Pure Religion
Applied Religion 10/30/2011
Rev. Jerry Lepasana
Today, there is also another type of self deception that we need to emphasize. This is specifically applicable to believers of Jesus Christ. The issue is not salvation, but the demonstration of salvation. What do I mean? Unfortunately, there are believers who assume that since they are already saved in Christ, God is no longer concern when it comes to the way they live their lives. This idea is never supported by the New Testament Scriptures. The book of James is one of those books that clarifies this misconception. Obviously, since there was a huge emphasis on salvation not by personal works but by faith, it was so easy for the early believers to take works for granted. They were not as conscious about living righteously before God, so James wrote them a very practical book which provided some guidelines on how Christians ought to live their lives in such a way that non-believers would really know that they belong to God.
Living the Bible 10/23/2011
Rev. Jerry Lepasana
I don’t know if you have noticed that nowadays there are more people who won’t mind settling for knock-offs or cheap imitations. Not only because you can hardly see the difference between the real ones and the knock-offs, but also because there are a lot of accessible places to get them. I remember, perhaps more than 20 years ago, you would only find them if you would travel abroad to places like Hong Kong, Thailand, or the Philippines. Nowadays, you can simply go to China town in New York and find all kinds of imitations – watches, bags, shoes, even electronics. This is a billion dollar business today in the United States. With so many imitations out there, I believe, there is a greater pressure on the producers of the real products to come up with distinguishing marks so that people would know the difference right away.