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The Qualities of a Good Wife |
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continuation...
They mingled with the members of the church; they taught many people. And those who were taught were called “disciples”, and those disciples were, in turn, called Christians in Antioch. The “Pasyon” also confirms that.
Mamula sa Jerusalem (Starting from Jerusalem)
Lahat ay inyong libutin (Travel all places)
At aralan ng magaling (And teach what is good)
Ang taong nagugupiling (To every man who slumbers)
Nang sa sala’y di mahimbing (For him not to succumb to sinfulness)
Ang sinoma’t aling tao (Every man)
Arala’t binyagan ninyo (Thou teach and baptize)
Ang tumanggap ng bautismo (Whosoever receives baptism)
At maniwalang totoo (And truly believes)
Siya’y magiging katoto (Will be made an ally.)
That is what the “Pasyon” said. That is why it is really possible that a person becomes a disciple. He would become an ally of God. Still, according to the “Pasyon”:
Ang aayaw na tumanggap (Whosoever refuses to accept)
At aayaw na pabinyag (And doesn’t want to be baptized)
Hindi magkakamit-patawad (Will not receive forgiveness)
Walang salang maghihirap (He’ll definitely be tormented)
Sa apoy na nagninings (In blazing fire)
Uulan mula sa langit (Rains from heaven will pour)
Ula’t apoy na masakit (Rain and scorching fire)
Sa lupa’y halos tumakip (Which almost cover the earth)
Susunog, magpapasakit (This will burn and punish)
Sa mga taong bulisik (All wicked men)
This is what is going to happen to those who refuse to accept God’s teachings. But those who will accept them will become God’s disciples, even if they were former followers of the devil. From the power of Satan, they will now be under the power of God, if they accept His teachings.
Do you want your wife to be “repaired”? Encourage her to listen to the word of God. Let her read the words of God, and we will teach her how to become of God.
I once met a couple in San Fernando. The husband was quite good looking, while his wife was also said to have the looks. However, as years passed, she grew fatter. The body that used to resemble a Coca Cola bottle became shapeless like Coca Cola in tin can. She no longer looked attractive, so her husband did nothing but played around with other women. Fortunately, he was able to listen to our program, “Ang Dating Daan”, so, he was enlightened. By listening to our program, little by little, he came to realize his transgressions against his wife. And with tears in his eyes, he came to me and said, “From now on, through the help of God, I will no longer cheat my wife.”
And when he saw the change in him, she, too, began to listen to our program. Prior to that, his wife used to be very angry with me. She was asking her husband (“What did Soriano make you eat that you never fail to go to his program?”) The woman was very angry with me. She had even thought of separating from her husband. But when she saw that her husband had become a better husband, she started to listen to our program, too.
Actually, the first time I met her, she did not even react when I greeted her “good evening”. That was because she was still angry with me then. When I met her for the second time, I greeted her again. Still, she did not say a word, but she nodded her head. But after a week of constant meeting, she even went out of her way to prepare me a cup of tea. I was reluctant to drink the tea because I was thinking that she might have put poison on it. I really didn’t know what to do with it. But after a while, she told me, “Brother Eli, you better drink your tea for you not to develop sore throat.” I was alarmed; I didn’t know what to do. So, I just said a silent prayer: “Lord, I am entrusting you my life. If I do not drink this tea, this woman might perceive me as a stumbling block.” Anyway, if that tea contained poison that would only mean that God has willed my death. And there is nothing I can do to go against the will of God. You know, when she saw me drank the cup of tea, the following day she already brought me sandwich. Until finally, she became a very steadfast member of the Church. She would even invite some visitors to come over.
That only proves that, no matter how evil minded a person was … no matter how obscure his understanding is of the words of God … he could still be made a disciple of God. I have witnessed how this happens in so many instances.
We have a member who was a former NPA and Hukbalahap. He had murdered many; he had abused a lot during the Martial Law period. But he had repented for all of those transgressions when he began to listen to our program. Now, he is completely a reformed man. In fact, he had expressed his willingness to die should the people he had wronged would take their revenge on him. But I told him that it is only God who has the power over the life of men, and that he should leave everything to God instead. And the best thing that he could do is to continue doing the will of God.
We also have a member who, before he joined our group, came to me with reddish eyes. He secretly led me behind some banana plants because, he said, he wanted to ask me something. I saw how red his eyes were although he was not at all drunk. He didn’t smell of alcohol. He asked me if he could still be baptized despite the fact that he had killed 262 people. I was frightened. I was thinking that, before that evening ended it would already total to 263 (myself included). He asked if God would still forgive him. I told him, “Why not?” We can read from the Bible that if you will return to God, He will take you away from the clutches of the devil, and your sins will be forgiven. I read to him Colossians1:12-14—
“Giving thanks onto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
It is expected that you do wicked things because you are still in darkness. You have not acknowledged God yet. He told me that he was not really wicked. At the back of my mind I was thinking, how dare of him not to consider himself wicked when he had killed 262 people! According to him, more that 200 of those that he had killed were Japanese because of what they did to his relatives. He said, one of them was not only raped but they also slashed her body into two pieces. That was why he was very furious of the Japanese. He had also witnessed how a baby was thrust upward and then, it was caught by a bayonet. That was how cruel the Japanese were, and our grandparents who lived during the Japanese occupation can attest to that. Sometimes, if they want to torture people out of fancy, they would pluck their nails, and then pour ashes and salt onto it. That was the reason why every time that he would see Japanese without any companion, he would unhesitatingly kill him. So, all in all, he was able to kill more than 200 hundred Japanese, and more than 40 “Makapili’s” (Filipinos who betrayed fellow Filipinos).
And because of that, he was thinking that he had become a wicked person. However, I told him that despite the cruelty of the Japanese, they still were human beings. And whatever his motive was, it was still murder. But in spite of that, God may still forgive him. I read to him the verse. Once you have been delivered from darkness and you have returned to God, all of your sins will be forgiven in baptism. Let us read II Peter 3:20-21—
“Which sometimes were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism.”
I told him that baptism saves. In like manner that water cleansed the world during the time of Noah. If God eradicated everything that was bad through water, man’s sins can also be washed away by baptism. All your sins can be removed by the water of baptism. We could read that in Ephesians 5:26-27—
“That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
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Bible
Religion,
Family and Marriage
