If you go to a restaurant and learn the menu from cover to cover, but never eat the food, will it help you? Even if you see all the pictures and ask the ingredients used for each dish, will you ever be able to say you know how the food taste? No. Can you even give a real opinion about the restaurant itself? No. The fact that you never tasted the food disqualifies you from being able to comment on that restaurant. 

Recently I received two emails… one was a gentleman that said, “Bishop, I heard you say on TV that you are not there to quote Bible verses. Are you saying that people should not read the Bible”? You see, a religious person does not think. I had to explain to him, if you read the Bible and know it from Genesis to Revelation, but do not practice it, what is the point? There is absolutely no benefit. 

The other email said, “I went to another church and I saw the band and choir. But when I came to the Universal Church I was unhappy because I saw no band or choir and I was expecting it.” So I asked her, how is your life? And though I won’t disclose anyones personal life… when the person responded it was like a book! Full of problems. 

Many people get deceived by emotions. They read the Bible and know all about it, they even get excited when they see the band at church, but their lives still remain the same. These people are deceived by emotion. The feeling of being in church is making them confused and think that they are close to God. 

My friend, faith is something intelligent and active. It is something that has power. It doesn’t depend on music, or charisma, or the energy of the preacher. It is like a spark near to gasoline… there is no way for it not to explode. 

God wants you to use faith not emotion, and it will change your life. 

May the God of the Bible Bless You

Bishop Bira Fonseca