False Prophets or Angels Among Us

I often see this guy with a mobile microphone, and his bike and sign,  every afternoon after working hours between 5:30 to 6:00 pm. He would be talking out loud and babbling about religion.

At the Marikina plaza where a fountain can be seen, you would see this guy all dressed up in formal long sleeves, sometimes paired with slacks or maong pants, leather or topsider shoes.

I'm not really sure from which church or religious sect he came from but I have to admire him for his patience and perseverance to preach to a crowd who would often just pass by and ignore him.

He probably came by bicycle, along with his placard sign which says:

"Mahal ka ni Jesus....Sa pamamagitan ng biyaya ng Dios ay nilasap ni Jesus ang kamatayan dahil sa bawat tao Hebreo 2:9"


I've researched on Hebreo 2:9 and it led me to this quite similar but different wordings :

"Kundi nakikita natin ang ginawang mababa ng kaunti kay sa mga anghel, sa makatuwid ay si Jesus, na dahil sa pagbata ng kamatayan ay pinutungan ng kaluwalhatian at karangalan, upang sa pamamagitan ng biyaya ng Dios ay lasapin niya ang kamatayan dahil sa bawa't tao."

English translation is:

"But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. "

My question is this: "For whom did Jesus taste death?"

Ask 100 Christians that question and 95 will probably say, "Everybody."

And there is something healthy about that answer -- and something unhealthy.

What's healthy about it is that it is not cliquish or elitist or sectarian. It has an eye on the world. It wants others to enjoy the forgiveness of sins that believers enjoy. It is not narrow and confined in its affections.

The answer that 95% of evangelicals would give is a healthy sign of desire to say what the Bible says.

But to say what the Bible says and to mean what the Bible means are not necessarily the same thing. Which is why I said that there is something unhealthy about answering the question "For whom did Jesus taste death?" by simply saying "everybody."

What's unhealthy about it is not, first, that it's wrong. It might not be wrong. It depends on what you mean by saying that. What's unhealthy is that it stops short of asking what Jesus really accomplished when he died. It assumes that we all know what he accomplished and that this he accomplished for everybody in the same way. That is not healthy, because it is not true. My guess is that most of those 95% who say Jesus died for everybody would have a hard time explaining just what it is that the death of Jesus really, actually accomplished for everybody -- especially what it accomplished for those who refuse to believe and go to hell.

Because of the way "prophet" is commonly used, there is a misconception that its basic definition is "someone who foretells the future," but this definition is too narrow. Prophet is better defined as "one who speaks for another." A true prophet, then, is a person who speaks for God, delivering a message that God has ordained him to give.

Frequently, the words a prophet spoke on God's behalf were, in fact, foretelling what would happen later. However, the prophet's essential role was to speak for God, regardless of whether he did any predicting of the future. A prophet expresses the will of God in words, and sometimes he uses signs to back up what he says and to demonstrate God's power behind it.

In a similar way, a false prophet also may not be in the business of foretelling the future. A false prophet is simply someone who speaks for another but falsely. False prophets either speak for the wrong god, or they claim to have heard from the true God but do not accurately represent Him or His words. At the very least, they speak out of their own human hearts, but more likely, the "god" they are speaking for is really a demon.

If they are indeed able to tell our future, then we would drp everything were doing and listen to his warnings.

My observation of the guy every time I pass by confirms  that not many would even bother listening to the "word of God" when its on the streets professed by a single man.

Why? Because there is mostly distrust in our hearts.

I can't blame anybody, even myself, because the news have not been broadcasting pleasant stories. You can't trust anybody nowadays, not even your own flesh and blood relatives, your best friend or barkada, your long-time neighbor or even the teenagers from across the street. They might turn against you in a snap.

I really don't know why the world has been so violent lately. As we progressed in technology and erect high-rise infrastructures, we turn back into feeble-minded aggressive prehistoric cavemen.

To add, the Bible has been intrigued to have several misrepresentations and wrong interpretations. Noone has proof that the composition of the Bible are notes and documented history from scholars, or if they are just fictional stories much like our comic books and anime magazines.

Many are looking for the ideal leaders. That is how Noynoy Aquino won the presidential election. He was campaigning for a government with no corruption. "Pag walang corrupt, walang mahirap." Many thought he was an angel among us, just like her parents (Corazon Aquino and Benigno Aquino), who sacrificed a lot for our country until their last breath.

Yey, for the eradication of corruption, and we would gladly welcome an abundant future. But was he a false prophet by giving us false assurance that he would indeed eliminate the irregularities in the government? Many would say it's too early to judge him, after all he's still a noobie President.

Was the defeat of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona one of his success stories?...Are we already on our way to the "daang matuwid"?

During the first days of the trial, when the former Chief Justice  was still head of the Supreme Court, he and his supporters would sponsor a series of mass offerings and even vigils. The Chief Justice would often be seen thanking "the Lord above", as if he is being favored by God. Is that the work of an evil person?...or was it just a ploy to fool our countrymen?

After all, the end days of the Impeachment trial revealed an arrogant Chief Justice who walked out of the Senate Impeachment court, and then later reappeared and resorted to playing sick, complete with wheelchair,  just to get the sympathy of the people.  When all his lawyers' technicalities and objections failed, their client played the part of a dumb and frail underdog.

Many of us would go to a church to pray, attend mass and listen to the priests. Many of us would ignore a preacher on the streets, who does the same chore and sermons for free. Some of these "spiritual evangelists" would even go inside a bus and "share the Word of the Lord". Though some of them would hand out some envelopes asking you for donations, the church does the same thing, although more elegantly.

I would have to stop now before I say  something unpleasant. I may continue tomorrow or the next days, but I think you get my point already: Many would pretend to have God on their side, but only a few of them may be sincere and truthful in their intentions "to deliver us from evil. Amen"