Facebook and God

I've been Facebooking for about 16 months now. Just recently I was struck by the conviction that I should daily glorify Jesus Christ on this popular site. Facebook seems to have turned into a temple of the Self. Millions of people tell other millions of people about themselves. People stay on Facebook for hours everyday and Jesus Christ hardly gets a status mention on most FB walls. I admit I have more posts about my "Self" than about the Word of God. As a Christian I must respond to the prompting of the Spirit of God to obey His Word. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

If one is indifferent towards the things of God, one can turn Facebook into a Babel Tower. The self is glorified. Man and his many doings are magnified. Facebook is the temple of the king named Self. It's a challenge to put Jesus first on Facebook. And I am faced with this challenge in the light of my recent divine prompting. Truly I accept such challenge like a brave Christian. I will do the things that please the Lord even if it requires my permanent leaving of the Facebook temple.

One Very Hot Afternoon (Original Poem)

*One Very Hot Afternoon*

It's one very hot afternoon
and I'm beginning to think of malling

naked;

to think of diving into a swimming pool
of ice cream

naked;

It's one very hot afternoon
and I'm beginning to think of cursing
this tilt of the earth.

There's no winter in my country;
a truth

naked.

For the Hurting Lover (Original Poem)

Your heart limps
and it limps with you.
What used to be red,
like lips and kissed lips,
is now painfully blue.

The memories
of romance past
and of passion's residue,
are for now crutches
that support you.

Walk with your wounded heart
and limp you may go.
Love is red,
bloody red,
even indigo.

Ahead perhaps
for you is something
or someone new.

WILLIE & WOWOWEE

Willie Revillame and Wowowee are two faces of a network coin. It's a bloodied currency. (Remember the 2006 PhilsSports Arena stampede?) Now we hear rumors of Willie's not returning to the show. I am not a fan. It does not affect me a tiny bit if he's not coming back. Time now to say goodbye to this cash-dispensing monolith. But without a doubt Wowowee has countless followers who believe the show is entertaining, hope-giving, even life-saving.

Willie has become an idol. And Wowowee an exploding temple of cash, sexy women and chance. But not all fans win. Not all of them get money. Not all of them get to play to win. Only a few hit the jackpot. This means not everyone wins. Not everyone gets money. But still so many people hope they would have the Wowowee money. The Word of God is forgotten in this paganistic clamor for the moolah. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

BLESSED (A Collection of Personal Quotes)

Below are personal quotes posted on my Facebook Wall on May 17, 2010.

"Blessed are they who have become born-again and new creations in Jesus Christ."

"Blessed are they who don't lead double lives."

"Blessed is he who does a good thing for someone and keeps quiet about the good deed."

"Blessed is he who has love and peace in the home."

"Blessed is he who has genuinely loving Christian friends."

"Blessed are they who don't keep up with the Joneses."

"Blessed is he whose basic needs are regularly met."

"Blessed is he who always gives thanks to the Lord God."

"Blessed is he who knows that godly wisdom is superior to human intelligence."

"Blessed is he who is not running away out of guilt from something or someone."

"Blessed is he who has no financial debts."

"Blessed is he who has contentment in the simplicity of his life."

"Blessed is he who has found the Lord God and is found by Him."

"Blessed are they who have the love and respect of their children."

"Blessed is she who has found a loving and faithful God-fearing husband."

"Blessed is he who has found a loving, faithful Christian wife."

"Blessed is he who is ready to face His Creator for the judgment."

"Blessed is he whose heart is filled with Truth and Light."

"Blessed is he who follows the Good Shepherd and not this evil world system."

"Blessed is he who fully gives up pronography for that is what the Holy God desires."

"Blessed are the prodigal sons and daughters who sincerely return in repentance to their loving and merciful Father."

"Blessed is he who walks in the Love of God."

"Blessed is he who reads and follows the Word of God."

MONEY

Money is not evil. The love of it is. I look around and I see people NOT seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. (Matthew 6:33) Instead, they chase money as if that is their Life. Grasping for the wind, they usually run in circles with disappointment on their heels. Money is visible to the eye. God is not. So, money is more an immediate attraction to the poor, the covetous and the greedy.

The promise of God to those who put Him and His Righteousness first will be divine additions. Things will fall into their proper places. What is empty will be filled. Lack turns to overflowing. This is not easily fathomed by people who stubbornly believe that money is their peace, their happiness, their life. They are very wrong and very deceived.

It Reminded Me of Star Trek

I was impressed to see how advanced we have become in TV news reporting. Augmented Reality or AR Technology was employed in ABS-CBN's automated election coverage this week. This technology is commonly used in other advanced TV stations in the US and China. Star Trek came to mind when someone from the "outside" virtually appeared inside the studio as if directly talking to the news anchor. Inwardly I expressed a Wow! But my appreciation was short-lived. Such high technology was to me frivolous. A reporter beamed up through highly advanced computer technology is not superior to the one who just appears on a flat screen. Did this AR technology accomplish something big in matters of style and presentation? A big YES! But it did not impact at all the essence and substance of news and information.

No matter how sophisticated technology becomes, it can never attain the dignity of Truth.

On Choosing a President

It is not wise to have so many candidates. Two or three would do. Having many presidential candidates is very divisive. The position of president should be contested only by the best and the most qualified candidates. Is there any place for 'filtering" in our politics here? Presidential candidates should be quizzed and pressed for practical and realistic platforms. They should not be spared from a track record scrutiny or from a morality check up.

As part of the electorate, I believe we need to be re-educated. We need to know and understand our political history. We need teachers and educators, resources and technology that can take us back to our political past and see where we went wrong. And from there we can make strong and informed decisions.

Now that we have elected a new president, we must give him the chance to prove himself with our support. Only time can tell if the nation made the right choice or a huge mistake.

MOTHER (An Original Poem)

MOTHER

I can no longer sit on your lap,
so let me sit right next to you and wrap
these large arms around your neck
and kiss your cheeks, Mother.

Place my head on your bosom,
and cradle me,
cradle me in your heart.
Kiss me, too, on the cheeks, now tear-stained.

Mother, oh Mother,
I can't have you forever.
I can't have you forever.

Are you also crying now,
Mother?

MY GOD (An Original Poem)

MY GOD

My God has a Lamb
and I have never had
any sheep
except that One
so pure and meek.

My God has a Dove
and I have never caged
any pigeon
except that One
so holy and sweet.

My God has given them
to me, a sinner.
Of His love, mercy
and power
I shall always speak.

To a Forgotten Book (An Original Poem)

TO A FORGOTTEN BOOK

You are like a forgotten lover
without legs;
but with a spine
sturdier than mine at times.
You have not run away from me.
You have stayed where I have last left you.
But others, like you,
perhaps somewhere,
are touched and leafed through.

Do you miss my eyes that used to run
from line to line,
from page to page?
Do you miss my tongue
that used to lick my lips
on occasions when you get really interesting?
Do you miss the notes and symbols
that I used to tattoo you with,
usually on your slender margins?

I used to hold you many times.
Can you remember how often?

Let me now wipe the dust off of you.
Is it ok?

Would you like us to be lovers again?

MANO-MANO

We are not ready for automated polls. The machines, which serve as vote counters, have recently proved to be unreliable during random testings. The call for the return to manual count may be a backward step but many now see this as imperative. The "mano-mano" method in vote-counting is tedious, taxing and time-consuming. But this procedure is at least comforting for it is familiar to us.

I personally prefer the familiar to the alien, especially if the new thing is prone to error. But we have not yet tried the machine. Let us give it a chance. But if the worst does happen on election day, the manual count should come to the rescue. The future of the Philippines should not be at the mercy of failing machines. Never will democracy be subordinate to technology.

The Body, When Mourning (An Original Poem)

THE BODY, WHEN MOURNING

There is a languid drooping
of the head and the neck
A slouching of shoulders
to shelter a heart, bleeding.
A sad bending
of spine, weighed
by multiple oppressions.

There is a weakening
of the knees, hurt
from the kneelings.
A slow collapsing
of limbs and legs,
lured by earth
for a moment's surrender.

There is a falling down.
A breaking down.

The body's tribute
to dust.

Original Quotes 1

The quotes below were extracted from my Facebook Wall.

"People power is a spontaneous combustion. It is not a deliberate contact of fire with flammable object. People power is not making 'da-ob'." (May 4, 2010)

"Power is not for the unprepared. Power is prepared for the prepared." (May 4, 2010)

"My advance salute goes to those who would lose in the elections and would still enthusiastically return to the people to serve them even without the seat." (May 4, 2010)

"Those who are most ready to accept defeat in the elections would be the least frustrated." (May 4, 2010)

"Any mistake or obvious blemish in the ballot can turn our vote into mere 'nothing'... Thus, what is expected of the electorate is 'perfection' or anything close to it." (May 4, 2010)

"We are not ready at this time for automated polls. And there is no turning back.... We are getting closer to the precipice. It's either we fly or plunge." (May 4, 2010)

"The failure of elections is the failure of the collective morality of the people." (May 4, 2010)

"The son is not the mother..... The son is not the father. The son is only but himself."(May 4, 2010)

"Candidates who sing and dance and try hard to entertain can succeed in making me smile or feel amused.... but hanggang diyan lang. Utak pa rin ang gagamitin." (May 4, 2010)

CHEATING

Many people think that there will be a failure of elections on May 10, 2010. This is such a dark forecast. This may just be true. The failure of elections is but the result of the general failure of this country’s morality. Our present day morality hardly reflects the righteousness of God. Moral corruption, oftentimes imputed on politicians, is actually an across-the-board moral infection. Most of us are guilty.

Cheating happens inside the home. It happens outside the home. There is cheating in the classroom, in the workplace, in the offices, in the government and in the church. And cheating in the elections is nothing new at all. Such crookedness does not exalt our nation. If massive cheating does take place next week, we would never know who truly won. The nation gets cheated…again. The cheaters themselves also get cheated. “Weather weather lang ‘yan…. Kawawa ang Pilipinas.”

To the Atheist

define love
and tell me where
the definition comes from.

the meaning of love
is from somewhere,
something or even someone.

you deny God
and yet you know love.
now, you define contradiction.

TOO MANY POSTERS

Campaign posters are everywhere! I see them on walls, posts, tree trunks and flat vertical surfaces. Campaigns go for the overkill. Image overkill! And the repetitive images and faces and names are way too much. To be ubiquitous is deemed an effective campaign strategy. But dozens of the same person's face plastered on just one big wall is just too assaulting and even desperate.

Would I forget a candidate if I see only about five of his smiling face on every wall in the city? Is power of recall truly insured when the same politician's face is multiplied innumerably in every legal campaign space available? I don't think so. Personally, I don't need to see the same politician's face a hundred or even a thousand times so that I can surely remember him/her. Remembering the candidates is actually different from voting for the candidates.

Political campaigns here in our country is dirty figuratively and literally. After the elections all campaign posters turn into litter.

Just way too much garbage! Yuck!