Dear Friends Around The World,

Once again, I am optimistic you will find today’s post helpful and gives abiding hope for you, your loved ones, and those close to you. My sincere desire is that it will bring you an energizing joy which only the Spirit can give.

For most people “preaching” the Gospel means television ministries, great outdoor crusades, missionaries, and even efforts by religious institutions whose posture is highly legalistic. However, there is a practice that the “Bulamanriver”* “preaches” the Gospel that is authentic in its biblical form. For the Bula man-river, the Gospel is received and “preached” on a personal rather than an institutional posture and orientation. This is not to say it is the only way, but the principal way.

Let’s be clear what the Gospel is, so we’ll understand what it is we are to “preach.” The heart of the Gospel has to do with the sin-problem of mankind. Therefore, the Gospel is about God giving mankind His beloved Son who came and lived the perfect human life, was crucified as the perfect sacrifice, and became man’s Savior. Jesus became who we are so that we can become what we can never become on our own – to live eternally as God’s children in His Triune presence. The Gospel is about Jesus becoming God’s righteousness in man, thus liberating man from the sin-problem once and for all. Therefore, the Person of Christ is the Gospel, not the ‘good news’ about Him that man frames in his legalistic construct.

Sin is Personal

The sin-problem is personal which began at the behest of Adam’s crushing but nonetheless personal choice in Eden. Therefore, the Gospel’s message is in essence, a personal one. The Gospel is only as effective as the person who takes ownership of the story of the Gospel’s saving grace. God’s righteousness is imputed upon man by Christ who dwells in him on a personal level. Peter said we are “living stones,” that is separate individuals, being built into a spiritual house for a habitation of God. (1Pet.2:5)

Hence, I reiterate the claim of the “Bula man-river as the personal, living, walking, Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s to say, your life is in itself “preaching” the saving story of Christ’s Gospel. (Gal.2:20) No amount of “preaching” to the masses will replace “preaching” on a personal level which the Spirit does like “living waters” flowing in a believer. (Heb.8:11-12) There can be no more powerful “preaching” of the Gospel than that done personally by the Bulamanriver (you and me) in whom the Triune God lives and walks. Christ and the Spirit, both of whom interpenetrate the “living waters” of the Bulamanriver is the essence of the Gospel “preached.”

How did Jesus, our Example, “preach” the Gospel? He taught the people mostly through parables. Notice that Jesus said He “preached” in parables to ‘hide’ its meaning from the masses. Why? He answers that the secret or mystery of the Gospel (Kingdom) was given to the few (the disciples) on a personal level who have received Jesus as their personal Savior, but not the many whose minds were dull of hearing and lacked the faith to believe in Him. (Matt.13:10-16) The masses came to Jesus for the miracles, not the Gospel of His messiahship. So, we see Jesus “preached” to reach individuals personally, not the masses. Does this mean the Calvinist doctrine that God has chosen to save only some people and not others is valid? That’s a whole different discussion, but the short answer is, no.

The method of telling the story (“preaching”), no matter how elaborate it may be in terms of style, economy, and structure, remains unfruitful if a person does not take ownership of the Gospel story on a personal level. That is what was happening to the masses in Jesus’ time. Jesus said, “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you” (Matt.7:6) This is what the basic construct of the Bulamanriver in as far as preaching the Gospel means to a person who receives Christ personally. He personally treasures and take ownership of the story of God’s unfathomable grace in the Gospel.

Jesus Taught in Parables (Wiki Commons)

I said in a previous post that the Bulamanriver provides for us a healthy and practical depiction of man’s relationship within the Triune life of God. It is only through such a relationship of man living as a Bulamanriver that Jesus Himself “preaches” the Gospel in the person – personally. In taking ownership of the Gospel, a person can find joy and confidence in his or her place in the life of God who is Triune. The Bulamanriver understands he or she is a riverbed, hidden and covered in the “living waters” of the Spirit in Christ.(John 7:38-39)  It begins personally in the person’s heart, as the Spirit flows into the valleys and communities the believer has been preordained and charted to have communion.

How do we do this? The Gospel is not just ‘good news’ we frame in our legalistic construct. It is first and foremost about a Person – the Second Person of the Triune Godhead, in whom is hidden all knowledge and wisdom. (Col. 2:3) The Gospel story and our own personal story and destiny are part of and blended into the story of Jesus own life as the Son of God who is our Savior – the very heart of the Gospel. If the person does not take the story of the Gospel and make it his own story, no matter how much “preaching” he hears, the person is still entrenched in his own self-centered story that is right in his own eyes, and he has not changed his story to harmonize with Jesus’ Gospel. In my book, “Bula man-river – The Miracle of Triune Living,” I said this,

“Man also has two gifts: one is the “core gift” of the Spirit, and the second is the “life-gift” of his calling and purpose. His “core gift” makes him a Bula man-river, and his “life-gift” takes him where the “living waters” flow into the valleys. Gifts are the natural outgrowth of freedom, which takes place in a biomeic process in the life of the Bula man-river. It is through the “core gift” of the Spirit that we obtain our personal talents in our “life-gift” and come to know Jesus truly. For it is also through our “life-gift” and purpose that He reaches out to people as He flows through man in the Spirit (Heb. 8:11). Of course, the “life-gift” is not what gives us salvation. Jesus’ “finished work” has already done that. Our dream-life is the reflection of Jesus’ Person (Gospel) and love in us, which puts flesh to our salvation.” (Pg.94, 100)

The end-result of living life as a Bula man-river is the essence of what “preaching” the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about. May God’s love envelope you and give you joy in your spirit.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessing of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven you and make all things concerning you possible in Triune Living as a Bulamanriver.*

Kiang                                                                                                                                                                  (Your Servant in Christ) 

* The “Bulamanriver” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book. Thank you for your support.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise

Note: Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information

My Dear Friends Around The World,

Once again, I affirm the hope you will find today’s post helpful and gives abiding hope for you and your loved ones. My sincere desire is that it will bring you the energizing joy of the Spirit to make your day complete.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ can be explained in many ways as Jesus Himself taught us. He gave colorful illustrations in the form of His parables. Sometimes parables are not immediately understood until it is further explicated, as Jesus explained in the parable of the sower. (Matt.13:1-23) Be that as it may, all roads lead to one illuminated meaning of the Gospel: it is the Good News about what God has done to reach out and save mankind. It is about how the Triune God entered our humanity in Jesus to join man to His Triune existence, which we could never do for ourselves. In this post I will explain the Gospel through the parable of the “Bulamanriver.” Like Jesus, my hope is you will discover some “secrets” (Matt.13:11) of the Gospel you may not have perceived before. Let me explain some terms about the “Bula man-river so we are on the same page.

“Bula”

“Bula” is a Fijian word which means “life.” In the Fiji Islands it is commonly used as a greeting, like ‘hello,’ when you meet someone, although it has lost its literal meaning. It is often used with an adjective, “Vinaka.” So, “Bula Vinaka” literally means to “have a good life.” It is a greeting which comes with a blessing.

Fiji Flag – “Bula” Vinaka is Fijian Greeting Meaning “Good Life to You” (Pic: Wiki Commons)

Man-River

Man-river derives its meaning from Jesus portrayal of the life of a believer, “Whoever believes in Me as the Scriptures has said, rivers of living waters will flow from within them.” By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him would later receive” (John 7:38-39).

“Bula man-river”

“Bula man-river” is a man who is given true life in Christ because of the flow of the “living waters” of the Holy Spirit. Man is the riverbed with the Spirit of the “living waters” flowing in and through him. The Spirit of “living waters” is the flow of God’s love through man. (Rom.5:5) People come to the river to interact with its “waters,” not the riverbed (you). The “living waters,” God’s love, is the attractant the people is drawn to in the “Bula man-river.” The “Bula man-river provides for us a healthy and practical depiction of man’s relationship in the Triune life of God. In this relationship, man’s role is to “hide in Christ” (Col.3:3) for he or she is dead and as a riverbed is buried in the “living waters” of the love of God in the Spirit. (Gal.2:20) People don’t see us, they see Christ living in us, like the “living waters” cover the riverbed.

Rivers are charted waterways. That’s to say, they don’t change course, but flow into prescribed valleys to water and provide life and abundance to all river dwellers. Likewise, the “Bula man-river” has a prescribed destiny, endowed with gifts, with which to “water” the valleys with God’s love he or she has been pre-ordained to flow through.

The Ocean

There is a naturally recurring effect in nature which attracts all rivers into one magnetizing center – that central place is the ocean. All rivers naturally find their way to the ocean. The vast ocean is the metaphor for God’s greatness who gathers all “Bula man-rivers” into His Triune Being and existence. And so we see the “living waters” of the Spirit, while He is always unified in His Triune existence with God, simultaneously He is flowing into the riverbed of man. In the process, He is constantly and continuously taking man in one ceaseless flowing movement, through the valleys, and into the ocean of God’s presence, through Christ who took our sinless and now glorified humanity beyond the veil and seated man with Him at the right hand of the Father. Then, in God’s circle of life, it starts all over again, just like a river that ever flows, and renews life and makes life pristine each and every day, to the ocean forever renewing the “Bula man-rivers,” who in turn renews the valleys. (Lamentations 3:23)

Marine Life (Wiki Commons)

This is a beautiful picture of man’s reality as God sees him in His Son. This is the Gospel. This is the Good News. The Spirit is constantly taking believers through the valley of their calling they are ordained to water (love), and into the presence of God through Jesus in a flowing movement that never ceases where Jesus and the Spirit interpenetrating the “living waters” in the “Bula man-river.”

What’s the “secret,” as they say, in how we make this miraculous life our own reality? This parable, like Jesus’ many parables, reflects the reality of God for man. They are not fairy stories or fables. Parables are supposed to make God’s spiritual reality more lucid to our physical minds about them. So, the “Bula man-river is the union of the Triune God in man, and man in the Triune God. How does this take place? How does this come to be in man?

In my book, “Bula man-river, The Miracle of Triune Living,” I explained the parable further by depicting man in his fallen state of being as “Bulu man-river.” “Bulu” is another Fijian word meaning “to bury” as in burying the dead. In the meaning of the parable conveyed here, “Bulu” means the “living dead.” If you have read my book, “Bulu was the name of a river from which my wife and I and two friends were saved by the Lord and His angels from certain death. It was from this miracle that Herald eventually led me to write this book. I said,

“There is a spiritual river flowing in every person’s life. A river is a motif for life and how life is lived. A person can flow in one of the two rivers. One is the river that produces a life of fear, lack, and ultimately death. I call that “Bulu” or death. The other river is one with “living waters” that produce love and abundance. I call this “Bula,” another Fijian word, which means “life.” What the Lord made me to see is that humans are really “Bula” or man-rivers in God. Man is a repository of this spiritual river, hence the term “man-river” (John 7:38, 4:13-14). (Pg.16)

“Living Waters” – Metaphor for Spirit (Pic: Wiki Commons)

The “Flush-Out”

I go on to say, “How does man change from a deadly man-river to a life-giving man-river? How does he transmute from a river of fear, want, self-centeredness, egotism, and death to become a river of life with the “living waters” of the Spirit that will bring love and abundance? It is done through the miracle of the “flush-out” process miracle takes place in every person where the internal river in him/her is changed to the Bula man-river of life. The momentous day in history occurred when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born into the human race. He is God and now He is also man. The birth of Jesus was the greatest miracle event in the story of man. The miracle of the “flush-out” occurs when a person’s faith transmits the cleansing agency of Jesus’ blood. Faith is the conductor of miracles as electricity is in water. The atoning blood of Jesus flushes out the deathly waters of Bulu and replaces it with the Bula “living waters” of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39, 4:10). The “flush-out” inaugurates in man the life of God in place of death. Man is now the Bula man-river of God. At this moment in time, the life of Jesus and the Spirit, the blood and “living waters,” flow in the Bula man-river – you!”  (Pg.40)

I hope this post has given you encouragement fully recognizing the reality of the Spirit’s life in you, leading you, and inspiring God’s love in your actions and the way you live.

May God’s abundance and love, flow and bless and keep you and your loved ones. And may your life be embraced in the Triune bond of love, as a riverbed with full-flowing “living waters” (Bulamanriver*)

Kiang                                                                                                                                                                  (Your Servant in Christ) 

* The “Bulamanriver” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of life of the Bula man-river, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my Book. Thank you for your support.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise

Note: Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information