Straight From Pastor Ey

When He drove away the moneychangers from the temple, the Lord Jesus cried out, “My house shall be a house of prayer” (Luke 19:46, ESV). That shows His heart for prayer. Our Lord Jesus modeled a life of prayer Himself: “But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” (Luke 5:16) The Gospel of Luke even chronicled key events in the Lord’s ministry where He prayed (which the other Gospels did not point out): at His baptism by John the Baptist (3:21), the night before He chose the 12 apostles (6:12-13), before Peter’s confession (9:18-20) and at His transfiguration (9:28-29). After seeing our Lord spent time in prayer, a disciple asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (11:1). After predicting Peter’s denial, Jesus assured him of His prayers: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (22:31-32) In the Garden of Gethsemane, He com...

The sudden surge of interest nowadays in prophecies about the end times will again be stirred and shaken with the apparent rise in earthquakes all over the globe such as the recent killer quake in the Tibetan region of China that as of the latest reportedly killed almost 600 people, wounded more than 10,000 and flattened 85% of the structures there. (Source: Yahoo! News) There are those who would even conjure a “science fiction’s ultimate doomsday scenario: A large earthquake in another part of the world ignites a long seismic fuse that races around the globe” (http://www.mercurynews.com/). But according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), this is just “an average year for earthquakes … The USGS found that since 1900, the annual average for magnitude 7.0 or higher earthquakes is 16, putting 2010 on course for a fairly normal year, with six so far. …A lot of the quakes this year have unfortunately happened in populated areas, and as a result casualties and damage are in the news… T he ...

“Is the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) sector really marginalized and underrepresented?” That’s my immediate thought when I heard the recent ruling of the Supreme Court allowing the “Ang Ladlad” party-list to run in the coming May 10 elections. ( “Ang Ladlad ” claims to be the national organization of LGBT Filipinos.) It overturned the two Comelec (Commission on Elections) resolutions denying it accreditation as a party-list because it advocates immorality and homosexuals were a threat to the youth. But what is a party-list group anyway? According to the Republic Act No. 7941, a party-list group empowers “ Filipino citizens belonging to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties, and who lack well-defined political constituencies but who could contribute to the formulation and enactment of appropriate legislation that will benefit the nation as a whole, to become members of the House of Representatives.” Just look at the mass media. We ha...