“Juaning” Passed Through

It was a silent killer. Through the weekend it was a Low Pressure Area without any hint of being a howler and filled with rain. Through Monday-focused with the SONA of Pres Noynoy-media did not put too much focus on this typhoon.

And the aftermath? Bicol area inundated with water from rivers that overflowed its estuary. The next stop is Central and Northern Luzon-and it also rained in Quezon Province as well as the Ilocos Region.

My son-Raviel and I prayed through all the time -supported by a cadre of prayer warriors so that it will not wreak more havoc through its path. Meaning -no more winds and rains and that it will veer away from areas that don’t need its water. And it did- passing through Bataan -Zambales area instead.

Thank God in Jesus-that He can still hear our prayers. Next time we must remain vigilant and not sleepy guarding the gates. And we need to be systematic about this Prayer Ministry.

The Cessation of Prophecies,Knowledge and Tongues

1 Cor 13: 8 “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

I am a cautiuous cessationist. Though John Macarthur had already discussed the exegetical grounds for cessationist stand-some had always brought unnecessarily healing and other gifts to the cessationist position- when in fact it does not. The other gifts are deemed to have ceased because of its connection as a Sign of Apostles who wrote the New Testament Scriptures.

Prophecies, knowledge and tongues will pass away or ceased when the perfect comes-and then we will see “face to face” -an adverb of manner -not objective noun. The whole Scripture was completed before AD 70 when Apostle wrote “Revelation”-and thus the “perfect” had really come-and through it we can have a better understanding of our Lord and His ways. Through the Scriptures we can ‘see’ the Lord “face-to-face” because through it  we can know His heart and mind for this generation. It does not nullify the need for enlightenment from the Holy Spirit-but it precludes a new revelation- a new additional-and required knowledge from the Lord to understand our world.

Tongues and Prophecies-if they ever exist in our times can no longer be revelatory-authoritative and “Thus saith the Lord” type of revelation. It still points to Hid Diuvine intervention into our situation-but it is in the secondary meaning. It tends to illuminate what the Scripture had already revealed. Thus -tongues-especially Pentecost Day-type of tongues had served its purpose as witness to the 1st Century Jews who rejected their Messiah.

New “prophets’ are needed only to make clear and relevant the previous revelation shown by the Lord-and this is being done by preachers and pastors who are faithful to the Scriptures and are listening tot he Holy Spirit how to apply it to God’s flock. This has been done by Augustine, Calvin, Spurgeon, Wesley, Barth and the like. But they don’t want to be called “prophets” out of respect for the priority and necessity of Holy Scriptures.

If we will turn away from the Scriptures- Old and New Testament-we will remain like children. Scriptures will help us speak, think and reason to our Lord like mature men. Let us not run after so-called “apostles and prophets” that will go against the mature wisdom of the Scriptures. Their tongues and prophecies is no match to a full-orb exegesis and application, using the help of the Holy Spirit ,of the revealed Scriptures.

Let us not despised and grieved the Holy Spirit by neglecting the priroty and necessity of the Scriptures. Only there can the secondary place of the so-called modern tongues and prophecies have their place.

Movie Review:Transformers: Dark of the Moon

From Wikipedia: Transformers: Dark of the Moon (also known as Transformers 3) is a 2011 American science iction/comedy/action film, part of the Transformers film series, directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg. It is the sequel to Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and was released on June 29, 2011.

In 1961, a Cybertronian spacecraft crash lands on the far side of the moon. Known as the Ark, it was the last ship to escape a Cybertron devastated by war. Piloted by Sentinel Prime, it carried “the Pillars”, technology that could save the Cybertronians once and for all. On Earth, the crash of the Ark is detected by NASA, and President John F. Kennedy authorizes the mission to put a man on the moon as a cover. In 1969, Apollo 11 lands on the surface of the Moon to investigate the Ark.

My Take: Spielberg and Bay shouldn’t have tinkered out the character of Megan Fox- it devalued the storyline -and turned Sam Witwicky one jealous and frustrated man-when in fact with Megan Fox-he is already assured of her love-and the Autobots were witnesses to that. She is essential to the story.

The historical convolution regarding the manned Apollo flight sot the moon was exciting at first until it was gutted down by Witwicky’s new love interest. It seems love is truly fickle -and even licentious. There is intimacy in the first installment -but not as non-GP rated gyrations made by the new model/actress did. James Bond’s girls are more essential than her.

The alien race story is getting stale now-and we are now happy that they won’t be making another Transformer movie. This is not unlike the third Spiderman or Superman (Christopher Reeves) -it eventually run out if steam.

Better to view the 1st and 2nd Transformer movie in 3D!

Movie Review:Season of the Witch 2011

Synopsis from Wikipedia: “Season of the Witch is a 2011 American fantasy action film starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Dominic Sena. Cage stars with Ron Perlman as Teutonic Knights, who return from the Crusades to find their fatherland ruined by the Black Death. Two church elders accuse a girl (Claire Foy) of being a witch and being responsible for the destruction and command the knights to transport the girl to a monastery so the monks there can lift her curse from the land.”

The reason for the accusation is the dreaded Black Plague attributed to the rats that infested Europe. But here the real reason is that the Devil wants to destroy the “Key of Solomon” -a Jewish (but Renaissance-myth) book of prayers against the devil and evil.

A girl-Anna was demonized and was thought to be a witch-a usual accusation for different persons. Here the demon makes use of the weakness of men in order to reach his goal of destroying all copies of his nemesis book of Solomon.

The fight scenes are really engaging. The character interplay between Cage and Pearlman was believable. And the eerie atmosphere of Germany was scary. It is a shame that this movie was not well received by critics. It is supernatural film-filled with doubts and mistrust of church officials-but in the end it is God and true valor that wins the day. What I like about is that it explains the Black Plague as something supernatural-when nowadays with scholars and the like they will explain every historical events in etrms of politics and economics. So different.