Be Prepared 2

Everyone ready to see the next installment of the End Times series? 

I am, if I do say so myself!

So honestly, what proof is there, that the end times are upon us? 

I mean, in the first century church, the Christians thought the world was ending right then, because of the intense persecution that Nero poured on them. 

He was their Antichrist. 

And in every generation following that, men and women have wondered, debated, and argued about the end times; when it would be, what signs they ought to look for, and who the Antichrist might be. 

During World War II, almost everyone was positive that Hitler was the Antichrist, because he not only promoted a utopian society, but attempted to eradicate the Jewish population from the earth. 

But consider this: Will the Antichrist be that recognizable? Is it going to be this easy? 

Maybe the future will look like this: 

'America is on the brink of ruin. The world stock markets have crashed, Ebola has torn the country apart, and she is over 17 trillion in debt to China and Japan. And it's not just America any more either. South America is on fire, Europe's great cities are torn apart by bombs and explosives, thanks to right-wing activists such as Greenpeace, and ISIS is terrorizing the Middle East. North Korea is slowly starving their people in the name of Communisim, and China has quit dancing around with Russia and America--it's time for action. Speaking of Russia, she is hungry, her greedy hands grasping at the surrounding countries--all of Europe is on the menu. World War III is steadly marching it's way into the world's conciousness. And who is the target of everyone's frustration? Israel. Little, tiny, struggling Israel.' 

Why? Ah, interesting question...for another day. 

Anyway, back to my future history lesson here. 

'Everyone and their brother has a nuclear bomb of some sort, and while the threat of the end of the world as we know it, and the death of thousands hinders anyone from using them, the bombs are enormous leverage for the large countries such as America, Russia, and China. And they aren't afraid to use that leverage if that means they can get what they want.'

So where is this Antichrist, and how does he fit in? 

Well, what does the Bible have about this?

It says in 1 John 4:1: 'Beloved, believe not every spirit, but the spirits wheither they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.' 

And in Matthew 24:4-5, the Bible further states: 'And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.' 

This is talking about many anti-christs, or many people who will call themselves Christ. Take into consideration that these are people who will shout from the rooftops that they are Christ. And that would NOT be in the Antichrist's best interest. After all, he wants to decieve the Christians as well, convince them that he is the Christ. 

But back to my fake history. 

'So the world is about to implode, and no one cares about anyone but themselves. It's every country for itself now. And my do the bombs fly. World War III has commenced, and it isn't going well for anyone. But out of the ashes, a hero rises. A man with a smooth tongue, and a huge heart. Somehow, beyond all expectiations, this man is able to talk peace with the very countries that started the war. And  everyone agrees with everything he says. Pretty soon, the bombs stop falling, and fathers no longer die. Peace once again settles across the world, and everyone is praising this man for stopping the war when he did. The world population lauds this man, and begs him to take over the leadership of the United Nations. He reluctantly takes the office, all the while saying that it isn't a job for him, that he doesn't deserve it at all. And everyone loves him.'

Doesn't seem like the Antichrist, does he? Well, yea this is only my jabbering little made up story, and maybe he's as repulsive as Hitler, but I doubt it. 

(And yea, I did steal that last bit from the Left Behind books, it's the only theory that makes sense to me. Credit goes to the authors though.) 

Anyway, do you see what I mean yet? 

The Antichrist, is going to be someone everyone loves. 

(No, I'm not talking about Obama. Seriously people, there are way too many Americans calling him on the carpet. And I believe Americans will be the first to be decieved.) 

This man will be both a master of shadows, and a usurper of the light. 

You won't know if he's coming, or going, but at first, even you will think he is amazing.

So look at it this way:

'One day, you will be sitting at home, watching the Tube, (TV) reading a book, working, chasing your child around the room, or helping your teenager with his math. And you will be laughing, smiling, and life will be good. The next day, you wake up, and the world as you know it will have shattered. Maybe on your way to work, you flip on the radio--local morning news. But what you hear has nothing to do with your neighbor's grandmother dying. An urgent and startling tale rolls across the radiowaves, and you hear that overnight, the end has come.' 

Of course, you say, that's silly, and violent. Nothing happens like that. 

Oh really? 

What about 9/11? 

Where were you when that happened? 

I'm sure you remember...it was one of the worst things in American history. 

Well, think about hearing something worse. The end of the world you know. 

What will you do? 

Be Prepared. 

Shalom, 

Yeshua be with you!

~Marissa

Be Prepared.

Let me guess, that title makes you think: 

Or maybe it makes you think: 

Well...I'm talking about the latter. 

And before you tell me that i've lost it, and gone the way of the rest of the militant doomsayers of America, let me attempt to convince you that some (at least) of what you have been hearing is closer to the truth than any of us is comfortable with. 

Mark 13:7 and 12 say:'And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet...Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.'

Luke 21:11 states: 'And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.'

Let me start with this: 

In Oklahoma, this past year, there have been 1,061 earthquakes. In the past month, 108. Since September 17th, there have been 29 earthquakes, and four of them were today. 

(earthquaketrack.com/p/united-states/oklahoma/recent) 

Yea, they're all minor quakes, but that's an awful lot of quakes for one state in a year. 

Literally an hour ago, there was a 4.9 earthquake near Petropavlovask-Kamchatskiy, Russia, and a 5.0 near Puerto El Triunfo, El Salvador.

There are others, but I'll let you find them. 

Point being, there's an awful lot of earthquakes happening around the world today. 

So, earthquakes, yea. What about famines and pestilences? What about fearful sights and great signs from the heavens?

Famines:

North Korea has stated that famine will be no more, but the likelihood of that happening is very small considering the state of their government. 

South Sudan, Africa is deep in famine, many thousands of people starve every day because of the intense civil war that has been on going since the nation declared independance three years ago. Most of Africa in general suffers from a lack of food. 

Somalia is deep in the black well of famine. 

Ethiopia is staggering under the weight of poverty. 

Famine is a real and serious thing. 

Here in Taiwan--a first world country might I remind you--children come to school, their clothes ragged and carrying a lone pencil. Their only meal that day being the lunch served them. 

That's famine too, just a very...covered up type of famine. 

Pestilences: 

California is firmly in the grasp of wildfires--again. 

Serbia was hit with a massive flash flood only six days ago.

Kashmir, Inda was struck with flooding in July. 

Hurricane Odlile struck Mexico's Baja California peninsula September 18th. 

Ebola in Africa is slowly devistating entire nations...

I think you might be getting my point. 

Do I even need to go into Mark 13:7? 

We hear every day about the war in the Middle East, Russia taking over the Ukraine, China's threat to the US...

ISIS is the new hot topic of the media today, and terrorist threats are freaking out the Pentagon and White House more than they would care for the public to know. 

Alright, alright, I'm sure you're tired of me listing the many different things going on in the world today--so here's my question for you: 

Why?

Why is this happening? 

You want the answer to that? 

Come back tomorrow. :D

(I have more research to do--it's a complicated subject, and I'm not about to give you the wrong information.) 

So for today, 

Shalom, 

Yeshua be with you!

~Marissa 

Undlitr Shoot June 2014

Wow, can't believe it took me so long to post about this!

Those of you who have read my blog have probably noticed that in the box where I describe myself, I say I am working on a film. 

Well, we finished the shoot in June of this year, but I have been so busy working and getting ready to leave the country, that I forgot to post about the shoot. 

Anyone excited to see some random pictures? 

(lol, I am. ;D) 

Basically these are some pictures from behind the scenes. Various different shoots, and on different days, but all very interesting in my opinion. 

June 1:

This was our first day officially working on the film. Here we're sorting the costumes, and making all the actor's suffer drastic costume pain from trying everything on a thousand times. We tried the tattoos for the first time that day, and ended up with a few very scary elves running around my producer's house. (Her poor mom!!) Well, i should explain the picture I suppose. Clockwise from back right, we have Jonathan McNeil staring as Noraieu when he was younger, Jerusha Coleman staring as Les`shil`na's decendent's wife, Mikaylee Bales as our amazing and talented tattoo artist, me the director, (and on this particular day, suffering from wisdom teeth loss), and last but definately not least, Samantha McNeil as our producer and the one who basically kept me on firm earth the entire month. She's amazing. 

June 12:

This was our second shoot, in the background, is the younger Coleman brother, Thomas, (hope i got his name right, there's a lot of them) staring as Lesshil's younger self, and a stand in for his brother, Hudson, who managed to forget that we were shooting that day, and ended up in Oregon when I needed him. The young man did amazing, and I can't begin to say how much I enjoyed working with him. 

Surrounding the camera are the director, producer/cinemaphotographer, and my young Noraieu, getting a good view of how things work behind the camera so that 'young Noraieu' can get it right. 

June 12 cont: 

Here, a shot of Jackie McNeil as my second cinemaphotographer, who did an amazing job shooting film for me, and I have to say, her shots were over the top beautiful. 

June 26: 

Last day of shooting. I would say this was the hardest day of all, the location was modern, and we were going for mideval, which doesn't mix very well. On top of that, I did a horrible job of scripting the scene, and in the middle of the shoot, had to rewrite it because there was too much dancing around on the set. This handsome shot is of Josiah Murphy, my older Noraieu, and he was exceptional. (Sorry about the picture being blurry, seems there's something wrong with my editing system.) Acting the Elvin King of Myremount, we crowned him with spoon handles, and his throne sat beneath a russian shawl that my sister brought back with her years ago. (not exactly what a lot of people would do in a film, but that's just what happens when you're on a budget!) 

Well, that's all for today! Hope you enjoyed it!

Shalom, 

Yeshua be with you this week!

~Marissa 

Why Church?

On people and church. 

For this post, I'm totally blaming Matthew...fellow teacher here in Taiwan. A question he posted on Facebook caught my eye, and started the gears turning in my brain again. 

So here goes:

Question: Why go to church in Taiwan? (and my added questions) Why go to church at all? What is the reason you go to church?

I wondered that very thing when I was considering coming to Tawian, and this is my conclusion:

Church.

Is it about you? About what you get from it each time, and how you feel? 

Well...I don't think so. 

Yes, going to church can be a way for you to grow, and a way to be spiritually fed each week, but that's the easy way. 

Many young people today, (me included) tend to think that they can go to church, be spiritually recharged, hang out with a few friends, and go home. That way, there is no need to read the Bible, or study on your own, because you were emotionally recharged that Sunday, and you're doing 'fine'.

But is that what God say's about our spiritual lives? 

1 Thessalonians 5:17 states: 'Pray without ceasing...' In other words, don't stop focusing your life on God. 

In that case, it isn't the Church that is supposed to be your 'spiritual food', but your every day walk with Him. 

Essentially, I believe that the point in going to church, whether in America, Taiwan, China...etc, is that we are there to bless others. 

To reach out in any way we can to help other humans, so that Jesus may shine through us. And believe me, we don't need to speak the same language to connect. 

There is always a way if you look for it. 

Church is about others. About Jesus, about what He would do. About how we can be God's vessel  so that He can touch other's lives through us. 

That is what the Church means to me, and why I go. For others, not myself.

So today I leave you with this challange: 

Why do you go to church? Do you go anticipating being a channel for God's love? To reach out to those who are hurting, broken, and in pain? Or do you go for yourself?

Shalom, 

Yeshua be with you this week!

~Marissa 

Second week in Taiwan

Wow, sorry everyone, it's been crazy over here. 

So, finally! I'm going to post about what I've done so far...and maybe post a few pictures too.

Maybe. ;P 

Alright, here goes: 

After orientation, which was good, exausting, and a blast at the same time, we rode the HSR (High Speed Rail) to Chiayi City, and met my office workers for the first time. (there is a picture of everyone on Facebook if you want to see us all.) Because this weekend was the Mid-Autumn/Harvest Festival or as the locals call it, the Moon Festival, we had an extra day off. 

"The Mid-Autumn Festival is an official harvest festival celebrated by Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese peoples.^[1][2] The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar and Vietnamese calendar, during afull moon, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar, within 15 days of the autumnal equinox.^[1] The holiday is also celebrated in Korea [Chuseok] and Japan [Tsukimi].

Mainland China listed the festival as an "intangible cultural heritage" in 2006 and a public holiday in 2008.^[1] It is also a public holiday in Taiwan. Among the Vietnamese, it is considered the second-most important holiday tradition."

[taken from Wikipedia.com]

(Which would have been a lot of fun to really see, but I got sick and ended up stuck in the house for the weekend.)

Anyway, while I didn't get to see the locals celebrate the Moon Festival, I did hear the fireworks being shot from all the local temples in the area. (There are a lot of them.) It is...loud, and obnoxious, and pretty impossible to hear anything of it but the American Fourth of July. (wow, did I just say 'American'?!? I think I am pretty American, but Taiwan has been rubbing off on me. ;P)

This week is our office week, so all I have to do is sit in the office, type this up, and relax. I am really enjoying this week, let me tell you!

I believe though, that you have all had more than enough of me rambling all over the page about all this stuff, and want to see some pictures. 

Alright, alright, here you go!

:D

Those are both taken from my hotel room in Taipei Taiwan, at about 7am in the morning. 

Dr. Chen's health class, and my notes + scribbles. I was getting sorta sleepy, and started drawing so i could pay attention. I love Dr. Chen's health class, because he knows so much about health, and what is good for you and what is bad for you, but the unfortunate thing about that day, was that it was close to the end of the week, and I was having a hard time sitting still. Too much sitting took a major tole on my temper that week. Ugh. 

One of the Taipei night markets. They are even more amazing than I thought they would be. And the prices! Most clothing here is under $20 US, and that's even considered expensive here! (that's about 300 NT) Anyway, it was a blast, and I could never say how much fun it was to shop and only spend 100 NT in one day! (That's just over $3 US) 

My first experience with a traditional Chinese dinner. It was really amazing, and hilarious, because ont of the teachers from a previous year who had come back, ate the duck's brain. Sooo funny! 

Last look at Taipei till October! The country may be smoking hot, and miserable for a Westerner to live in, but the mornings are so worth all the nastyness. It is SUCH a beautiful country!!

Still the same day as the previous picture, this was my last day at the HTC building for the orientation. (was i EVER so glad!!) It is just me and Gabriel sporting our Indian/Taiwanese style bloomer...pant...skirt thingies. 

We arrived in Chiayi!! It felt so good to be home, this picture is thanks to Samuel Chen, one of the teachers at our school. (he's also the one who can fix all my computer issues when i inevitably break something! Yay!!)

My first experience with Anime. :D

My first attempt at cooking. Incidentally, I was still sick when I made this, so I put so much garlic into the recipe that I believe I smoked my ears out. (they have REALLY strong garlic here. burnt the roof of my mouth with the garlic, not the heat, the first time I ate the stuff.) It was really good though. 

 

My Birthday lunch yesterday!! It was a blast, I didn't have to pay...lol, almost the best part but not quite...it was also Fae's, (the girl in the red dress in the picture with the two ladies cutting the meat.) Fenny's and Samuel's birthday this month so we all went out and had amazing food. (oh, and I ate a bunch of leggy shrimp that everyone was surprised that I liked. :D What can I say, I'm full of surprises.) 

Oh, and we went shopping at the night market in Chiayi last night, and let me tell you...I found literally no clothes with Chinese on it, just some very funny English. The first dress, I have no idea what it says, and the shirt that Fae is holding cracks me up totally. 'I love you in your outside' which I believe meant that the cat would ruther the fish be out of the bowl. It is just too funny!!

Anyway, that's all I have for now, no more pictures to show, or things to talk about, so until next time!

Shalom

Yeshua be with you this week!

~Marissa H. 

First Sunday in Taipei Taiwan. Sermon notes.

Psalms 28:7

Luke 16:19-31

Rich man and Lazarus.

One was rich, the other poor. 

If you have honor on earth, that doesn't mean you will have honor in heaven. 

Should we live a simple life? Definitely. The bible isn't saying we should abstain from all fleshly pleasures, but rather, to moderate those pleasures. What we consider important may not be what God considers important. What does God emphasize? 

Lazarus was brought up to heaven by angels. To Abraham's bosom.

It's all a link, a relationship between God, Abraham, and Lazarus. 

Faith in God, in His promises. Lazarus didn't accomplish anything himself. All he had was his faith. Therefore, while he had a bad life on earth, he was comforted by Abraham because of his faith. 

The only ones who can be in your bosom are those you love unconditionally. Therefore, Lazarus was given that love in death, because he did not receive it in life. 

If you are poor in earthly goods, look to God, and you will become rich in faith. 

Lazarus was received in glory and honor because of his faith. His faith may have faltered, and he may have fallen, but ultimately, we know he died in victory. One day you will finally see that you didn't believe in vain. You didn't have faith I vain. You didn't suffer in vain. 

Love.

It's not in the beggar who stretches out his hand, it's in the giver that places the gift into his hand. 

We are like Lazarus in the sense that we have no other way to go to heaven other than faith in Jesus Christ. 

When we experience difficult times, you can find hope and faith if you look to Him for help. God wants to help anyone who reaches out to Him. 

When you see a beggar at the door of your house, never turn him away. Reach out, touch his life, follow in Jesus' steps, and give of what you have.

We don't have faith by doing good works. How would Lazarus have gotten to heaven? He was incapable of doing good works. Salvation is the gift of God given to us, for us to receive. It is our choice, but without choosing, we forfeit our ticket to eternal life. 

A tall order? 

You bet! But has God ever asked anything easy of us? 

I think not.

It's the way of faith. 

While faith is something that does not require works, it is not something that can be gained without great effort on the part of the receiver. 

Do you really love God? Do you also love others? The more you look at the glory of God, the less you see of the glory of this world. 

You needn't be rich to act as if you were. It is a matter of pride and stubbornness. When you become distant from God, it needn't be a drastic sudden fall, it can just be a greed in your heart that tears your heart from the heart of God. 

Learn to live for Christ, in both the here and now, and what is to come. 

Make this a way of life. So much a habit you needn't think too hard about what your mind dwells upon. 

Death is not a period. It's a comma. It's a new beginning. But what you chose in life will affect your eternal life forever. 

I leave you with this: will you live for Christ, and gain eternal life with Him? Or will you live for yourself and gain eternal life in the death of the depths of hell? 

It is your choice. 

Is your eternity worth it? 

Is your life worth it? 

You may live a hundred years, accomplish great things in this world, and never see heaven, because you chose to live your life your way. 

Or, you may live no longer than tomorrow, and choose at the last moment of your physical existence to serve God, and have eternal life in Him.

Again, your choice. 

A decision you must make. 

It's up to you.

Shalom, 

Yeshua be with you this week. 

Marissa H.

TESOL/VOICE Missions 2014

Well, this is a glimpse of my life in the past twoish weeks. 

Enjoy!

The entire two and a half weeks I was able to spend with the exchange students has changed my life forever. Eventually I'll scream out a post with a few more details on different events that I was part of, but for tonight, I'll just let you have this bit. 

With a two hour difference between WA and OK, jetlag is getting the better of me. 

So I leave you with this:

"...peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus..." 

(1 Peter 5:14b)

Shalom!

-Marissa H.