THE Philippines prides itself as the only 'Christian' nation in Asia. Churches overflow on Sundays. Religious "fiestas" shut down cities. Recently the Sto Niño #Sinulog2026 in Cebu draws 5.2 million adherents--a record breaking! Meanwhile, public officials join the rally, quote Scripture, and kneel before cameras. Yet the same nation consistently struggles with corruption—political dynasties, bribery, misuse of public funds, and injustice that cripples the poor. This contradi

FEW biblical phrases are quoted as often—and misunderstood as deeply—as Jesus’ warning about the “traditions of men.” For many believers, the phrase has become a blunt weapon: 'anything old, structured, or inherited must be wrong.' Tradition, we’re told, is the enemy of faith. But that is not what Jesus was condemning in Mark 7. When Christ confronted the Pharisees, He was not rejecting tradition as a category. He was exposing how religious authority can be used to protect se

[Early Christianity, The Empire, and the Modern Christ] HISTORY does not begin with stained glass or oil paint. It begins in soil, sweat and blood, in real life and spoken words, in laws enforced by the state, and in hope forged under pain and oppression. Jesus of Nazareth did not emerge from a European imagination. He was born into a colonized Jewish world—one shaped by covenant, Scripture, fear, expectation, and resistance. Bethlehem was a Judean village under surveillance.

[Is Romans14:5–6 a Free Pass to Abandon God’s Sabbath and Holy Days?] Romans 14:5–6 is often quoted as a sweeping permission slip—proof, some say, that God’s Sabbath and biblical holy days are optional, subjective, even obsolete. But a careful reading of Paul’s words, within their historical, literary, and theological context, reveals something very different. Far from dismantling God’s holy time, Romans 14 actually defends unity amid non-commanded practices. It does not eras

THE Book of Judges records a sobering indictment of God's people: “There arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). This was not a pagan nation ignorant of God, but the children of those who had seen miracles—deliverance from Egypt, manna from heaven, victories in the land. Yet familiarity with sacred history did not translate into living faith. Forgetting God did not happen overnight; it happened t

December 21 (this year, 2025) marks the winter solstice--the shortest day and longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. At this precise turning point, the sun reaches its lowest arc in the sky. From here, daylight begins its slow return. To the modern observer, this is a neutral astronomical event. To the ancient world, it was something far more powerful: a cosmic signal loaded with religious meaning. For millennia, civilizations watched the heavens with awe. They observed pa

“For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” — 1 Corinthians 15:26 FEW SUBJECTS are more sobering—or more misunderstood—than death. Yet the Bible calls death an "enemy", not a friend, and certainly not a doorway into another conscious world. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, death is the last enemy that Christ will ultimately conquer. Why Talk About Death? Most people would rather not. Society celebrates Ha

EVERY YEAR, as October draws to a close, streets and stores fill with jack-o’-lanterns, eerie decorations, and costumes of ghosts, monsters, and witches. For many, Halloween is just a harmless night of fun, candy, and make-believe. But beneath the surface of its festivities lies a deeper spiritual concern—a “trick” that many do not see. Why does this day, rooted in fear, death, and the occult, remain so popular in our modern culture? And what should God’s people make of it? W

THE greatest threat to the Church is not only persecution from without but corruption from within. Paganism—once clearly rejected by the...