The Logical Christian

The Curious Case Of The Zero Dollar Chef

2009-11-12T08:01:00.004+08:00

In my post, dated 4 April 2009, entitled "The Curious Case Of The Half A Million Dollar Chef", I used the parable of a restaurant and its chef to talk about the relevance of the salary of my senior pastor, Pastor Joseph Prince which the news media had found out and reported to be about $500,000.

Well, Pastor Prince just announced last Sunday at the Singapore Expo (where New Creation Church held its Sunday services instead of Suntec City as it has been "commandeered" for the Apec Summit) that the church board, after four years of objections, has finally acceded to his request to be removed from the church's payroll. In effect, he has just "demoted" himself from the Half-A-Million-Dollar Chef to the Zero-Dollar Chef.

Just as it did not matter to me then that Pastor Prince was paid $500,000 a year, it does not matter to me now that he is paid a big fat $0. What matters to me are the sermons he preach week after week, whether those sermons are glorifying Jesus and helping me to know Jesus more and more, because that is the measure of his calling.

Let me ask you: "How do you measure the performance of a pastor? How do you conclude whether a pastor is a good pastor or not?" Some Christians (or maybe even non-Christians looking in) may feel a pastor is good because he knows many members by name, visits the sick, is easily accessible whenever a member needs help or counseling, etc. While these traits may be seen in a good pastor, I firmly believe that the true measure of a good pastor is his sermons. If you don't feel fed by the pastor's sermons or the Holy Spirit in you somehow does not agree with the pastor's sermons, then he is not a good pastor for you.

Frankly speaking, visiting the sick or praying for you, etc can be a show (I'm not saying that it is but that it can be) put on by the pastor and if we base our assessment on these aspects, we will be deceived. At the risk of sounding like a broken record player, the true test is the pastor's sermon. When you hear the sermon being preached by the pastor, are you hearing the voice of man or the voice of God? 1 Thessalonians 2:13 says "And we also [especially] thank God continually for this, that when you received the message of God [which you heard] from us, you welcomed it not as the word of [mere] men, but as it truly is, the Word of God, which is effectually at work in you who believe [exercising its superhuman power in those who adhere to and trust in and rely on it]."

The pastor cannot fake a sermon because he needs the Holy Spirit to speak through him. When you hear a pastor's sermon and it starts sounding like "the word of [mere] men" instead of the "Word of God", then you know that something is not right with this pastor; something must be happening in his life which is causing him to avoid God and close his ears to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. He can still churn out "sermons" for a while based on his head knowledge and his training in theological college but there will be no life in those sermons.

Have you heard such lifeless pastors before? I have but I shall not name them here; instead, I'll like to introduce you to preachers who preach life, who preach JESUS - Joseph Prince, Andrew Wommack, Joel Osteen, Paul White, Åge M. Åleskjær, Peter Youngren, Steve Mcvey ...

So, how is the chef going to survive now that he is earning a $0 salary? I don't know but Pastor Prince is not worried; he told us to watch and see what the Lord will do. I eagerly await his testimony ... watch this space ;-)

Psalm 35:27-28 (NKJV)
²⁷ Let them shout for joy and be glad,
Who favor my righteous cause;
And let them say continually,
“Let the LORD be magnified,
Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”
²⁸ And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness
And of Your praise all the day long.

Fill Up Your Faith Tank

2009-11-09T08:05:00.001+08:00

Last Wednesday, a local tabloid, The New Paper, reported on the rising divorce rate among couples who are above 50 years old, and highlighted the tragic case of a 54-year-old woman who committed suicide after her 59-year-old husband confessed to having an affair for the past 6 years and wanted a divorce.

At first, I regarded this report only as a commentary on a current social phenomenon as Singapore becomes a progressively aging society but this report took on a whole new meaning for me after my wife asked me, "Did you look at the pictures?"

Actually, I only glanced at the pictures as I had concentrated on the written report but as I took a closer look at the pictures and wondered what my wife was fussing about, she pointed to the guy in the blue shirt and said, "This guy looks like Pastor Gabriel!" (from our church, New Creation Church).

While I cannot confirm it, I think the guy in the blue shirt is indeed Pastor Gabriel and hence it is highly likely that this couple or either one of them attended New Creation Church. My immediate thought was "How could this happen to them if they were attending NCC regularly?" To be fair, I don't know the couple personally and have no idea whether or how long they have been attending NCC but this tragedy does set me thinking: week after week, thousands file into the Rock Auditorium and overflow rooms for Sunday church service but how many have truly absorbed the gospel of grace into their spirit?

I suspect Pastor Prince may be wondering about the same thing too as I find that he usually repeats his series on "righteousness" after a few seasons. I remember that Pastor Prince once said that he does this over and over again to drum this into our hearts.

The people of Isaiah 6:9 "Hear and hear continually, but understand not; and see and see continually, but do not apprehend with your mind.", are we like them? No, we are not because God tells us, "I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart." (Ezekiel 36:26, NLT), which is why Pastor Prince's constant drumming is a good tactic since "faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ." (Rom 10:17, NLT)

That is also why I keep listening to the same sermons on CD or MP3 over and over again; often, it is only after many many listening sessions that a truth which Pastor Prince preached in a sermon finally dawns on me and sinks into my heart.

Do you know that faith, like physical fitness, cannot be stored indefinitely? Just as you need to exercise regularly to build up and maintain your physical fitness, you need to keep hearing the "Good News about Christ" over and over again to build up and maintain your faith. Just listening to the sermon preached by the pastor when you attend church on Sunday is not enough. Go and buy sermon CDs and listen to them as often as you can during the week.

Faith needs time to be built up and maintained. Don't wait till a crisis strikes, just when you need faith the most, and you suddenly discover that your "faith tank" is nearly empty. Start listening to the "Good News about Christ" over and over again NOW.

The Holy Communion and Anointing Oil (by Peter Youngren)

2009-11-06T08:00:00.002+08:00

The Holy Communion and Anointing Oil

by: Peter Youngren

One of the bonuses of traveling to places in the world where most people don’t get to go is unusual experience. Now I don’t mean seeing strange animals, or mere traditions; I mean unusual spiritual experiences. Indonesia is a fascinating country. Though it is the world’s largest Muslim country with more than 200 large unreached people groups, among the Chinese people-- which are 40 million strong, there are many large churches.

One of the most inspiring I’ve come across is the Tiberias Church, which conducts 178 services per Sunday across various locations in Jakarta. Total membership across Indonesia is 500,000, with most of these in Jakarta. According to church growth experts, it’s the 9th largest church in the world.

The pastor, Yesaya Pariadji was a muslim to whom Jesus revealed himself in 1986. He became acquainted with the Full-Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship and visited a number of conventions across America with its founder Demos Shakarian. Jesus appeared to Pastor Pariadji after healing his wife out of a debilitating disease, commissioning Pastor Pariadji to bring a deeper understanding of the Holy Communion and anointing with oil in the name of Jesus Christ. Last Sunday, after our Gospel Festival in Kupang, I flew to Jakarta, to speak in a couple of the services at the Tiberias church. I had met Pastor Pariadji a year ago and was deeply impressed with how Jesus is shining through his life. This time I gained a greater understanding of the church. The message of God’s grace permeated the praise and worship. Every song, many of them written by Pastor Pariadji’s son, Argo Pariadji, really lifted up Jesus and the Father’s love. The people received my teaching with great joy. I hope to be able to show it on one of our telecasts. You could tell the message of grace had already penetrated the congregation and they were ready to receive. Though we were on a tight schedule, I was anxious to stay to the end of the service when Pastor Pariadji would give out the Holy Communion and anointing oil. I have never witnessed people so eager to receive the bread and the wine; such energy of faith. The church bulletin featured testimonies of people who have been healed simply by trusting in Jesus and receiving the Holy Communion and the anointing with oil.

Pastor Pariadji’s teaching on the anointing oil from the olive tree as symbolic of the redemptive work of Jesus is profound. I felt that what I saw and heard would have been just like when disciples in the first century received the bread and the wine. I went home with a determination to not only take the Holy Communion in Sunday services, but at our Grace TV headquarters.

Well my last two days in Indonesia were intense. First the closing service in the Kupang Gospel Festival with a huge crowd [see photo report], then the flight to Jakarta and the services there, and after the final meeting in Jakarta I took the last flight to Medan, the largest city in Sumatra (the area of recent earthquakes), in order to spend almost a day with the Gospel Revolution Bible College headed by Susan Hoover. The students were ready and receptive. It was exciting to see growth in the school, and I also met many of the missionaries that have come out of our Bible College; Sarah DeRidder, Kyle Laviolette, Gola Tiruneh, and John & Lasmian Kingma. Do you have a testimony of Jesus revealing Himself to you through the Holy Communion? Let me know. -Peter

Keeping The Faith - Online

2009-11-04T09:58:00.001+08:00

The local tabloid, TODAY, in an article dated yesterday, entitled "Keeping the faith - online", reported on the phenomenon of "internet churches":

"The World Wide Web has become the hottest place to build a church. A growing number of congregations are creating Internet sites that are fully interactive, with a dedicated Internet pastor, live chat in an online "lobby", Bible study, one-on-one prayer through instant messaging and communion (viewers use their own bread and wine or water at home)."

Personally, I like the concept of an "internet church" although I do attend a "regular" church. I believe that this is what the world wide web was created for - the spreading and sharing of the gospel. The internet is a very useful tool to reach the previously unreachable, eg. those living in remote or sparsely populated places, or those who are incapacitated who are now able to participate in a church service as long as they have access to the internet.

Some Christians might think that the internet church encourages Christians to be lazy, to stay at home on Sunday instead of going to church (the physical one). I say if the Christian doesn't want to go to church, then let the church come to the Christian; at least he can still feed on the Word, and I believe when he has fed enough, he will eventually want to go to a regular church as well for even more feeding.

On a personal note, while I have not "attended" an internet church service before, I have watched and listened to sermons from great preachers like Andrew Wommack (a lot) and Joel Osteen (a little). I would probably not have been able to ever hear them speak in my lifetime (unless they come to preach in Singapore) and learned so much from them if not for the internet. I have also made a lot of new friends on cyberspace, linked by the gospel of grace and facebook ;-)

We do not need to fear that the internet church will replace the regular church because both have their roles to play and both complement each other. I foresee that New Creation Church will have to involve the internet in its church services soon as the church expands beyond the shores of Singapore. Even within the shores of Singapore, the church is growing at such a fast rate that by the time we move to our new and bigger premises at one-North, the church will probably be operating at close to full capacity, and will eventually need (not "overflow rooms" like at present but) overflow off-site premises.

The internet has been abused by the devil for a long time (pornography, terrorism, etc) but it is time now for the Church to aggressively make use of the internet for the glory of God. Amen?

Seeing Defeat In Victory

2009-11-02T09:35:00.001+08:00

In my previous post, I put up the picture on the left and asked, "What do you see?" Many of you had to look very hard to see the word "DeFeat" in yellow embedded in the word "victoRY" in black.

This picture illustrates the kind of preachers and preaching we see in many churches today - preachers who do not or dare not preach the total and absolute victory we believers have in Christ; preachers who try very hard to preach defeat into the victory we believers have in Christ.

Casting aside differences in teachings about the baptism of the Holy Spirit or Holy Communion or the Lord's prayer, etc, let us talk about the most basic thing about Christianity ie. if you accept Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you will go to heaven after you die. This is quite straightforward, isn't it? This is at least what Christ died on the cross for, isn't it? This is the ultimate victory for us believers, isn't it, that regardless of how we suffer here on earth, at least we can enjoy heaven after we pass on?

No, we have preachers who preach defeat into this victory. These preachers preach that our salvation is not assured, entry into heaven is not guaranteed because of Matthew 7:21-23; that we risk losing our salvation at the very last if we do not live holy lives. These preachers do not or dare not believe in and preach the finished work of Christ on the cross; they believe and preach that Christ's work on the cross is just the beginning and we have to finish it through our own efforts by living holy lives.

Does Matt 7:21-23 really say that we may not enter heaven unless we do our part by living holy lives?

"21"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’"

Many preachers interpret that "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven" means not every believer is guaranteed to go to heaven BUT they fail to see that in v23, Jesus says "I never knew you". If you are a believer, then Jesus can't say that He never knew you because He at least knew you once before!

Moreover, v21 says that the one who can enter the kingdom of heaven is "he who does the will of My Father in heaven". Preachers then interpret doing the will of the Heavenly Father as obeying God's commandments or living a holy life BUT what truly is the will of the Father? In John 6:40, Jesus himself defines what is the will of the Father - "this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day".

It should also be noted that in the context of the book of Matthew and Matthew 7 in particular, Jesus was preaching to his fellow Jews who were under the Law. Jesus was telling them that now that He has been sent to replace the Law, they cannot go to heaven under the old system of the Law, no matter how fervent they were under the Law. They could have prophesied and cast out demons in the name of God BUT that cannot get them to heaven. Now that Christ has come, they can get to heaven only through believing in Him (John 6:40). Jesus confirms this again in John 14:6 - "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me". Therefore, I submit that Matt 7:21-23 was not referring to us believers.

The total and absolute victory of Christ's sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection has thus been tainted by the defeat which many preachers strenuously squeezed out from their erroneous interpretation of scripture. There are many more such instances of preachers seeing defeat in victory and I hope to share more on this in future.

Isaiah 25:8

He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the LORD has spoken.

1 Corinthians 15: 54-57

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“ O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

What Do You See?

2009-10-30T09:59:00.000+08:00

Look at the above picture. What do you see? victoRY or DeFeat?

What do you see in your Christian walk? Victory or Defeat?

What do you see in the bible? Victory or Defeat?

What is your pastor preaching to you? Victory or Defeat?

What do you want? Victory or Defeat?

A Little Bit Of Faith

2009-10-26T01:56:00.003+08:00

I just came home from Jeffrey's brother's home where we watched the Liverpool vs Manchester United match together. Jeffrey is a ManU fan while I have supported Liverpool since the days of Kevin Keegan but both of us had a great time (mine was greater though, more about that later) eating chips and drinking coke; we even had "jiu he eng chye" ie. cuttlefish with kangkong specially prepared by Jeff's brother during half-time.

Prior to the match, the media and football fans alike have written off Liverpool's chances of winning this game as they have been playing poorly lately and lost their last four matches; moreover, Liverpool's inspirational captain, Steven Gerrard won't be playing due to an injury. This was a must-win game for Liverpool as a loss would put them 10 points behind ManU with 1/4 of the season gone while a win would close the gap to only 4 points.

Like a lot of Liverpool fans lately, I have been slowly losing faith in this team, and losing hope that they will finally win the league title after 20 looooooong years even though there's still 3/4 of the season left. However, contrary to popular opinion, I somehow had this sneaky feeling that Liverpool would prove everybody wrong because they have this annoying habit of losing when everybody expects them to win but winning when everybody expects them to lose.

Anyway, I decided to place whatever little bit of faith I had left in them with Singapore Pools - a $5 minimum bet on Liverpool beating ManU 2-0. Singapore Pools also had very little faith in Liverpool - they offered a 18x return (ie. $90) on my $5. I also decided to wear a special T-shirt to watch the match ;-) (see pics below).

For the record, Liverpool beat ManU 2-0, scoring in the 65th minute and the very last minute of the match. Liverpool's goalkeeper ran the full length of the pitch to celebrate Liverpool's second goal while I too was jumping up and down celebrating because that meant that ManU had no time to draw the match, let alone win it (and also because my bet paid off lah ;-)).

You must be wondering: "what does this match have to do with Christianity?" Nothing, actually. I just wanted to post this to share my joy of seeing my favourite team beat our arch-rivals and rekindle hopes of winning the league title.

Well, if you must insist on a moral to this story, it is "Don't lose hope. You only need faith the size of a mustard seed to see your miracle."; and of course, "You'll Never Walk Alone" :-)

How Much More

2009-10-22T10:45:00.001+08:00

A facebook friend, Garey posted on his home page the following video of a man completing the Ironman Triathlon with his disabled son and I cried while watching it ...

Were you crying while you watched the video? No??? Then, don't bother to continue reading my post because if you were not moved by the video, you would probably not be able to understand what I am going to say.

Do you know that the Ironman Triathlon is the toughest triathlon in the world? You have to swim 4km in the open sea, cycle 180km, and run a 42km marathon CONSECUTIVELY! The father swam 4km towing his disabled son in a raft, cycled 180km with his son on a special bike and then ran 42km pushing his son along on a stroller! He did all this for the sake of his son! Did you see the joy splashed all over the face of the son? Can you feel the intense love of the father for his son?

Many Christians know in their head that the Heavenly Father loves them but they do not understand or experience in their hearts that God SO loves them (John 3:16). If a human father can demonstrate such great love for his son, HOW MUCH MORE our Heavenly Father?

There are many Christians today who believe that God sends them sufferings to teach them a lesson. They do not understand the heart of the Father. Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" and "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." This is the Father's heart ... that we have an abundant life here on earth, not a life of abundant suffering.

Matt 6:30

Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Matt 7:11

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Luke 12:24

Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?

Romans 5:15

But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.

Romans 5:17

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 9:13-14

For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

(Thanks to Timothy P, the father and son have been identified: Dick and Rick Hoyt or Team Hoyt as they are better known)

Can We Separate Lord From Saviour?

2009-10-19T10:30:00.002+08:00

Last night, I had an interesting little "debate" with a facebook friend, C over a quotation which he posted:

We have suffered from the preaching of cheap grace. Grace is free, but it is not cheap. People will take anything that is free, but they are not interested in discipleship. They will take Christ as Savior but not as Lord. (Vance Havner)

I have written a few posts discussing why there is no such thing as "Cheap Grace" before (see here, here and here), so this time I was focusing my attention on whether it is indeed possible for a Christian to "take Christ as Savior but not as Lord".

How does one become a Christian? Is there anything we have to do in order to be saved? Romans 10:9 (Amplified Bible) says "if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

From the verse, we can see that there are two requirements:

1. Confess with your lips: Jesus is Lord.
2. Believe in your heart: God raised Jesus from the dead.

Can you see it now? The bible is very precise. Romans 10:9 says we have to confess that Jesus is Lord, NOT confess that Jesus is Saviour BUT when you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, YOU WILL BE SAVED ie. Jesus then becomes your Saviour.

You have to take Jesus as Lord first and then He becomes your Saviour; therefore Christ can only be your Lord AND Saviour, never just Saviour alone.

Interestingly, before Jesus died and was resurrected, there were two people recorded in the gospels who had their sins forgiven even though they did not confess their sins to Him.

John 8: 2-11, while Jesus was teaching in the temple, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery in front of Him to trap him - they challenged Jesus: "“Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”"

Of course, those familiar with this story would know that Jesus challenged anyone without sin to cast the first stone and they all eventually left the woman alone. Jesus then asked the woman, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" The woman answered, "No one, Lord." Then Jesus told the woman,"Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."

Did the woman confess her sins to Jesus? No, but Jesus did not condemn her. Why? Take note of what she said; the bible is very precise. She said, "No one, Lord." She confessed that Jesus is Lord while in contrast, the scribes and Pharisees acknowledged Jesus as merely a "teacher."

Luke 23:42-43 records the conversation between Jesus and one of the thieves hanging on a cross beside Him. The thief said, "Lord, remember me when You come in Your kingly glory!" This thief had great revelation! These were the most important words he ever spoke in his life:

Lord, remember me - The thief confessed that Jesus is Lord!

when You come in Your kingly glory - The thief believed that Jesus is going to be resurrected and come back in glory!

What happened to the thief? Jesus told him,"Truly I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." The thief was saved, hallelujah!

This concept or "theology" of a Christian accepting Jesus as Saviour but not Lord is an impossibility because Jesus can only be your Saviour when you accept Him as your Lord.

The word "Lord" in the verses quoted above are one and the same in Greek:
κύριος
kurios
Thayer Definition:
1) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
1a) the possessor and disposer of a thing
1a1) the owner; one who has control of the person, the master
1a2) in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor
1b) is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master
1c) this title is given to: God, the Messiah

From the definition, we can see that when we acknowledge that Jesus is the master, the one who has control of our lives ie. confess that Jesus is Lord, then can he be our Saviour AND when Jesus is our Lord and Saviour, we enter into sonship, NOT discipleship:

Romans 8:15-16 (Amplified Bible)
For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!

The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.

Flying Below The Radar

2009-10-12T09:58:00.002+08:00

I am presently watching a very long Korean "historical" drama (edited into 120 episodes) entitled "Jumong" which is the story of how the titular character, Jumong founded the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo.

In the drama, Jumong is the third son of King Geumwa of Buyeo. He is actually not the real son of King Geumwa but the son of King Geumwa's bosom buddy and fellow rebel warrior against the Han Dynasty. King Geumwa raised Jumong like his own son and highly favoured him and his mother. Consequently, Jumong's two older brothers (born of the Queen) hated Jumong, whom they thought was just the son of the King's concubine.

Jumong grew up with a reputation of being a coward with no martial arts skills and a playboy, or in the older brothers' words, "a useless bum". It turned out that Jumong deliberately adopted this lifestyle as a defence against his brothers, hoping that they would dismiss him as a threat to the eldest brother, Daeso succeeding the throne and hence would not bother to kill him.

However, because King Geumwa delayed naming his successor ie. the Crown Prince which is traditionally the eldest son despite repeated appeals from his officials, Daeso and his younger brother Youngpo feared that King Geumwa intended to pass the throne to Jumong and they tried to assassinate Jumong.

This reminded me of how I tried to live my Christian life for many years. I used to think that the devil likes to attack church leaders because the bible says "smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered" (Zech 13:7) and thus I did not want to be an "outstanding" Christian and "attract" the devil's attention. I have already booked my my place in heaven and I just wanted to attend church faithfully, stay low profile and lead a peaceful, non-eventful life.

I thought that by flying below the radar, I can escape the devil's attention and hence will not need to face any major trials and tribulations. How wrong I was ... Jumong was by all appearances not a capable or responsible person but he was still attacked. Why? Because Jumong is a prince and therefore an heir to the throne despite his inadequacies, and a threat to the eldest brother.

1 Peter 5:8 says "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." The lion will naturally try to attack the weak ones first as they make for easy prey. Whether we are "strong" or "weak" Christians, the devil will still attack us, simply because we are his enemy.

James 4:7 says "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." We are to resist the devil, not hide from the devil. How do we resist the devil if we do not build ourselves up with the Word of God and stand on the Word?

Jumong, after escaping from his brothers, managed to learn martial arts from an expert (whom he later discovers to be his biological father, but that's another story ;-) ) and became strong and resisted his brothers later.

You and I also need to be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.

In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

(Ephesians 6:10-18, NLT)

Fair Warning - A Reply To godwordistruth

2009-10-09T10:26:00.002+08:00

In his comment to my post "Fair Warning", godwordistruth tried to show up Andrew Wommack's "wrong" teaching through a scripture passage:

Just comparing one tiny portion of Andrew Wommack's teachings and test it to what the Word of God actually teaches:

Andrew Wommack said:
"On the contrary, it is very comforting to know that God only has good things in store for me. Any problems in my life are from the devil, of my own making, or just the results of life on a fallen planet. My heavenly Father has never done me any harm and never will. I KNOW that."

"Likewise, I don't believe it blesses our heavenly Father for us to blame Him for all the problems that come into our lives. Sure, He will comfort us when we turn to Him in the midst of our problems, but He doesn't create the negative circumstances that hurt our lives."

Source: http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/sovereignty_god

The Word of God said:
1 Peter 4:11-19
"in order that in everything GOD MAY BE GLORIFIED through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice insofar as YOU SHARE CHRIST's SUFFERINGS, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

If you are INSULTED FOR THE NAME OF CHRIST, YOU ARE BLESSED, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

YET IF ANYONE SUFFERS AS A CHRISTIAN, let him not be ashamed, but LET him GLORIFY GOD IN THAT NAME. .... ....
...
Therefore let THOSE WHO SUFFER ACCORDING TO GOD's WILL entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

The theology that Andrew Wommack is teaching (as seen here) is clearly not what the scriptures actually say.

Does one need to be careful about Andrew Wommack's teachings ?

Shalom

godwordistruth did not really state which part of AW's teachings is wrong in relation to the scripture passage quoted but I am guessing that godwordistruth is trying to say that he disagrees with AW's belief that "Any problems in my life are from the devil, of my own making, or just the results of life on a fallen planet. My heavenly Father has never done me any harm and never will. He doesn't create the negative circumstances that hurt our lives.", and that 1 Peter 4:11-19 proves that God does create problems or negative circumstances for us.

Let us take a good look, line by line, at the verses quoted and see if God does create problems for us:

"in order that in everything GOD MAY BE GLORIFIED through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I don't see any reference to God causing problems, do you?

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

The verse says fiery trial will come upon you BUT does it specifically say that GOD causes the fiery trial? NO!

But rejoice insofar as YOU SHARE CHRIST's SUFFERINGS, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
The verse says rejoice as we share Christ's sufferings. Let me ask you: WHO caused Christ's sufferings? WHO slapped Jesus? WHO beat up Jesus? WHO whipped Jesus? WHO tried to push Jesus off a cliff? WHO crucified Jesus?

If you are INSULTED FOR THE NAME OF CHRIST, YOU ARE BLESSED, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

The verse says if you are INSULTED FOR THE NAME OF CHRIST. Let me ask: WHO insulted you? Can and will God INSULT you FOR THE NAME OF CHRIST?

YET IF ANYONE SUFFERS AS A CHRISTIAN, let him not be ashamed, but LET him GLORIFY GOD IN THAT NAME. .... ....

The verse says "if anyone suffers as a Christian" but it does NOT say God causes you to suffer as a Christian.

Therefore let THOSE WHO SUFFER ACCORDING TO GOD's WILL entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

The verse says "those who suffer" but it does NOT say God causes you to suffer. You ask, "but what about the part 'according to God's will?" According to God's will just means that your suffering is for the glory of God; it does NOT mean that God caused it. This is to differentiate from sufferings that don't bring glory to God which is contrasted in the earlier verse - "But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler."

Clearly, the scripture quoted by godwordistruth does not prove that AW's teaching is wrong.

Let me quote some scripture too:
John 16:33 - "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”"

Take note that Jesus says you will have tribulation but Jesus does not say "God (or I) will give you tribulation".

The bible is very precise - take a look at John 10:10 - "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Jesus specifically says the thief (ie. the devil) comes to steal, kill and destroy, and Jesus also specifically says that HE has come to give us ABUNDANT LIFE, NOT abundant suffering.

So, let me ask: what is wrong with that "one tiny portion of Andrew Wommack's teachings"?

Fair Warning

2009-10-08T09:30:00.001+08:00

Have you ever been warned by an acquaintance or a friend or a family member against associating with someone who is supposedly unsavoury or detrimental to your well-being? Isn't it natural for you to ask,"Why? What is wrong with that person?"? Would you be satisfied if the reply to you was "Don't ask. There's just something very wrong with that person." or "You should find out for yourself."?

Yesterday, I was reading an article by a friend (let's call him S) on Facebook, and in one of the comments, S was warned by another friend (let's call him, T) to be careful of Andrew Wommack Ministries because "when you really delve into his teachings..they are off" and T added that this is "just a warning that is all in love".

I have read Andrew Wommack's book "A Better Way To Pray" and listened to a few sermon series downloaded from his website, and so far I find his teachings biblically sound and consistent. Hence, I asked T which of and in what way Andrew Wommack's teachings are "off" but all I got was this non-reply: "That is the beauty of having God's Spirit as our teacher...He teaches us truth from error...go check out his home page and that should help you find all the answers you need my friend..."

Did T answer my question? I asked him for the basis of his claim that Andrew Wommack's teachings are "off" and he asked me to check it out myself. Let me say that I am really angry at this type of people who make accusations without backing them up with relevant evidence and arguments.

Many times, I have heard Christians who are not from NCC make claims that Pastor Prince's teachings are wrong but they do not or cannot pinpoint which portion of Pastor Prince's teachings are wrong and back up their claims with scripture and arguments. Often, they just make motherhood statements like "Be careful of NCC, their pastor preach a prosperity gospel" or "Pastor Prince encourages sin because he preach that we do not need the 10 commandments".

The irony is that many of these people have NOT heard Pastor Prince preach before or read his books. They based their impression on what they heard other people say about what Pastor Prince preached, and those other people also did not listen to Pastor Prince's sermons but heard from others.

It is perfectly fine for people to disagree with what preachers are preaching BUT it is only fair that they listen to their sermons for themselves and then decide for themselves instead of jumping to conclusions based on hearsay. If anyone wishes to publicly say that a certain preacher is wrong, then to be fair to that preacher, he should also publicly state his basis for that conclusion. It is not enough to say that it is "just a warning that is all in love" to a friend.

In John 9, we see that Jesus healed a man who was born blind and the Pharisees investigating this healing refused to accept the previously blind man's testimony that Jesus healed him. They even told the healed man that Jesus was not the one who healed him: "Give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner. We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from." (John 9:24, 29)

All the Pharisees did was to hurl accusations at Jesus without backing up with any proof. Their statements were so shallow that even an unlearned person like the healed man can rebut them: "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." (John 9: 30-33)

It seems that the likes of these Pharisees are still around today.

Mega-God

2009-10-02T06:08:00.003+08:00

In one of my previous posts, "Church Building Project - A Different Approach", I concluded with the following words: "When a church truly believes in a mega-God, it does not have to be "looking to be a mega-church"; it can't help but become one."

It seems that some have mistakenly thought that I used the term "mega-God" (actually I was just quoting from Senior Pastor William Lee of Bartley Church - "Bartley Church is not looking to be a mega-church… Bartley Church is going to be a church that believes in a mega-God.") to mean that we make God bigger or more powerful than who He already is. This is of course not correct; like what brother Timothy Ng said in one of his comments - "God is God."

However, I would like to clarify that the way I used the term "mega-God" is with respect to our consciousness of how great or "mega" our God is. Yes, God is God but sometimes, especially in our times of need, the way we see God is not so great or "mega"- we can't bring ourselves to believe that God can help us out of our situation and resort to our own methods to resolve it.

One "good" example of this is Abraham. Abraham, not once but twice, lied to two heathen kings respectively that Sarah was his sister and hence "allowed" her to become one of the women in the kings' harem. Abraham justified his action by saying that "I said to myself,'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother." '" (Gen 20:11-13)

This betrays a lack of trust in God by Abraham, don't you think? In Abraham's consciousness, God is not big enough to protect him and his family and therefore he has to rely on himself and do it through deceit and betrayal. Betrayal? Yes, betrayal because this is exactly what he did to his wife Sarah. By asking Sarah to go along with his lie, Abraham had effectively offered her as a "sacrifice" on the king's bed.

Was it true that "there is no fear of God in this place"? No, this was just an excuse that Abraham used to soothe his own conscience and cover up his total loss of faith in God because Gen 20: 3-8 tells us that God appeared to the king in a dream and warned him against touching Sarah and the king was greatly afraid.

God is God, the same God who promised Abraham in Gen 18:10 that "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." and yet, Abraham offered up his wife Sarah to sleep with a heathen king two chapters later. This is the same Abraham whom God cut a covenant with in Gen 15, the same man who "believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness" (v6).

God is God, and He never changes but obviously Abraham's level of consciousness of God changed from Gen 15 to Gen 20. Take a look at the video below and see what I mean: the tractor does look MEGA, doesn't it? ;-)

The Wedding

2009-09-30T09:30:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, 29 Sep 2009 was the much-hyped wedding day of Fann Wong and Christopher Lee (for overseas readers: they are sort of like our local equivalent of Angelina Joile and Brad Pitt). If you (ie. fellow Singaporeans) don't know who or what I am talking about, where have you been? For the past few weeks, the local media have been carrying regular reports of their wedding preparations. A press conference was also held to introduce a set of jewellery which Fann Wong designed, for her jewellery sponsor, and would be wearing on her wedding day. The couple's boss, Mediacorp TV are also cashing in on their big day - producing a tv special and even setting up an official website to serve up every little juicy detail to whet every fan's appetite.

I guess, from the viewpoint of a woman, this must be the dream wedding that every bride wants - bridalshoot in the Maldives, two bridal gowns - a Vera Wang plus a Bollywood-inspired bejewelled gown specially designed by Bally (worth $300,000), sponsored self-designed jewellery worth about $2.5 million, tv special, official website, celebrity guests for 90-table wedding banquet, not to mention a handsome bridegroom suited in Ermenegildo Zegna .....

However, I can't help wondering, after such a fairy-tale wedding, if the couple are prepared for the reality of marriage, the nitty-gritty of trying to live happily ever after together. When the going gets tough, is this dream wedding day going to be enough to keep them together or is there another bond which binds them together no matter what?

You know, it is the same with being a Christian. 2 Cor 11:2 says that the church is the bride of Christ, and I wonder how many Christians, who after the initial euphoria and bliss of the wedding ie. receiving Christ as their Lord and Saviour, are now finding "married" life a drag? They find that the gospel isn't really the Good News that the evangelist or preacher has hyped it up to be. They find out later from the preacher that they have to obey many rules in order to please the husband and continue to be in his good books. This is what many preachers are doing in church today, poisoning our marriage with Christ with erroneous teaching that push us to try to earn Christ's love when He already loves us while we were still not married to Him.

Are you living happily ever after with Christ? Do you want to? Find out how from preachers like Pastor Joseph Prince, Joel Osteen, Peter Youngren who preach to you the unadulterated grace of God just like the apostle Paul did.

Reformed, Charismatic, Puritan, Etc ... Does It Matter?

2009-09-22T10:45:00.001+08:00

I read Derrick's comment on my post "Is Grace A Cover Up?" in which he said:

"Bevere said, "Don't confuse between justification and sanctification."

Mark Driscoll (reformed) and John Bevere (charismatic?) are both saying the same thing and you are disagreeing with both."

I don't understand all these theological labels ... reformed, charismatic, puritan, anglican, methodist, baptist, pentecostal, lutheran, etc. Does the ordinary Christian appreciate the difference? Does it matter to him? Does it matter to God?

I read an article on christianpost entitled "Anglican Leader Proposes Two Ways of Being Anglican" which reported on Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams' response to the recent gay-affirming actions of The Episcopal Church.

The Episcopal Church approved two resolutions opening the ordination process to all baptized members, including practicing homosexuals, and calling for the development of liturgical resources for the blessing of same-sex unions, and Dr Williams "acknowledged the real possibility of the global body adopting a "two-track" model in which there would be "two styles of being Anglican." " as the "Anglican Communion rejects homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture".

Personally, I find this struggle to maintain "anglicanism" irrelevant because I find that the bible only recognizes 3 groups of people - the Jew, the Gentile and the Church. We, the Church, are the body of Christ and Christ is the head - "For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church." (Eph 5:23)

Instead of expending so much effort to define what it means to be an Anglican or a Methodist or Charismatic or Reformed or Puritan or Reformed Puritan, we should spend time discovering what it means to be in Christ and to have Christ in us.

The apostle John says in 1 John 5:20 - "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."

The apostle Paul himself was also concerned that the Church might lose its focus on Christ:
2 Cor 11:2-4
For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.

Eph 1:15-23
Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

What is your identity? Isn't being a CHRISTian enough? Do we need to tag on all these labels?

Does Grace Demand A Higher Standard Than The Law?

2009-09-16T11:00:00.005+08:00

Have you watched the youtube video of John Bevere's preaching (which are edited excerpts of his sermon "Empowered by Grace") which I put up in my previous post? I really do not agree with a lot of the things he said in the sermon but, to be fair, the video consists of excerpts and maybe the context of what he said is not clear.

However, there is something that he said which really disturbs me. He quoted John 1:17 - "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." and interpreted what Jesus said in Matt 5:21-22 and Matt 5:27-28 regarding the law thus: that the standard demanded by grace is higher than that of the Law.

In Matt 5:21-30, Jesus taught on the commandments of "Thou shall not murder" and "Thou shall not commit adultery":
²¹“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ ²² But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

JB says that under the Law, you have to do the deed to break the Law but under grace, you only have to want to do the deed and you are considered to have broken the Law. JB interprets Jesus' teaching this way because John 1:17 says grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, and therefore JB interprets what Jesus said as teachings under grace.

I disagree with his interpretation because the grace of God is not manifested in Jesus' birth into our world and His ministry on earth BUT rather the grace of God is Jesus' death, burial and resurrection - 1 Cor 15:2-4 "²By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. ³For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,". If Christ did not die for us, there is no grace for us. All the teaching, healing and casting out of demons by Jesus was all in vain.

The context of what Jesus preached in Matt 5 regarding the Law is that man has too low an estimation of the standard of the Law and Jesus illustrated how high that standard is; even the thought of sinning is already breaking the law but man has lowered the standard to the act itself (Matt 5:28).

That standard of the Law is so high that "if your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." (Matt 5:29-30)

Now, if JB is to be consistent in his use of John 1:17, then what Jesus said in Matt 5:29-30 will be what is expected of us under grace! This is of course not correct! Jesus is showing us that it is impossible to keep the Law and therefore He has come to fulfill it for us, which is what He said in the very same chapter, Matt 5 in verse 17 - "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

Does Grace demand a higher standard than the Law? Yes, but not in the way JB interpreted. Grace's standard is LOVE and God empowers us to LOVE by filling our heart with so much of His LOVE that the LOVE overflows and we can't help but LOVE others - "We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

Romans 13:8-10
⁸Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who LOVES his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
⁹The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁰Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore LOVE is the fulfillment of the law.

Is Grace A Cover Up?

2009-09-14T09:43:00.003+08:00

A blogger friend sent me this link (http://bit.ly/w6KF4) for a survey being conducted by John Bevere which asks for the first three words or descriptions that come to your mind when the "grace of God" is mentioned. Why don't you guys also fill out the survey and share with us here what you wrote?

She also sent me the link for a youtube video of an excerpt of John Bevere preaching about the grace of God being used as a cover up for sinful living. You can watch it here:

The Significance of the Cross

2009-09-07T10:28:00.000+08:00

I just read an interesting article by Martyn Lloyd-Jones -"The Sermon on the Mount" (Eerdmans, second edition in one volume, 1971, 1976), 167-168 - which thywordistruth put up on his blog. He said (excerpt):

"The essence of evangelism is not merely to talk about the cross but to proclaim the true doctrine of the cross. The purpose of the cross is not to arouse pity in us, neither is it merely some general display of the love of God. Not at all! It is finally understood only in terms of the law.

What was happening upon the cross was that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was enduring in His own holy body the penalty prescribed by the holy law of God for the sin of man. The law condemns sin, and the condemnation that it pronounces is death. "The wages of sin is death." The law pronounces that death must pass upon all who have sinned against God and broken His holy law. Christ says, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." One of the ways in which the law has to be fulfilled is that its punishment of sin must be carried out. This punishment is death, and that was why He died. The law must be fulfilled."

Actually, if you read this carefully, Martyn Lloyd-Jones was explaining why Jesus must die and I fully agree with his explanation. However, he was not explaining why Jesus must die on the cross, and not by any other way eg. by stoning which is the punishment for blasphemy, which Jesus was accused of (Matt 26:65), under the Law (Lev 24:16, John 10:33).

Some people have said that Jesus died on the cross because that was how the Romans executed criminals during that time but that does not explain the spiritual significance of the cross. Considering the kind of extreme whipping that Jesus received from the Roman soldiers, Jesus could very well have died from the whipping and still fulfilled His task of paying the wages of sin of the world. So, why must Jesus die on the cross?

Gal 3:21 says "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."" This verse is very clear - Jesus must die on the cross to redeem us from the curse of the law. Yes, the law is holy and the commandments holy, righteous and good (Rom 7:12), and the law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them." (Gal 3:12) Hence, those under the law were perpetually cursed because it was impossible for them to keep the law since whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it (James 2:10).

Do you know how many curses there are under the law? Read on:
¹⁵ “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
¹⁶ “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
¹⁷ “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
¹⁸ “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
¹⁹ “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
²⁰ “The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. ²¹ The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. ²² The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The LORD will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
²⁵ “The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away. ²⁷ The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. ²⁹ And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.
³⁰ “You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them. ³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your hand. ³³ A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. ³⁴ So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. ³⁵ The LORD will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
³⁶ “The LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. ³⁷ And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the LORD will drive you.
³⁸ “You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. ³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. ⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.
⁴³ “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
⁴⁵ “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.
⁴⁷ “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹ And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.
⁵² “They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you. ⁵³ You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. ⁵⁴ The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. ⁵⁶ The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, ⁵⁷ her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
⁵⁸ “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, ⁵⁹ then the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. ⁶⁰ Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. ⁶¹ Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶² You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. ⁶³ And it shall be, that just as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.
⁶⁴ “Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. ⁶⁵ And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. ⁶⁶ Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were morning!’ because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.
⁶⁸ “And the LORD will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, ‘You shall never see it again.’ And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

(Deut 28:15-68)

Quite a long list, isn't it? Do we need to be concerned about all these curses? No, because Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. I recommend that you listen to Pastor Joseph Prince's sermon "The Significance of the Cross" (which is my favourite sermon, by the way) for a detailed explanation of why Jesus must die on the cross.

One final question: Why did Jesus redeem us from the curse of the law?

He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Gal 3:14 (NIV)

Grace and Law Made Simple To Understand

2009-09-02T11:05:00.003+08:00

In my previous post, I attached a youtube video entitled “Grace and Law made simple to understand” which showed a preacher using children as visual aids to explain Grace and Law. Have you watched it yet? Did you understand what he was trying to say? Did you understand the true intention of his “live powerpoint” presentation? I think many of you probably missed it because the preacher was speaking very fast and you were probably distracted by the audience (and perhaps you yourself) repeating those key words after him.

Let me again attach the video here, and break down the final portion of what he said and you can then see his “logic” better and understand what his main point was:

Today, you’ve got men fighting God’s LAW … in church! And they say that the LAW is done away with.

Now if you do away with the LAW, the bible says that where there is no LAW, there is no SIN.

And if you do away with sin, you don’t need GRACE, which is pardon for SIN which is breaking the LAW.

And if you don’t need GRACE, you certainly don’t need a SAVIOUR who died that we might have GRACE, which is pardon for SIN which is breaking the LAW.

And in that case, you don’t need a GOSPEL because it is the story of a SAVIOUR who died that we might have GRACE, which is pardon for SIN which is breaking the LAW.

And if that be true, what in the world do you need a PREACHER, and if you don’t need him, you might as well throw away the CHURCH.

Now, do you understand what that preacher is trying to say? He is saying that the church needs God’s LAW and if the LAW is done away with (which is what GRACE preachers are preaching), then ultimately (based on his above logic)the CHURCH should be done away with too.

What that preacher demonstrated in the video is deceptively persuasive and seems logical at first glance BUT his logic is flawed because he did not understand (and therefore did not explain) how and why the Law was done away with.

In the video, the preacher brought all seven children up onto the stage together, and named them from right to left:

1. SIN

2. LAW

3. GRACE

4. SAVIOUR

5. GOSPEL

6. PREACHER

7. CHURCH

If I were to do the video, I would not have brought all seven children up onto the stage together. As I don’t have the time and resources to make a real video, imagine with me as I walk you through my video:

Scene 1:

I would bring only the first child up and introduce her: “This is SIN. SIN entered the world through Adam, and Death entered the world through SIN but because the LAW had not yet come, SIN was not charged to men’s account as there was no law to transgress.”

¹² Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— ¹³ (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.)

Romans 5:12-13 (NKJV)

Scene 2:

The second child comes up to join the first child: “This is the LAW. God gave the LAW so that men can see how truly sinful they were. The LAW is holy but it cannot make you righteous; it only makes you conscious of SIN. The LAW was also given to lead us to Christ, the personification of God’s GRACE.”

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

Romans 3:20 (NIV)

So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.

Gal 3:24 (NIV)

Scene 3:

The third child comes up to join the first two children: “This is GRACE. God found fault with the covenant of LAW as it only brought death to men. The LAW cannot make men righteous and so He decided to cut another covenant to replace the LAW. This is the covenant of GRACE.”

²¹ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Romans 3:21-24 (NKJV)

¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

John 1:17 (NIV)

Scene 4:

The fourth child joins the other 3 children: “This is the SAVIOUR. God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Saviour of the world. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.”

²He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 2:2 (NIV)

Scene 5:

The first and second child ie. SIN and LAW leave the stage while the third and fourth child ie. GRACE and SAVIOUR stay: “Christ, through his finished work on the cross, has fulfilled the LAW and therefore the covenant of the LAW is done away with. It has been made obsolete and replaced by the covenant of GRACE. SIN has also been done away with because through His once and for all sacrifice, Christ has paid the penalty for and taken away the sin of the world.”

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:29 (NIV)

¹The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.

¹¹Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹²But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. ¹³Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, ¹⁴because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Hebrews 10:1, 11-14 (NIV)

⁶ But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

⁷ If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.

Hebrews 8:6-7 (NLT)

Scene 6:

The five and sixth child ie. GOSPEL and PREACHER join the third and fourth child ie. GRACE and SAVIOUR on stage: “This is the GOSPEL, the good news that we are forever made perfect in God’s eyes because we are in Christ. It is not about what we must do to get right with God but all about what the SAVIOUR has done on the cross. We are made righteous through faith in Christ, not through obeying the LAW. We don’t deserve it but God sacrificed His only Son, Jesus Christ to reconcile Himself with us. We just need to receive this GRACE to reconcile ourselves with Him. The PREACHER has to preach this GOSPEL so that all can receive His GRACE.”

¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. ¹¹As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." ¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

¹⁴How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Romans 10:10-15

Scene 7:

The seventh child ie. CHURCH joins the third, fourth, fifth and sixth child on stage: “Those who believe the GOSPEL are the CHURCH. The CHURCH will grow stronger and stronger, and larger and larger as more and more people listen to the PREACHER preach, and believe the GOSPEL of Christ Jesus, our SAVIOUR and personification of God’s GRACE who died on the cross, fulfilling the requirements of the LAW, and paid the penalty for and took away the SIN of the world.”

¹⁷"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Matt 5:17 (NIV)

⁹The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁰Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:9-10 (NIV)

¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17 (NIV)

At the end of the video, there are only 5 children left on stage; the first two ie. SIN and LAW have been done away with because of the finished work of the cross ….. and 5 is the number of GRACE.

Do You Agree With What This Preacher Is Saying?

2009-08-30T09:57:00.001+08:00

The Naked Gospel - Videos

2009-08-28T09:04:00.000+08:00

The Naked Gospel

2009-08-27T10:44:00.000+08:00

A friend's friend on Facebook recommended this ebook "The Naked Gospel" by Andrew Farley which I have downloaded here (authorization code is farley).

About The Book
Jesus plus nothing. 100% natural. No additives.It's the truth you may never hear in church. The Naked Gospel is a chapter-by-chapter assault on the churchy jargon and double talk of our day. It puts forth a message that is simple but life-changing. With a fresh take on Scripture and unapologetic style, The Naked Gospel will challenge you to re-examine everything you thought you already knew.

Some quotes which I liked in the book:

"Many Christians still walk in Old Covenant bondage.
Regarding the law as Divine ordinance for our direction,
they consider themselves prepared and fitted by conversion to
take up the fulfillment of the law as a natural duty."
Andrew Murray (1828 -1917)

"The Cross is the central event in time and eternity,
and the answer to all the problems of both."
Oswald Chambers (1874 -1917)

"Do not let us consider ourselves as far off when
God has made us one with him."
Hudson Taylor (1832 - 1905)

"Let us remember that [God] is holy and he is righteous,
and that a holy and righteous God has the right to say that
the blood is acceptable in his eyes and has fully satisfied him."
Watchman Nee (1903 - 1972)

"If you will but trust Christ,
not only for the death he died in order to redeem you,
but also for the life that he lives
and waits to live through you,
the very next step you take will be
a step taken in the very energy and power of God himself."
Major W. Ian Thomas (1914 - 2007)

Is Victory Achieved Or Received? (2)

2009-08-21T10:50:00.004+08:00

In my previous post, I shared with you my personal experience of receiving victory but we must base our belief on the truth found in the bible, and not personal experience though our experience confirms the truth.

In 2 Chronicles chapters 14 to 16, we see two contrasting victories experienced in the life of King Asa of Judah; one victory was received while the other was achieved.

In 2 Chron 14:8, we read that King Asa had a well-equipped army of 300,000 brave fighting men but when Zerah the Cushite led his army to attack Judah (v9), King Asa did not rely on his military strength; instead, we see in v11 that King Asa prayed to God, relying on God for deliverance and most importantly, King Asa saw that the Cushites were coming not just against his people but in reality also against God Himself - "Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you.""

After King Asa handed the battle over to God, he received his victory - "¹² The LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, ¹³ and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the LORD and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder. ¹⁴ They destroyed all the villages around Gerar, for the terror of the LORD had fallen upon them. They plundered all these villages, since there was much booty there. ¹⁵ They also attacked the camps of the herdsmen and carried off droves of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem." (2 Chron 14:12-15)

However, King Asa did not just receive victory for this one battle, in fact he received much more than that: 2 Chron 15:1-2 -"¹ The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. ² He went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. "

King Asa, encouraged by God's promise, destroyed all the idols in his land and repaired the altar of the LORD. He led his people to enter "into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the LORD gave them rest on every side." (2 Chron 15:12,15)

God gave King Asa and his people rest for twenty years for "there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign." (2 Chron 15:19) What happened after the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign?

In the thirty-sixth year of King Asa's reign, Baasha King of Israel laid siege on Judah; he "fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah. " (2 Chron 16:1)

This time, instead of relying on God for victory, King Asa tried to achieve his own victory by entering into a treaty with a heathen king. King Asa gave silver and gold from the treasuries of the LORD's temple to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, asking him to break his treaty with Baasha king of Israel. Ben-Hadad agreed and sent commanders to attack all the store cities of Naphtali, so Baasha had no choice but to abandon Ramah and return to Israel. "Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using. With them he built up Geba and Mizpah." (2 Chron 16:6)

It seems that King Asa won, doesn't it? He was even able to build up two cities with the stones and timber that Baasha left behind at Ramah. However, this was not a true victory as King Asa had to pay a heavy price for it: 2 Chron 16:7-9 - "At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: "Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.""

King Asa received his victory over the Cushites from the LORD and he had peace for twenty years but he achieved his "victory" over Baasha using his own means and lost the peace he had enjoyed for twenty years. In fact, three years later, in the thirty-ninth of his reign he was afflicted with a severe disease in his feet but "even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians" and he died in the forty-first year of his reign. (2 Chron 16:12-13)

Is it easy to receive victory? Yes and No.

Yes, because victory is sure and complete since it is God who gives you the victory and hence He does ALL the work.

No, because we have to rest to receive victory and our default mode is we want to work. Like what King Asa did against Baasha, we naturally want to be doing something, and sometimes in our desperation to get out of a sticky situation, even anything, just to see a slight change in our circumstances.

Many of us tend to look to God as a last resort; we seek His help only after we have tried to do something about our situation and later realized that there is nothing more we can do. Let us change our mindset and look to God as a FIRST resort from now on.

Let us receive victory. Amen?

Is Victory Achieved Or Received? (1)

2009-08-18T10:08:00.003+08:00

Those of you who have read my earlier posts "Musings of the Ice Kacang Man" would already know about the dessert stall opened by my ex-landlord's relative just 2 doors away from my present location. On Monday 27 July, my ex-landlord took advantage of the fact that the first dessert stall is usually closed on Mondays and changed the locks on the shutter gate of his stall. I heard from various sources that my ex-landlord is taking back his stall because he is owed at least 2 months of rentals and utilities bills and he is not likely to get paid anytime soon. Anyway, that stall has not opened since then.

I have been looking forward to the day of that stall's demise but that stall seemed to be prospering and I was not hopeful of seeing it closed down anytime soon. Two months ago, I read Andrew Wommack's book "A Better Way To Pray" and he taught that we have to speak to our mountain based on Mark 11:23 (and also Matt 21:21) and tell it to move. I applied that teaching and as I walked past that stall, I spoke to it and told it to move and be gone.

After that stall closed down, I heard from someone that actually my ex-landlord wanted to take back his stall two months ago but his relative managed to stump up some money to pay him and he delayed his action. Is it a coincidence that it was then that I spoke to that mountain? I don't think so. I believe that the Holy Spirit is teaching me to receive the victory that God has already given me by following the spiritual principles that He has set up and speak to that mountain.

Am I writing all this to gloat over the closure of the first dessert stall? NO, I just want you to know that God is faithful even though the answer seems a long time coming (in my case, it's 22 months), and that victory is received, not achieved.

Based on my observation and also from feedback of one of my suppliers (who also supply to that first stall), that stall's business turnover is rather good, at least about the same as mine, if not better but why is it that they do not have the money to pay my ex-landlord? I don't know the reason but it shows that their demise is NOT because of my stall snatching business away from them.

When the first stall opened, well-meaning friends have suggested to me various ways and means to counter their presence. One suggested displaying a banner at the staircase leading up to the food centre, one suggested printing and distributing flyers or offer discounts (the first stall waived extra charges for take-away containers for those who bought 3 or more desserts) while some have suggested selling unique desserts that they saw at some famous dessert stalls.

I did none of these but merely added some menu items that the first stall was offering and a few more hot desserts so that customers can have more dessert choices. You see, the first stall installed a "Thai prosperity god" inside the stall, and immediately I saw this as a challenge to Daddy God and I believe Daddy God has already won. I do not need to fight for my victory for the battle is the Lord's (1 Sam 17:47). Of course, during these past 22 months, my faith wavered according to what my eyes saw (up when the first stall got poor business and down when they have long queues). We are supposed to walk by faith and not by sight but this is easier said than done because our eyes do see and we naturally react according to what we see.

When I saw long queues at that stall, sometimes I would get so frustrated and wondered why the wicked can profit at the expense of the righteous. As you can see, I am not at that level yet where I can see and not be affected, so I did the next best thing ... I refused to see. I would retreat into my stall and listen to Pastor Prince's sermons, and listen and listen and listen until faith rises up again. Now, I understand why Romans 10:17 says "faith comes by hearing (not seeing), and hearing by the word of Christ" (words in brackets mine).

Anyway, this also shows that I am not the one who defeated the first stall since they enjoyed good business. I don't know how and why they closed down despite good business but I thank you, Daddy God because "no one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse" (Psalm 25:3). So far, I have been telling you from my personal experience that victory is received and not achieved but I shall share with you from the bible, the basis for this in my next post.

By the way, I have heard from another source that my ex-landlord wants to rent out his stall again for dessert business so as not to waste the equipment already installed inside. After I heard that, like what Jesus did to that fig tree, I walked over to that stall and spoke to it: "No dessert stall shall spring forth from you ever again, in Jesus' name."

I am ready to receive victory once again.

Catching Attention

2009-08-06T10:39:00.002+08:00

I adjusted my blog's layout on Tuesday after feedback from Sarah during Monday's Grace United fellowship. She said that the layout was a bit messy making it difficult for her to find what she wanted. She said that she reads my blog because she knows me but would have otherwise skipped it because she would not have bothered to navigate through the layout.

I explained to her that I calibrated my layout to fit my 19inch LCD screen nicely so that all the most important items/links are displayed on the screen when my web page is opened. She replied that she accesses my page from her notebook/laptop which has a smaller screen and that many people use laptops/notebooks/netbooks nowadays. I knew this but it did not cross my mind to design my blog to suit smaller screens because I am looking at it everyday on my bigger screen.

I spent 2 hours adjusting the sizes of pictures and columns and rearranging the positions of widgets hoping that the web page will be suitable for smaller screens and still look good on a bigger screen. The contents of my blog remain the same but the presentation has been adjusted to try to reach a bigger audience.

I realized that it is the same with the gospel. Many people think that preachers like Andrew Wommack, Joel Osteen and Joseph Prince (just to name a few) are changing the gospel to reach more people but it is not true. The gospel message remains the same but they are merely adjusting the style of presentation to catch the attention of the generation which is very different from the previous one ... the generation which is constantly online and has access to all sorts of information and misinformation instantly ... the generation which has such a short attention span that it is vital for the gospel to be packaged in a way that can catch and hold their attention.

One of the ways to catch their attention is through music. Hillsong United is a good example of "preaching" the gospel in a manner that this new generation can relate to. Last month, New Creation Church organized a concert by Hillsong United which 5,000 youths attended and many went forward to receive Christ as their Lord and Saviour at the concert (Mal blogged about it here).

Pastor Prince said sometime ago that he decided to dress a little bit more casually (eg. no more ties) to appear more relevant to the youths ... no, he did not change the gospel message ... he only changed his wardrobe. Some people have used his dress style as a point of criticism against him (some mockingly label him "Korean-fashioned"), implying that this showed that he is not preaching the true gospel. They have mistaken the wrapping paper and the box for the gift.

If you have managed to read up to this point, I thank you for paying attention to what I have said. I know it is not easy to catch your attention ;-)