The Church of Oprah

A friend was telling me about these videos circulating around YouTube regarding the Church of Oprah. Curious, I took the time to check them out myself and I found them really disturbing. Their Church is totally under the category of New Age, Oprah denied Jesus Christ, their belief about God and Heaven are completely whacked up, and I personally think it is very confusing and dangerous to those who are seeking God.

I don't know if I'm on the position to abhor Oprah and her beliefs. I think her mind was just corrupted and I think she's just confused, just as I was during my great depression, torn apart by two main-stream Christian denominations, completely in rubbles, and confused about my convictions.

Well, yeah, about my convictions, I prayed and waited, and it was in my devotions that Jesus answered me. “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”(John 12:46) It was then that it hit me that everything’s going to be okay and that I need not to worry. It was followed by, “Do not let you hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me.”(John14:1)

I’m still not sure if I’m back on track. I still get confused every now and then. But those two verses that hit me while reading the Bible were the promises and commands I still cling to up to this day. There is an ongoing renewal and revival in the parish I’m serving right now. I’m just happy to have witness these days when many more are answering their calling and accepting the Lord in their lives. It's really a great honor to be a part of it.

I pray for the Church of Oprah and all those who are in it to open their eyes and hearts. I pray for the Lord to use me in rescuing those who are lost.

Shutterbug - Wannabe #001

I've been fooling around with our digicam last summer. You know, you look at things and then suddenly, a spark of inspiration would trigger a big explosion inside your head. I'm neither a professional photographer nor a photojournalist, but given the chance, I would really bite at it because I really love taking photos. It just feels different every time I play with the angles and perspectives, the contrasting colors, and the lights and shadows of a subject interest. You know, finding something pretty and interesting even in the middle of the most mundane inanimate objects. Pretty much like the ones our professors teach at school, only this time I'm not with my pencil and paper or even with my brush and water color. I guess, I've just found my new interest.

I call this set of pictures "Kape't Paminta", meaning "Coffee and Paint" in Filipino.

Late Summer Memento: Convictions

Update (8-14-11): Before proceeding I would just like to say that the following contains explicit material on personal faith and convictions. It was written way back in 2008 when I became so involved with a radical youth ministry in our campus.Though my present convictions have obviously changed thru the years, I can't help but not to delete this one that catapulted my search for the Big Guy :)

My classes have already started two weeks ago and I know it's too late to be saying this but I guess I should've prepared my farewell letter much earlier for what seemed to be the longest summer I've ever had. Well, my summer was fun while it lasted. I’ve learned and experienced so many things so fast I have not had the time to reflect on some of the most significant highlight and events of this break, which is my spirituality.

Well, I almost left everything behind to go in search of God.

I almost joined a religious sect not realizing that He was (and will always be) present in my daily and personal experiences, that He speaks all languages, and that He moves and penetrates us in the most unusual and unconventional, even mundane ways. I almost got myself brainwashed into thinking that poverty is a curse (or a spirit) not as an opportunity to help the poor, that God promises to give us luxurious cars, houses and lots and corporate jobs if we involve ourselves in the effort of brainwashing other people (whatever happened to living a simple lifestyle and solidarity with the poor), and that it is right to condemn everyone but feel sorry for them at the same time, since they are destined to go to hell for not subscribing to the God I worship. I almost got myself stuck in a ministry that thinks they are better than other sects when like any other religion or way, they are unconscious that they are extremely self-centered and that they are as well stuck in an ongoing state of mind, not even caring to take a look at other angles and perspectives nor even respecting other people's beliefs and faith.

Paulo Coelho, one of my most admired author, was right when he said in a novel that, 

"A person who goes in search of God is wasting his time. He can walk a thousand roads and join many religious sects - but he'll never find God that way. 

God is here, right now, at our side. 

We can see Him in the mist, in the ground we're walking on, even in my shoes. 

His angels keep watch while we sleep and help us in our work. 

In order to find God, you have only to look around."

The above statement clearly reminds me of my previous musings regarding my daily experiences before I started to look for God in this ministry which later convinced me that I haven't really experienced God's presence. Before, I used to see God in the eyes and helping hands of my loved ones, in the ethereal beauty of the night sky, or even in a small white butterfly. I used to feel His presence in the middle of an oppressing silent afternoon, on a playground laden in children's laughter, and even on a cold breeze brushing against my skin. God is wherever we allow Him to enter, but it was something I completely forgot or rather, robbed off of me after I was overwhelmed with the excessive use of the Scriptures, their sound doctrines, and their prosperity gospels.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing though. And mind you, I really don't have anything against this ministry. In fact, I tried my best to embrace the whole 'Ladder of Success' thing and the whole G12 Vision. It's just that I really hadn't had the chance to entertain my concerns after all the time I was convinced that they were Satan's arguments trying to lure me out of my spiritual growth inside the ministry. But I guess I was wrong. It's not Satan's voice; instead it's a completely different one telling me to see everything in a different way. To see that spiritual experience is not about how others deemed it to be.

Traditional religious practices are very important in the communal experience of adoration, worship and prayer. But it's in the practical experience of love in our everyday life and it's in the ordinary things can we really witness the extraordinary.

After leaving that ministry, and after my great depression that almost took my faith away, I finally found the right words to describe this unknown feeling welling out of my heart.

I was spiritually abused, emotionally blackmailed, brainwashed, manipulated and indoctrinated for the sole purpose of propagating someone’s religion. My leader that I took as my 'spiritual father' for some time finally lost his luster on me. Right now, I can only see him as a thorn from my past haunting me from time to time.

I still have my faith in my prayer and in my devotional time with the Lord. I'm not an embittered believer as what this article may have suggested, nor possessed by a rebellious demon as what people from that ministry may have had in mind. I just realized that I'm only doing things to please my leader and my superior, but not really my God.

*******

For more G12 experiences, try clicking the ones below:

G12: Control, in Order to Better Reign by an Ex-member of a G12 Cell Group

Classroom Scenario: My Culture

"Culture comes from the Latin term cultura that has its origin from colere. It generally refers to patterns of human activities and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance."

That was what Dean Inocencio, our professor in Theory of Architecture 3, said as he make his introduction to our topic about culture as an essential factor in architectural design. He was in his casual calm tone when he called a student out of the blue, asking how much that student knew about himself as a social component of a bigger society, and more importantly as a human. The student was dumbstrucked at the sudden question. And so was I, trying my best to hide from the back of my seatmate who was thinking also of what to answer.

"In understanding your culture, you have to understand yourself," 

he went as I mused on how much I really knew of myself and on how much I knew of my culture. He asked us to make a short anecdote of our culture in the hometown or place where we grew up and how it affects us as a human, which can later be a source of idea in our design philosophy and belief about the logical behaviour of life, people, and the environment. Below was my anecdote submitted at the end of our class:

"Growing up in the urban setting and lifestyle of Quezon City, I find myself literally confused about my identity as a person with all the diverse showcase and influences from different pop culture movements and modern philosophies abundantly viewed among the youth. But despite the seemingly selfish perception of what most consider as today's "me-generation", evidently seen on the growing number of teen reality TV shows, young consumers, vanity publishers (read: young bloggers obsessed about documenting their adolescent years), and techno-geeks, I found my identity and purpose in the "green" culture of nature-lovers and climate-activists who are investing their time and money to raise the awareness of the public regarding the current state of the environment because of global warming.

The Philippines, according to studies, being a climate "hot spot" is enough to give me a jerk to contribute something on the green movement to counter the effects of climate-crisis, and eventually to dream or aspire to be a "green architect" that focuses primarily on using sustainable building materials and as well as on making efficient designs that actually cultivates natural resources.

And as with the widespread sight of poverty among the slum and depressed areas of the metro, evident on the lack of decent living spaces and homeless families residing in streets, I also found my purpose in the culture of volunteerism - that is, a great desire on involving myself in organizations such as Habitat for Humanity or Gawad Kalinga to build houses and communities for the poor."

---

When you can run so fast to get somewhere you 

miss the fun of getting there.

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Another Chapter of Love

Image borrowed here

"Maybe we are not for each other."

Tears began to well up my eyes, faint sobs started to fill the air and mixed emotions of devastation, confusion, and pain slowly poured out of my heart. I cannot believe this very day would really happen. When the girl I've been madly in love with would simply fell out of love on me.

Everything ended and became clear with just one letter. I wanted to see her face right then, to hear her voice saying the same words of truth right before me to snap me out of my illusions and fantasies, to feel her presence and convince myself that it was really her words and emotions that pierced my very heart.

I've been too comfortable to know that we shared something special. I've been stupid to believe that love doesn't need to be discussed because it has its own voice that speaks for itself beneath the silence. I've been too shy to be bold and brave about my affection. I've been taking her for granted all along.

The truth leaves a pang in my heart so painful that now I can testify to that old saying that you'll only get to see the true value of someone when he/she's already gone.

So this is how it feels like to be broken-hearted. So this is how it really feels to have love and lost.

Maybe I've been too presumptuous about my feelings for her. Maybe I've been too much of a fool to believe in such dreams as a sign from God. Maybe God has greatly planned someone else for each both of us.

Right now, I haven't really had the slightest idea of whether to fight for this love or just to simply let it go. It breaks my heart to say goodbye to all the magic moments we've shared with each other and to all the pictures of tomorrow being a witness to each other's hopes, dreams, and journey through life.

I guess it's now time to pull myself back to reality. To see that the spark of our story is gone and to realize that stories of highschool-romance-turned-happily-ever-after only exist in cheesy soap operas and teledramas.

I don't care how much it hurts anymore. The pain might probably wear off as I cry my heart out from time to time. I'm just glad that she only followed what her heart sings out and that she's just being honest and true to me.

"The feeling might have changed but the rest are the same. I'm still the same old Whiskers you know and you can still reach me for your concerns or just stories. I didn't mean to break your heart. This is much better that to keep you waiting. The story of you and me won't just end because of this rather I was looking forward to a new and better chapter. I hope we can still be friends."

I will always love her.

As a friend? As an ex-lover? As an imaginary future partner? It does not matter. She showed me an almost spiritual experience of practical love on the past telephone calls we had talking about our faith and spiritual growth. And those are some memories I will never regret to look back in my days.

Cheers to a new chapter of our story... =^_^=