Rivals of Jesus Documentary

National Geographic showed a special on the Rivals of Jesus a few nights ago, a good documentary I thought on other 'teachers' and so-called Messiahs who existed during Jesus' time and shortly afterward. The similarities are SO close with a few of them that one could easily mistake the false Messiah for the true One! This was a great reminder that we as Christians need to absolutely know what the Bible says about the coming Messiah...or else we too will be deceived when the false Christ, or Antichrist, comes on the scene!

First on the scene was Appolonius, who lived in Jesus day. He was said to have a virgin birth also, and able to heal others. They said he even raised the dead. Though he had many followers, it did not exceed the number that Jesus had.

Simon the magician (Magus), who was mentioned in the bible, also had followers. People thought he had God's power working in him. He believed he was the messiah. He also mentioned a woman named Helena, a former harlot, whom he said shared in his messianic lordship, if I heard right. He tried to buy the spirit's power from the Apostles, as mentioned in the bible. They say that one day, in the midst of many people, he actually levitated. But while levitating, he fell and broke his leg, after which he was stoned to death. (They stated this act was in scripture, but I couldn't find it). People still worshiped him after his death. A statue was made of him, naming him the 'holy god'.

People also thought Augustus was divine because he created a great empire of peace & prosperity. People worshipped him and his political power. He was called god, son of god, lord and redeemer. Believers in Jesus were actually called 'atheists' during that time because they didn't call the emperor 'god'!

Simon Barcopa, who's name meant 'son of the star' was another. His 'campaign' was one of war, however, as he would always speak against Rome. He started to attack soldiers and was successful, he even defeated a whole legion of soldiers at one point and overcame them in Judea. He was seen as a 'better candidate' for the Messiah because of his 'victory' over Rome. He demanded that his followers deny Jesus! He called devout Jews to cut off their index finger to show their allegience to him! Coins were even made after him. But eventually, Rome overcame him and his followers, and also executed the Rabbis of Judea because of 'their' resistance against Rome.

Around 138AD Mythrus was being worshipped. He was said to have been born of a virgin on December 25, shared a last meal, resurrected and returned to earth. By 200AD, followers outnumbered Christians. Temples have been uncovered honoring him, usually depicting him riding a bull's back. Followers also took part in a 'communion' as well. Scholars say they are not sure which came first, the communion of Christians or that of Mythrus worship. They had an initiation in which they were blindfolded and hand-bound with rope. They cut the rope and unblinded the initiate, signifying freedom, gave him a crown to wear, which in turn he removed and said "my only allegiance is to Mythrus."
(It reminded me of when the elders would cast their crowns before God in Heaven.)

About 30 BCE came Isis, AKA queen of heaven, or mother of god who's roots were from an Egyptian god. This had no relation to Mary, at least in the beginning. In 200AD worship of Isis spread throughout the empire. It's followers wore white linen to signify purity, and even abstained from intercourse. Isis did NOT demand change of lifestyle in order to be a follower. Eventually, similarities from Mary and Isis began to take root and started to intertwine! Around 500AD, worship of Isis was banned, and it's temples were converted to Christian churches.

John the Baptist was actually considered a 'rival' as well, probably from the fact that he also baptized people apart from Jesus. From his followers came the Mandayans, a sect outside Christianity, that gained many members and deny Jesus as Lord. Information was suppressed about them for many years because it was considered destructive to the church.

Lastly, the Nag Hummadi Library revealed a rival version of Jesus in the Gnostic writings. A large minority followed this rival. It reveals a different version of who Jesus was: it said he laughed; he was more human; Mary was the most important follower of Jesus; in the 'book of Philip', it said Jesus kissed Mary Magdalene, and possibly married her. These scrolls were later burned cause they went against the church. The traditional version of the bible as we know it today eventually triumphed over Gnostics.

During the reign of Constantine, who had a vision to use the cross in his battles, he solidified the church as we know it. He determined which gospels were sacred, and made Christianity legal during that time. After him, Theodoseus made it mandatory to believe in Jesus. He outlawed all other religions. Eventually, all the other religious traditions are brought together as one, even Isis' date of birth (Dec. 25); The gnostic gospels were burned and most of it was lost, in favor of the gospels of Jesus.

Interviewed during the program: Kristi Barret Copeland, Tina Pippin, Marvin Meyer and others.

...

I know it was a very quick rundown but I think I got all of it down pretty well! I know that after reading something like this, our faith can be put to the test by wondering if our faith is sincerely true in the Jesus we believe in. Some might feel that Christianity was merely 'forced' over all other religious thought and simply won out! But we know that isn't true, especially in the day in which we live, where not Christianity, but beliefs such as Humanism, Relativism, and Darwinism is the 'religion' being forced upon us today!

Jesus Christ as we know in the Bible was unlike any of His rivals in that, his ministry was one of love and sacrifice, not resistance; he wasn't crucified because of his outright resistance against Rome; He did not perform miracles just for the sake of gain, nor for notoriety; we were told to NEVER make an image after him, even in the OT; He didn't 'rise in power' but took the form of a bondservant in submission to God; and the Spirit He gave when he left is great proof of our conversion, not merely an act of submission, but the Spirit creates real change in our lives, and empowers us to evangelize and stand against evil!

Hope Rivals in Jesus only deepens your faith in the true Messiah to come, Jesus Christ!

If anyone has anything to add/correct/comment on this article taken from the documentary, please feel free to chime in! Like I said, I think I got everything down fairly accurately but of course, I'm only human! =)

The 10 Effective Habits of Job Seekers

I found a great article from JOBS Magazine that I thought was worth posting for those who are not working at this time, like me! There really is alot we can do to maintain our job status as well as improve on our skills and knowledge in the meantime. ;)

10 Habits of Highly Effective Job Seekers in a Down Market
by Ford R. Myers President, Career Potential, LLC


1. Network, network, network! Continually increase your level of networking and keep expanding your contact database. Reach out to reestablish and nourish business and personal relationships. Stay connected and don’t isolate yourself! Being out of work doesn’t mean you have to be out of touch, so be sure to build and maintain your networking momentum.

2. Seek help. Get career support form a professional. Get help from either a qualified career coach, or take advantage of the support provided by government programs, nonprofit agencies, job search groups, college/alumni career centers, or faith-based missions for the unemployed.

3. Read career books and attend career seminars. Take advantage of learning opportunities to improve your job search and career mgmt skills. Stay plugged into the market and your field to ensure that you’ll be current, and to maintain your intellectual capital.

4. Leverage technology. Utilize web sites and online services to connect with your industry and to build greater visibility. Create a career web site, using tools like VisualCV and LinkedIn. Reach out through social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Learn how to use online tools like blogs, wikis, and virtual job fairs. Focus on optimizing your online identity.

5. Differentiate yourself. Position yourself as an expert by writing articles, giving presentations, or teaching a class. Get involved in professional organizations. Do something noteworthy in your community that will garner special recognition and build your positive reputation. Focus on what makes YOU special, and build your brand within your industry.

6. Use your time off wisely! Pursue professional development by participating in classes, seminars, certifications and industry conferences. Take advantage of free and low-cost programs to enhance your credentials. Do the important things that you never had time to do when your were working full-time!

7. Pursue a temporary, part-time, or contract position. Volunteer, provide pro bono work, take on a consulting contract, or complete an internship or apprenticeship. This tactic is especially useful for those who wish to pursue a career in a different industry. Keep yourself in the game so you won’t lose traction in your career growth.

8. Act with speed and urgency. Demonstrate your seriousness and determination by showing up earlier, arriving more prepared, and moving quickly and efficiently. Make an impression by being more responsive and assertive rather than passive.

9. Take care of yourself. Eat well, exercise and get plenty of rest. You’ll need to be healthy and vital to maintain the pace of an active job search campaign. Stay in close touch with friends and family. Keep up with your interests, hobbies, activities and/or ministries. Maintain balance in your life, and don’t let the job search become all-consuming!

10. Be flexible and adaptable. Consider shifting industries and/or being geographically mobile to open-up more career possibilities, even if you would not ordinarily choose these options. Offer your skills to other industries rather than waiting for the perfect opportunity. Do whatever you need to do (within reason) to keep your career intact and earn a living. But NEVER lose sight of your career direction and long-term goals!

And allow me to just add one more step, if you will: Stay in constant prayer, asking for the Lord’s direction and guidance as you search for that open position. He is more than able to meet our needs and place us in the perfect position. Even in times of frustration, we can be assured that He is ‘working all things together for good, to those who trust in Him and are called according to His elect.’ But we’ve all been called to believe in Him, and He says when you do that, He will always look after you and provide for all your needs, in His timing and perfect knowledge! =)

Late night with the BreadRunners

Tonight was a nice, long night laying down some ideas for BreadRunners ministry, a logo I'm working on for a new ministry for CCV. It's actually my first design for CCV since I signed up so I'm pretty excited about this and looking forward to more! Sheesh, if I get anymore freelance work, I won't even have time for a real job! lol! Honestly, a few days ago I got another job for a few banner designs for one of my regular clients that I do side work for. And in a week or two, Mario of LivingStone Clothing wants me to do another Tee design, so I have plenty to keep me busy right now. For the time being, I have this logo and a few others on my plate. And for the first time in awhile actually, I feel like I have more focus with my design, thank God, I feel like I'm getting things more organized lately, which is good if I'm going to do this more.

So the logo above is just one of many ideas, I'd say about 10 in all. I'll probably post all my concepts on DeviantArt like usual when I have the final design done, cause when I post concepts, I like to point out the final design as well. I'll probably wrap this up early next week. I had alot of fun with this one! Hopefully Kristi and the rest of the staff critiquing it will find one they like!

The Branches Fellowship was wonderful as always! The Lord has really been speaking to my heart lately, esp. regarding what I'm going through. And everyone has been very supportive and I'm so thankful for their prayers and support! Manny told me that for next time, he wants me to either do the worship with him or lead worship, and I can't tell you how good that was to hear! I'm looking forward to that, as well as just getting together and fellowshipping with him as well. He's really made an impact on my life and encouraged me so much in the last few weeks. I've been learning just how important it is to stay in fellowship with others, as well as being a part of the body and using the gifts He's given us, so important to stay connected.

I'm gonna try to make at least one or two of the speakers tomorrow at the Prophecy Conference. It's literally all day long until night so there's plenty of time so we'll see! =)

Ready to be a Freelancer?

I came across this book at Barnes & Noble tonight while looking for a particular book which I did NOT find (Argg! It was a book I wanted to continue reading called Design Matters//LOGOS that I found a few nights ago. It's a book on logo designs, but it's actually so much more; it goes into how to prepare, plan, and the different types of logos for clients. It's a great book for the overall process that I want to buy this weekend.) Anyhow, I came across the above pictured book instead, which I thought might be great to read for myself, only because I've toyed with the thought of being a freelance designer many times. Well, after reading the first few pages, I realized that there are some things in my life that I need to work on improving, both in my personal life and design knowledge, in order for me to start truly freelancing, I mean Full-time.

But a few pages into the book, they have a great little self-evaluation which helps you understand yourself and your goals as a designer, but I wanted to post it here cause I thought, this would be a great self-evaluation for pretty much anyone wanting to evaluate where they are in life and get some focus! =)

From Freelance: Design in Practice

What is your picture of success?
Because so much is at stake, it’s crucial to take time to evaluate exactly what it is you want from your new life. Carefully answer the following questions. Use your answer to determine your short and long term life and business plans. Revisit them every six months to see if your work is keeping you on track toward your picture of success.

1. What are the five most important things in my life?
2. What are my greatest design strengths/skills?
3. What are my greatest business skills?
4. What are my greatest personal/people skills?
5. What talents do I have that are not being used now?
6. What specific things can I do with these skills to improve life for myself & others?
7. What sort of work has been the most satisfying for me in the past?
8. What sort of work has been the least satisfying?
9. How could I improve my skills?
10. How can I best allot my time to my friends, family, and myself?
11. If there were no restrictions on my time or finances, what would I do?
12. Which do I wish I had more of: time or money?
13. Are there things I really wish I were doing in my life?
14. What are the major roles I play in life?
15. Over the course of my lifetime, what are the most important goals for each of these roles?
16. How can I better match my personal values with my work?
17. Where do I want to be as a freelance designer in the next six months?
18. In two years?
19. In five years?
20. If I could change anything about my life, what would it be?

Hope this info might be valuable to someone other than myself! =)

Reconnecting the ties (not those ties)

A few days ago as I was doing some much-belated spring cleaning, I came across an old friend's business card, who I've been meaning to reconnect with but sadly forgot, and it ended up in the mix of things. We met at church years ago and also did come painting together for the high school room. Well, he was more the painter than I, I'm more the graphic designer, but I still enjoy it when I get the chance. I've done a few acrylic paintings myself but not on the scale that he does.

Anyways, after a little searching I finally came upon his website and was pretty impressed at his current work! Some of his work looked like it came right out of the portfolio of Doug Chiang himself, honestly. So I emailed him from there and the rest is history. We got reconnected and I'm hoping to meet up with him either this weekend or next week. What's interesting is that I've been meaning to take a trip over to Huntington Beach to check out small clothing store called L.I.F.T. and he isn't far from there so I thought that was an amazing coincidence! (After a little searching for the link, however, I'm not finding their online store. Hope it's not closed now.)

What would be really nice is if we started collaborating on some projects! =)

Anger & Preserving Personal Worth - Pt 1

In many cases, anger is ignited when the person perceives rejection or invalidation. Whether or not that is the message intended by the speaker, the angry person feels that his or her dignity has been demeaned. ~Carter & Minirth

I read that 'perceptions are more powerful than intentions', and how true that is, especially in my own life. I've been battling with temper and anger for almost all of my life and I'm now at a place in my life where it seriously needs to be understood and dealt with, for fear that my future relationships will be endangered. I don't want to lose the people I love the most, but anger can almost guaranteed bring even the closest relationship to a halt in a moment! And through God's mercies have I learned a good deal about myself through past group counseling sessions, but this time it requires digging deeper into unresolved issues that need to be faced, something that was never truly touched upon, at least not on a thoughtful, personal level like now.

I've started reading a book that was recommended to me, The Anger Workbook, and it's already ministering to me and bringing things to light about myself and how I deal with my own value in relation to others. This book also touches on the spiritual aspect of ourselves as well, which helps me tremendously. But when I say 'spiritual' it doesn't mean I'm going to tackle this issue on some 'blind faith' which people tend to say. Because first, one of the root causes of my own internal battle is based on my value as a person. I've realized that this value should always be measured in relation to God's value for me, and not a person's, not friend's, not family...no one. And although I value her opinion very much, whom I'll call SM, I'm never to rely on her words or actions as a standard with which to measure my own intrinsic value, which should already be established and firm.

I usually get hurt the most when I feel like I'm not a priority to her (or anyone), when I feel put off, or I don't feel like she's considering me. If I feel forgotten, I'll get irritated inside. (By the way, things like irritation, frustration, even shutting down and not talking, are all forms of anger inside us.) If she doesn't call back soon enough, I start getting upset. When she didn't even make time for me, even for a second, I feel like I'm not a priority to her. All these feelings I described are making me aware that I've been relying too much on her actions towards me as a measure of my worth, rather than relying on the worth that's already been established by God. I feel undervalued, unworthy, and not a priority.

But in Matthew 13:45-46 Jesus says, "Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it!" We are those pearls of great price. I am that pearl of great worth, and I can never forget that! When I start looking for that in other people, especially a loved one, of course I can start feeling devalued cause we are more prone to letting each other down. Les Carter goes on to say 'We need to choose to accept our worth, even when another human chooses not to. This choice can have a major effect on the intensity of our angry emotions. It doesn't mean we will stop experiencing anger, but we will be less affected by others.' SM would tell me from time to time 'we need to choose our battles'. She was right; but I was always under the impression that each 'battle' needed to be worked on to improve our relationship. Little did I realize that this battle wasn't 'ours'...it was mine, one which came up again and again in the form of anger, sometimes rage, because of that very notion that I felt wronged or hurt or unconsidered by her. Of course, at the time, I felt very justified by what I was saying. But when justification is followed by rage, by hitting things, even yelling, afterwards, justification takes a back seat and humility takes it's place.

In church, there's an unwritten order of devotion: First Jesus, then Others, then You. Someone once put it into an acronym that spells JOY, cause when our priorities take that order, Joy should be the outcome. And I gotta be honest, I had it all backwards, with ME being on top. Cause it was always about me, my needs, my wants, even my desires. Me, me, me, and it didn't do us any good! I didn't realize how selfish I could be until I was in our relationship, which for the most part was filled with love and consideration. But me, I was asking too much. I was being too selfish with her, I was clinging too tightly. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that my dad left us when I was a toddler, perhaps that's why I cling to things so tightly now and am almost afraid to let go. I think that that is one aspect that I'm dealing with here.

So if clinginess and fear of losing someone is causing this demise, then perhaps I need to do the opposite: let go, and let the Lord worry about our future, whether there's reconciliation or not, and in my future relationships. I need to not worry so much about the outcome, but leave the future in the hands of my Maker, who knows the future! And that's what I need to start doing, cause worrying about it won't add one day to my life. =)

Unexpected family dinner and more...

Today, Stace and I had planned a small BBQ with Ange and family for the afternoon, which later turned into a whole family BBQ! Her parents came home early from San Diego, so they joined, and Ange's parents and Rachel came too so it turned out to be kind a nice dinner feast with everyone. My mom would have joined us if she hadn't driven all the way to Temecula for Corinna's Bday today, which is understandable, but she'll have some time with Isaiah manana. And I'll have some more time with Stace between church and work as well. Last weekend seemed so rushed, it didn't really feel like we had a nice, relaxed day together, so we're gonna start the day a little earlier. Plus, she had to lead worship last weekend, so we were there helping teardown til' about 2pm, so that consumed some time as well.

So, last night I stayed up for quite a while trying to finish up a new song called New Resident. I'd like to post it very soon so I can expand a little more onto other websites and promote my music more. I just need to change a few lyrics and fix a few mistakes and I should be done! And thank God, for the first time in months, Session was finally working without distortion! I think updating the software finally resolved it. They didn't have any new updates so I just dealt with it for awhile until they came out with a Beta version. I understand, this software is new and was very affordable, so I'm willing to tolerate some of the bugs for now, especially since this is the only way I can create music, so I've been more than patient with these issues, although at times I was ready to chuck it out the window! lol But it all seems nice and clear so I got alot done last night, and hoping to post it and move onto the next, which can be any number of songs that are in the que right now, although my preview of Peace of Mind probably needs to be finished because of the expectancy.

For the time being, I'm still looking for FT work. Thank God I still have my position at Pizza Hut at nights, as well as a PT job at another sign shop in San Juan. It helps for the time being but hoping I find something soon to get back on track, especially if Stace and I are going to keep our wedding date in August! If things don't pan out for us soon, we may have to move the date. We don't want to, of course, but it's probably the best thing. In the meantime, we're just praying and going forward with our plans and hoping it will work out, Lord willing. =)

Christmas at the Rensinks

Christmas with Stace and her family went very well, my first time with them since we got back together. We started the day off going to breakfast with her parents and her brother and wife at Dennys, then came back home to open gifts. Instead of opening our gifts all at the same time, we each took turns opening them, which worked out very well, I thought. Then from there, Stace and I went to my mom's apt. for Christmas with my family, then after few hours with them, we went to Stacy's cousin's house in Alhambra for the rest of the evening. There I met alot of her cousins and family on her mom's side. It ended up being a fairly busy Christmas this year, especially for me, but we still had time at the end of the day to just relax! =)