Straight From Pastor Ey

Forty years ago, this expression became known as a description of blind obedience.   Source: Los Angeles Times On November 18, 1978, members of Peoples Temple, a cult group in Guyana, drank Kool-Aid drink laced with cyanide to commit a mass suicide “at the behest of their charismatic but paranoid leader, Jim Jones”. [1] According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica , “The death toll exceeded 900, including some 300 age 17 and under, making the incident one of the largest mass deaths in American history. ”  [2]  What made those people submit to such atrocity? According to Stella Morabito, a senior contributor to The Federalist online magazine, Peoples Temple is “Exhibit A… [of]  the dangers of the cult mindset or how vulnerable all people are to cult tactics.”  [3] She pointed out that, Coercive persuasion has immense power to shape and twist the human mind.  …[Jones’] utopian preaching of a humane world in which all ...

Image credit The scores were tied at 107 with 4.5 seconds remaining in Game 1 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors at the NBA Finals. Cavs’ George Hill missed his free throw. JR Smith, his teammate, grabbed the ball in an offensive rebound but, to everyone’s shock, “Instead of going back up with the ball or kicking it out to a teammate to shoot, Smith dribbled the ball out as the shot clock expired.” [1] The Warriors won the game in overtime. Once in overtime, the Warriors dispatched of the Cavs rather easily, taking a 1-0 series lead with a 124-114 victory Thursday. After the game, Smith told ESPN's Brian Windhorst that he indeed knew the score of the game, and that he dribbled the ball out because he thought the team was calling a timeout. [2] No question, it was a costly mistake. It even generated a lot of online jokes, poking fun and insults at Smith. Surely, that moment would go down in NBA history. I think that for Smith, what was only less than...

Image Credit During the procession of the Black Nazarene a few days ago, I saw that this quote from Thomas Aquinas got repeatedly posted. To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.   To one without faith, no explanation is possible. They apparently use the quote to make it appear that faith and reason are opposed to each other. It is to justify the apparent fanaticism of the devotees of the Black Nazarene.  But was that what Aquinas meant in that quote? Dr. Norman Geisler, an expert on Thomist philosophy, disagreed that Aquinas taught that faith and reason are mutually exclusive. He summarized his view on the relationship of faith and reason this way: [Aquinas] stresses the need for reason both before, during, and after believing. Even the mysteries of faith are not irrational. But true faith in God comes only by the grace of God. Indeed, he believes that faith can never be based on reason. At best it can only be supported by reason. Thus, reason and ev...

Image credit What does it say about our culture when a religious title or a sacred activity become twisted to mean something racy?  Esquire magazine exposed a disturbing social media trend here in the Philippines. “Pastor” is now a name used by several Facebook pages and closed groups that distribute pornography and engage in sexually explicit group chats. … The largest of these groups has 2.9 million members, while many others are in the tens of thousands. … In these “Bible Study” pages and groups, members post different forms of “ambag,” or contributions to the collective sexual appetite of the community. It could be anything from a slightly risque celebrity photo to mainstream hardcore porn. [1] In their thought-provoking “ A Practical Guide to Culture: Helping the Next Generation Navigate Today's World ,” John Stonestreet and Brett Kunkle warned that what we have is no longer “a porn problem” but, much worse, “a porn epidemic.” [2] There are those who assume t...

Image credit It appears that no one is immune to fake news, not even the Secretary of Justice himself. Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre insinuated that opposition lawmakers instigated the clash with the terrorists in Marawi City, alleging that they met with some influential clans in Marawi City weeks before it erupted there. As evidence, he showed a photo on his mobile phone of the alleged meeting, “which turned out to be an image taken on Sept. 4, 2015 at the Iloilo International Airport.” [1] In short, it was a fake news. Aguirre later on apologized and even denied making such accusations, claiming he was actually misquoted. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines took him to task for his alibi. There was no misquotation. Your words were recorded on video and audio. So, no, you are not passing the buck on to reporters who did what they are supposed to do – accurately report your official acts and pronouncements. [2] But, more than fake news prolifera...

Image credit Thanks (but no thanks) to social media, we are inundated with fake news. Add to that free Facebook on our mobile phones (which allows us to see the headlines for free but charges us if we want to read the news), clicking the “Share” button without even thinking has become rampant! Sadly, many believers—and even pastors—who are followers of the Lord who declared that He is the Truth have been guilty of sharing fake news. Conspiracy theories are nothing new—they’ve been around for centuries. People love to speculate on hidden meanings or to jump at the potential of juicy secrets. Unfortunately, when these things are unfounded, lies are told and people are hurt. And most unfortunately, Christians are often involved in perpetuating them. … Simply put, the spreading of these conspiracies are hurting our witness and making Christians look, yet again, foolish. And it’s time to repent. [1] We are commanded not to tell lies. According to Exodus 20:16, “You shall no...

Image credit It appears to be a random killing. It was so senseless that it’s got to be a random one. Robert Godwin Sr. of Cleveland, Ohio, a 74-year-old retiree, was on his way home after enjoying an Easter meal with his son’s family. Then, a stranger walked up to him. After a brief chat, he shot Godwin point-blank. The suspect later on uploaded the video of the cold-blooded murder on Facebook. In the video, apparently recorded by the suspect, Steve Stephens, a person is getting out of a car in a residential area and says, “Here’s somebody I’m about to kill. I’m about to kill this guy right here. An old dude.” The person walks up, stops Godwin on the sidewalk and talks to him. Then the video shows a gun pointed at Godwin’s head. The gun is fired. Godwin recoils and falls to the ground. [1] Facebook already removed the video. As of this writing, the police manhunt is still ongoing. But, while grieving their father’s senseless murder, his children shocked CNN’s Anderson Cooper ...

Image credit People who profess to be Christians have always been wary of apparent attempts to remove Christ in Christmas.  For example, last December 2015, a controversy brewed over Starbucks’ red cups. “When the cup debuted last year, some consumers accused Starbucks of waging war on Christianity after Starbucks removed images of snowflakes, trees, and ornaments that covered the cups in years prior.” [1] Image credit Then, of course, every year we debate whether it’s okay to write “Xmas” or “Christmas.” But either way we write it, I believe there was no conspiracy to remove Christ from Christmas. As Reformed theologian R.C. Sproul explained it, We see the English letter X there, but actually what it involves is the first letter of the Greek name for Christ. Christos is the New Testament Greek for Christ. The first letter of the Greek word Christos is transliterated into our alphabet as an X. That X has come through church history to be a shorthand symbol...

On Christmas day, widower Henry was taking care of his mortally wounded son, Charlie. His son was a soldier. He was shot, the bullet missing his spine by an inch, and almost got paralyzed. The doctors were divided about whether he would recover from his almost fatal wound in at least six months or he would remain a paralytic. Two years ago, his wife died due to serious burns when her dress caught on fire. In trying to save her, Henry himself got burned on the face. He had to grow a beard to hide the facial scars. He deeply grieved her death that there were times he thought he would go crazy.  And, now as he tried to nurse his son, he heard the bells from a church nearby. Overcome with grief, Henry thought of what the angels sang the night our Lord Jesus was born: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14, ESV)   Peace on earth.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow saw the irony as he “observed the world of inju...

Image credit We have no issue with calling the mother of our Lord as the “Blessed Mary.” After all, she was called as such by Luke, the Gospel author. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. ” (Luke 1:41b-45, ESV) But we should “learn… not to go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6b). We should not ascribe to her titles and functions beyond what the Bible tells us about her. For example, indeed Mary was described as “Blessed are you among women”. But, in the Old Testament, a woman named Jael (or, Jahel), who killed an enemy of Israel (Judges 4:21–22), was described as such also: ...

Image credit In 1997, Newsweek Magazine featured a news article entitled “Hail, Mary.” It talked about a signature campaign “asking [Pope John Paul II] to exercise the power of papal infallibility to proclaim a new dogma of the Roman Catholic faith: that the Virgin Mary is ‘Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix of All Graces and Advocate for the People of God.’”  [1] At that time, “the pope has received 4,340,429 signatures from 157 countries—an average of 100,000 a month—supporting the proposed dogma.”  [2] Among the signatories were Mother Teresa of Calcutta who was recently canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and many influential cardinals. Newsweek noted that, “Nothing like this organized petition drive has ever been seen in Rome.” [3]  If the pope exercised his supposed “power of papal infallibility,” that is, to declare a doctrine “in an absolutely final and irrevocable way,”  [4] then he would have gone beyond what the Bible says about the bless...