Let me lay out the ground work.

1. I’m an evangelical Christian.

2. Bro. Eddie is a leader of one of the biggest evangelical groups here in the Philippines.

3. While I’m not part of the Jesus is Lord Church which he founded, I look up to him as a brother and a great leader of the Church.

4. Apolo Quiboloy’s “Kingdom…”, on the other hand, is NOT an evangelical church. In fact, his church is largely considered a cult of Christianity among evangelical apologists. Reason for this includes his claim of being the Son of God (in Gentile body, blasphemous in my opinion), their works-oriented salvation doctrine, Oneness (as against Trinitarianism), and exclusivity (even claiming that Davao — where their headquarters is located — is the new Jerusalem). He has all the characteristics to be tagged by evangelicals as a dangerous cult.

5. I can respect Quiboloy as a citizen of the Philippines and truly a leader with many followers. But I will never call him a “preacher of righteousness”.

Bro. Eddie, as most of you know, is campaigning for the presidency.

Seeing this man of God compromise his belief, the gospel of Jesus Christ, to which this man from Davao has adulterated, breaks my heart. He is not only loosing his witness, he is also loosing the witness of the entire evangelical Christianity in the Philippines.

What else can Bro. Eddie do just to win the votes of the people?

I’m calling on Bro. Eddie to repent of this lie, hunger for power and for bringing shame to the name of Jesus Christ, the true Son of God.

Most of the greatest spiritual innovators throughout history were people who broke the rules… When you try something new in ministry most people will tell you that your idea will never work… Innovation by definition will not be accepted at first. It takes repeat attempts, endless demonstrations, monotonous rehearsals before innovation can be accepted and internalized by an organization. This requires courageous patience. If you have a God idea, you must be brave enough to go with it. Break some rules.

This Sunday marks the start of “breaking rules” for LifeChurch Makati. We’re going to break some rules in doing church here in the Philippines. If you’re interested to know what it is, check us out on our first preview service at Glorieta 4, Cinema 4 this Sunday, February 21. You’re invited to observe and experience.

* * *

Ok, now wasn’t that an eye opener? I mean, we know this, but we’re just sucked up inside this holiday tradition.

- we spend way too much in seasons of Christmas

- we buy people stuff that WE like but THEY don’t need.

- we feel guilty for not buying people presents

- we even feel annoyed for receiving gifts with lesser value than the gifts you gave!

Commercialism on Christmas season simply sucks. I mean, really sucks. We lost it. This is not supposed to be. Giving generously is fine. But obliged, guilt-driven, price-tag focused giving is not. Sadly, this is Christmas now a days.

So, friends, it’s ok if you’re not giving us gifts this Christmas, you don’t have to feel guilty about it. We, however, sincerely thank those who gave and sure appreciates whatever you gave. We’re giving away simple gifts this Christmas to some friends — but will not to others. That doesn’t mean we don’t love you, we simply want to save and wouldn’t want to spend a lot this Christmas.

The best way to celebrate this season is to be with the family, worshiping Jesus for who he is — a God who decided to be a man on Christmas morning in his love for us all.

Answer: The debate about whether or not Christians should celebrate Christmas has been raging for centuries. There are equally sincere and committed Christians on both sides of the issue, each with multiple reasons why or why not Christmas should be celebrated in Christian homes. But what does the Bible say? Does the Bible give clear direction as to whether Christmas is a holiday to be celebrated by Christians?

First, let’s look at the reasons why Christians do not celebrate Christmas. One argument against Christmas is that the traditions surrounding the holiday have origins in paganism. Searching for reliable information on this topic is difficult because the origins of many of our traditions are so obscure that sources often contradict one another. Bells, candles, holly, and yuletide decorations are mentioned in the history of pagan worship, but the use of such in one’s home certainly does not indicate a return to paganism. While there are definitely pagan roots to some traditions, there are many more traditions associated with the true meaning of Christmas—the birth of the Savior of the world in Bethlehem. Bells are played to ring out the joyous news, candles are lit to remind us that Christ is the Light of the world (John 1:4-9), a star is placed on the top of a Christmas tree to remember the Star of Bethlehem, and gifts are exchanged to remind us of the gifts of the Magi to the baby Jesus, the greatest gift of God to mankind.

Another argument against Christmas, especially having a Christmas tree, is that the Bible forbids bringing trees into our homes and decorating them. The passage often cited is Jeremiah 10:1-16, but this passage refers to cutting down trees, chiseling the wood to make an idol, and then decorating the idol with silver and gold for the purpose of bowing down before it to worship it (see also Isaiah 44:9-18). The passage in Jeremiah cannot be taken out of its context and used to make a legitimate argument against Christmas trees.

Christians who choose to ignore Christmas point to the fact that the Bible doesn’t give us the date of Christ’s birth, which is certainly true. December 25 may not be even close to the time Jesus was born and arguments on both sides are legion, some relating to climate in Palestine, the practices of shepherds in winter, and the dates of Roman census-taking. None of these points is without a certain amount of conjecture, which brings us back to the fact that the Bible doesn’t tell us when Jesus was born. Some see this as proof positive that God didn’t want us to celebrate the birth, while others see the Bible’s silence on the issue as tacit approval.

Some Christians say that since the world celebrates Christmas—although it is becoming more and more politically correct to refer to it as ‘the holidays’—Christians should avoid it. But that is the same argument made by false religions that deny Christ altogether, as well as cults such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses who deny His deity. Those Christians who do celebrate Christmas often see the occasion as an opportunity to proclaim Him as ‘the reason for the season’ among the nations and to those trapped in false religions.

As we have seen, there is no legitimate scriptural reason not to celebrate Christmas. At the same time, there is no biblical mandate to celebrate either. In the end, of course, whether or not to celebrate Christmas is a personal decision. Whatever Christians decide to do regarding Christmas, their views should not be used as a club with which to beat down or denigrate those with opposing views, nor should either view be used as a badge of honor inducing pride over celebrating or not celebrating. As in all things, we seek wisdom from Him who gives it liberally to all who ask (James 1:5), and accept one another in Christian love and grace, regardless of our views on Christmas.

Lifted from GotQuestions.org. Thanks to abugian, ministry leader of The Bereans Apologetics and Research Ministry for forwarding this very relevant article.

On one side, some friends of mine (really close ones) said Miss California, by rejecting same sex marriage, claims to be a Christian but is inaccurately representing it by her actions. On another side, a friend of mine said we should stop criticizing her for the other things that she’s doing and instead praise her for taking a stand. I hope to defuse the tension a bit by giving my own (hopefully diplomatic) stand.

First of all, in my opinion, Ms. CA did a great job at answering the pageant question. I’m not saying whether I agree or disagree with her answer. All I’m saying is she did a great job. She was asked with a controversial question, what else can you expect but a controversial answer. What she did is simply to answer the question with conviction — exactly what a pageant like this requires. If she answered differently with the same conviction, she will still get an A from me. 

Secondly, in my understanding, as far as civil rights are concerned, this is not an issue whether same sex marriages are moral or not. The issue is the definition of marriage — is marriage between a man or a woman, or is it time to redefine its meaning? You only have two choices and Miss CA took the former definition.

And lastly, while I think Miss CA did a great job in standing for her Christian conviction, it is true that some reports did say that she was inconsistent with it. But, on the other hand, isn’t that an issue for all of us? I mean, who can say that we’re always consistent with our own beliefs? Isn’t that the goal of a growing Christian — little by little to become like Jesus and be consistent with our beliefs? In the meantime, we’re all going to mess up. But thank God for his grace.

I do have my own opinion on gay marriages. But since I do not live in the US nor this is going to be an issue here in the Philippines, at least for now, I’m just going to hold my piece. In any case, US President Obama — largely liberal president whom I suppose supports gay marriages, and Rick Warren, an evangelical pastor that rejects it, are friends. Warren prayed for Obama on the inaugural. I think it’s the best way to say that we can all live together in harmony even if we have different convictions.

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The whole gift receiving thing

Take note that I didn’t say “gift giving”, that’s for a reason. And let me tell you why our generation has screwed up the Christmas season big time because of this practice.

* What do we teach our kids and what had we learned when we were kids? Gift receiving, that’s right! We are told that if you are good, Santa — actually that’s mom and dad, sorry for the spoiler for those of you who still do not know — will give you gifts. And so the kids are excited for the gifts that they will receive. What happens when dad is fired from his job and the kid will not be receiving a gift this time around? How will you explain to a kid that Christmas is NOT about receiving gifts anyway?

* Exchange gifts happen during Christmas parties. We have “quotas” for the gift price, right? Come to think of it, the focus is the kind of gift that someone will receive. It has to be within the range.

* And yes, families, friends and loved ones, we all give gifts to one another this season. But this is what I have noticed during the gift buying process (does not apply to all, but this is a general observation) 1) we only give gifts to those who we consciously or unconsciously believe we will receive gifts from, and 2) we are so conscious about the price of the gift, thinking that if the receiving person notices that gift is cheap, s/he might be offended. On both cases, the focus is receiving.

Cliche as it is, Christmas is not about receiving, rather it’s about giving. The reason why we celebrate Christmas is because of the “Christ” who was sent as a gift of God to man. “For God so loved the world that he gave…”

The traditions and peripherals

If you still have not noticed, Christmas has become all about snow flakes, Rudolf the red nose reindeer, Santa, Jingle bells, Frosty the snow man and a whole lot of stuff and characters

Not that these things and traditions are bad, but I just don’t get the connection between these things and the “real reason for the season”.

The most disappointing fact is that there are actually a lot of people who don’t want to equate the season to Christ anymore. This is very apparent in western countries, at least in the US as I know — the seat of post-modern thinking. They even refuse to greet “Merry Christmas” and instead use “Happy Holidays”. Have you noticed this in movies and marketing materials on TV and print ads? When they say “Happy Holidays”, they mean, I don’t care about the reason why you celebrate Christmas because I have my reasons, but don’t “force me into this Christ thing”.

Sigh…

We lost the meaning of Christmas, really.

The gifts, the parties, the tree, the lights — all these are meaningless if the center of the season isn’t Christ-mas.

My ideal Christmas season

While the following ideas are almost impossible to happen in this commercialized, post-modern “it’s all about me” generation, let me just end this short series by how the story of the grinch ended — a happy one.

I’m dreaming — not of a “white Christmas” — but a Christmas season where:

1. The focus is Jesus.

Stripped down, simple yet celebrative and contemplative. Everything is focused on what happened on that night in Bethlehem.

We thought that Easter is the most important aspect of our Christianity since it is the season where we commemorate the suffering and death of Jesus. I will argue that it’s not. God’s sacrifice started on Christmas day when Jesus decided to become a creature even if he is the creator.

My all time favorite illustration to show this fact is to say that it would be humiliating for human beings like us to become ants. That, impossible as it may seem to happen, is only a transformation of a higher form of creature to a lower form of creature. What Jesus did is different and more humiliating than we can ever imagine. He was the creator who became a creature. Everything is done on Christmas day so we can have Easter — when Jesus would die for your sins and my sins so that upon having a relationship with him and accepting him as Lord and Savior of our life, we can live with him forever.

I believe that the reason why for most, Christmas is about everything else other than Jesus is because of lack of relationship with him. The Christmas season could have been the best time of the year to remember that.

2. We actually give without thinking of receiving

Gift giving in it real essence is just emulating what God did. “For God so loved the world that he gave…” (John 3:16a)

What if we give gifts without thinking of what we can receive? What if, instead of giving well-wrapped gifts to your office mates, friends and relatives, we spend everything that we normally spend during Christmas season to buy food and clothing for the poor — people that doesn’t have any capability whatsoever to give a gift in return?

God is the model of this. When he gave Jesus to us, he wasn’t expecting anything in return. The Bible said, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. In the book of Isaiah, it is said that our most sincere attempt to do good is as filthy as a rug in the eyes of God. Why? Because we are all sinners and God is holy, holy, holy. How then can God expect anything from us?

That’s why when Jesus came on Christmas eve as a gift from God, He is not thinking of anything in return. He did it because he love us. He did it because there’s no other way than Jesus. He did it because he is our only chance.

How will you respond to his love?

This Christmas, my prayer is for us to go back to it’s origin — the very reason for this act of grace by God, and sincerely search our hearts and answer that simple yet profound question.

THE SITUATION:
The Willow Creek Association published a book called REVEAL in August 2007 about “ground-breaking” research findings regarding spiritual growth. These findings were based on survey results from seven churches and have now been confirmed through research with an additional two-dozen churches around the country, including two Canadian churches.

Some in the Christian blogging and media world point to these findings as evidence of a church model “flaw”/breakdown that applies exclusively to Willow Creek and/or the seeker movement inspired by Willow Creek thirty years ago.
This is not what the research shows.

Here are several quotes based on partial or incorrect information:

• World magazine; November 10, 2007: “‘We made a mistake’. Bill Hybels…on a study that showed the Willow Creek model had not produced spiritually mature Christians.”
• Bob Burney, Townhall; October 30, 2007: “The report reveals that what they’ve been doing for these many years and what they’ve taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ…Numbers, yes, but not disciples….”
• H.B. London, The Pastor’s Weekly Briefing; November 9, 2007: “Hybels goes on to say ‘If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust.” Bill Hybels did not say this. Focus on the Family is printing a retraction.

FOUR FACTS ABOUT REVEAL:

1. REVEAL’s findings go well beyond Willow Creek and the “seeker” church movement.

• REVEAL’s findings are based on thirty churches besides Willow, chosen specifically to reflect a diversity of church models. We’ve surveyed traditional Sunday school model churches, missions-focused churches, mainline denominations, African-American churches and churches representing a wide range of geographies, sizes and styles. In all thirty churches, we’ve found the six segments of REVEAL’s spiritual continuum, including the Stalled and Dissatisfied segments.
• REVEAL is currently surveying five hundred churches, including more than a dozen denominations and English-speaking international churches. Early results from the first 200 demonstrate REVEAL’s segments exist across multiple church model/style/size alternatives.
• 40% of these 500 churches do not describe themselves as “seeker-focused” or “seeker-friendly”.

2. REVEAL’s findings show that Christ-followers are being developed at Willow Creek and all other surveyed churches.

• The two most spiritually mature segments, called the “Close to Christ” and the “Christ-Centered” groups, account for over 40% of the total thirty church sample. To date the spiritual profiles of those churches show a range of 30% to 60% for these two segments.
• The controversy is REVEAL discovered a Dissatisfied segment that fell out of the two most spiritually advanced segments noted above. They are sold-out Christ followers, but are disappointed in their church. The Dissatisfied segment averaged 9% over the thirty churches, ranging from 3% to 14%.
• Also, the bloggers and media point to this Dissatisfied group as proof that the “seeker” movement does not grow up disciples of Christ. The fact is this Dissatisfied group exists in every church we’ve surveyed, including the 200 churches currently in process.

3. Willow Creek’s Senior Pastor Bill Hybels said, “We made a mistake.”

• Bill acknowledged that Willow did not appreciate the undercurrent of dissatisfaction expressed by some of our strongest Christ-followers. Nor did we appreciate the Kingdom impact of training and encouraging all Christ-followers to devote themselves to a daily discipline of personal spiritual practices.
• But taking corrective action is not a new experience for Willow Creek. We’ve made a number of course corrections over the years – like adding a mid-week service in the ‘80s and building a small group ministry in the ‘90s. We’ve always been a church in motion and REVEAL is another example of Willow being open to God’s design for this local church.

4. Willow Creek will use REVEAL’s findings to take its mission to redeem people far from God to a whole new level.

• Bill would say that Willow is not simply seeker-focused. We are seeker-obsessed. The power of REVEAL’s insights for our seeker strategy is the evangelistic strength uncovered in the more mature segments. If we can serve them better, the evangelistic potential is enormous, based on REVEAL’s findings.

Weird as it is, this happens too often inside evangelical Christianity.  You see Christian bloggers hitting pastors that they don’t like — online, in the open. There are even websites created specifically to play “police” on churches, often, churches that they don’t like. It’s all about them, their likes, their styles of ministry. It’s ugly. Not just weird.

Most of these bloggers are fond of Joel Osteen, the pastor of the biggest evangelical church in the US. They are fond of him — fond of killing him on the net. Now, I’m not a fan of Joel Osteen. No way! But please, I beg you to stop judging him or any other preachers for that matter, based on his 30-min sermon podcast. We’re on the same team. You don’t hit your team mate, do you?

I am copy/pasting Steven Furtick’s post on this. I’m not asking him for permission. Just call me a plagiarist. But what he said is exactly my sentiment.

Please stop pickin’ on Joel

As in, Osteen.
As in, the pastor of the largest church in America.
As in, the guy that all seminary students seem to love to hate.

Yep, I hear it all the time.  Guys take one systematic theology class, a semester of Greek, and all of a sudden they’re self appointed theological traffic cops.
And their favorite preacher to burn at the stake is none other than the smiling preacher and best selling author who packs the freaking Compaq Center 2 times every freaking Sunday.

I’ll admit, he’s an overbearing endorsement of the benefits of good dental hygiene (I mean that he grins too much. By the way, I do a great Osteen impersonation…remind me to show you sometime).
And if I were stranded on an island and could only have one podcast to listen to, it wouldn’t be Lakewood’s Sunday morning sermons.  Alas, if I could only have one book, it wouldn’t be Your Best Life Now. Sorry.

But to all of you mean spirited name callers who have made a career of condemning celebrity preachers:
Who the heck do you think you are to criticize a man who is impacting a city like Pastor Joel is impacting Houston?
Or like Rick Warren is impacting the Saddleback Valley?
(Insert name of controversial preacher and city here…)

Osteen preaches to 40,000 people weekly…
You couldn’t get 40,000 people to come hear you preach if you gave away free Escalades at the door.

“Yeah, but Joel Osteen’s preaching isn’t Christ centered enough.  And he didn’t make a bold stand for the exclusivity of the Gospel on Good Morning America that time.  And, for crying out loud, he reads a stupid email forward at the beginning of every message before he does that ‘This is my Bible…’ thing…”

Well, if you feel that way:
Criticize by creating, not by running your stupid mouth, regurgitating page 87 of Desiring God, and doing damage to the cause of Christ by casting aspersions on a fellow minister of the Gospel.

If you’re concerned about a lack of cross centered preaching, then preach the cross yourself instead of wasting valuable time opining about how someone else should do it better.
If you think Osteen’s messages are too fluffy and lacking in Biblical content, then devote yourself to teaching God’s Word with passion and depth, and get after it.  But don’t hate on a man you’ve never met and analyze the entire content of his ministry based on a 27 minute weekly broadcast.  That’s illogical, narrow, and unfair, and you know it.
Don’t hurl insults at someone with a big church simply because you can’t make your church grow, and although you’d never admit it, you’re jealous.
That’s right…most of the time the motive isn’t defense of the Gospel…it’s jealousy and presumption.

You know, I think it’s absolutely essential that Christians think critically about what is being taught in Christian pulpits.  We must preserve sound doctrine.  We must guard against erroneous theologies.

But we must also guard against the kind of spiritual smugness that makes the world look at us and go:
“I thought they were wearing the same jersey…”