Thursday, December 3, 2020
Is There Such A Thing As Fate?
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
Is there such a thing as fate, or is fate simply the whipping-boy of human experience, a catch-all for what we cannot explain? The Mirriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines fate as "that which remains destined to happen." Our English word comes from the Latin fatum which meant something ordained from the gods. It grew out of a story from Greek mythology which involves three goddesses. The first, Clotho, or the Spinner, was supposed to weave the thread of life while the second, Lachesis, or the Disposer of Lots, determined the length of the thread. It was the third in the trilogy, Atrophos, or the Inflexible One, who allegedly cut the thread of life causing fate to strike its sinister blow.
Today it is common for people to blame fate for all kinds of things over which we have no control, whether it is a bolt of lightning or the assassination of a world leader. Is there such a thing as fate or chance? If there is a sovereign God who directs in the affairs of mankind, fate is not a viable option.
The Bible, and in particular the writings of the New Testament, tells us that God intervenes in the affairs of humanity, that all history is moving towards a fixed point of reference when time is absorbed by eternity and life as we know it comes to an end. But what of our personal affairs? How emphatic is God's intervention in the everyday affairs of life and living?
First, the New Testament says it is not Atropos or fate who cuts the thread of life. Hebrews 9:27 (KJV) says, "It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment." Paul addressed the issue of fate for the child of God when he wrote to believers at Ephesus saying that God " works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will," (Ephesians 1:11). The book of Romans says very clearly there is no fate for the child of God who walks according to his Father's will. Remember the comforting words, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).
Sounds good, right? But does it translate into life when things go wrong? Is God likewise responsible for wrong things as well? When something happens which doesn't quite fit into the scheme of things as I think it should, I ask three questions:
Question #1: "Is Satan opposing me?" And there are times when clearly he has hindered the work of God. If Satan hindered Paul from coming to the Thessalonians when he wanted to do so, why shouldn't he be able to hinder us today?
Question #2: Has God allowed this difficulty as discipline in my life to bring me back into his will?" (Please make a note of Proverbs 3 and Hebrews 12, which tell us it is because God loves us that He disciplines us just as a father does his children.)
Question #3: "Is this simply a combination of circumstances which are the result of the fact that Satan has cursed our Earth, for which there isn't any particular deep spiritual significance—say, a flat tire or an appliance which has worn out?" Naturally these irritations try our patience, but I can't really see the intervention of either God or the devil in some things, though God can use everything to shape us and bring our lives into conformity with His plan.
How did you answer that question, "Is there such a thing as fate?" For God's children, the will of the Father rules out chance, fate, or even luck. That's a fact.
Resource reading: Romans 8:19-39
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/is-there-such-a-thing-as-fate/
Look: Opening song Winter Dawn by China Central Television
Winter Morning is the music played by CCTV-1, CCTV-7, CCTV-10, CCTV-13 and CCTV-14 at about six in the morning. It is equipped with pictures of mountains and nature and the city's prosperity.
The real first version of morning song is exactly the same as the background music of the current morning song, but the picture is completely different from this. At the beginning, the second scene in the ending song of the second edition was played backwards, then the sunrise at Beijing Railway Station, and a ship sailed across the sea on the way, and finally ended with blue sky and white clouds.
The 1998 version of Morning Song is stretched and not remade
So why, after February 2009 cctv1 replaced by a new CCTV package, then cctv1 to begin broadcasting high-definition, directly replaced now Alba (7 sets [now 17] sets also replace the morning on August 1 Song and closing song. 1 set after September 28, 2009, the last id of morning song is cctv1, which is still in use today; 7 sets were disabled after being changed to 17 sets; cctv9 was also used after 2013). Only 13 of this version in the video is still in use, and 14 was deactivated in September this year.
It’s the same now, but it’s a high-definition remake. Now the news channel’s packaging is okay, and the studio is also good, but the studio always has echoes, it’s uncomfortable to listen to, and the earth’s water still exists...
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Why You Should Cultivate Excellence In Your Life
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15
The greatest accomplishments in life–believe it or not–are made not by the smartest people in the world but by those who didn’t know enough to quit. They were the ones who kept plodding, who kept practicing, who kept investigating until they stumbled onto success. That fact was driven home to me when I was studying in the university. There were two men in my classes who were geniuses. Their IQs were way up there. At the end of a class, they slapped their books shut and didn’t open them. They were smart.
Frankly, I was among those who dug it out. People thought I was really gifted; no, I knew how to work and study. My parents spent hard earned money and sent me to school to study, not party. I knew why I was there and made the most of my opportunity.
Learning to apply myself was something I happened to grow up with, but everybody doesn’t have a dad who cuts off the handles of brooms, making them short enough for a kid to use, or has you work alongside him. But you can learn to work. You can develop discipline yourself. You can set goals and eventually get there.
One of my heroes was a Kiwi from down under, Sir Edmund Hillary, who with his Sherpa guide, Tensing, crested Mount Everest for the first time. Awesome achievement, and that was before a lot of the high-tech gear which climbers use today. When asked how he accomplished this when others had failed, he replied that when he was tempted to turn back, he took just one more step.
William Carey, the father of modern missions, said that his greatest ability was to plod in the face of adversity. When Thomas Edison had tried 10,000 ways to produce an incandescent globe and hadn’t succeeded, he was urged to quit. He responded that he had found 10,000 ways that didn’t work. He would eventually find what would work. He did! I have sometimes wondered how many determined, stubborn individuals we have today with that tenacity.
The foundation of our modern achievements was laid by thousands of unknown individuals who lived in obscurity and died unknown, who faithfully contributed to what has enabled us to send men to the moon, to circle the globe with communication, and to accomplish great and mighty things. They laid the foundation we have built upon through research, hard work, and trial and error. Their strength and energy, like a gradually falling barometer, were meted out in hard work, years of often-unrecognized service, and blood, sweat and tears. But they did not quit. They did not look for something with less work and with more money attached to it.
I have been told that in a European Cathedral, high in the rafters where no one ever goes, are some intricate carvings of exquisite beauty, done by a master craftsman whose name has long since been lost to posterity. Why did he take time to do some of his finest work, using an abutment of wood that will never be seen by the public? He valued excellence. He took seriously the admonition of the Bible that instructs: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
Cultivate excellence. Make it a passion. Refuse to let the world and our culture shove you into the mold of mediocrity. Whether or not you reach the top, you are building a foundation, and upon your shoulders someday, someone will reach the top. Thank God for teachers who inspire excellence, for mothers who have the patience to bring the best out of their children, for dads who have the patience to find the tools their little boy left somewhere and show them how to use them. Indeed.
Resource reading: Ecclesiastes 9:1-10.
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/why-you-should-cultivate-excellence-in-your-life/
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
God Gives Strength In The Broken Places
To all who mourn in Israel he will give: Beauty for ashes; Joy instead of mourning; Praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory. Isaiah 61:3, Living Bible
Ernest Hemingway, wrote, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”[1] In this, Hemmingway was right. Ours is an imperfect, broken world. You discover your spouse has been unfaithful to you for years. A doctor breaks the news that you have inoperable cancer and will lose your leg. Your son is arrested for drunk driving. Or, the promotion that you deserved went to someone less qualified.
Everyone is broken eventually, but only some mend stronger because of it. “Out of the presses of pain” wrote A. B. Simpson, “Come the soul’s best wine.”[2] When the remarkable Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, became disabled from a fall, she spent the next 20 years of her life confined to bed. Instead of crying out in anger, she ran to Jesus for strength and comfort. Those years which she spent immobile were some of her best as she wrote, counseled the unending stream of people who came to her, and prayed for India and the world. “Some get strong in the broken places,” said Hemingway.
When prolonged sickness slowly took the life of her husband, Lettie Burd Cowman wrote a daily devotional based on her hardships and experiences of fellowship with God during this painful time. Her little book, Streams in the Desert, was so loved by Chang Kai Shek, the Chinese leader, that both this book and the Bible were placed in his casket at his death. Yes, some get strong in the broken places.
Sometimes God allows the breaking which eventually produces something of great value, having been in the fire, having sustained the blows of life, having grown strong in the broken places, as Hemingway put it.
Joni Eareckson Tada was just 17 years old when a diving accident left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. She went on to become a spokesperson on disability and founded Joni and Friends, a global ministry to the disabled community. “My wheelchair was the key to seeing all this happen—especially since God’s power always shows up best in weakness. So here I sit … glad that I have not been healed on the outside, but glad that I have been healed on the inside. Healed from my own self-centered wants and wishes,”[3] she wrote. Joni is strong even in the places that remain broken until heaven.
Who said that life is fair or just? When Hemingway felt devastated by the world’s breaking, as he termed it, he ended his life in suicide. When Lettie Burd Cowman, Amy Carmichael and Joni Eareckson Tada felt the crushing, unexpected blows of life, they turned to God and found solace and strength. To those who suffer, God promised “Beauty for ashes; Joy instead of mourning; Praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory” (Isaiah 61:3, Living Bible).
You can be certain of one thing. Nothing that happens to you as God’s child can happen apart from His knowledge and His will, and nothing which life throws at you can carry you beyond His grace and care. God doesn’t fix everything in the here and now, but He gives grace for everything, and that makes the difference which produces strength in the broken place.
In the Book of Genesis, when Jacob ran for his life from his angry brother, Esau, Jacob turned to the Lord. His encounter was characterized by physically wrestling with the Angel of the Lord. From that point on, he walked with a limp—the sign of his broken body and spirit, but God gave him a new name, Israel, and used him to give birth to a nation (Genesis 32).
Never forget that following the brokenness of an imperfect world, God gives strength in the broken place.
Resource reading: 2 Corinthians 4:1-18
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/god-gives-strength-in-the-broken-places/
Plebisito sa paghahati ng Palawan, planong gawin sa Marso 13, 2021
PUERTO PRINCESA, Palawan, Dis. 1 (PIA) -- Ipinapanukala ngayon ng Commission on Election (COMELEC) provincial office na sa Marso 13, 2021 isagawa ang plebisito para sa paghahati ng Palawan sa tatlong probinsiya.
Gayunpaman, ayon kay Shiela Guno, itinalagang lider ng plebiscite team kinakailangan pang aprubahan ito ng Comelec en banc, kung kaya dadaan pa sa proseso ang magiging pinal na petsa.
Aniya, nagpapatuloy pa sa kasalukuyan ang pagbuo ng opisyal na guidelines para sa gagawing plebisito, subalit patuloy rin ang kanilang pakikipag-ugnayan sa pamahalaang panlalawigan ng Palawan kaugnay sa mga ipatutupad na panuntunang pangkalusugan sakaling matuloy na ito.
Ang plebesito ay naunang naitakda nitong Mayo 2020 subalit hindi natuloy dahil sa pagkakaroon ng pandemya dulot ng coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Nitong Oktubre, inanunsiyo ng Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) Against COVID-19 na sa taong 2021 na magaganap ang plebisito.
Sinabi rin ni Guno na plano nilang idaos ng isang araw lamang ang botohan sa halip na dalawang araw na siyang pinahihintulutan ng IATF. (LBD/PIAMIMAROPA)
Ways to Receive Signals
Ways to Receive Signals of Digital Terrestrial Television
In general, TV households within the signal coverage area of the transmission stations mentioned above should be able to receive DTT broadcasting signals with the use of standalone full band antennas in reasonably good condition and DTT receivers (i.e. the set-top boxes or the integrated digital television). After performing the “auto searching” function, the DTT receiver will automatically tune to DTT channels and display the channel numbers.
For households within the signal coverage area who are receiving television broadcasting signals through in-building communal aerial broadcast distribution (CABD) systems, the CABD system owners and managers of the buildings concerned have to install an appropriate DTT channel receiving equipment in the system before these households can receive the TV broadcasting signals from UHF TV Channel 62.
Monday, November 30, 2020
The 5 Critical Questions You Need Answers To
When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!” Luke 15:17
When a youth lost his way and ended up having squandered the inheritance he had received from his father, he came to his senses and said, “I’m starving here; I’m going home to my father.” Jesus told the story. We call it the parable or the story of the lost son.
Frankly, nothing much really changes. There are thousands today who have lost their way, and when they hit the bottom they start asking, “How did I get here, anyway? And is there a way out of my distress?” They want to know if God is really there and how can they gain some purpose to life.
Frankly, if I were at that point in life, as perhaps you may be, there are some questions I would ask myself.
First, I would ask, “Who put the longing in my heart to know God?” The very thought tells me that I am not merely homo sapiens, an animal perhaps a bit more highly developed than most mammals, but a person. The Bible says I was created in the image of God. People from every culture which anthropologists have studied have believed in some kind of a god somewhere.
Question #2: I would ask, “Who created this beautiful world, anyway?” Anselm, an eleventh century Benedictine monk, argued strongly that one of the evidences for God–proof is too strong a word–is that the order and symmetry of our world demands a creator. A watch with its intricate mechanism bears witness that someone with intelligence put it together. Today even scientists who do not believe in God recognize the intelligent design of our world, a position that has a trail leading from it to the Creator Himself.
Question #3: I would ask myself, “Who gave me the intelligence and the emotions to reason, think, and love? The human body is an amazingly complex mechanism–the interface of the brain with your nervous system, the ability of your heart to sustain life, the composition of the blood which carries oxygen to your heart, and the complexity of your emotions which give vent to strong feelings and paint the landscape of life with vivid colors.
Question #4: The fourth question I would ask myself would be, “Is there an opposite to what I abhor in life?” Most people never ask the question involving opposites, yet it’s important to do so. Day is balanced by night; heat by cold, strength by weakness, and good by evil. While God often gets the blame for the evil, there has to be an opposite which accounts for the evil in our world.
Dr. C.E.M. Joad (1891-1953) headed the Department of Philosophy at Birbeck College, London. He was a psychologist, philosopher, and thinker. He was also an agnostic. Following the end of World War 2, Joad entered some of the concentration camps of Europe, and what he saw was abhorrent beyond description. He could not believe that anyone would treat his fellowman as the Nazis treated the Jews. He began thinking that this horrible evil which he saw in humankind had to have an opposite. He reasoned that there must be a God who stands in opposition to all that he saw, and he set out to find Him. He did, embracing Jesus Christ as God’s Son.
Finally, I would ask myself, “Who is this Jesus Christ?” John says that God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son to be the Savior of the world. I would want to know, “Was He God?” and if so, “Did He die for my sins and failure?”
The prodigal–the young man who had lost his way–came to his senses, and that’s what you, too, must do if you would find your way back home. God gave you a brain. Use it. Think! You’re the only one who can do an about face and start walking towards home.
Resource reading: Luke 15:11-31
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/the-5-critical-questions-you-need-answers-to/
Cotabato City formally joins Bangsamoro on Dec. 15
COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao, Philippines — This city will finally be turned over to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on Dec. 15, almost two years after the majority of its residents voted for inclusion in the autonomous region in a plebiscite, according to a BARMM official.
Naguib Sinarimbo, regional interior minister, said President Rodorigo Duterte had decided to follow what was agreed upon in Malacañang last year for a turnover despite an appeal from Cotabato Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi to postpone the event.
Cotabato, an independent city in Maguindanao province, used to belong to the Soccsksargen (Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos City) region.
Although it served as the seat of power of the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the city was not part of the ARMM until it ratified the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which created the BARMM.
According to the Commission on Elections, 36,682 people voted for the BOL, or Republic Act No. 11054, in the plebiscite on Jan. 21, 2019, indicating their desire for the city’s inclusion in the BARMM, while 24,994 voted against it.
Sayadi, who campaigned for “No,” questioned the results of the plebiscite.
Keeping promise
The President made the decision to set the date of turnover during the fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Relations Body on Friday, said Sinarimbo, who is also the BARMM spokesperson.
The body is the mechanism mandated to resolve issues on intergovernmental relations between the national government and the newly created Bangsamoro.
“We thank President Duterte for keeping with the spirit of the discussion last year in Malacañang to carry out the BOL mandate and transfer the supervision of Cotabato City to the BARMM,” Sinarimbo said.
During the Dec. 15 ceremony, the Department of the Interior and Local Government in the city would also be turned over to the Ministry of Interior and Local Government, which Sinarimbo heads. INQ
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1366199/cotabato-city-formally-joins-bangsamoro-on-dec-15
Palawan plebiscite tentatively set for March 13
Shiela Mae Guno, designated plebiscite team leader by the provincial poll body and current Araceli election officer, also said in a live podcast they are looking at holding a single-day voting instead of a 2-day exercise already allowed by the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF).
The provincial COMELEC office has proposed a March 13 date for the holding of plebiscite on the law dividing Palawan into three smaller provinces. While the date is still subject to approval by the Commission en banc, a local poll body official said they have begun preparations for the exercise.
Shiela Mae Guno, designated plebiscite team leader by the provincial poll body and current Araceli election officer, also said in a live podcast they are looking at holding a single-day voting instead of a 2-day exercise already allowed by the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF).
“Actually, we have a tentative date, but it requires the approval of the commission en banc, which is March 13, but it is not yet final,” Guno said.
“Last October 28, the commission en banc approved a single-day voting for the plebiscite,” she added.
Guno said there will be about 400 clustered voter precincts with 200 voters per clustered precincts. She did not further elaborate further details on the planned clustering. She added that official guidelines for the plebiscite are still in the planning and preparation stage.
“We have not yet talked about how the Palawan plebiscite will be conducted. We are just coordinating with the provincial government of Palawan with regards the health protocols to be imposed, the possible buying of COVID-19 supplies for workers, and of course the possible addition of the budgetary requirements of the conduct of the Palawan plebiscite,” she added.
Guno is part of a six-person team composed of Palawan election officers tasked to supply data needed to prepare for the upcoming Palawan plebiscite in 2021.
“The Commission created the technical working group for the Palawan plebiscite. It is composed of the directors of the different departments of the commission. Our regional director Atty. Gloria Ramos-Petallo, and our provincial elections supervisor Atty. Urbano Arlando, created the Palawan plebiscite team, which is composed of six election officers coming from the proposed provinces – Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental, and Palawan del Sur – to assist the technical working group in providing data for the upcoming Palawan plebiscite,” she explained in the podcast.
The plebiscite was formerly set to occur in May 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis. In October, it was announced by the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) that the plebiscite would be held in 2021.
The current administration has long pushed for the division of the province and has already been making moves to get local government officials to support the division. On Thursday, a Liga ng mga Barangay meeting was held at the Palawan Provincial Capitol where ex-officio Liga head and provincial board member Ferdinand Zaballa explained the possible benefits of dividing the province into three.
https://palawan-news.com/palawan-plebiscite-tentatively-set-for-march-13/