All the radical shifts happening on these protestant churches have caused major splits and divisions. The Anglican communion which one of its bodies is the Episcopal Church of United States has been experiencing a crisis of splits and reailgnment among its memeber churches worldwide. Anglican member churches particularly in Africa and Asia has or in the process of realigning themselves away from the gay and lesbian ordaining Anglican churches. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is now confronted with a major split by a new Lutheran church formed out of the former. Exodus of common members from these churches are expected escpecially of those who are faithful with the Biblical truths.

To say today, only the Roman Catholic church, the Evangelicals (Pentecostals, Baptists, Reformed, etc.), the Eastern Orthodox Churches and other smaller denominations remain faithful and steadfast in the midst of liberalism and relativism in human society. However, the Catholic churches (Roman and Eastern) and the Evangelical churches are definitely aware of this issue. They are also affected not only with the painful issue of  homosexuality but with increasing immoralities from pedophilia to prostitution and a lot more. Time can only say how long can the people of God endure. 

Christians however do know for a fact that these things must come to pass. Again, these events among the different churches are not God's desires, but God will let all of these come to pass, in order for His greater purpose to be fullfilled. This has been foretold by Jesus in Matthew 24. Jesus said that amidst 'wickedness and cold love', "¹³ the one who endures to the end will be saved". Christians know that these things are ought to happen. Wickedness and cold love will become very rampant to name of few of what Jesus said. It is just a matter of staying on ground with your faith in Jesus evidently through prayers, Bible devotion and fellowshiping with other believers. Christians must strengthen themselves in God in order to withstand the waves of attack and temptation regardless of whatever circumstances they are facing.  

There is no perfect church nor perfect person, but we always have a choice to choose the the path of truth or the path of this world. 

"THE WORD OF GOD YESTERDAY IS THE SAME WORD TODAY UNAFFECTED BY HUMAN PROGRESS"

              Most if not all people would keep the good characters they have and go away with the bad ones. But this is where the problem lies. Can it be that easy to let go of bad and destructive characteristics? It is actually hard. It is a lifelong battle. And it is also probably impossible to totally let go. Why? It is inherent in us. Our nature is sinful and the tendency for that chararcteristic to surface is just so imminent. Everyday the bad and not-so-good characterstics have the possibility to manifest in us. It is the reality. It is the very essence of our nature.

              How about God's grace? Yes, we should be able to overcome them  by God's grace. Truly enough, it is by God's grace that we are able to overcome ourselves. But it is easier said than done. especially  if  it collides with our nature. What is even worse is that it can even destroy a person's spiritual life. Bad and destructive characterstic is as much as like a pepper, when you put it in a dish it can certainly affect the taste, and its effect on the dish stays there. It is just like with a person, sadly but true,once the bad character  gets to a person, it stays with him. Even if we live under God's grace that very nature sticks with us. Any moment it can shatter our spiritual life. It is the entry point of evil in our lives.

              How do we go about with this? It is definitely hard. As a person who lives in God's grace, it should have been  easy and long ago we should have overcome the bad character. Yet, it is not. It sticks with our very nature. What is even tragic is that this character can even affect our Christian spiritual lives.  We might think we are doing what a Christian should do, but please think twice, our bad character might be there, lingering , disguising and slowly corrupting us. Instead of bringing glory to God, our bad character might be doing otherwise. We might be glorifying ourselves instead of God. We might be doing our will and not God's will.

              If this character sticks and lingers in a person and not able to overcome  it, the person ought to make a sacrifice. Stop what you are doing may it be in the ministry or mission or whatever you are doing for God. I am saying this not to discourage people, but I am saying this to make you on gaurd because the consequence is destrcutive when that bad character poisoned the ministry or service to God you are doing. We must think that by getting out of ministry we are honoring God. We are humbling ourselves before Him by acknowledging our very nature. We must re-examine ourselves, and see if  we are stable and firmly standing in God's grace. Only when we have genuinely overcome our bad character and  genuinely able to fight it, should we come back and do public ministry again. We must always be on guard to protect God's work.

              But how if we are not able to overcome it? Well, you are not ought to be there. Why? It is because you might just destroy the ministry of God. You must think of the ministry of God foremost, not yourself. You must make a sacrifice. We have already seen people whose ministry got destroyed or got corrupted because their characters have poisoned it like that in the case of Jimmy Swaggart.

There are things that we are not ought to become!

In exploring the different stories of people falling into failures and depressions, I could certainly say all the standard drivers of life set by men are temporary and are bound to lose. I have heard stories of people falling in desperation after losing all the wealth they have tried to build all of their lives. I have heard people whose lives revolve on proving that they are the best suddenly falling into depression because someone else became better than them. They fail at the end and they suffer a lot from it. Why? It is because they have put their hopes on temporary drivers, temporary goals, temporary dreams and on a temporary life.

So, where do we put our hopes on? I say it must be put on what is everlasting. It is only in the hope for everlasting life that we can have the absolute confidence that we have the best driver in life. It is because the moment you put your hope on the everlasting life, you allow the One who is eternal and everlasting, our God to drive your life. Putting your hope on what is eternal transcends everything from this world. Your future, your dream and your life become not of this world but for the eternal life. Putting your hope in God means allowing God to drive your life. It means giving up the driver seat for God while you sit on the passenger seat. 

Yes, it might take a lot because you have become so comfortable with your lifestyle right now, but you have to think of the great price. A price of life everlasting with God. For Jesus said "that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" [John 3:16]. God's desire for you is certainly a life everlasting. It simply takes believing in Jesus. It is simply putting your faith and hope in Jesus. It is simply seeking Jesus, our God.

And if you decide at this very moment to put your life in Jesus Christ. Please send me a personal message so we can pray for your decision.  

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City Life Church (CLC) is my home church. But few months ago, I didn’t know the church even exists. I and Erica (my special one) used to attend at Cathedral of Praise (COP) in Taft avenue, Manila. It is considered a mega-church based on both the size of its congregation and size of its physical church. It can seat thousands comfortably at any given time. It has a great facility, great worship team, great ambiance and a lot of great stuff. It was in this church where I built the foundation of my relationship with Jesus Christ. I was born again in the Lord in this church. So why is it that COP is not my home church? Well, let’s see why.

           Firstly, I want to say that I have nothing against COP. COP is a great church. A church faithful to Christ’s Great Commission of evangelism. I didn’t get a chance to involve myself in any ministries or small groups in COP. I guess because I felt comfortable as a church attendee only. I felt the worship and sermon were enough for me. This dragged along for two years. My spiritual life was practically confined only during Sundays. I had no Bible readings nor daily devotions. But the Lord has a great plan for each of us. I realized the Lord has His way of revealing His desires for us. God’s grace was just so overflowing that I can’t just be a Christian “bum”. I desired for God’s greatness more and more by reading His Words and having devotions. I sought to know my faith deeper and deeper by reading Christian books and by exploring the this-and-that of my faith. So after being grounded enough in my faith, there were some practices/beliefs in COP which I started to feel uncomfortable with like the word-faith and prosperity theology. It was not like I theologically studied the belief, but rather it was more of the condition of my heart being uncomfortable with it. Everything was great except whenever word-faith and prosperity theology would be infused during the services. I would feel very awkward. It is not my faith. I felt bothered for months because I am not sure what to do. I knew that this was just a non-essential belief of COP, but nevertheless the conviction to me cannot be ignored. Then there were still worldly things I have yet to overcome in addition with the predicament I was facing. It was a challenging circumstance. But I learned a lot from this experience. I came to know how to ask the right questions, like is this glorifying God? Or could this make stumbling blocks for Christians? Aside from these, I came to understand the great plan of God for us. I came to understand the awesome love of God through Jesus. So how did I go about withall these?

            I did what must be done. As a “young” Christian, I thank the Lord for the wisdom to discern. I decided to finally leave COP and look for a church which  doesn’t conflict my belief, and at the same time I can grow spiritually with, a church where I can make an impact . I thought this should be a community church. It was also a perfect opportunity because I have just broken all the bondages of my past life. I gave up myself and declared Jesus as my Lord. I was also happy because Erica was in the same boat, not with the theological issue, but with the desire to be with a small community church. She grew up in a community church and she certainly knew the needs of community churches. Everything was going great I thought. So how did we discover City Life Church?

           I and Erica decided that since we are both working in Makati, we are going to look for a church around Makati-Pasay area. So the church hunting began. I looked around in the internet to find one. I tried to check around the city. I found Baptist, Alliance and other independent churches. But I thought this time it must be the right church. I and Erica are Pentecostal and Born Again Christian in belief so I thought this must be my main standard in looking for a church. Coincidentally, I have a pastor friend from the Assemblies of God (AG) whom I had asked advice from about our concern. I have appreciated his advice to look for a church which belongs to a denomination. He pointed out that a denomination checks the practices and beliefs of its churches and disciplines them if necessary, in comparison with independent churches like COP which has complete say to its belief. So I became keen on looking for the three Pentecostal denominations that have local churches in Makati-Pasay area, they are the Church of God (COG) , the Assemblies of God (AG) and the Church of the Foursquare Gospel. The Foursquare church we found was just too far from us it was in Guadalupe Nuevo. The Church of God has well established local churches in the area. Some are even being led by American pastors. In comparison to the Assemblies of God, I had a hard time looking for an AG church until my pastor friend helped me in looking for one. He finally referred us to a newly started AG church in Pasay. And guess what, it was the City Life Church, a local church of the Assemblies of God. After much prayer and discussion, we have decided that we will attend the church. How was the experience with our new church?

              I was both nervous and excited because I haven’t been to a community church in Manila. I knew well that there would be a big adjustment because we came from a mega church. But everything went well. Thank you to Pastor Welfert and everyone in  CLC for making the transition smooth for us. All I can say, both me and Erica just can’t hold the level of spiritual growth we are experiencing with CLC. I am just growing deeper in the Lord. 

              City Life Church, an Assemblies of God church is a community based church in Pasay city. I know greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done  for Jesus Christ is the God of this city!

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 [THE EVERY NATION CONFERENCE  2010 IN SMX CONVENTION CENTER, MALL OF ASIA]

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I am back because of a fire burning in me, a passion wanting to flow out from inside of me. I WANT TO SHARE AND WRITE ABOUT THEM...

So you might think what's that?! or how's that?! , well let me tell you my testimony. Well, here's how...

Years ago, I was just like you. I wanted to finish my school. I wanted to earn money. I wanted to be happy. I wanted to enjoy life to the fullest. I would have a very hectic schedule almost everyday. I would go to work and I would meet up with friends. Everything was about fullfilling what I want in my life. Everything was about achieving my goals and desires for my life. I was very focused to be somebody because after all everyone else is trying to be somebody around me. I felt my pride and I felt I was special in my own right. I felt I was unique. I wanted the world. I was very into the world. It was all about success, pleasure and enjoynment. BUT ... the more I crave for all these things, the  more I feel corrupted. I was being eaten by my goals and ambition in life. I was  being consumed by my desires to be successful. I felt my life is nothing but a wanting to be that person which I have been dreaming since I was young... a successful person. I got lost. I was just too proud. At one point I was an atheist. At one point I was a blasphemous. At one point I was very self-centered. At one point I lived a lustful life  ............... then suddenly I was just nothing.

I went into a tremendous struggle, a mutli-faceted struggle. My family broke down, I stopped schooling, my dreams got shattered away and I got lost. I was put in a situation no one would ever wish for. I was all alone. I was like a sheep lost in the wilderness who had to face lions, foxes and a whole lot of predators. I lost four years of my life wandering, searching, looking, struggling, wishful-thinking, regretting, and finding for the meaning of life. IT WAS NOTHING BUT BAD NEWS.

Little that I know of, there was a very interesting event that I would experience... I think of it now that after all there is a GOOD NEWS.  But I thought how about all the pains, hurts and wounds in my life. You don't know what I have been to. The pains I had to bear. I was still reasoning, I was still somehow proud to reason out. But the GOOD NEWS is simply unbearable... It is contagious, It is  overwhelming, It is over-satisfying, It is more than I ever wanted. It was just too GOOD for a NEWS. It was too great. The greatest I thought. That NEWS was just too wonderful and too great that I indulged with it. I received it and I surrenderred to it. It was the NEWS of the LOVE OF GOD. Who am I, I thought not to acknowledge the LOVE of GOD. 

 YES, that's right I acknowleged the LOVE of GOD in my life. I acknowledged and declared that He is my Lord and I am His servant.  It was so completing that my pains and hurts became love, care and compassion. It was so blessing that my self-centered righteousness and desires became a life of selfless service to the Lord. I am no longer alone. I am no longer a lost sheep for Jesus is my Shepherd now. 

From self-righteousness and from unrighteousness, now to God's righteousness. 

This is the start of my life... a journey with God. 

 Amazing It was a transformation.