Towards Becoming
a Wise and Compassionate Nation
By: Arnulfo Y. Laniba
Agape Foundation [Agasoft]
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Book4Blog Title
Introduction
Introduction
Saturday (Sabbath), October 07, 2006, Badbad Oriental, Loon, Bohol, Philippines –
We are a people strong in the 7th character trait of God, namely: meekness.
Our still ‘uncivilized’ brothers in the hinterlands are described to be gentle ‘tribes’. Many foreigners praised our hospitality; some abused it and made our meek women hospitality girls. Ask Dr. Jose Rizal. Ask our women PO, Gabriela.
Our national animal ‘carabao’ (buffalo) reflects our more obedient and servile nature, which was abused and exploited by foreigners like the Spaniards and others who found our innocence and humility a key to exploit and outwit us. Our national bird had been the gentle harmless little Philippine weaver (maya) whose voice and character are so harmless as if they are a replica or cousin of the dove.
While others equate “meekness” as weakness, thus, they hate this trait, yet Jesus Christ holds this quality as synonym to perfection. Here’s the proof. The verse in Matthew 5:48 “Be you merciful [meek] even as your Father in heaven is merciful [meek]” is rendered in other translations as “Be you perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” So, as far as Jesus is concerned, mercy = perfection! A merciful man has attained perfection, although it may not yet be the highest level.
This gives us a hint that mercy or meekness, humility and gentleness which are similar trait differently named when expressed to different recipient, is the trait of perfection or the key to perfection.
Of God’s seven qualities, we are weaker compared to other races in the first three qualities: love, wisdom and will.
This means that in our heart, our love (even love for self) is weaker than those of other people. That is the reason why we do not thunder when our honor or name is maligned. When our women are abused or turned into prostitutes, we resort to resignation or to crying.
But try insulting a German or a Russian or an American or a Japanese, then, you will understand what I mean. Try hanging an American like they did to our Flor Contemplacion who was hanged in Singapore. We had detected America’s fury and pride when one of America’s youth was caned in Singapore for minor violation!
While we choose to bow down when maligned or harmed, instead of taking revenge, proud nation will go to war for a mere insult.
In comparison with other nations, we, as a people have lesser amount of pride or arrogance because we are more humble than them, not to mention weaker. This is where they connect humility [meekness] to weakness. Because weakness usually produces meekness, or because weak people are usually meek people, they make meekness synonymous to weakness.
WEAKNESS IS OFTEN THE MOTHER OF MEEKNESS IS THE MOTHER OF TRUE GREATNESS
WEAKNESS IS OFTEN THE MOTHER OF MEEKNESS IS THE MOTHER OF TRUE GREATNESS
The truth is: meekness is the fruit or effect of weakness, but not the weakness itself. Meekness is a virtue, weakness is not. But just as a pearl is begotten by a mud, and a diamond by (black) carbon, so is meekness given birth by weakness and adversity. A person, who realizes his weakness, humbles himself down, becomes meek.
But it is wrong to think that meekness is always a result of weakness. There are men, although few, who are strong and great and yet they are meek. Abraham was great but he produced a meek son in Isaac. Meekness too begets meekness, even if you are in royal palaces.
Among the great yet meek men and women in the past are: Mahatma Gandhi of India, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Moses, prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist, Mary, the apostles, above all, our Lord Jesus Christ – these men and women were great but were humble and meek. And their greatness was true greatness.
As a matter of fact, they were great or made great because they were humble and meek. For it was this trait that made them teachable – trainable – willing vessel of the wisdom of God.
So it is wrong to always associate meekness to weakness. However, it is more often true that WEAKNESS PRODUCES MEEKNESS PRODUCES GREATNESS!
One has to start weak, or made weak, and once he realizes it and at the same time acknowledges God as the source of strengths, he becomes humble enough to ask God for strength, and once he has it, to thank Him, and now that he has strength from God, HE IS NO LONGER WEAK BUT STRONG.
We might say that weakness (and its realization) is the key to meekness and meekness is the key to greatness. Weakness is the mother of meekness is the mother of greatness.
Jesus once uttered a living principle which, ever since, regulates every man and woman, every family or nation, company or association, government and empire. He said, “The humble [meek] shall be lifted up; but he who is proud shall be abased.”
Meekness [humility] too is associated to greatness. It is the mother of greatness – true greatness.
MS. HUMILITY, NOT MS. PRIDE, IS THE FAITHFUL WIFE
MS. HUMILITY, NOT MS. PRIDE, IS THE FAITHFUL WIFE
And another thing that we should take note, especially those of you who have now attained a certain degree of greatness due to initial humility: HUMILITY IS A FAITHFUL WIFE. DO NOT REJECT HER ONCE YOU ARE ON THE TOP. BE FAITHFUL TO HER TOO. SHE WAS THE WIND BENEATH YOUR WINGS IN YOUR FLIGHT TO THE HEIGHTS. AND SHE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SUSTAIN YOUR FLIGHT OR MAKE YOU STAY ON THE TOP. SO BE A GRATEFUL HUSBAND TO HER; LOVE HER AND APPRECIATE HER ETERNAL WORTH TO YOU. REMEMBER: SHE WAS NOT ONLY USEFUL DURING YOUR ASCENT TO SUCCESS; YOU NEED HER THE MORE NOW THAT YOU ARE IN THE HEIGHTS. FOR ONLY SHE CAN SUSTAIN YOU AND PREVENT YOUR FALL. MANY WHO BECAME GREAT, FELL BECAUSE THEY FORSOOK HUMILITY, THEIR FIRST WIFE AND MARRIED MS. PRIDE. THE MOMENT A HUSBAND BETRAYS HUMILITY, IT IS THE MOMENT THAT HIS FALL HAS BEGUN!
So, let us be humble and meek to become great in our own chosen fields. But stay humble to remain great. This is the hardest – even harder than the previous act of climbing up the ladder of success. Many had fallen victim of sophisticated and materialistic pride, that woman who seduced every great man in history to abandon Meek-Humility-Mercy and take Pride-Lust-Materialism as his new wife!
HE LESSON THE PRIDE OF KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR TAUGHT HIM
THE LESSON THE PRIDE OF KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR TAUGHT HIM: EXPERIENCE BEING HELPLESS AND THEN YOU CAN LEARN TO BE KIND
King Nebuchadnezzar whom God compared to ‘gold’ while other succeeding kingdoms were described as silver, brass, iron and clay, was the greatest and is probably the greatest of all gentile kings of all time, came face-to-face with these two figurative women named HUMILITY and PRIDE.
In the book of Daniel, we are not told about HUMILITY’s role in the rise of King Nebuchadnezzar. In this world, PRIDE can make her advocates rise too. As a matter of fact, most worldly greatness were a work of Pride. But this kind of greatness is momentary. The Great King of Heaven may allows Pride and her man to rise, for future lessons, but surely this Great Judge will act once Pride and her man reaches the measure of their arrogance.
This is the experience of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon. As soon as he became aware that he was the head of gold of the great statue he saw in his dream, he soon decreed that a replica be erected and that all people should bow down before it, which is tantamount of worshipping Nebuchadnezzar.
Three officials did not. They argued that only God is worthy of such worship. They were the three Jewish friends of Daniel. And look and see the great pride of this king. “Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and his attitude towards them changed. He ordered the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual.” He also made sure that the strongest men would bind and throw the three to the raging furnace. So hot was the fire that some of them who threw the three were eaten up by it and died!
But, as this famous story goes, the three friends of Daniel, were walking in the fire unharmed!
That was the first blow against Nebuchadnezzar’s pride. It was first time he acknowledged God: “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore, I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, FOR NO OTHER GOD CAN SAVE THIS WAY.”[1]
Now, you’d think Nebuchadnezzar had learned the lesson of meekness and humility fully?
Nay, not yet. He was still proud in some aspects, although he acknowledged God and no longer lifted himself to be worshipped like Him. His relationship with God had improved. But he was still merciless to his fellowmen. He still thought himself great and the one who built the kingdom. One day, while he was walking on the roof of his royal palace in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar mused: “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”[2]
Personal pride and mercilessness towards the poor were akin. These were the main sins of Nebuchadnezzar.
A warning was in order. It was done through a dream. A mighty majestic tree whose branches and leaves extended to great distances and upon birds took their shelter, was suddenly cut down, its mighty branches trimmed off, its leaves stripped off and its fruits scattered!
Daniel spoke to the king and told him that he was his tree. Seven years were to pass, if he would not immediately humble down, when he would became insane and lived in the forest among wild animals until he would acknowledge the sovereignty of God – or until he would learn the lesson that “THE MOST HIGH IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE KINGDOMS OF MEN AND GIVES THEM TO ANYONE HE WISHES AND SETS OVER THEM THE LOWIEST OF MEN”.[3]
What was the antidote of Pride? Humility! That is, meekness (e.g., Acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty over all human kingdoms) and mercy (e.g., kindness towards the poor and the oppressed.)
As soon as Daniel finished interpreting the dream to the king, Daniel earnestly advised the king, “Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by BEING KIND TO THE OPPRESSED. It may be that your prosperity will continue.”[4]
But instead of meekness and humble acknowledgement of God’s all-sovereignty, he instead prided and say, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”[5]
To man, especially when you are in some heights (degree of success and greatness), two things are most difficult to do: 1) complete humble acknowledgement of God’s reign over man; and 2) showing compassion to the poor.
This was Nebuchadnezzar’s sins: He could not love God above all or above himself, and he could not love his poor fellowmen enough so as to stop maltreating them!
His sins are our sins: lack of love for God and lack of love for the fellowman. In short, excessive love for Self which, when opposed, offended or not pleased, manifest as anger and cruelty!
We can say, with all truthfulness, that NEBUCHADNEZZAR LIVES IN US. HE IS ALIVE IN US. WE ARE NEBUCHAD-NEZZARS. Little Nebuchadnezzars, to say the least. For we too do not acknowledge God’s complete godship and fatherhood over us; we still defy Him in many aspects and stand as one greater and better than Him!
We, too, do not show genuine mercy to the poor. We treat the beggar outside our door coldly. They experience the same coldness that the night gave them. Instead of giving them warm reception and the best hospitality we can give, we sent the beggars away after a token of superficial compassion. This is the dictate of pride that lurks inside us!
As with Nebuchadnezzar, so it is with us. There is no other way but to LET HIM/US EXPERIENCE THE MISERY AND POVERTY AND THE SAME PAIN OF THOSE HE/WE HAD REJECTED.
Nebuchadnezzar became poor – as a matter of fact, poorer than the poor. He became insane and dwelt among the wild beast of the forest for 7 years, in fulfillment of the prophecy and warning.
After only when he tasted what it was to be a poor, did he develop the kindness for the poor!
ONLY TWO ROLES ON EARTH TO CHOOSE TO PLAY: GIVER OR BEGGAR
ONLY TWO ROLES ON EARTH TO CHOOSE TO PLAY: GIVER OR BEGGAR
I have often told my family who has a stronger inclination towards success and greatness: “There are two roles here on earth that each of us should play: that of the benefactor and that of the beneficiary. If you cannot play the first one effectively, then, God will give you the second role.”
Meaning: if you cannot be a compassionate [rich] benefactor of the poor, then, you shall be given the role of the beneficiary [that is, the poor]. And then you will feel how painful is it to be treated poorly and coldly.
We have only two choices: the benefactor or the beneficiary, the rich (that is, the able) or the poor (that is, those who are not able and who need help).
Nebuchadnezzar’s biography ended WELL, because he now humbled himself before the Almighty. And true to His promise, God LET HUMILITY, so to speak, RESTORE NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
Chapter 4 of Daniel is King Nebuchadnezzar’s letter to all mankind regarding his experience with God. It is his testimony of God’s greatness and goodness. He ended his letter with this beautiful note:
“At the end of that time [that is, seven years of insanity], I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified Him who lives forever.
“His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’”[1]
OUR PERSONAL KINGDOM OF PRIDE
OUR PERSONAL KINGDOM OF PRIDE
Each of us is either king or queen of our own “I Empire” or “I’mpire” which members include the “I”, “Me”, “My” and the “Mine”. This is a small kingdom. Many call it family. But they do not know that each family has become a Kingdom of Self-love which is hostile to the Love of God and the Love of Neighbor. They reject and hate these two kinds of love. To them, there is no other love but LOVE OF SELF. This is the true philosophy and attitude that is reigning over every family here in the nation and the entire earth, with very few exceptions who let Divine Love (or the love of God and love of neighbor) co-reign with Self-love.
At best, they used these two loves as the means to SELF-LOVE – to attain their selfish ambition, goals and interests.
When shall we learn that in order to become Christ’s true disciples, we need to advance farther and beyond SELFLOVE? When shall we come to understand that unless we take the next steps of loving God above all and our neighbor, we have not fulfilled the law of God, and that we have not worn the badge of true Christianity? That unless we fulfill these two loves, we remain pagans whose main pursuits and pre-occupation are these material things, which their BLIND LOVE OF THE SELF demands?
When shall we come to understand that this kind of SELFLOVE is a farce? When shall Filipinos come to realize that this kind of isolated selflove is not the correct kind of self-love because this will provoke the all-powerful God, stop His blessings, let curses fall upon us, and will offend others who will be forced respond with hostility and hate?
When shall we come to realize that we are in the state which Paul foreseen, namely: “biting one another, devouring one another, and destroying one another”?[1]
When shall we come to wake to the truth that this civil war or self-destruction is caused by our refusal to “serve one another in love”[2] as Paul and the other apostles and above all, our Lord had exhorted us?
LOVE AND HUMILITY ARE THE FOUNDATION OF LASTING GREATNESS
LOVE AND HUMILITY ARE THE FOUNDATION OF LASTING GREATNESS
When shall we come to grasp that in the absence of love, hate and indifference is present. That it cannot be left in vacuum?
So, we must actively fill the space of our heart and the whole world with love, then, there will be left no space to accommodate apathy, pride, hate, hostility, mercilessness, cruelty.
LET US FILL OUR HEART WITH LOVE, AND IT SHALL BECOME EMPTY OF HATE! Let the water of mercy fill the glass half-filled with air, and the air [of arrogance] will dissipate.
Then this nation shall at last become great – but a different kind of greatness. It shall be a greatness founded in deep humility. It shall be greatness based upon the acknowledgement of God the Father’s reign over us. It shall not be greatness based on our strengths without acknowledging that such all strengths come from God, therefore, all praise, glory and honor solely belongs to Him. To us shall be enough to receive the thanks and the love of our fellowmen, who became beneficiaries of the services of love the God made possible for us to render to them.
It shall be greatness based on three foundations each properly measured and apportioned: love of God, love of neighbor and [proper] love of self.
In talents, we shall be great. These shall give us great wealth. But such talents-produced greatness and wealth shall not be used to serve Self alone; for above all, most of our greatness and wealth shall be used to ‘love Jehovah our God above all and our neighbor.”
And when this is done, Self will enjoy its greatest joy and satisfaction which cannot be found anywhere else!
That is the correct kind of Self-love. Proper self-love is loving God the Father above all and our neighbor as ourselves. This is the only correct form or means of selflove because in this way only do we please the Father who will be urged to be merciful, kind and generous in His blessings to us, and our fellowmen too will love us, because we love them.
But our love for Him and our fellowmen should be genuine, not based on future gain or profit. To love them because we expect something good for them is selfish. This is bad because when such expectation is frustrated or delayed, as sometimes God will allow that such as to test the strength of our love, we’d become sour towards Him and our fellowmen.
Yes, we admit we expect always good from them. But not in the form of material rewards or gain. That future good shall be mainly seen as their friendship and love without depending on their material capacity, but solely in their heart and soul. The gain that we should not fail to expect and pray is this kind. But even then, if one fellowman or even our wife or husband shall repay our faithfulness with their unfaithfulness, our love for them should not wane, but goes beyond the pain and should dare to hope that someday perhaps in this life but surely in the beyond, she or he will return to love us again.
This is not human love. Carnal love is not capable of doing this. It is divine love, possible only with Jesus.
Our love should not be too-dependent on what we can get or gain in the future; instead, our love should be based and be motivated on WHAT WE CAN GIVE OR DO EVEN TO THE ONE WHO BETRAYED US. For example: forgiveness. Forgiveness is a sweet gift we can give. It is one of the sweetest gift we can give to our fellowmen. It assuages so much pain. It gives the heart suffering from guilt so much healing. Forgiveness is a healing balm. All of those who had offended and hurt you – will never be at peace in their guilt, bearing the wounded emptiness in their hearts as a result. It pierces like a knife. Only your forgiveness will heal and remove the scar; so that without scar and completely healed, there is no tendency for the same pain to recur or relapse, unless new wound is done.
Someday, in some dot in the span of eternity that person, who had hurt you, will come to you to ask for your forgiveness. No, not today’s superficial kind of apology that does not heal, because it is still impure with some form of pride. But the genuine heart-felt one! For this is the only one – this sincere humble request for forgiveness – is the only one that will also trigger genuine forgiveness that, not for our sake, but for his genuine healing. We can forgive him in advance, even long before he’d admit his sin and come to us. Yes, that we should do as soon as possible, even without his knowledge. But our offender will not heal in his own self-inflicted wound (called guilt) unless he comes to the one against whom he has offended and ask for sincere apology! That one might have forgiven him long time ago, but his own pride and refusal to humble himself before him would remain a heavy burden on his own shoulder, unless he repent and ask forgiveness from the one he had offended and then also from God Whom he also had hurt when he hurt his fellowman who is the Father’s child. To these two individuals (God and fellowman), he must apologize and repent, that is, resolve never to commit again the offense.
This is the right path. Take it.
* * *
THE BLACK RACE GENERALLY NOT A PROUD RACE
THE BLACK RACE GENERALLY NOT A PROUD RACE
Generally, as a people, we did not have great ambition. We get easily contented. We did not aim to walk on the surface of the moon. We did not aim to rule the world. Or to be the richest men on earth. Our heart’s desire was simple. Peace and to be with our family. Deep also in soul, as was more evident with our ancestors, was the desire to commune with the Creator. That is why we heard that they were worshippers of Nature (animists), which may be a misunderstanding of our ancestors’ closeness to nature as they were seen praying in front of a tree or on a hill or on a summit but actually deep within their heart to the One who created Nature. I do not say there was no possibility that their worship was also corrupted somehow. But still, such life of our ancestors reflects meekness and humility.
The Filipinos or the Negroid or the brown race was never known to be a conquering, colonizing people. We were not racist. And we are not! We did not hold ourselves as the superior race over and above others.
But the Germans under Hitler’s time considered themselves to be the superior race and attempted to annihilate the lesser races by genocide.
The Americans have no other obsession except to rule the world and enjoy its benefits, at the expense of the poor of the vast humanity.
This special trait of gentleness which I nickname “Mehumer” (meekness-humility-and-mercy) did not come as a free lunch, however. It is the result of mind made dumb (emptied of wisdom) and heart impoverished of love, so that like empty containers, our mind and heart became weak, and so, we hungered and thirsted. Consequently, in our hunger and thirst and as long as these are not satisfied, we are thus rendered weak in the third trait called WILL. Because mind plus heart or wisdom plus love = will. A weak-willed person cannot make wise decision and cannot bring any decision of his to good fruition. He is a bad decision-maker if he ever makes a decision. For he is often coward and timid, so that he does not often make decision, but dwells in hesitation, confusion, doubts, fear, and anger. This is because he is unsure of things. He does not know where to go. Love knows the destination. He, being weak in love, even in self-love, does not know the destination. That is why thick population of Filipinos especially those in the countryside and even those in the cities are seen to be aimless. They are like driftwoods, just victims of the forces that tossed them to and fro or sweep them to nowhere.
There is a great need to restore LOVE in the hearts of the people of this wretched pitiful nation. Love that is not confined to the self; for self-confined love or the so-called self-love is myopic and often blind – biased. Love must be complete, perfect – all-encompassing, all-embracing. And this is the Love of God and love for mankind as well as to self.
This three-object love is what is desperately needed TO GIVE MEANING TO OUR EXISTENCE -- TO GIVE US VISION OF THE FUTURE -- TO DRIVE US TO MEANINGFUL ENDEAVORS -- AND TO GIVE US THE LIFE AND INSPIRATION IN OUR WORKS AND RELATIONSHIP.
This will restore our lost WILL. But love is not enough. Love only sets the goal – the vision and the mission. But it does not lay-out the plan or the way. It does not draw the paths to take. It is wisdom’s task!
And so, after we have LOVE in our hearts, we also should have WISDOM in our minds. And mind you, as surely as LOVE is not sourced from us nor from the world, then, this WISDOM is also not found in the world. We can find this wisdom – we can obtain its overflowing knowledge only from God. To Him shall we ask, seek and knock. And it shall be given, what we seek shall be found and the door (e.g., opportunities and possibilities) we knocked shall be opened.
To be once again strong in will, we need to fill our emptied mind and heart with wisdom and love, respectively.
Those who are strong in willpower (decision and implementation) are those who are intelligent in their mind and whose heart is strong in its feelings and desire-ambition.
Look at our native forefathers, who were not yet mixed with the blood of stronger race, be it Chinese, Spanish, Japanese or American. They are so meek and so simple. And so peaceable. I know that because my father is pure native Filipino! They were and are so easily contented with the basics of life in their lowly occupation as farmers, or fishermen or as mountain people. So easy to resign the decision of fate, as they term it. I know that because my father is like that.
Criticize that as lacking in ambition. But ambition – proud ambition I mean – is not good either.
He was yet an infant of 2, when the Child Jesus said, “Great thoughts other than love [for God, neighbor and self] are vain.”[1] Borrowing the language of King Solomon, high ambition and great accomplishment are “vanity, vanity, it is just like chasing after the wind”!
Call our un-ambitious forefathers dumb. Call them naïve. Call them coward. Call them ‘uncivilized’. Call them simpleton. Call them ignorant. Call them stupid. Call them with all such names, and yet, you cannot deny if God loves them for their being meek, gentle, humble, peacemaking, hospitable, submissive, servile, obedient.
Remember what God says in the book of prophet Isaiah? “I make my dwelling in the heart that is humble and in whose spirit is contrite.”[2] God makes His abode in the heart of the meek and humble.
CAIN, FOREFATHER OF THE BLACK RACE, LEARNED MEHUMER
CAIN, FOREFATHER OF THE BLACK RACE, LEARNED MEHUMER
Unknown to many, our patriarch Cain repented, but not until after he had suffered so much for his sin against our uncle Abel.
“And behold, Cain wept and departed with his wife and four children, two sons and two daughters, and after forty days came to the shores of the sea. Seeing the great expanse of water he became frightened and thought in all earnest that he had come to the end of the world. "If Enoch now followed me, whither could I flee?" he thought.
"Before me is the end of the world and left and fight are high mountains where I am forbidden to go, and the Lord's gracious eye and ear are closed to me. Besides, I see here all kinds of strange and unblessed fruits; who would dare eat them? And the provisions we brought with us have now been consumed. Whatever shall I now do?
"I will once more attempt to cry mightily to the Lord. Either He will hear me or let us perish. Then we will at least finally fare according to His will which in our great blindness we have certainly not recognized during all this long time."
“And behold, after a period of seventy-seven years Cain again began to pray to Me. He prayed for three days unceasingly day and night, crying all the time: "Lord, You just and loving God, look graciously down upon Your greatest sinner and do to me according to Your holy will!" These words he kept repeating many thousands of times.
“Since he was crying so mightily and miserably I took pity on him and sent Abel to him in a flame of fire who spake the following words to him as if coming from Me: ‘Cain, rise from the ground and look at me and then tell me whether you still recognize me!’
“Then Cain rose full of fear and looked at the flame, but did not recognize it, neither the voice nor the form and shaking with fear asked: "Who are you strange being in this flame?"[1]
Now through the angel Abel, brother of Cain, God the Father has a special statement He told our patriarch Cain, for our humble (humbled) Negroid (black and the brownish) race:
And Abel answered: "It is I, your brother Abel, in the flame of divine love before you. What do you wish to be done to you?" -"O brother," said Cain, "if it is you, behold I have no longer any will. My son Enoch has taken everything from me, also my will. Now I no longer have a will and, look, all of us here are now entirely without a will. Therefore, I can only say: Let it be done to me and us all according to the holy will of the Lord!"
This is very significant. Try to imagine the woman who has just suffered the greatest of all tragedies of life, for example, having you and your whole family (husband and ten children) falling into the river with the bus you are riding, and having your three smallest ones died – imagine the loss of all strengths due to unimaginable sorrow that mother feels – or try to imagine a husband who has just lost his most beloved wife – picture the loss of the will to live – the sorrow which would cause other men to drown themselves in wine until they waste away – this somehow give you a hint on what it means for father Cain to have ‘lost his will’. It resulted from his suffering resulting from the maltreatment that his own son, Enoch, bestowed on him.
Enoch he made the king of his people. But as soon as Enoch became the king, Enoch ordered that father Cain and his mother as well as his young brothers and sisters should not eat unless they would work as slaves like the others! So severe was Enoch to them, and so unmerciful was his treatment of all the rest, who were also his brothers and sisters, cousins and nieces and nephew or kin, that it broke the heart of the father of them all, the patriarch Cain. The stone heart of Cain that made him kill Abel was thus melted and subjected to pain he never expected.
Then Abel said: "So listen! It is the will of the Lord, my Father and your God, that you eat of all the fruits you find here without fear. For the serpent has driven you to this place and has stayed at home with your children in the city of Enoch with all its venom and will have no more dealings with you. Once a person has relinquished his will [surrendered to the Lord and says, Let you will be done unto me. Kayo ang bahala sa akin, Lord.], there is no more to do for the evil brood, but he who has subjected his will to the serpent is its captive and the end of his free actions has come.
"But to him who has escaped from its powerful fangs and thus has saved the last spark of his will and laid it down upon the earth before Jehovah, He will give a new will out of Himself that in the future he may work as His tool. [NOTE THAT VERY IMPORTANT STATEMENT VERY WELL!] Thus, it is the Lord's will for you too that in the future you act in accordance with His will. If ever the descendants of Enoch should find you and your people, they would not recognize you, for the love of the Lord will burn you permanently black.” [THUS, BLACK SKIN!]
"The name of 'Cain' will be taken from you and you will be given another name, which is 'Ethiope', meaning 'the one without a will after the will of God.'”
We, Negroid (also the derivative brownish people) are no longer descendant of the sinner wicked Cain, but the converted Ethiope!
“Now you and your people must make a very large basket out of rattan and reed which must be seven man-heights long, three wide and one high, very strong and stopped with resin and pitch. Having completed this with great diligence, you must place it near the great waters and for forty days gather fruits, put them in the basket and, finally, get all in.
"Then the Lord will send a great tide from the large waters. This will lift the basket with you in it and carry you to a distant land in the middle of these great waters where you will be completely safe from the persecution of Enoch.
"In these great waters you will see small islands [IN THE PACIFIC] all around you, and when there have become too many of you on one island, proceed to the next one, and so on. Thus you shall gradually, in accordance with the Lord's will, populate all the islands in the great expanse of water.” [PACIFIC ISLES and THE SO-CALLED THE OCEANA, composed of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Borneo, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Marshall Island, Vanuatu, Tonga, Kiribati, Cook Island, New Zealand, Hawaii, French Polynesia].
"And if you will not forget the Lord, He will some day give you a large continent [AFRICA!] to inhabit where you will remain until the end of the world. But this will first have to be cleansed from the curse by floods [DURING NOAH’S TIME] which will rush down upon it choking and killing the descendants of Enoch and also many children of God who will allow themselves to be enticed by the beautiful daughters of Enoch.
"However, you who have no will of your own shall not be touched by the torrents of these floods because the will of the Lord has set you upon the waters of His great mercies. - And if there is anything you should need, you know anyway where to find the great Giver Who will not forsake you if you will not forsake Him within your hearts.
"And now come closer, Cain." And behold, Cain stepped up to his flaming brother and Abel embraced him and he became jet-black and his hair became curly like fur. And this was done to the other five, too.
Then Abel said: "Now, brother Ethiope, you are free from any guilt, which has remained at home with Enoch, and so act in accordance with the will of the Lord! Amen."[2]
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAIN'S LINE
And behold, Abel disappeared and Ethiope ate of the fruits, entirely happy for the first time in his life. And he did exactly as commanded.
2. Thus the last branch of his line has right to the present time populated all the islands and, following the great destruction of the serpent's brood by the floods from the heavens, also the large continents which you today call 'Africa', 'America' and 'Australia'. His line was not extinguished in the floods and is still the same in this last era as a testimony to the atrocities committed in the past and present time by My children and those of Enoch.
Remarks: “As a testimony [e.g., recipients] to the atrocities committed in the past and present time by My children and those of Enoch” refers to slavery of the Negroes and Negritos by the White race and Arabs.
3. And so this Ethiope is still today living naturally and spiritually as a constant observer of your actions, hidden on an island in the middle of the great waters, which no mortal will ever discover.
Remarks: Get that? Cain is still alive today! And so, he is now 6,000 years old!
What you are reading is God’s own narration – his own dictation to an Austrian Jew in the 1840s to 1860s!
4. And he ate and drank of all kinds of fruits and begat still 700 children during a thousand years. Thereafter he was renewed by Me and ate and drank no longer because he became filled forever with My love, which is the best food. For whoever is filled with that will not ever see, taste and experience death, and he will never hunger for food and thirst for a drink. His death will be a living departure from life to life into the life of the life of the living through the Living Who is I Myself.
REMARK: CAN YOU BELIEVE THE POWER OF LOVE?
5. Thus Ethiope is still living physically as the first son of man in the wide face of the earth, able to watch the actions of all men and is, therefore, an ancient witness of all My deeds fight to the present time.
6. He knew Noah, Abraham, Moses, all the prophets and Melchizedek, the high priest.
7. He witnessed My birth and My new creation through the greatest of all My works, the work of salvation. And so he will remain until My Holy City has fully descended, which is now beginning to happen. Then he will be fully received there as a faithful gatekeeper for, except Me, nobody has such a thorough knowledge of the serpent as he has who has suffered through it so much.
REMARK: CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? CAIN KNEW AND SAW GOD’S BIRTH AS JESUS!
8. This is the history of Cain, made known to you that you may ponder on yourselves and more easily and sooner recognize the roots of evil within you [REMARK: THE SERPENT MEANS SELF-LOVE WHICH BECOME EVIL, PROUD, LUSTFUL AND PERVERTED] and destroy them completely so that you may then in My love find again the long lost Paradise and at last become true, faithful citizens of My new, great and holy City, just as I am your truest, holiest and best Father from all Eternities of eternities. Amen.
QUESTION: What is the antidote of perverted Self-love (with its pride, selfishness, lust, greed)?
ANSWER: LOVE FOR GOD AND LOVE FOR NEIGHBOR!
OPPRESSION OF THE BLACK RACE BORNE FRUIT OF MEHUMER FOR THEIR RACE
OPPRESSION OF THE BLACK RACE BORNE FRUIT OF MEHUMER FOR THEIR RACE
Returning to our discussion about this much oppressed and much abused black and brownish race. Note: Much more discussions and testimonies will follow about the sufferings of this race in the land of America and in the hands of the Arabs (as Filipino OFWs, domestic helpers, or slaves)
As many can attest, their lack of superiority complex is impressive. They always hold a foreigner in high esteem.
Our race, especially the pure of us, e.g., those still jet-black and curly haired, who are not yet corrupted by the pride of power (who wants to rule) or the lust of material wealth and fame, which diseases the Spaniards and the Americans had brought to us, by way of their tempting example or way of life and by their business, is quite a simple, meek race.
But we were corrupted by their liquors and their opium, their drugs and their gambling. Alcohol, nicotine, drugs, and gambling corrupted us. In Africa, our fellow Negroid brothers were being pitted against each other to kill each by the aid of the opium and liquor and guns that the foreigner brought them.
When Nong Aaron, an African slave in America, managed to escape slavery, this is his eye-opening narration in his book The Light and Truth of Slavery:
“When Aaron was in Athol, I fell into a house where there were several in the house, and among them was a sea captain about 70 years old. He had been dealing on the African coast, I had a long talk with him, and he told me the blacks were better off in the United States with their masters than they were in Africa. Says he, when the King's daughter dies, they will slay two or three hundred to honor the King. Aaron says it is a willful and malicious lie. The bible says, "no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God." Also, "cursed is he that puts the cup to his brother's lip." Also, "no murderer shall inherit eternal life." "Cursed is he that imbues his hands in his brother's blood." They carry liquor into Africa, and that ain't bad enough, so they carry guns and powder there, also shot and balls, and the sword, make them drunk and then compel them to fight. Whichever tribe conquers will bring to the whites those whom they conquer, and they will buy them by giving in exchange ribbons, beads, red shirts, and one foolish thing and another. Aaron asked the above named captain, who he is afraid is going down to hell with a bundle of sin on his back, if he didn't think God would bless the nation ten-fold, if they would carry bibles and hymn books there, and send missionaries and teach them that there is a holy God above. Aaron thinks that God would bless Africa ten-fold, and England and America would be blessed ten-fold too. Some says, "Where is the nation that has been treated as bad as the poor Africans? Who inhabits the south part of Africa?
Something like two hundred miles of Africa is inhabited by the white men. The natives are cut off and driven back. And what ain't driven off are stolen away, and brought here to America and the West India Islands. Their children are scattered among the white folks and held in bonds. It's true the Indians are cut off from their country and driven back, but they ain't catched and made slaves of, and the women taken away from them and forced by white men, the way the poor Africans is.”
Nothing could surpass the sufferings of the Black Race.
And during their sufferings, their faith and patience as well as humility were remarkably great!
The ambition to rule or to live a life of materialism and luxury had cause us to short-change our fellowmen so that this led to some quarrels and civil war. This sickness also the foreigner brought to us.
The foreigners’ tactic is to cause us what the apostle Paul said “to bite one another, to devour one another to ultimately destroy each other” (Galatians 5:13-15).
Let us not allow ourselves to destroy our divine quality of mehumer (meekness, humility and mercy). In this way, we have fulfilled the Father’s will “be blameless (gentle) as a dove.”
But based on our own experience, proud and arrogant foreigners take mehumer as a weakness and so, instead of respecting us, they exploit and oppress us. But to teach the proud nations like Germany and Japan a lesson, they had to go through a severe humiliation during the first and second world wars, you see, it required two great wars to destroy the pride of these nations, and one great war (WW I) to humble Italy and to let them espouse humility and reject pride.
True to God’s purpose, the Japanese and the Germans took the path of humility. And they rose again to greatness. Because “the humble shall be lifted up, but the proud shall be abased”[1] is the law of the Universe. This law spared and spares and will spare no one. Not even Lucifer!
The black people all throughout the world, such as the Negroes in America, Australia, Africa and the negritoes in the mountains of the Philippine and other Pacific isles, and their derivatives, the brown race in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Hawaii, Borneo, etc. – all of them descended from Cain, as his last line. As can be recalled, Cain in his fateful encounter with his murdered brother, Abel, who was at that time made already an angel, was turned jet-black when he was embraced by Abel, and his hair made curly.
The great misery that Cain suffered as a result of his sins, made him very weak and will-less – powerless. He became totally devoid of pride. He humbled himself before God and God forgave him.
Similar thing happens to every sinner. Even if a particular sinner is the great in this world in terms of intelligence, wealth, fame, self-love and in willpower, so that he could move mountains, that is, accomplish very great things, all these greatness (intelligence, possessions of pride, great wealth, etc.) would at one time suddenly become like trash.
The proud nations in this world will have much to suffer before they could reach this stage. But we, who are the sons of the first murderer, are taking our advantage for granted. We are despising meekness and throwing it and espousing the pride of the eyes, the pride of life, the pride of position and fame, which the apostle John condemned and earnestly forewarned us.
Let us preserve the great quality of “mehumer”. And even increase and nurture it and make it perfect. This is the trait which Christ encouraged all to develop when He urged everyone, “Come to Me, all of you who are tired and are heavily-laden. Learn of Me – that is, My humility and Gentleness. If you have these traits, then, you will throw your yoke (human laws) and burden (hate, fear, worry, revenge) upon Me, and instead you will carry My yoke (that is, obey His gentle law of love and its commandments) which is easy and My burden (sacrifices of a Christian) which is light. Come to Me, and do so, and I will give you rest.”
Those who have tried harboring hate and revenge for years and those who carried the load of worry and fear can attest how heavy these loads are! And those whose loads, yoke and burden Christ carried, they experience the rare peace and the pure joy from Christ. How nice is to be gotten rid of the heavy burden of hate, fear, worry and revenge! How wonderful is to receive the gift of peace! How restful is it to be freed from troubles!
That is what Jesus meant “And I will give you rest”!
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