the past, I will try not to in the future.]

Please. Forgive me.

 
Personal hatred against another person can be very vexing and it condemns yourself but perfect hatred (Psalm 139:22)  is knowing that your enemies are condemned already (John 3:18) in the judgement of God, therefore leave your own hatred at the feet of Jesus Christ.

 
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:17
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

John 3:18
 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:19
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John 3:20
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

John 3:21
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.


 

Psalm 139

New King James Version (NKJV)

God’s Perfect Knowledge of Man

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

139 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall[a] on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;[b]
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
20 For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take Your name in vain.[c]

21 Do I not hate them, O
Lord, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred;

I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;

24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.







Many of us as creatures of habit tend to do things at the last minute (including myself).

As many Pastors and Evangelists can tell you; one of the most famous or infamous excuses for people to believe in Christ is - "I'll wait until I'm old or on my death bed, then I might follow the ways of the LORD."  

Don’t you know that you cannot follow the LORD after you are dead? Only the living follow the LORD.  The spiritually dead will die a second death.  The living will continue on into eternal life.

Majority of us do not know our time of death and it might not be until we are very old. 
We could die in an accident tomorrow or the next minute.
The call for repentance and change is now.
It is not something to put on the shelf to look at and to take it down when you need it!!!
Let me tell you something ................ you really NEED IT NOW !!!!!
So, people !!!
Please do not wait until the last minute or until the doctor tells you to "Set Your House In Order" - then you will consider doing it.
You basically do not know when your last minute is!!! 
Please do set your house in order now before it is too late.

Jeremiah 8:7
“Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.”

Mark 13:33
“Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.”

James 4:14
“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”



From the beginning of time until today, mankind are continually faced with the choice of obedience of disobedience.  It is not a problem that only Adam and Eve had to confront with; it is a decision every individual human being have to make.  
The LORD set before you today to choose between good and evil (Deuteronomy 30:15).

Happy is he who is a simple peasant standing by the roadside when all of a sudden he is invited to the wedding banquet of the King.



ALL of MANKIND is capable of doing great evil and great goodness.

The evil deeds that a person do will fester and be covered in darkness, will turn a person's soul into a foul evil spirit.

The grace of God abiding in His Children are always bright and clear where our spirit takes after our Father's Spirit as a holy spirit.

Are you a "Holy Spirit" or an "Evil Spirit"?



Deuteronomy 30:15
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

Deuteronomy 30:16
In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

Deuteronomy 30:17
But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

Deuteronomy 30:18
I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

Deuteronomy 30:19 
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Deuteronomy 30:20
That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

No comments: