Straight From Pastor Ey

Image  credit It appears the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender) issue is getting a lot of press lately. Here in the Philippines, a lot of airtime, online data and newspaper space have been devoted to this issue from the murder of transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude to the declaration of Filipino international singer Charice Pempengco over “The Oprah Show” that, “Basically,  my soul is male , but I’m not going to go through that stage where I'm going to change everything.” (Source:  GMA News Online . Emphasis added.) In the US of A, Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly came out of the proverbial closet: “While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven ’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear:  I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me. ” ( USA Today . Emphasis added.)  Of course, we witnessed the short-lived euphoria over the latest Vatican Synod document’s apparent reversal of the

Image credit Like kids who just arrived home from school, we love to show off our stars stamped on the back of our hands. But, when it come to scars, we do everything from concealers to cosmetic surgery. We display our victories and downplay our defeats. Coach Chot Reyes giving his The Gilas Spirit: Giving Your Best Shot To Succeed, Not Just Win” talk. Image from Salt and Light Ventures Facebook page . Gilas Pilipinas Coach Chot Reyes gave an awe-inspiring talk on “The Gilas Spirit: Giving Your Best Shot To Succeed, Not Just Win” at the recently held 15th Achievers and Leaders seminar of Salt and Light Ventures, with its very apt theme “Crucial Leadership During Critical Times.” Coach Reyes (second from left) with Boris Joaquin  (extreme left), President & Chief Equipping Officer at Breakthrough Leadership Management Consultancy, and people from Salt and Light Ventures. Image from SLV's  Facebook page . There, Coach Reyes showed not only his stars but a

Image credit That is not only the cry for deliverance of the prophet Jonah inside the belly of the great fish (Jonah 2:9, ESV). That is also the core message of salvation. It is all of God and none of us. We cannot add to it. We cannot subtract from it. We cannot substitute anything for it.  Evangelist D. James Kennedy illustrated it this way. Imagine that you are a tightrope walker. You are about to cross from the edge of a cliff to another which is a hundred feet away. Would you be comfortable if you would cross a 90-foot rope attached to a 10-foot thread? Of course, not! What if you have a rope that is 99 feet and 11 inches long attached to a one-inch thread? Kennedy wrote, “You see, if you have one inch of thread, you will be just as dead on the rocks below as if you tried to cross on a hundred feet of thread. The rope obviously represents what Christ has done and the thread represents what we have done. We must trust in Christ alone.” (As quoted in Tom Holladay and Kay

Image credit Two news items caught my attention lately. Both news were about support for same-sex marriage.  According to the first news, “Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista has expressed his support for same-sex marriage” (Source: Inquirer.Net ). In his State of the City address, Mayor Bautista declared his dream: “I look forward to the day the Philippines or Quezon City will have an equality marriage ordinance.” (Ibid)  Image credit When I read the news, I confess the first word that entered my mind was, “Votes.” Why? It appeared to me he just made those grand statements to merely court the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) votes. Before my LGBT friends jump for joy, keep in mind that the mayor could not do anything about same-sex marriage beyond words (read: praise release) at the moment. Though the mayor said he is open to officiate such unions, he also admitted, “I need to do some research on whether that’s allowed.” (Ibid) It was all talk. The