The "Cleaning Tower" of Pisa

If you put hot water on it, it becomes a "hot tower"!

This is an example of wrongly-spelled labels on stuff coming from China. I took this picture myself.

The Governor and The Kiss of Death

Last week I saw in the news a U.S. governor who went missing but it turns out he had an escapade with his mistress.

It reminded me of my previous blog entry, "The Kiss of Death". His affair probably started out as flirting, and look where it brought him.

In that governor's life, Proverbs 6:32-33 came to pass:

But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.

Just like former US President Clinton brought shame on his nation and himself for his shameful acts in his office with a White House intern, this governor brought shame on his State and himself. Of course President Clinton's case was worse because what he did in secret was known to the entire world, with matching DNA evidence. But that doesn't make the governor's case any less sinful.

The Kiss of Death

I recently stumbled upon an article on "10 ways to flirt" (or something like that) on Yahoo's links. Being married, and happily married at that, I just read it out of curiosity, because I thought, I should be very careful not to do this, and not to respond when it is done to me. I realized that these "flirting tips" are dangerous traps for married people if they respond to the flirting of another person (not their spouse). They are "The Kiss of Death". They are not exciting, they are lethal. The flirting tips I read were all about body language, meaning letting your body movements speak your "intention". Married people should run away from such things! Why? Because that's where the sin of adultery starts. Flirting with other people is not harmless.

When I was single I had always wondered what the meaning of the Lord Jesus' teaching on adultery was:

Matt 5:27-28
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

What it means is that the very start of adultery is "the look" of lust, where one just sexually desires the other person who is not one's spouse. That may be when one looks and stares with sexual desire at another person, whether "within reach"(meaning someone you know or meet) or not. When one is looking lustfully at an image or a video of a person who is not physically present before you, it is still adultery. But when that person is physically present before you, and "within reach", so to speak, flirting is the expression of that desire.

Someone may try to flirt with you, whether you are a man or a woman. It may be a co-worker,or an equal. It may be that you are the one in power (the boss or the superior) or you are the subordinate. The subordinate may be attracted to the power or intelligence of the boss, while the boss may be taking advantage of a subordinate. Remember, flirting is NOT HARMLESS. It is THE KISS OF DEATH.


How will you be victorious? Through God's help.

Submit to God AND resist the devil, who comes to steal, kill and destroy. The devil is not out to just tickle or annoy you. He is out to kill and destroy you. And he means business 'cause he hates God so much.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7

Always be wise in the Lord's wisdom, always apply God's wisdom in your life.


Proverbs 2:16-19 has this to say about wisdom:

It [wisdom] will save you also from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. For her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.

"Seductive words" sounds like flirting, right? And that goes for spoken words or words in text messages! The word of God says that the adulteress' house leads down to death.

Keep God's commands in your heart, for they will guide you and keep you from immoral people. As Proverbs 6:23-26 says:

For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,
keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.
Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes,
for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

"Smooth tongue" sounds like flattery in flirting, and "captivate you with her eyes" describes the "body language" of flirting. Yet the word of God says that the adulteress "preys upon your very life". He or she may present himself as an emotionally needy person, but in reality your very life is the devil's target here.

The verses following give a stern warning on the consequences of adultery:

Proverbs 6:27-33
Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?
Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?
So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.

" Life or Death: Choose Life! - Lessons from Deuteronomy"

Moses , the same person who told God in Exodus 4:10 that he has never been eloquent and that he is slow of speech and tongue, gives the longest sermon in the Bible, the book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy Moses repeats the Law and in Deuteronomy 30 he gives one of the greatest challenges in the Bible:

Deut 30:15-20
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.
For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,
I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

I gave a message on this subject and I posted the powerpoint presentation on Scribd. You may view and/or download it at this link:

Life or Death: CHOOSE LIFE! - Lessons from Deuteronomy

"Lessons from 2 Timothy, Paul's Farewell Letter to His Disciple"

a painter's idea of Apostle Paul (this depiction may be
"sanitized", the prison was probably much filthier
and Paul didn't have anything with him in prison,
much less a sword)

If you knew you were going to be executed for your faith in Jesus in a few days or weeks, what kind of letter would you write to your closest disciple? I would certainly like to learn from the farewell letter of Apostle Paul, who considered "all things a loss compared to the surpassing glory of knowing Christ Jesus." In the book 2 Timothy, Paul tells Timothy how to love and remember Christ always and stand firm in the face of apostasy and persecution.

Here is the link to the powerpoint presentation of the message I gave in January 09. I uploaded it on Scribd.

"Lessons from 2 Timothy, Paul's Farewell Letter to His Disciple"