You Get What You Pay For!

Once upon a time (it feels like it) i was in a hardware store looking for a drill, i found two of them that i liked and to me, the only difference (huge) between them was the price. I asked a lady worker for help, considering that the store's motto is "the helpful place", i had no doubt that she would help me, but when i asked her why the price was so different, she replied: "You get what you pay for!" Then she turned around and left and i was shocked by her attitude. Of course she meant: "If you pay for the best drill, you will get the best drill". It didn't take much longer to realize that she was right, despite her lack of politeness, she spoke the truth. Applying this "truth" to our context (christianity), we'll see that Jesus spoke just like that (parable), for example: Matthew 13:45-46. Do you remember what Jesus told the rich young ruler? Mark 10:21. How about Luke 14:26. Is Jesus being "literal" when He says that His disciple must HATE his family? Of course not, Jesus is talking about "priority" or "importance", He is not teaching us to literally HATE our neighbor or else He would be contradicting Himself: Matthew 22:36-40. There's something called "extreme or hyperbolic language" in the Bible and that's the case. Another case is found in Genesis 29:30-31. Do you understand what it means to follow Jesus as His disciple? It means that you will LOVE Him MORE than you love anyone else, even yourself, to the point that you will be willing to lose your life for His sake. If the PAYMENT is your "life", then you will GET "eternal life": John 12:25; If the PAYMENT is "money" (prosperity gospel), then you will GET "money", etc. At the end, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! How much is the Kingdom of God worth for you? Are you willing to "sell" everything and follow Jesus Christ? Are you loving the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind?

Go and Sell no More. Are You a House of Prayer?

Isaiah 56:7; Matthew 21:13. What is prayer anyways? To me, prayer is not a monologue, reciting the catechism, quoting the Bible, etc. Prayer is a direct communication between God and us, a dialogue between God and His children. What is the house of God? Is the "physical" temple in Jerusalem or the building you call church? Acts 7:48-49. So, if God does not dwell in temples (buildings) made by human hands and He is asking what house we're building for Him, what is this house? 1 Corinthians 6:19. If you read all about the tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon, you'll see that both had a place called Holy of Holies, where the glory of God was. In Ezekiel 10 we see that the glory of God departed from the temple. From the beginning we can see that the Holy Spirit dwelled in different people like, kings, prophets, priests, etc. In the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was made available to everyone who was born again. So, when Jesus said "My house" He was talking about every child of God, the ones who the Holy Spirit lives in them and He is saying that they will be people who pray, people who hear His voice: John 10:27. So, what type of house you are you building? Financial (selfish ambition); entertainment (all about fun); mausoleum (spiritually dead); NGO (humanism), etc. Are you always bargaining with God? Are you always taking advantage on everything? Are you willing to follow Jesus Christ (as a sheep follows its shepherd) wherever He leads you? Are you obeying your Lord unconditionally? Is your HEART a holy place or a den of thieves? Right now, Jesus is asking you: What house will you build for the Me?

Breakthrough: The Answer is Just 1,2,3... Prayers Away!

Luke 18:1-8. How many times you started praying for something and as the time passed you just gave up, because you "lost heart"? How many times you felt discouraged waiting for something impossible to happen? How many times you thought you were crazy believing in God's promise because it took "forever" to come true? If it happened to you, congratulations, you are a sinful human being and you need Jesus Christ. If it never happened to you, congratulations, you are a sinless human being, you ARE Jesus Christ! Of course, if you are not Jesus Christ, then you never prayed before! Bottom line: At one point in your prayer life you'll feel discouraged, but you should never "lose heart", you should never stop believing that God will fulfill His promise! I think (maybe you are different) that everyone of us will at some point deal with our weakness, that is, lack of faith, that's why we must keep going, keep praying, keep pressing on until we see the result, our prayer answered. I lived something like that when God promised my son David (read post  Personal Testimony: My Son), at one point i felt discouraged, it thought i was "nuts", but after 5 years believing in God's promise, i took David in my hands and saw God's promised fulfilled and i gave glory to God who kept His promise. In the text above, Jesus is assuring us that it will take HEART to receive what God has for us, it will take determination and courage to fight against our UNBELIEF and if we PERSEVERE we will receive it. Maybe you are waiting for a BREAKTHROUGH, for  an answer to your prayer and maybe right now you're feeling discouraged, my advice to you is: DON'T LOSE HEART! Maybe we prayed a thousand times for it, but maybe the answer will come when you pray next time, how do you know the time? ONLY GOD KNOWS IT! But you have to keep believing. The other "side of the coin" is: Are you 100% sure that what you are asking is God's will for you or the one you're praying for? Are you praying for your UNBELIEVING spouse? Considering that you know what FREE WILL means, do you believe that your spouse WILL BE SAVED? 1 Corinthians 7:16. Do you think that Paul is saying that YOUR HUSBAND OR WIFE WILL NOT BE SAVED? Pay attention to Paul's question: How do you know whether YOU will save your spouse? Do you really think YOU can save YOUR spouse? On the other hand, DO YOU BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST CAN SAVE YOUR SPOUSE? DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH FAITH TO BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST CAN SAVE YOUR SPOUSE? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT IF BY TAKING "FOREVER" TO SAVE YOUR SPOUSE GOD IS NOT JUST TRYING TO "INCREASE" YOUR FAITH? HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU WILL BE SAVED? I hope you understand what i'm trying to accomplish here: TO TEST YOUR FAITH! I am NOT telling you to divorce your spouse, God hates divorce: Malachi 2:16. Of course there are exceptions, like adultery for example. Are willing to pay the price to receive what God has for you? Are you willing to cry the last tear until you receive the "blessing" (what you're praying for)? IS ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR THE LORD? Remember Abraham? Genesis 18:14. Remember what God said to the Prophet Jeremiah? Jeremiah 32:27. Has God changed? Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8. Why our prayers ARE NOT answered? 1) Wrong motivation: James 4:3. 2) Will of God: 2 Corinthians 12:7-9. Time or Opposition: Daniel 10:12-13. We must know if it is the will of God and keep praying until we receive: Matthew 7:7-11: 1 Thessalonians 5:17. I wrote this because this morning i was "feeling down" (i'm going through a tough time), but i decided in my heart that i won't give up, i won't lose heart, i will fight to the end and i know that God will give me the victory! I hope you'll feel encouraged and will keep praying and believing until you receive the "blessing". AMEN.

Faith and the Mustard Seed: If You Don't Sow It, It Won't Grow!

Matthew 17:20. Was Jesus speaking about a literal "mountain"? Was He speaking about a non-literal "mustard seed"? I'm asking this because depending on your point of view, you'll have different results. E.g.: If the word "mountain" is figurative for "marital problems", then "move the mountain" can mean divorcing your spouse; if it's literal, then you'll have to believe this truth in Luke 1:37. Of course, between speaking to the mountain, "Move from here to there", and actually seeing the mountain move, it'll depend on the will of God and how big your faith is. Now, let's talk about the mustard seed: Matthew 13:31-32. Here Jesus is not only talking about the "size" of the mustard seed (least of all), but also the "life" that is in it, that if it is sowed it will become a tree. Pay attention to what Jesus says in Matthew 17:20 ...If you have faith AS a mustard seed. Think about this: How good is to have a mustard seed in your "pocket" and never sow it? Will it ever grow to become a tree in your pocket? Even if the mustard seed has the "potential" to become a tree, you still have to sow it, then it will develop to become a tree. James 2:26. When talking about faith, the process is the same as sowing, we must "work" our faith in order to grow it, STAGNANT FAITH BECOMES A DEAD FAITH! E.g.: If you say that you believe in Jesus Christ and His word (Bible) and you have unforgiveness in your heart, you are denying Jesus and your faith is dead. Why? Matthew 6:12,14-15. If you're feeling unforgiving right now, you probably have a "root" of unforgiveness in your heart and until you deal with it you won't feel forgiven, because if you don't forgive you won't be forgiven. Is your faith growing? Are you "walking" by faith (works)? Do you really want to please God? Hebrews 11:6.

Come and See: A Call for Intimacy.

John 1:45-46. If you're familiar with this passage, you'll remember that after encountering Jesus Christ, Nathanael realized that he found the Son of God, the King of Israel. How many times we've failed to hear Jesus' voice when He was knocking at the door of our hearts? How many times we heard his voice but refused to open the door? Revelation 3:20. Then one day we opened our hearts and Jesus entered and He ate with us. But as time went by, we lost our first love and our desire for intimacy with Him, our fellowship with Him that once was precious and constant, became casual. Revelation 2:4. Unfortunately for many people, Jesus from being their first love, became unwanted and was replaced with another "lover" (money, pleasure, religion, etc). More and more i can see that only those who are willing to take their cross and follow Jesus Christ are the ones who will have intimacy with Him, who will become His close friends. Proverbs 18:24. In order to become Jesus' friends, we must do whatever He tells us, otherwise we will never experience the fullness of His friendship. John 15:14. The best example of intimacy with Jesus was John the Apostle. They became so close that Jesus called John the son of Mary: John 19:25-27. John was the only disciple who stood by the cross, he wasn't afraid to die for the One he loved, because the One he loved was dying for him. Love was the reason why John was following Jesus, even facing death. 1 John 4:18.

Corruption: The Evidence of a Sinful Nature.

Few weeks ago, i took a client to the airport (i'm a cab driver), we were talking about politics and corruption and i told him that for me, lobbying is a "legal" corruption. Thankfully he agreed with me, because the first time i said that to another client, he never called me back. I knew that my statement was true, but i didn't have the "evidence" to prove it. My client told me about a man called Jack Abramoff, a famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) lobbyist that literally bought (with gifts and such) a few politicians here in America. I came home and watched his interview on CBS' 60 minutes (Jack Abramoff: Inside Capitol corruption). In this interview, Abramoff explains how he bribed politicians to "change laws" to benefit his clients, just by inserting a few words that opened the way to personal gain. Then, my client explained the difference between ethics and morals. It's very easy to condemn Abramoff, but in reality we are all alike, we are "corrupted to the bone". Why? Because we are born in sin: Psalm 51:5. We are all corrupted by the sinful nature that lives in us! Romans 3:23. Financial corruption is just a consequence of this sinful nature in action! Why do we see so much greed and unthankfulness nowadays? 2 Timothy 3:1-5. The sin is different but the root is the same: The sinful nature. By the way, what does corruption mean? Corruption: Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery; the action of making someone or something morally depraved or the state of being so. Besides the financial aspect, corruption is changing the "state" of someone or something, e.g.: Sex trafficking. The perpetrator abducts a young girl and change her "state" of freedom into captivity, from being a morally correct person she becomes a morally depraved one (prostitution). The antidote for this deadly poison called sinful nature is holiness or Christlikeness. Hebrews 12:14. How can we grow in holiness? Psalm 119:9; Ephesians 5:26; John 15:3.

Impartation: You Can Only Give What You Have!

First of all, let see what the dictionary says about the word impart: The verb impart has 4 senses: 1. tell or deposit (information) knowledge; 2. bestow a quality on; 3. make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret; 4. make known; pass on, of information. Now let's see what Paul told the Romans about impartation: Romans 1:11. Here Paul is talking about his desire to see the roman brothers and sisters and PASS ON or SHARE some spiritual gifts he had. Impartation mostly happens through the "laying on of hands", as in Paul's case when he was filled with the Holy Spirit: Acts 9:17. As i always write: Spiritually speaking, you cannot give what you don't have. You can see that Paul could only "give" spiritual gifts to others because he received before, some through the hands of Ananias. Another example is Timothy: 1 Timothy 4:14. The same happened to me, God used His servant (Marco Barrientos) to deliver and anoint me, when Marco laid his hands on me i was filled with the Holy Spirit and received some gifts, like the gift of discernment of spirits. Jesus Christ says that His disciples would lay their hands on the sick person and the person would be healed: Mark 16:17-19. See that Jesus says that "those who believe" would heal the sick. The problem with us today is that we think Jesus is only saying "those who believe that He is God", but He is also saying those who believe that in His name they could heal the sick. It goes back to the beginning: Hebrews 11:6. Do you understand it? It's not enough just believe that He is, we must believe that He is a rewarder. So, SPIRITUAL GIFTS ARE REWARDS to the ones who believe and diligently seek Him! Do you remember this passage? Mark 5:22-23. That's Impartation! Another aspect of impartation is to transfer authority: Deuteronomy 34:9. God chose Joshua to replace Moses, so Moses had to transfer his authority to Joshua. God chose Elisha to replace Elijah: 2 Kings 2:15. This is not "replacement theology". We also must be careful when laying hands on people: 1 Timothy 5:22.

Go Back to Your First Love!

Revelation 3:14-16. Sometimes Jesus sounds extremely harsh, He doesn't seem to care about peoples' feelings, He goes straight to the point. If He was invited to preach in our church today, the message would be the same, He wouldn't bargain or be afraid to speak the Truth "as is", no nice words, no emotional appealing, just the Truth, after all, He is the Truth! In the text above, Jesus is dealing with a church that grew proud of the riches and wealth they acquired, so much that they thought they didn't need anything else, instead of being filled with the Holy Spirit, as Paul commanded the believers, Ephesians 5:18, they became full of themselves. If you think about "vomit", you'll realize that most of the time when you vomited, the food that came out was partially digested, for one reason or another (infection, overeating, etc), your stomach couldn't fully complete the eating process. Now, if you apply this notion (halfway) to the text above, you'll see why Jesus was so UPSET (as your stomach when you vomit) with the Laodiceans, because His goal in discipleship is perfection or completeness: James 1:4. Unfortunately, we bought into that worldly mentality that "nobody is perfect", therefore we don't even bother seeking holiness, since perfection and completeness is impossible, we don't believe that God is able to perfect us and make us complete for His glory. How would Jesus deal with the "prosperity driven churches" today? The same way He dealt with the Laodicean church! So, is there a way to reverse the curse of lukewarmness? Yes there is! Jesus told the church of Ephesus how to do it: Revelation 2:4-5. It starts with repentance. Repentance (not remorse) is the first step to restoring the first love. This also applies to marriage. Unfortunately, along the way we became influenced by the culture, which says that once the flame (passion) is gone, the marriage is over. It happened because christian leaders failed to understand that love is not passion. Love produces emotions that may produce passion. Emotions do not produce love, they only produce passion! Paul gave us the perfect definition of love: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. So, what does it mean to be Hot? To me, hotness is: Unconditional obedience to Jesus Christ. Today, because the "cheap gospel" is all over, we think that everyone is Jesus' friend, since everybody is singing that song: "I am a friend of God, He calls me friend", in reality, just a few "believers" are Jesus’ friends: John 15:14. To be friends with Jesus Christ is necessary to be obedient to His words, to do whatever He tells us. I spent a couple weeks writing this post, at the end i struggled to find the title. This morning i was checking the "fakebook" and a friend of mine posted a link there, a preaching from a well known pastor from Brazil, his name is Caio Fabio, he says that when he fell was the time when God lifted him up, after being on top, he realized that everything he had done, was just a show, he had it all but lost his first love for Jesus Christ, that was the time when Christ brought him back and he says he despises people's recognition, applause, etc, or what i call, "the entertainment gospel". At the end he gave me the title: GO BACK TO YOUR FIRST LOVE! God has been so good to me, i'm speechless! I'm not saying i agree with everything this pastor preaches, absolutely not.

Perseverance: The Key For Character Development

Romans 5:3. Paul is full of crazy (humanly speaking) concepts, like this one: Tribulation produces perseverance. Even if this concept sounds crazy, if we think for a moment, we will reach the following conclusion: All the major inventions came after many trials and failures, but as the inventors persevered in building it, they got the final product working properly, and today we benefit from their perseverance. When talking about biblical perseverance, there are some people who stand above the others, e.g.: Noah (about 120 years building the arc in the desert); Abraham (100 years walking by faith); Job (satan struck him with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head), etc. The dictionary defines character as: The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. I would redefine character adding another quality to it: The spiritual, mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. If we consider what Paul wrote in Galatians, when talking about the fruit of the Spirit, we'll realize that those "characteristics" are part of Jesus Christ's character: Galatians 5:22-23. If you read the Gospels, you'll find all of those characteristics being displayed in Jesus' life, E.g.: Peace: John 14:27. As i wrote before, spiritually speaking: You can only give what you have! E.g.: Peace: Luke 10:5-6. Here Jesus sent His disciples (seventy others He appointed besides the Apostles) to practice what He taught them. Jesus is clear that the disciples' peace would rest in that house if there was a son of peace there. Why? Because Jesus gave His peace to His disciples and His disciples should give their peace to others. I would call this: Sharing the blessings. I hope you don't mistaken it with "pay it forward", which some christian churches are doing. It goes far beyond this "to do something good for someone in response to a good deed done on your behalf" concept. I’m not saying that you shouldn't do good deeds, what I’m saying is that you should do something good for others even when others did something bad for you. The world’s concept is "pay it forward", but Jesus’ concept is this: Luke 6:27-36. I know Jesus’ concept is way too radical for the post-modern christianism we have today, that’s why we must go back to the beginning, learn with the Master Jesus Christ how to persevere in trials and tribulations and be inspired by godly people like Job, who persevered to the end: James 5:11.

The New Ecumenism: Rebuilding the Spiritual Babel.

If you never heard about the tower of babel, you can find the story in Genesis 11:1-9. The purpose in building the tower was to be one inseparable people and reach to the heavens, where God is. The first problem was that they were disobeying God's commandment given to Adam and Eve: Genesis 1:27-28. God's purpose for mankind wasn't just to fill the Garden of Eden, but the whole earth. The other problem was that no human being can reach God, that's the reason Jesus Christ, the Son of God became man in order to reach mankind. The word babel means "gate of god", it is also the hebrew name for Babylon. At that time, people believed that heavens were not far from the earth and they probably thought they could reach the place were God was, and hopefully becoming gods themselves. The idea of becoming god was not original, lucifer was the first one to try it, then Adam, then the babel builders, then Herod the king: Acts 12:21-23, etc. I think that the "new world religion" that is coming soon, where the high priest will be the false prophet, will be the new ecumenism. Why? Think about this: Do you really think that you can convince muslims, christians, buddhists, spiritists, etc, to abandon their religion and costumes and follow your own? I bet you don't. But what if this false prophet comes with a way to unite all religions, telling them that they have something in common, "god", it doesn't matter what his name is or how it (god) manifests himself, what matters is that their "gods" can coexist, their religions can intermix, their faith can be expanded to insert new beliefs, etc. The word ecumenism comes from a family of classical greek words: oikos, meaning a "house", "family", "people", or "nation"; oikoumenē, "the whole inhabited world"; and oikoumenikos, "open to or participating in the whole world". Again, as my writing is personal, i think (God knows for sure) that the false prophet will find a way to unite all religions, of course the only ones who won't participate of this new ecumenism, will be the ones who won't receive the mark of the beast, as described in Revelation 13:18. So, are you prepared to overcome the beast? Revelation 12:11.

David vs. Goliath: The Battle Between Faith and Pride.

Proverbs 16:18. When Solomon wrote this verse, he probably had in mind a story that he heard a thousand times before: The battle between his father David and Goliath. Maybe Solomon was the one who came up with this saying: "The bigger they are, the harder they fall". The one thing that is very subtle in this story (it is found in 1 Samuel 17), is the difference between Faith and Pride. See what David's brother told him: 1 Samuel 17:28. The first battle David had to win was against his brothers prejudice (do you remember  Joseph's story?), if David didn't continue to speak, he would never be taken to see the king. Than he had to convince Saul that the LORD would deliver the giant in his hands, as Paul wrote: Philippians 4:13, because Saul didn't believe it: 1 Samuel 17:33. Then Saul gave David his armor, but it didn't fit. My take on this is that David didn't need Saul's armor, because he already had the "whole armor of God" that Paul speaks in Ephesians 6:14-17. David knew that he wasn't fighting against "flesh and blood": Ephesians 6:12. David knew that Goliath's pride was as big as his stature and his haughty spirit didn't allow him to believe in the God of Israel, so, Goliath's fall was just a stone's throw away! So, when people see you acting in faith sometimes they will tell you that you are prideful and arrogant, but at the end if you stand, they will understand the difference between faith and pride. My advice to you is: If God tells you to do something, don't worry about what people will tell you, act in faith and God will give you the victory! Always remember: The giant's fall is just a stone's throw away. Choose your stones wisely!

Physician, Heal Yourself!

Luke 4:23. At this point, Jesus' fame already preceded Him, everyone knew what happened in Capernaum and were anxious to "see" the same signs and wonders, but, the problem for them was that they thought they "knew" who Jesus was and where he came from, that Jesus was the son of Joseph and Mary and He was a Nazarene (they didn't know He was born in Bethlehem), Matthew 2:23, therefore He could never be the Messiah (Anointed One) because the Messiah had to come from Bethlehem of Judea, Micah 5:2. When Jesus read Isaiah 61:1-2, and told them that this passage was fulfilled before their eyes, meaning that He was the Messiah Isaiah spoke about, they refused to believe Him. Then Jesus talks about Elijah and Elisha, that those prophets being rejected by their own people, were used by God to minister to foreigners. With this Jesus was telling them that even if He did miracles and wonders among them, they would not believe that He was the Messiah. Right after, they try to kill Him. The wonderful thing about Jesus is that He was never impressed by the amount of people following Him, He never allowed the crowd to dictate what He had to say and do, He only did what His Father told Him to do. Today, if we turn on our tv, we'll see preachers trying to convince the people by displaying the "power of god" through persuasive words and pseudo-miracles that attract multitudes of people. Unfortunately, if you just pay attention, they are preaching everything but "Jesus Christ Crucified". Paul rebuked the Galatians for turning away from the Truth, Galatians 3:1. Jesus is been preached in our churches today, no doubt about it, the question is: What Jesus? (Read the post: What Jesus: The Narrow Way or the Broadway?) If the multitudes, even after seeing miracles and wonders still rejected Jesus Christ because He preached "unconditional obedience to God", it wouldn't be different today, in fact, the multitudes, just like in Jesus' time, are only running after signs and wonders, they want to see miracles and wonders but they don't want to follow Jesus, they don't want to lose their lives to become His disciples. I'm not saying that signs, wonders, miracles, healings and all the gifts we see in the Bible are not for today, absolutely, they are as real today as they were in Jesus’ time, i'm saying that if they are done in the absence of Truth, they are meaningless. I have experienced rejection after speaking the Truth, even after people seeing how God used me with diferent gifts. Unfortunately it hurts, but God is faithful and none of the words that came from Him will fall to the ground, they can kill the messenger but will never destroy the Message: Isaiah 55:11.

What is SIN?

Sin is failing to do God's will, is disobedience towards God, is missing the mark which is holiness, is to break God's laws. 1 John 3:4. In the Bible we can find different kinds of sins, like the ones mentioned in Exodus 20, called the Ten Commandments: You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal, etc. There are others mentioned in the New Testament, what the Apostle Paul called "works of the flesh": Fornication, hatred, envy, jealousies, etc. Unfortunately, the culture inside the Christian church tends to classify sin, so it's bad "to kill" but it's not too bad "to lie", it's bad "to idolize" but it's not too bad "to envy", etc. There's this concept of "white lie" that has permeated Christianity and brought with it other "acceptable" sins, making the very "purpose" or "target" called holiness to be almost "extinct" in our modern Christianity, in other words, we lack the power and glory of God in our lives and our churches because we failed to be holy: Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:15-16. As you can see, the God in the Old Testament is the same God in the New Testament, He does not change: Malachi 3:6. There's no "acceptable" sin, every sin is detestable and hateful before the Lord. We must learn to hate sin and to love holiness. If we say we love the Lord and don't love holiness we are deceiving ourselves. How can we love the Holy One (the Lord God) and don't love holiness? Isaiah 59:2. Unfortunately, along the years many false doctrines appeared in the church and harmed many people, like this one: "A Christian person does not sin". I heard this teaching over 20 years ago and i refuted such heresy when the pastor spoke it, but what broke my heart was not seeing any of the leaders (3 different churches in a youth retreat) standing against it. They did it later, but the damage was already done. We must hate sin, but at the same time acknowledge that we are sinners and sooner or latter we will sin, and when (not if) we sin we must repent and confess our sins to be forgiven. 1 John 1:8-10.

Seven Years of Plenty Preceding the Great Tribulation.

As they say: "History repeats itself". Or as Salomon the King wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9. Couple days ago i was reading the story of Joseph (i read many times before) and the Holy Spirit spoke to me about the seven years. For many years i kept saying that there is a "GREAT HARVEST OF SOULS" coming soon but i couldn't fully understand it until now. This is what the Holy Spirit spoke to me: "Before the SEVEN YEARS OF SPIRITUAL FAMINE (great tribulation), there will be SEVEN YEARS OF A GREAT HARVEST OF SOULS", that's when the parable in Matthew 22:1-14 will be fully revealed, when those who have been invited to the wedding and are not willing to enter will be replaced by the ones who were not invited before. We can see already signs of it, just pay attention to what is going on around the world: Jesus Christ is revealing Himself to muslims and hindus, appearing to them in dreams and visions, being preached in places where they never heard about Him before. They are coming to the wedding because, as Jesus says in the parable, the ones who were invited were not willing to come. If we translate this parable to our context, the ones who were invited and were not willing to come to the wedding are the religious people who call themselves christians but are not willing to lose their lives for the sake of Jesus Christ. What Pharaoh dreamed and came to pass in the "physical realm" (the abundance and famine), will come to pass in the "spiritual realm" also. Before the anti-Christ starts ruling the world, we will see an outpouring of tremendous power and authority coming from God, the Holy Spirit will perform great signs and wonders and many will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, the unbelieving religious people will not take part of this, in fact, they will persecute the ones who God chose to display His Glory through their lives, just as it has been from the beginning and it was with Jesus Christ. The "spirit of anti-Christ" acts powerfully IN the churches through religiosity, "blindfolding" those who think that by works they can enter into the Kingdom of God, those who "transform" themselves into godly people (as satan transforms himself into and angel of light), but deny the power of godliness (no fruit), as Paul the Apostle said: 2 Timothy 3:1-5. My advice to you is that you prepare yourself to what's coming, satan will be thrown to earth and he is coming with great wrath (Revelation 12:12), but at the same time, God's "warriors" will stand up and fight against the enemy. This is not a time for complacency, this is a time to FORSAKE EVERYTHING TO FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST, to PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD and FIGHT AGAINST THE DEVIL: Ephesians 6:11. Even if you think that this sounds crazy, soon you will realize that Jesus Christ is returning because the world will be a chaos, and if you are not prepared for the wedding, you will be "left behind with the left behind". Matthew 22:1-14. Are you prepared for the wedding? Are you wearing the wedding garment (holiness)?

Along Came the devil...

I'm living the best time since God freed and anointed me. This week i came to understand things that for 10 years i prayed about and never understood: The work of the devil inside the church! Years ago, i was in a church were we started to pray and worship God, there was prayer everyday in the church, after a while we saw God's Glory being revealed among us, unfortunately, we were all "babies", including the pastor (leader), because we failed to identify satan there, he managed to break the "spiritual unity" we had, at that time i identified other demons but never got to identify the devil himself. One morning (i used to deliver newspapers early morning), God told me that i was the "watchman" in that church, i had no clue what God was talking about. When i got home and opened my Bible (i used to do that almost every day), the text was this one: Ezekiel 33:1-7. To be honest with you, after reading this passage i was scared to death, i was 100% sure that God was talking to me, but at the same time it was "crazy", too hard to believe! Well, after that, God gave me a gift called "discerning of spirits". Discerning a spirit means that you know what type of spirit is at work: The Holy Spirit, the spirit of men or demons. Unfortunately, as it is a spiritual gift, you don't see the spirit (obviously), but the Holy Spirit reveals to your spirit what's the source. Sometimes it's extremely hard to discern what spirit is it. E.g.: 2 Corinthians 11:14. Paul is saying here that satan will "disguise" himself as an angel of light, he used to be lucifer (angel of light), now he is an angel of darkness, he is the prince of darkness, he is saying that if we don't discern correctly, we will think that is an angel of God and not satan. This week i had an encounter with satan himself, first God told me that in the church there was a spirit opposing worship, meaning, he was trying to "divert" the worship that was going to God to himself. At first, i thought that was just another demon messing around like i "saw" many times, but when he was being expelled from the person (man), he said he was the "spirit of antichrist". Well, this is what John the apostle wrote about antichrists: 1 John 2:18-22. It's a long story, but satan was only expelled by the pastor (leader of the church), after the third time. Why it took so long? Well, i was there the second time, during that time, i talked to my brother in Georgia (i live in Illinois), and he said that we would be wasting our time if we didn't deal with the demon that was in control (the authority), so when the pastor dealt with satan the third time, he had to go. Now this man, a close friend and brother in Christ, is completely free, God has something big for him and his family. The reason i'm writing this, is to tell you that when we have TRUE WORSHIP in our church no demon can resist it, when the Light of Jesus Christ, the Glory of God shines in our midst, satan has to "show himself", he no longer can be hiding in the "closet"! The problem today in our churches is that we have EVERYTHING but TRUE WORSHIP! It's like this: We have to rebuild the ALTAR OF THE LORD, which is the place where the GLORY OF GOD WILL BE REVEALED. Its like the ALTAR ELIJAH REBUILT (repaired): 1 Kings 18:30. Only after REPAIRING THE ALTAR OF THE LORD, was that Elijah was able to OFFER SACRIFICE TO THE LORD. The sacrifice today is WORSHIP! If we want to see the Glory of God in our midst, WE MUST RESTORE THE ALTAR OF THE LORD TO BE ABLE TO OFFER HIM A SACRIFICE OF WORSHIP! John 4:23. Unfortunately our "churches" became EVERYTHING BUT a place of TRUE WORSHIP TO THE LORD, even when the Altar started to be restored in some places, after a while, people started worshiping the Altar instead of worshiping the LORD. This is a prophecy: There is a TRUE REVIVAL coming to LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS, but will only happened where there is TRUE WORSHIP. We started seeing it in our church, that's why satan was there working so hard to destroy our SPIRITUAL UNITY, before as a "watchman", i failed to identify him, THANKS TO THE LORD now i could identify him and i know if we REPAIR THE ALTAR OF WORSHIP TO THE LORD we will see THE GLORY OF THE LORD IN OUR MIDST and MANY PEOPLE WILL COME TO BE SET FREE, TO BE HEALED, TO BE SAVED. THERE WILL BE A "GREAT HARVEST" VERY SOON, MANY SOULS WILL BE SAVED, BUT AT THE SAME TIME THE WORLD WILL BE A CHAOS! JESUS CHRIST IS RETURNING SOON, ARE YOU PREPARED?

Peter and the Rooster: Nothing to Crow About!

When talking about self-reliance, Simon Peter is probably the best example in the Bible. He was a vigorous, impetuous and courageous leader, a man ready to fight and die for the cause. But, was he really ready to die for Jesus? Unfortunately for him, self-reliance was not compatible with God's standard for leadership, as Zechariah spoke to Zerubbabel: Zechariah 4:6. Peter was an amazing character, he was always "on top of the game", always there when Jesus needed him. Sometimes acting prideful, other times humbling himself, sometimes influenced by the Holy Spirit, other times by satan. All in all, Peter was the right candidate for the job, a leader among the leaders. One thing we can see in the Bible that is true for everyone who God called to be a leader: They were all called to "be led" by the Holy Spirit, some allowed the Holy Spirit to lead them, others didn't. In Peter's case, even if he resisted as much as he could the work of the Holy Spirit in his life, Jesus didn't give up on him and interceded for his life: Luke 22:31-32. The pivotal moment in Peter's life came when he heard the rooster crowing, after denying Jesus three times, he recognized that he wasn't the valiant leader he thought he was, he probably realized that he wasn't invincible, that he was no better than anyone of Jesus' followers. What probably broke him in peaces was the fact that up to that moment, he was the one who stood firm, like a rock (Cefas means rock), even in the garden when they came to arrest Jesus, Peter reacted by using his sword. Up to that moment, denying Jesus was out of question, even if Jesus told him that he would do that, his pride didn't allow him to see the reality in Jesus’ words, that Jesus had to die so he (Peter) could live. God will always provide a way for us to repent, unfortunately some will reject God's way. I believe that Peter loved Jesus Christ, but he had to learn one hard lesson: Jesus way (narrow) or the highway! By that i mean: The only way to gain eternal life is losing our own: Matthew 16:25. This is the proof that Peter loved Jesus: John 21:17. By the way, "nothing to crow about" is an expression that means "nothing to brag about". With this declaration of love, Peter recognized that by his own strength he could not do the work God was calling him to do. By submitting himself to God and being filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter is one of the best examples that with God, nothing is impossible: Luke 1:37 For with God nothing will be impossible. Peter is a good example of how God establishes His Kingdom: God restores the worker's life, enables (teaches) him to do the work and sends the worker to the workplace (the world). Matthew 28:19. The only way to make disciples for Jesus Christ is being a disciple of Jesus Christ (to be called, prepared and sent), otherwise we would be turning the "great commission" into a "great omission", lacking the power of God to do His work, therefore establishing our own kingdom: 1 Corinthians 4:20; Romans 10:14-15.

The Ant and the Sluggard: Idling like an Idol.

Proverbs 6:6-8. The good thing about going to church since early age, was meeting people who gave their lives for the others, who considered others better than themselves, like my parents did, that's very inspiring. On the other hand, the bad thing was seeing people "idling in the name of Jesus", using all kinds of excuses to avoid working, creeping up on people's houses or using them to sponsor their idleness. In this text, King Solomon is teaching us how to work, how to be wise and hardworking as an ant. This is the best example on how Christians should act in their workplace. We must be an example of honesty, integrity and faithfulness to others in the workplace, not only when our "boss" is around, but much more when he is away, that's the way we will "reveal" Christ to the people around us. Paul speaks about it and says that there's a reward when we do it: Colossians 3:23-24. Of course, it is very hard when your boss is a despot and treats you unfairly, but we must follow Jesus Christ's example, as Peter writes: 1 Peter 2:23. Believe me, it's been over 12 years since God started teaching me about it, just now i'm assimilating, i can fully understand but practicing it, it’s still tough, it's a battle against my "self", denying myself is the only way to follow Jesus: Luke 9:23. Paul uses a very strong language when dealing with the sluggard: 2 Thessalonians 3:7-11. About idling like an idol, this is what the psalmist wrote referring to idols: Psalm 115:3-8.

Coexistence or Communion?

Coexistence: Existing peacefully together.
Communion: The sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, esp. when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level.
If we go back on time, more precisely when christianity began (Jesus Christ's birth), we'll see that the very announcement of Jesus' birth to the shepherds by the Angel, was followed by a declaration of peace: Luke 2:13-14. After a while, christians were persecuted and centuries latter, the "institutionalized christianity" became the persecutor (inquisition), "christians" from being peacemakers became warlords! As they say: "history repeats itself", again, we're starting to see a movement towards the persecution of the church, christians all over the world are seeing the Book of Revelation unfolding before their eyes, unfortunately here in America, the vast majority of the people who call themselves christians don't see it, because of the state of "sleepiness" that the "church" finds itself, as Paul spoke to the Ephesians: Ephesians 5:13-14. Thankfully, everything is about to change, for good or bad. We as christians, are called by Jesus Christ to be peacemakers: Matthew 5:9. Paul also addressed the issue of peacemaking: Romans 12:18. Of course, there's a difference between Coexistence and Communion: We, as christians, are called to "coexist" with our neighbors, to live in peace with them, but at the same time we cannot participate in their sinful or unfruitful lifestyle, we are IN the world but we are NOT OF the world (John 15:19), because by doing that we would be partaking of the table of demons: 1 Corinthians 10:21. I believe that it is impossible to be one (communion) with someone that Jesus Christ is not his (her) Lord, with them there will be only coexistence! The Lordship of Jesus Christ is the "link" that unites every born again christian. Only in Christ we can be spiritually united, one body (church), the Body of Christ. 2 Corinthians 6:14; Ephesians 5:8.

Genuine Faith: Tested by Fire.

1 Peter 1:7. The best example that comes to my mind when i read this passage, is found in the book of Daniel chapter 3, when the three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were thrown into a burning fiery furnace, they didn't think twice to answer the king when they were told to bow before the image, they act in faith even not knowing the outcome (life or death): Daniel 3:16-18. They were clear that even facing death they wouldn't worship other gods (Faith + Works). The amazing part, is when Jesus Christ appears among them in the midst of the fire. We can see the reality of what Peter is saying, the friends' faith was literally tested by fire. Bringing this to our reality, many times God allows our faith to be tested "by fire" through sickness, loss of a loved one, hardship, etc. In fact, that's when we'll realize the genuinely of our faith: If we stand firm our faith is genuine, if not, what we had was everything but faith. Another purpose for the "fiery furnace" is to purify our hearts, to allow us to be holy and stand before the Lord: Psalm 24:3-4. I believe that if we want to be in God's presence, we should constantly pray Psalm 51:10. So, how can we know if our faith is genuine? If we stand firm to the end of the test (trial or tribulation)! Revelation 2:10.

A Little Leaven Leavens the Whole Lump.

Galatians 5:9. In this context, Paul is addressing a problem in the church of Galatia that became a problem in the other churches he started, which was departing from Christ's freedom to become entangled with a yoke of bondage. Today, i can see clear how this statement was true in the beginning of my new life, just as the Galatians succumbed to the judaizers, i did to some people who wanted to "rule" over me. Unfortunately, this is the problem with most christian churches today, people ruling over other people, when Jesus Christ supposed to be the Lord, the head of the body. Concerning the "little leaven", if we compare it to sin, we see that many times things we consider irrelevant or meaningless (little leaven), are the very things that will lead us to sin and if we don't deal with that sin (repentance), it will become iniquity, separating us from our God: Isaiah 59:2. E.g.: If like me, you enjoy surfing the internet, more than ever, you'll have to be cautious, because most likely you'll see something suggestive (sexual connotation) and if you're not intentional with seeking holiness (sanctification), you'll give way to the lust of the eyes: 1 John 2:16. Right now, there are many "believers" addicted to pornography thinking that there is no way out, the more they try to quit, the worse it gets. There is FREEDOM IN CHRIST, i'm saying that because i've been there and Jesus Christ set me free. as John writes, the lusts of the flesh and eyes and the pride of life were my trademarks (read post "Personal Testimony: New Life"). Our problem today with this "cool christianity" is that we're not taught to "fight" against sin, we don't go to extremes to avoid sinning. Hebrews 12:4. Jesus was clear about that: Matthew 5:29. Of course you're intelligent enough to understand that Jesus is not saying that you should literally pluck you eye and cast it from you, because if you have problem with pornography, pornography is already "rooted" in your heart, but He means that you should turn away from EVERYTHING that leads you to that sin. In practical terms, if surfing the internet leads you to pornography, you should NEVER access the internet when you're alone (accountability) or go to the extreme as to get rid of your internet access (magazines, movies, etc.), probably for you it will mean resist to bloodshed, striving against sin. I spoke about pornography, but it can be any other sin, like GLUTTONY for example. It's kind of funny, but did you ever hear someone admitting to be slave of the sin called GLUTTONY? Did you know that it is sin? Proverbs 23:21; Proverbs 28:7; Titus 1:12. Unfortunately, we believers tend to "categorize" sins, like, homosexuality and drunkenness are horrible but lust and gluttony are not. That's the reason the "church" (religious institution filled with hypocrites) keeps condemning homosexuals and absolving fornicators! We must take heed, otherwise we will fall in the same sin that we are condemning! 1 Corinthians 10:12.

From the Hamptons to the Heavens: Bewitched by Left Behind.

Maybe you are a big fan of the "left behind" series, read it all and agree completely with the "pre-tribulation" concept. The first thing i want to make clear is that, i'm not assuring you that the "church" will be "taken" (rapture) before (pre-trib), during (mid-trib) or after (post-trib) the great tribulation because God didn't make clear when the rapture will happen, in fact, everyone who is assuring any of those three points of view, is adding (assurance) to the Holy Scripture: Revelation 22:18. Of course, you are entitled to have your own opinion about the subject, but you should never guarantee that your opinion is God's opinion. In the "left behind" series, the authors made millions of dollars by "assuring" their followers that the pre-trib point of view is God's point of view. They made it sound and look so nice and beautiful, that the people who watched the movies or read the books were "bewitched" to believe their personal interpretation. Of course, when you read the Bible using your "cultural glasses" (when your culture or background influences the way you read the Bible), then you will believe accordingly. E.g.: Our culture (American) says that we are "entitled" to have it bigger, better, more (american dream), therefore when the prosperity theology preachers read their Bible, they use their "cultural glasses" to interpret what they are reading and go to extremes to prove that they are "entitled" to fulfill their american dream, using Bible verses out of context to seduce you to believe their message, assuring that is God's will for every single human being to be financially rich. Please, pay attention to what Jesus Christ said: Matthew 26:11. I honestly don't know what part of the "the poor with you always", the prosperity gospel preachers don't understand, but this is what always means: 1. at all times; all the time and on every occasion; 2. seemingly without interruption; often and repeatedly; 3. at any time or in any event. If Jesus said that we will always have poor people with us, it means that poverty will never be eradicated until the old is destroyed and the new begins (heaven and earth). As Christ's Body (church) we must take care of the poor until that day! Right now i'm financially poor, but at the same time i've been blessed by my brothers and sisters in Christ and by God Himself, that makes me spiritually rich! Back to the tribulation talk, since God didn't assure His point of view (pre, mid or post-trib), we shouldn't do it also. I wrote a lot more explaining the differences between the three interpretations, but i came across with this website: http://www.posttribulationrapture.com/threeTheories.htm, that i think will give you the pros and cons in all of them. The writer calls the three points of view "theories" probably because only God knows what the correct one is. The writer stands for the post-trib view. I hope you read it all and then make up your mind. Again, you can have your opinion, just don't try to force God to agree with you. As for me, since its not clear, i rather be prepared for the post-trib (i hope its pre-trib) than to be caught unprepared if that will be the case. I'm sure that in either case, God will never abandon His children, as David said: Psalm 23:4. God also promised to Joshua, Joshua 1:5. He also promised to us, Hebrews 13:5. Right now there are many brothers and sisters around the world suffering persecution, being tortured and killed because their love for God, for them, pre, mid or post-trib is irrelevant and probably if you ask them what they think, they will tell you that (as i heard one pastor's story) they already experienced a "great tribulation", they saw their families being killed or at least they were beaten and imprisoned. In the title "From the Hamptons to the Heavens", the Hamptons is one of the most rich places here in America, check this out: http://www.howtonegotiatesalaryx.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-live-in-the-hamptons/; about being bewitched by the "left behind" series, i mean that if what they assure (pre-trib) is not correct and you believe that with all your heart, you will not prepare yourself to be faithful 'till death: Revelation 2:10. As the English proverb says: "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst".

The Line in the Sand: Who's the Glory?

1 Corinthians 5:6. In the context, Paul is addressing sexual immorality in the Corinthian church, it was so bad that Paul says that this type of immorality was not even named among the gentiles. The reason why they had this issue among them, was because they were more preoccupied with showing who was "the greatest" among them (more gifts, more work, more authority, etc.), what Paul defined as "personal glory". If you've been in a church for a while, you probably saw people fighting each other to impose their ideology, taste, etc. Unfortunately, when this happens, someone or something is receiving the glory that supposed to be God's and that's when things go bad (division, sinful behavior, etc.). God does not share His glory with no one else. Today, more than never, we see organizations (also called churches), people and ministries being exalted so high, that they become recipients of a glory that belongs to God. No wonder we don't see God's glory revealed here on earth. If the glory is not going to God alone, His Glory will never descend here on earth. From Abel, who glorified God and saw God's glory consuming his sacrifice, to John the Apostle, who also glorified God and saw God's glory revealed through his ministry, we can see through the Bible that this was the case with all those who experienced God's Power, they glorified God even facing death. Because we lack the "fear of God", we've failed to discern who's receiving the glory, we don't even bother trying to find out, we just keep shouting "glory to God" when the glory is not going to Him. On of the keys to see God's glory being revealed in our lives is through holiness (sanctification), the more i am "sanctified", the more God is "glorified" in me. The "lesser" i become, the "greater" Jesus becomes in me and God's glory is revealed in my life. God is a jealous God, He doesn't share His glory with idols, people, organizations, etc. Exodus 20:5. We need to go back to the beginning (early church Christianity), when they lived to glorify God, to sanctify His Name. We must break the bondage of this "institutionalized Christianity" and live the "freedom" of Christ's Christianity! There are some questions we need to answer: When i go to church, who's receiving the glory? Is my "worshiping" only a lip service? Is God the center of my life? Am i living to glorify the Lord and sanctify His Holy Name? Habakkuk 2:14. God was displeased with Moses when he hit the rock instead of speaking to the rock, even Moses being meek, faithful and obedient up to that point, God says to Moses that he wouldn't enter the promise land because his lack of faith who lead him to disobey God. Numbers 20:12. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, he said: Matthew 6:9. Failing to Hallow (Sanctify) God's name will always lead us to lose the promise God made to us, because by doing that, we will be giving the Glory that belongs to God to someone or something else. May God teach us to fear Him in order to never receive or give to another the glory that belongs to Him: Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 9:10.

The Synthetic Gospel: What Shall We Do?

Acts 2:37-39. Unfortunately, more and more we can see a nice and cool "gospel" being preached out there, that is everything but Jesus Christ's Gospel. It's very inclusive and politically correct (Christ's gospel includes only the ones who accept it), sometimes it looks like the real one, it's what i call the "synthetic gospel". Synthetic because there are personal ideas and theories added to it, making it "easier to digest" and "more exciting" than Jesus' Gospel. In the text above, verse 23 ... you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death, Peter was straightforward and said without any reservation what they did with Jesus. Peter didn't judged or condemned them of murder, he spoke the "truth in love" and the Holy Spirit convicted them of their sin. The problem with the "synthetic gospel" is that it is partial: God is only love; the Truth is never absolute (half-Jesus); the "self" never dies, it only becomes a better "self" and there's never true repentance involved, there's only remorse (true repentance leads to life (David), remorse leads to death (Judas Iscariot), no wonder it is a powerless gospel. Of course, as Paul the apostle wrote in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, in this last days, people are "stacking up" teachers that are telling them what they want to hear, preachers that are preaching the "synthetic gospel", prophets that are speaking "prophetic fables" and all of this because they (people), as Paul said, have itching ears but will not endure sound doctrine. So, what shall we do with the "synthetic gospel"? Reject it and embrace Jesus Christ's Gospel!

Eleazar and His Sword: Becoming One With Your Weapon.

2 Samuel 23:9-10. Eleazar was one of David’s mighty men, who God used to show to His people what He can do through someone that is willing to fight. The men of Israel had retreated from the battle but Eleazar stood alone and fought, through him, God brought a great victory to His people. What is really interesting is that his sword became an extension of his arm, he became one with his sword. Paul calls the Word of God (Bible), the sword of the Spirit: Ephesians 6:17 ... the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Unfortunately, many times we are not prepared to fight against the devil, we don't study and meditate on God's Word and when the devil comes, we retreat just like the man of Israel. Do you remember when Jesus Christ was in the desert being tempted by the satan (Matthew 4:1)? He (Jesus) fought with the sword of the Spirit and the devil had to retreat. Like Eleazar, we must allow the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, to be part of our lives. Psalm 119:11. How can we resist or defeat the enemy if we don't know how to fight? Worse, why will we fight if we don't think that we are in a battle? 2 Timothy 2:3-4. Unfortunately, there are many things competing for our allegiance, if we are not careful, we will be entangled with the affairs of this life and lose the abundant life Jesus Christ promised us, that will only be attained by becoming one with our weapon, the sword of the Spirit!

God's Love Wins! If You Reject It, You Lose: Why Hell is "Hot" and Purgatory is "Cool".

John 3:16. In this verse we can see that God extended His love to everyone, but we will only have everlasting life if we believe in Him. Love is one of His attributes, God loves because He is love: 1 John 4:8. Unfortunately, there are some people, like the new rising star called Rob Bell, who wrote a book called "love wins", that are distorting the gospel of Jesus Christ. To them, since God is love, He will never allow anybody to perish (hell), but will give everlasting life to everyone, even to the ones who refuse to believe in Him (God). So, for them, Jesus Christ wasted His life and time, since there's no faith involved in their salvation process. Bell just "dressed" the old purgatory theology (catholic belief) in new "clothes", which means, if you are not saved here, you will be saved somewhere else (purgatory), because at the end, "love wins". The problem with Bell's teaching, is that he forgets that God is love, but He is also righteous (just) and if you take the righteousness from God, He is no longer the same: Malachi 3:6. Besides, God says in Hebrews 9:27-28. This passage is clear, there's no change after death, there's no purgatory, there's no reincarnation (spiritism), after death there's only judgment and rewards (heaven and hell). So, why is hell hot? Mark 9:45. Hell is literally hot because Jesus said that its fire shall never be quenched and the purgatory is "cool" (nice) because it pleases the people who don't want to die to themselves, who don't want to acknowledge Jesus as Lord but don't want to go to hell also. Doing that, they are rejecting God's love and losing the eternal life God wants to give to them. Because God is love, He sent Jesus Christ to save us, but because He is righteous, one day all will stand before His throne for judgment, some to receive eternal life, others eternal punishment. 2 Corinthians 5:10; Matthew 25:45-46.

Believing is Seeing: How to Grow Your Faith in 3 Easy Steps.

Of course you've seen at least one tv commercial saying: "become..., get..., do... in three easy steps". Unfortunately, when it comes to faith in God, it will require more than "3 steps" and they won't be easy. When talking about faith, we must consider the life of Abraham, the father of faith. From the day that God told him: Genesis 12:1-2; Genesis 12:4; Genesis 25:7. We can say that Abraham literally "walked by faith"! Do you think that Abraham's faith grew in just "3 easy steps"? How much faith he had to have to "be willing" to sacrifice his own son, believing that God would raise him (son) from the dead? "believing is seeing" is the way God chose for us (believers) to live. Galatians 3:6. Remember Jesus' words to Martha? John 11:40. The reason Jesus asked, Luke 18:8, is because "biblical faith" (believing is seeing) is not "essential" in today's post-modern christianism. That's probably the reason why we don't see "God's glory" as Abraham, David, Elijah, Martha, etc., saw it. Who's to blame? We, who call ourselves "believers"! God does not change. Jesus Christ does not change. I'm reading a book about the persecuted church in china and i read something that made me realize how "shallow" my faith is. This is what i read: "As I was writing these words, the communist police beat to death one of the young preachers (a sister) who works with us in Hunan. In another area, Northeast China, they took five into the station and poured scalding water over them until their skin began to peel and beat them until their front teeth came out. Then they mocked and challenged them to praise the Lord as they had been doing in church when they were arrested. The chinese christians began to sing beautiful songs of praise. These wicked men were so ashamed of what they have done when they saw the presence of the Lord in these young preachers that they released them all. Incidents like this occur daily all over China" (The Gospel Under Fire by Wm. Thomas Bray with Nora Lam). Right now i'm asking myself: "Would i be willing, like those believers in China or Paul and Silas (Acts 16), after being tortured to sing praises to my Lord? Acts 5:41. The reason why the church is growing so much in China, spiritually and numbers, is that the "real" Christians have to be 100% committed to Christ, therefore they see the Power and Glory of God. There's no place for "lukewarmness" or complacency in china, you either belong to the "government's church" and have nothing to fear or you belong to the Body of Christ and you will be persecuted, as it says in Revelation 12:11. May God help us to love Him more than we love ourselves.

To BE Attitudes: Blessed ARE the Persecuted...

Matthew 5:10-12. This is Jesus' assurance that "God's blessings" are not related to the "health, wealth and safe" gospel preached by the "money lovers". In fact, if you keep offering people what they want the most (money, health, safety, etc.), they will never hate, persecute and say all kinds of evil falsely against you, absolutely, they will "worship" you. Do you want to make friends? Give 'em money. They will be your friends (not real ones of course), at least until you run out of money. If you don't believe, read the parable of the prodigal son, when the money was gone, so were his "friends"! Even the pigs became unfriendly. Before, i had a hard time believing that it is possible to rejoice and be exceedingly glad when you are being persecuted or mistreated, but more and more i see that it's not just possible, it pleases God, when facing persecution we endure and rejoice. I'm not saying that God wants us to suffer, i'm saying that when the troubles come and we are found faithful, God is pleased with us. Job is the best example of endurance and faithfulness. Another example is the early church, they suffered and yet rejoiced in suffering. Acts 5:41. How many Christians right now are being persecuted and suffering for Jesus' sake? A time is coming, as it is described in the book of Revelation, when the anti-Christ will persecute and kill many Christians, of course if you are a pre-trib believer you are safe (or not!). From Abel to John, the righteous people in the Bible were persecuted and suffered for righteousness' sake, they didn't love their own lives, still they were not recognized by they righteous acts. I heard in the radio other day, about a pastor from Africa that had his wife and two children killed and he was left for dead. In China there are many cases of believers being killed for Jesus' sake. To me, the "great tribulation" is called "great" because will happened in the whole world simultaneously, but for that African pastor, that was a "great tribulation". We have a distorted vision about blessing, we think that we are blessed when everything is going well, we have plenty and we are loved by everybody. Pay attention to the words of Jesus Christ: John 7:7; John 15:20. We must answer theses questions: Whom are we serving? Are we testifying about the evil works of this world?

Enlightenment: The Power to Become a Child of God.

First of all, let's define enlightenment: The attainment of spiritual knowledge or insight. Verb enlighten: Explain thoroughly; make aware. Adjective enlightened: Informed, educated.
Hebrews 6:4-6. Before, i thought this passage was talking about a believer losing salvation. In reality, there's nothing to do with losing salvation, but it's about a believer not finishing the race (2 Timothy 4:7) or not receiving the crown of life (Revelation 2:10). As you probably know, there are two basic belief systems in the christian church: Arminianism and Calvinism. There are good and bad views in both of them, but when it comes to salvation, their basic belief is: Arminianism: You are responsible for your salvation (free will) and after being saved you can loose your salvation; Calvinism: God preordained your salvation or damnation and free will doesn't exist. To me, salvation is a process that can take minutes or years. There's both the Power of God and the will of man in the process, of course if God wants to save someone He will because at the end, He is sovereign. In the Bible, we can see very clear how it works (if we want to): The first step is what i call enlightenment (John 16:8); the second step is repentance (Mark 1:4); the third step is acceptance (John 1:33) and the last is the death (Luke 9:24). Unfortunately, there is a cheap salvation being offered out there, where you just say some magical words and it's done, you're saved from the wrath of God even if you'll never produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit (character of Jesus Christ). John 15:2, here Jesus is assuring that is possible to be IN Him (enlightenment, repentance and acceptance) and yet be taken away (see Post: The Tree, the Branch and the Fruit), but He doesn't mean that you are saved and will lose your salvation, He means that you never finished the process (bear fruit or die to self). The problem is that many people think just because they received gifts from God (acceptance) that they are automatically saved even if Jesus said this in Matthew 7:22-23. Two good examples of not "finishing the race", are Judas Iscariot and Saul the king, they stopped the process at acceptance and never died to self. Jesus explains to Nicodemus in John 3, the concept of being born again, of course we must die to be born again and it is spiritual. So, the best way to know if we are being saved, is to answer these questions: Am i losing my life (Luke 9:24)? Am i bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)? Am i loving the Lord with all my heart, soul, strength and mind and my neighbor as myself (Luke 10:27)? Philippians 2:12. Look the life of Paul the Apostle, he knew everything "about" God but he didn't "know" God. When he was enlightened (Acts 9), he repented, accepted and died to self. Paul talks a lot about salvation being a process, he compares it with a race in 1 Corinthians 9:24, and he stood against those who were selling a cheap gospel, Galatians 1:8. This is the gospel the Apostles preached: 1 Corinthians 1:23-24; John 1:12. If you received Jesus Christ as your savior, you were given the right (power) to become children of God, my hope is that you "finish the race", die to self to receive eternal life!

Contentment: Is Your "Daily Bread" Enough For You?

Luke 11:3. This is part of the prayer that Jesus Christ taught His disciples, to ask God daily for our daily bread. It reminds me of Israel's "tour" through the desert, when God provided for them the daily "bread from heaven". It's amazing how God showed them that He was able to provide for them, daily, everything they needed (food, clothing, etc.). God even told them the amount they had to gather in order to feed their families. Of course, just like the most of us (there are few exceptions), they didn't believe and obey God's command and gathered more than they needed and it spoiled (Exodus 16:20). Contentment is something RARE in today's christianity, we are always running after something (spiritual or material), trying to gather more than we need, "filling our barns" and "emptying our souls" (Luke 12:16-21). Right now, i am learning what Paul the Apostle called, the secret of being content, and i can tell you that it is extremely hard to absorb it. The "theory" is easy to understand, but when it comes to practice it, it gets really tough. I think it's because we are born with that sense of "independence", Adam's legacy, and as we grow up, we are taught that we "must" be independent at all cost. Unfortunately, we bring that "worldly teaching" to our christianity and tell Jesus Christ that He can be our "partner" but never our "boss", that we can be His "friends" but never His "servants", otherwise we would lose our "independence". INDEPENDENCE OR DEATH! That's our motto. Probably that's why Jesus said that we must DIE to LIVE! Of course, since there's not a single living human being without a "head", it's impossible to be part of Jesus' body (real church) without His Lordship, He is the head of the church (Colossians 1:18). Why is it so hard to really trust in Jesus? Is it because we grew up singing songs like, "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus", and that made our hearts so "callous" that we don't even think about what we are singing? don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that we should depend on other people, government, etc., i'm saying that we must learn to depend on God, He wants be our provider. That's one reason why Jesus said that if we don't become like a child we will not enter His kingdom. Now think about this: When you were 5 or 10 years old, did you worry about what you were going to eat or wear? If you did you missed the best of your childhood, the "worry free" life! About the "secret", this is what Paul wrote: Philippians 4:11-13. Do you really believe what Jesus said? Matthew 6:26. Yes you are! God loved you so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you so that you would have eternal life.

Prosperity Redefined: Why the Prosperity Gospel is Accursed.

According to the Webster Dictionary, prosperity is: The condition of being successful or thriving, especially, economic well-being. If we relate prosperity to economics, we will never consider Jesus Christ to be a prosperous person, because He said this about Himself: Matthew 8:20. If after reading this verse you still think that Jesus was rich (monetarily speaking), as the prosperity gospel preachers say, you should stop reading this post. God's definition of prosperity is different from ours, Jesus Christ being poor (financially speaking), was the most prosperous person ever, just think about it: With five barley loaves and two small fish Jesus fed 5 thousand man, besides women and children (Matthew 14:13-21); Jesus turned six water pots of stone, filled with twenty or thirty gallons of water into wine (John 2:1-11); After a night catching no fish, Jesus provided a big catch to His disciples (Luke 5:1-9). If we consider Jesus' ministry and think that prosperity is equal to "numbers", He failed big time, because when He rose again, there were no multitudes waiting for Him, just a bunch of scared disciples. Of course, Jesus finished the work His Father gave to Him with 100% success. Jesus is the best example of prosperity! Speaking about the prosperity gospel, the reason it is accursed is because it's not Jesus Christ's Gospel. See how tough is Paul when dealing with false doctrines: Galatians 1:8-9. What was then Jesus' Gospel, or as it says in Acts 2:42, the apostles’ doctrine? If you read the Gospels and the Apostles' letters in the New Testament you will learn it! Paul defined their preaching as Christ crucified: 1 Corinthians 1:23-24. If you read Jesus' teaching, you'll realize that Christ crucified means unconditional obedience to God. Jesus didn't die to make us millionaires, He died to give us eternal life. It's better a Lazarus in heaven than a rich man in hell! God will always provide for his children, the question is: IS GOD'S DAILY BREAD ENOUGH FOR YOU?

The Rich Man and Lazarus: He who Laughs Last, Laughs Best.

Luke 16:19-31. The question that comes to my mind when i read this parable is: What was Jesus really trying to teach with this parable? Of course some possible answers are: 1) Jesus is explaining that is impossible for a rich person (who loves money) to enter in His kingdom: Matthew 19:24. 2) Jesus is confirming that if we don't show mercy towards our neighbor, we will not receive mercy: James 2:13. 3) Jesus is affirming that no one will be saved without faith in God: Hebrews 11:6. Jesus is proving that even if something miraculous happens, like someone is being raised from the dead (read Lazarus' resurrection in John 11), people will still doubt it. 4) Jesus is contradicting Rob Bell, assuring that hell is a real place and if you reject God's love you will spend eternity there (Read Post: God's Love Wins! If You Reject It, You Lose: Why Hell is "Hot" and Purgatory is "Cool"). Question: What would you prefer? A life of luxury and comfort on earth and eternity in hell or a life of hardship and suffering on earth and eternity in heaven? Unfortunately, in this post-modern christianism, hardship and suffering are synonyms of God's wrath or disapproval of His children's life, there's no place for Job, Paul, Peter, Jesus Christ in it, therefore Jesus was completely wrong when, in Matthew 5, He called the persecuted or reviled "blessed". I'm not saying here that God's will for us is a life of suffering and hardship, but i'm saying that it will come sooner or latter, if you are a God's child, that's only a matter of time. Here's Paul assurance: Acts 20:19. To me, when we become christians, we automatically enroll in the "university of adversity", a few will "graduate", but the vast majority will "fail". Matthew 22:14. Are you up for the challenge?

To BE Attitudes: Blessed ARE the Peacemakers...

Matthew 5:9. First of all, let's answer these questions:

Q: Is Jesus Christ blessed?

A: Yes He is. Psalm 118:26! Matthew 21:9.

Q: Is Jesus Christ the Son of God?

A: Yes He is! John 20:31.

Q: Is Jesus Christ a peacemaker?

A: He is not only a peacemaker, He is the Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6.

Q: If He is a peacemaker, why He didn't bring peace on earth when He came? Matthew 10:34. Luke 12:51.

A: He didn't come to bring peace on earth because the world didn't receive Him, He brought peace to the ones who received Him, the children of God. John 1:12. John 14:27. We, God's children, are called to be peacemakers, to bring peace to the ones God is calling to Himself. Of course, as the world rejected Jesus Christ (refused to receive God's peace), so it will do to us, but as "ambassadors" of God's Kingdom, we are called to live peaceably with everyone as much as depends on us, Romans 12:18. God's peace is not bound to our circumstances, it's not limited to our understanding and it's not defined by our emotions, God's peace is a "decision", not a feeling! Philippians 4:5-7. We, believers, have to understand that our fight is against the devil and his demons, not against people. It is a spiritual battle, not a moral or physical one. Ephesians 6:12.

To BE Attitudes: Blessed ARE the Pure in Heart...

Matthew 5:8. Purity, a word that is becoming extinct. In the beginning (genesis), God's creation was pure (unadulterated). Then sin entered the world and after that everything became corrupted. In the early 1990s, the "transgenic" (Genetically Modified) foods were put on the market and it caused a commotion. Nowadays, there are animals and probably people being Genetically Modified. If you are in a store and hear someone been called "GM", pay attention. If the person is old, he (she) is only the General Manager, but if he is young, he could be a Genetically Modified General Manager (lol). Today, we may be eating a "Frankenstein" (GM) corn on the cob without knowing it. The old "bizarre" is becoming the new "normal". The more we try to fix our world, the worse it gets! First question: Is it really possible to be pure in heart? According to Jesus it is possible, and the ones who are pure in heart, they are blessed! Second question: How can we become the pure in heart? See what Paul told Timothy: 2 Timothy 2:22. Fleeing from sin and pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace. Third question: Where do we find righteousness, faith, love and peace? In Jesus Christ! Righteousness: Philippians 1:11; faith: John 17:20; love: Romans 8:39; peace: John 14:27.

Conclusion: A pure heart is only attained by an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. The more we know Him, the more we will be cleansed by His word. John 17:17.

Saved by Grace. Sanctified by Truth.

Ephesians 2:8. As Paul made it clear, salvation is a gift from God, there's nothing we can do to earn it. God's gift is available to everyone, unfortunately, few are accepting His gift. Why not? John 3:16. Because only the ones who believe in Jesus Christ are saved! Again, even the ones who are saved, they are saved by the Grace (Jesus Christ) of God, not by works: 2 Timothy 1:9. Salvation is a process and it includes something called sanctification (holiness): 1 Thessalonians 4:3. The purpose of sanctification is to create in us the Character of Jesus Christ, described by Paul as being the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23. The concept of "cheap salvation" that we have in today's church is not biblical, preachers are offering a "costless" salvation, a salvation that God never offered! Jesus was clear that in order to "be saved" we must count the cost: Luke 14:28; we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him: Luke 9:23; we must lose our lives: Matthew 10:39. That's where sanctification happens, on the cross. The salvation process can take a couple hours, the criminal on the cross: Luke 23:40-43, or it can take hundreds of years, Enoch: Genesis 5:23-24. The criminal on the cross is the perfect example that salvation is only received by faith, by confessing our sins and acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord. Romans 10:9.
Conclusion:  Sanctification (holiness) is only attained by the Word of God (Jesus Christ): John 17:17. There is NO salvation without sanctification: Hebrews 12:14.

Photophobic Generation: Men Loved Darkness Rather Than Light!

John 3:19. Using Newton's Third Law of Motion, "for every action there is a reaction", i would add this: Reason and Consequence. I would call it the Law of Justified Consequence. It would be like this: For every Action there is a Reaction for a Reason, creating a Consequence. That's how Jesus defined condemnation: The Action: The Light has come into the world; the Reaction: Men loved darkness rather than light; the Reason: Because their deeds were evil; the Consequence: Condemnation. Let's apply this "law" to the most known verse in the Bible, John 3:16. The Action: He gave His only begotten Son (salvation); the Reaction: Whoever believes in Him (faith); the Reason: God so loved the world (love); the Consequence: Should not perish but have everlasting life (eternal life). If you're asking what this verse has to do with "justified consequence", this is the answer: Romans 5:1. The eternal life is the "consequence" for being "justified by faith" in Jesus Christ, and justification is only possible because of God's love for humanity. In the end, salvation or condemnation will the "justified consequence" for everyone's action, salvation for those who believed and condemnation for those who didn't! As Jesus said in Luke 17:26-27, the wickedness was so great that it was "normal" to be wicked, only Noah's family was saved, because of Noah's faith. Noah was justified by faith! Are you loving the Light (Jesus Christ), John 8:12, or are you still walking in darkness?

To BE Attitudes: Blessed ARE the Merciful...

Matthew 5:7. Mercy is one of God's attributes, the Lord Himself declares that in Exodus 34:6. David also calls Him merciful, Psalm 103:8. Here are some verses talking about mercy: Hosea 6:6; Lamentations 3:22. James 2:13. Just like forgiveness, mercy is only received if it is given (showed). The best example i can give you is Jesus' Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, in Matthew 18:21-35, at the end Jesus says this: "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses". See that the master "showed" mercy to his servant (forgave his debt), but his servant didn't "show" mercy to his fellow servant and because of it the first servant was delivered to the torturers. In this parable, the servant wasn't blessed because he wasn't merciful, he didn't show mercy therefore he didn't obtain mercy. Today, there are many legalistic "christians", thinking that by doing the right thing, they are being righteous, when they are only acting as judges, either absolving or condemning their fellow servants. Romans 14:4. I know sometimes i may sound judgmental, because as they say, i like to "give credit where credit is due", in fact, i can't stand false teachings and when i find one, i write about it. Biblically speaking, we cannot judge people but we must judge their teachings. If you read all my posts and didn't check to see if i'm speaking the truth, you already failed! The day of judgment is coming soon, and as James wrote, if we don't show mercy we will not receive mercy!

Worldliness or Secularism? The Embellishment of Sin.

It's amazing how much humanity has changed in just a few generations. What was wrong before now is acceptable, what was evil now is good, what was ugly now is pretty, etc. Some things are just a matter of taste, e.g.: You maybe think that i'm ugly, but my wife thinks that i'm handsome, her taste or perspective is different from yours and she's not "sinning" because she thinks like that. But when it comes to SIN, what's right is right, what's wrong is wrong, there's no partiality. Whatever was Sin for Abel was Sin for Jesus and it is still sin for us today, e.g.: Murder. It was sin when Cain murdered his brother Abel, it was sin when the people murdered Jesus and it's still sin today. Exodus 20:13, this commandment was given through Moses a long time after the first murder (Cain's), the law only "revealed" God's perspective about sin. Today, we're constantly led to think that good and evil can "coexist", meaning, i can be "good and evil" and still the good in me will, in some weird way, annul the evil. As in that song "Ebony and Ivory" from Paul McCartney: "We all know that people are the same where ever you go, there is good and bad in everyone, we learn to live, we learn to give each other what we need to survive, together alive". It sounds very nice, but this is what Jesus Christ said: Luke 18:19. So the concept of "there is good and bad in everyone" according to Jesus is "false", in ourselves there's only the "bad"! That's the very reason we need Jesus, the Goodness of God. Nowadays, even christian thinkers (i honestly don't know what they are thinking) are creating "nice" words to "define" or "describe" old sins, e.g.: SECULARISM. Before, it was "worldly", now it is "secular"; before it was "fornication", now it is "premarital sex"; before it was "adultery", now it is "having an affair"; before it was "he stole", now it is "he found a loophole", etc, this is what i mean by "embellishment of sin". The embellishment of sin is probably the "father" of the "lesser evil" concept, which is so prevalent in the post-modern christianism, they say that before God "you can lie to avoid being killed", doing so, they are "grading" God's morality. Is it right to do something evil in hope that some good may come of it? If it is, than Jesus Christ wasted his time and life dying on the cross, He could just accept satan’s offer and have his "own" kingdom here on earth. If you consider all the saints who were killed, they were killed because they didn't want to compromise, to deny their faith, they chose to be holy, they chose to be righteous and they chose to lose their lives to gain the eternal life. Can the lesser evil (sin) bring forth the greater good (salvation)?

The Reverse Prayer and the Conspiracy Theory

First of all, this is what i mean by "reverse prayer": A prayer that shows to be the "opposite" of what was asked for. Example: I pray for someone's healing and the person dies (this happened to me); i pray the "prayer of Jabez" (increase my territory) and my "territory" shrinks, etc. What i also mean by "conspiracy theory" is that we (i'm probably not the only one) tend to find the explanation for everything and always come up with some kind of "theory". There are some passages in the Bible where people did the same, for example: John 9:1-3. In this case, Jesus' disciples played the old "blame game", where someone has to be guilty for something and usually when we play that game, everyone is guilty but ourselves. It's an old game, started with Adam and Eve, Adam blamed Eve who blamed the serpent, but in fact, the "original" sin is attributed to Adam, so, Adam was the guilty one! This morning, God taught a difficult lesson, it was like this: The night before, i prayed for a "fruitful" day (many rides, since i'm a cab driver), so i woke up at 3am to get a ride to O’Hare airport. At 5:24am i got an even better ride, it was to midway due at 6am. It was a fake ride, so the process is: Ask for "no load" and wait 20 minutes. I tried to play "smart" and at 6:05am sent a message to the dispatcher saying: "Issue with customer", the dispatcher called right way and i told that was a "fake order" and she put me back in the system. At 6:14am i got a local ride 7 miles away. At 6:24, there was an "open order" in the zone where i got the "fake order", it was to O'Hare and i couldn't get it because i already had the local one. I got mad, but did the local and latter got another local one at 7am. When i entered the subdivision, i saw a friend of mine leaving the subdivision with a passenger. I called and asked him if he got from the company, he said yes. After dropping the passenger, the Holy Spirit showed me that He was trying to "bless" me by giving me a ride to O'Hare, the fake one was necessary in order to get the one to O'Hare, but as i was impatient and didn't followed the proper "rules" (i had an "issue with costumer" but that wasn't the proper way to get the "no load"),  i missed the "blessing" for being impatient, for not being willing to wait for the "blessing" (i had a ride from O’Hare a 9 am, so i had to go empty). The lesson is: Never try to "outsmart" God, He knows what's best for us. It is as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 8:6. So, what happened this morning wasn't about the money, was about the lesson, and the lesson i learned (hopefully i will apply it from now on) is that God wants to bless me, He will do it at His time and His way, if i miss the blessing, the only one who can be blamed for it is MYSELF! About the "reverse prayer", my conclusion is that i have to pray but at the same time trust that God knows the outcome and if it doesn't happened the way i wanted or expected, the WILL OF GOD IS STILL PERFECT! 1 Timothy 6:11. James 1:3-4.