"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:" 1 Peter 3:15 (KJV)
Hello everyone:
This quick note is to announce that I will be taking a forty day sabbatical. It is something I like to do in the beginning of every year. Feel free to read my blog and leave any comment. If you want to get in contact with me directly, please do so by email at angelcasiano@aol.com. See you again on March 3, 2015. God bless you!
Brother Angel Casiano
But how are we fighting today? Kids embracing a ghetto culture manifested through music that promotes and celebrates us killing each other. How are we fighting today? With bitterness, still blaming the white man for all of our troubles. How are we fighting today? We no longer take responsibility for our actions; because we suffered, we feel that now we have a free ticket to say and do whatever we want, that is including, becoming racist ourselves. How are we fighting today? Truth is no longer important, acting right is acting white, and we blame everything under the umbrella of racism. Every time we are confronted with our ignorance we start singing the same song of slavery, racism and bitterness. How are we fighting today? We place in front of the struggle for equality, leaders with demonic agendas of self-promotion and financial gain.
As I watched the movie Selma, I reflected on myself. Can I fight that kind of fight? Can I hold back as I see my wife getting punched and kicked in her face? Can I hold back as I see somebody assaulting my mother, father, daughters, sons or any perfect stranger? Have we stopped to consider how much faith in God, how much trust, and how much love is needed to be willing to endure such a barbaric thing? I am not sure that I have that much love within me, but Martin Luther King demonstrated exactly the kind of love I am describing.
Martin Luther King gave us a lesson on how to effectively fight. In the midst of his humanity he fought a fight of love. Indeed in the eyes of many, love looks weak. Malcolm X became the force that articulated the misunderstanding of what true love is…
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As I watched the movie Selma, I reflected on myself. Can I fight that kind of fight? Can I hold back as I see my wife getting punched and kicked in her face? Can I hold back as I see somebody assaulting my mother, father, daughters, sons or any perfect stranger? Have we stopped to consider how much faith in God, how much trust, and how much love is needed to be willing to endure such a barbaric thing? I am not sure that I have that much love within me, but Martin Luther King demonstrated exactly the kind of love I am describing.
Martin Luther King gave us a lesson on how to effectively fight. In the midst of his humanity he fought a fight of love. Indeed in the eyes of many, love looks weak. Malcolm X became the force that articulated the misunderstanding of what true love is. See, First Corinthians 13:8 tells us that “Love never fails…” (NKJV) Love is not weak, but indeed a powerful force. Malcolm X advocated for self-defense while calling Martin Luther King a fool, but it was Dr. King who was actually fighting effectively.
Is it that the fight of love that David used to come against King Saul? Did it prove to be effective? It is that same fight of love Joseph used as a slave, in prison, and later, towards his own brothers who betrayed him? He had the power to kill them all, but he loved them. Did it prove to be effective for Joseph? His love brought 400 hundred years of peace to Israel. Should I say more? Are there other examples? Yes there are; history reveals this to us.
Martin Luther King did not only help our people to be able to advance. What America must understand, is that no other man in the history of the United States has done more for the advancement of ALL HUMANITY, not only the black community.
Martin Luther King is not just an African American hero. He is an American hero. He was a vessel used by God to transform the conscience of America regarding race.
On March 7, 1965 in Selma Alabama the dirty laundry of America was exposed to the world. Our illness could be seen as blacks were treated like wild animals in what is known as Bloody Sunday. That was, without a doubt, the turning point. What came out of Bloody Sunday? Freedom! Freedom for blacks and minorities to vote and have the opportunity to be involved in political processes that could give them the ability to change laws and have access to power.
But how are we fighting today? Kids embracing a ghetto culture manifested through music that promotes and celebrates us killing each other. How are we fighting today? With bitterness, still blaming the white man for all of our troubles. How are we fighting today? We no longer take responsibility for our actions; because we suffered, we feel that now we have a free ticket to say and do whatever we want, that is including, becoming racist ourselves. How are we fighting today? Truth is no longer important, acting right is acting white, and we blame everything under the umbrella of racism. Every time we are confronted with our ignorance we start singing the same song of slavery, racism and bitterness. How are we fighting today? We place in front of the struggle for equality, leaders with demonic agendas of self-promotion and financial gain.
Our fight is no longer a fight of love, but a fight of entitlement programs of the give me some of this, give me some of that and when your all done give me some more. Don’t get me wrong, the same forces that wanted to destroy us before as a people, are still out there today. It is just that they fight in a different way. We are allowing the god of this world to destroy us from within.
After the movie was over I was left with a couple of questions. Where did we go wrong and how did we get here? In 1967, Dr. King wrote a book where he asked another question, “Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community”. Almost fifty years later, after the writing of that book, I think that we can come up with our own conclusion. Is America finally a community or, are we a society in chaos?
On August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. King delivered what is consider by many, the most powerful and beautiful speech in the history of the United States, the “I Have a Dream Speech”. As I prepare for this article, I decided to listen to Dr. King’s famous speech once again. I went online searching for this video and found many. I also found a disturbing note attached to one of these videos that reads: “Comments disabled since many of them were hateful and racist…” “Where did the dream go? Are we fighting an uphill battle? Would that dream ever become a reality?”
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“But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.” (1 Corinthians 7:28 NIV)
If your marriage is going through it right now, consider this. Those who tell you that marriage is all cookies, flowers, butterflies and sweet hot milk with honey, are lying to you.
Marriage will have you facing many troubles. Much junk will come out of your spouse after the wedding night and, most importantly, much junk will come out of you.
In First Corinthians 7, if you read carefully, the Apostle Paul is not promoting marriage. However, he establishes clearly that marriage is not a sin, that is ok to marry. He also speaks about the many troubles it will bring. Paul saw marriage as an obstacle to the fulness of our relationship with God.
However, the point is made very strongly, that if you can’t control yourself sexually, is better to marry. For those, like me, who do not posses the gift of self-control, you are better off marrying.
For those that are already marry and considering divorcing, I say, remember what was like before you got marry. Stop lying to yourself; you know it was rough! The Bible establishes, from the beginning, that it is not good for a man to be alone; this is speaking about those men without self-control.
Beloved, unless adultery or domestic violence are showing up at your house, take your time, remember those lonely nights and the crazy things you did, and fight for your marriage. Work it out; let that Agape Love flow…It is a worthy fight!
I discovered some time ago that the God I serve is not an external God, but an internal one. He is not a God that is way up there in an unreachable place, but is actually a God that sticks closer than a brother. I will go to church, because I am called to be in fellowship with others, but whatever happens or not in church will not affect my relationship with God because, I have access to Him in my secret place.
I will read books about Him, but if somebody steals my books or if they get burned in a fire I will not be moved because He is in my heart. You can take my Christian Gospel CDs, you can even take my Bible and throw me on an island to die; but still, even as weak as I am, I am sure that the God I serve will never leave me nor forsake me. In that I am so, so glad that my God is not an external God, but an internal one.
And that is precisely the point of this small message today; external things are surely encouraging, but if they are the foundation of our faith, God helps us when things around us are not so great, when we move to a hometown where the local churches do not have that powerful Sundays Service, when the music is far from the “style” we are use to, when the marriage seems at the end of the road, when the kids are acting crazy, when the preacher don’t hoop and holler like the ones we grew up with and worst of, when persecution hit our land.
Do you Know God? Just not any God, do you know the God I serve through His Son Jesus Christ? Know this, He is not an external God; you don’t really need to add anything to HIM. He does not need any assistance to be God. His majestic presence is available to us in our secret places. Knowing HIM is the only thing that will keep you alive through sickness, through tragedy, through divorces, through craziness, through foolishness and through every weapon in hell that is formed against you!
The greatest tragedy, the greatest sin and the greatest atrocity is to refuse to know the One that loves us the most, the One that offers the greater hope, the One that guarantees a prosperous future better than whatever we can ever desire for ourselves, the only One that can save us and the only One that can heal us. He is the Great I am; He is everything and infinitely more.
Back in 1982 I did my thesis at Dallas Theological Seminary on the topic of “The Demystification of Ki: A Christian View of the Martial Arts.” Not only did I get an “A” on it but I turned it into an article in Inside Karate Magazine. The editor told me it created more feedback than anything he had ever run. In fact it led to another article rebutting my viewpoint and then a third article supporting me. No martial arts magazine had ever run three consecutive articles arguing both sides of a controversial issue.
Back in 1982 I did my thesis at Dallas Theological Seminary on the topic of “The Demystification of Ki: A Christian View of the Martial Arts.” Not only did I get an “A” on it but I turned it into an article in Inside Karate Magazine. The editor told me it created more feedback than anything he had ever run. In fact it led to another article rebutting my viewpoint and then a third article supporting me. No martial arts magazine had ever run three consecutive articles arguing both sides of a controversial issue.
So aren’t you dying to see what I had to say that created such a fuss? The article is a little long to put into a blog post so I am going to do three blogs basically covering all the points I made in the magazine article. And after reading these blogs, if you are interested…
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