Thursday, 31st July 2008
I was in church a couple of Sundays ago (on 20 Jul 08), and the sermon was so anointed that I was tearing throughout. The pastor was preaching on Mk 12:41-44 and explained that it was the realness and bigness of how the poor widow viewed her God that caused her to put in all that she had into the Treasury.
You can hear this sermon (entitled "What Do You Believe") and other anointed sermons here.
But the crescendo came at the end when he spoke about another person who also understood the realness and bigness of his God. He was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago and given just 6 months to live. What he did in response was to write a song in worship and praise to his God and he is alive today to testify as to how real and big his God is.
When I watched the video and meditated on the words, I was sobbing throughout the song. Thankfully, the music was pretty loud so those around me did not realise it :-p
The song is called Healer and it is sung by Mike Guglielmucci. It resonates so deeply in me because I claim everyone of those words for my son...
“Healer” — Mike Guglielmucci
You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in You
I trust in You
I believe You’re my Healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You’re my Portion
I believe You’re more than enough for me
Jesus You’re all I need
My Healer, You’re my Healer
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands
Dogfight Averted
Wednesday, 30th July 2008
When I picked up the Sunday Times on the
morning of 20th July 2008, the first thing that caught my eye was the virtual catfight between Dawn Yang and Xiaxue.
(For those who are not yet aware, these 2 are Singapore's hottest bloggers who average several thousand hits per day, so the hundred or so daily visits to ROOTSS really pales in comparison).
Anyway, it seems like Xiaxue had written some defamatory remarks about Dawn, and the latter has now demanded a public apology from the former, as well as unspecified damages.
As I thought about this, I realised that there were striking parallels to the situation that happened to me several weeks ago, which you can read about in the trilogy below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The fundamental difference in my case, I suppose, is that God's ways are always higher than our ways, and He gave me the strength and courage to forgive the person who wronged me. He continues to minister to me each day, especially when the devil keeps reminding me that until this day, that person has not shown any signs of remorse nor expressed his gratitude for my letting him off the hook, so to speak.
Who knows, had I not submitted to the Lord, and instead insisted on going ahead with legal action, it could have been his face and mine that ended up being splashed all over the front page of the New Paper. Thank God for His timely intervention, Amen?
When I picked up the Sunday Times on the
morning of 20th July 2008, the first thing that caught my eye was the virtual catfight between Dawn Yang and Xiaxue.(For those who are not yet aware, these 2 are Singapore's hottest bloggers who average several thousand hits per day, so the hundred or so daily visits to ROOTSS really pales in comparison).
Anyway, it seems like Xiaxue had written some defamatory remarks about Dawn, and the latter has now demanded a public apology from the former, as well as unspecified damages.
As I thought about this, I realised that there were striking parallels to the situation that happened to me several weeks ago, which you can read about in the trilogy below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The fundamental difference in my case, I suppose, is that God's ways are always higher than our ways, and He gave me the strength and courage to forgive the person who wronged me. He continues to minister to me each day, especially when the devil keeps reminding me that until this day, that person has not shown any signs of remorse nor expressed his gratitude for my letting him off the hook, so to speak.
Who knows, had I not submitted to the Lord, and instead insisted on going ahead with legal action, it could have been his face and mine that ended up being splashed all over the front page of the New Paper. Thank God for His timely intervention, Amen?
Confused Sheep Disease
Tuesday, 29th July 2008
Several years ago, there was a disease that manifested called Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). More commonly referred to as "mad cow disease", this happened because greedy humans who in the hope of making their cattle more productive, started giving them commercial feeds which contained hormones and protein supplements. This caused the cows to develop BSE, which is infectious. In order to prevent an epidemic from spreading, a total of 4.4million cows had to be slaughtered in Britain alone.
So much for men trying to be smarter than God. Our creator had designed cows to be herbivores, and when scientists think they know better, they realise that even the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.
Well, there is now a disease that is more subtle yet deadlier than "mad cow disease", and that is "confiused sheep disease". God had designed sheep to be fed the purity of the message of grace. However, some people think they are cleverer than God and are feeding their flock a mixture of law and grace. What results are sheep that are spiritually weak and confused. Worse yet, because they are being fed "the ministry of death written and engraved on stones".
If there is something worse than a spiritual famine, and that is spiritual food-poisoning. And the harmful effects sometimes takes several years to reverse. I have heard so many testimonies of sheep having to first unlearn the wrong before they could learn the right.
Let us continue to pray that God will intervene in a mighty way to prevent the further spread of Confused Sheep Disease. Amen?
Several years ago, there was a disease that manifested called Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). More commonly referred to as "mad cow disease", this happened because greedy humans who in the hope of making their cattle more productive, started giving them commercial feeds which contained hormones and protein supplements. This caused the cows to develop BSE, which is infectious. In order to prevent an epidemic from spreading, a total of 4.4million cows had to be slaughtered in Britain alone.
So much for men trying to be smarter than God. Our creator had designed cows to be herbivores, and when scientists think they know better, they realise that even the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.
Well, there is now a disease that is more subtle yet deadlier than "mad cow disease", and that is "confiused sheep disease". God had designed sheep to be fed the purity of the message of grace. However, some people think they are cleverer than God and are feeding their flock a mixture of law and grace. What results are sheep that are spiritually weak and confused. Worse yet, because they are being fed "the ministry of death written and engraved on stones".
If there is something worse than a spiritual famine, and that is spiritual food-poisoning. And the harmful effects sometimes takes several years to reverse. I have heard so many testimonies of sheep having to first unlearn the wrong before they could learn the right.
Let us continue to pray that God will intervene in a mighty way to prevent the further spread of Confused Sheep Disease. Amen?
Missions and Evangelism
Monday, 28th July 2008
As a youth growing up, whenever someone mentioned the words "missions and evangelism", I would picture having to give up the comforts of one's home to venture into the innermost jungles of Africa in order to bring the good news to the unreached.
Whenever I heard a sermon about the Great Commission, I would feel a sense of guilt and inferiority, especially when it mentioned martyrs like Jim Elliot who nobly and bravely gave up his life in the course of spiritual battle.
In the first 35 years of my life, I remember bringing only one person to Christ, and would feel envious of those who could share about their faith with others so easily.
Well, one of the results of embracing the grace gospel is that missions and evangelism have suddenly become part and parcel of everyday life, because it is God that puts me in the right place at the right time, and gives me wisdom to somehow bring up the gospel in a natural and non-threatening manner.
This started happening in November 2007 when I was attending my nephew's birthday party. My brother-in-law was steep in Buddhism at that point of time, and used to have statues of Buddha and the like all over his house. Somehow, we got to talking over dinner, during which he mentioned he saw Ps Prince and his family when he was holidaying in Australia. (He recognised Ps Prince because he saw Destined to Reign on sale at the Times Bookshop outlet at the Airport). One thing led to another, and I was soon sharing with him what God had been doing in my life. To cut a long story short, 8 months later, his entire family is now attending New Creation Church! Hallelujah!
With effect from 1 April 2008, I am now with a Canadian company which office is located in the heart of Raffles Place. While my previous workplace had colleagues who were mainly down-to-earth Mandarin-speaking heartlanders, many of my current colleagues are English-speaking intellectuals who may have attended church at some point of their life or another.
And that was when it dawned upon me what God's plans are for me at this stage of my life! It was at my previous company that a colleague introduced me to the gospel of grace. Now that I have been firmly entrenched and rooted in it, God has now placed me in the midst of people who can identify with the journey I have been through, and be shown the way back into the fold.
There is this particular colleague whose name is spelt the Biblical way, so I asked her casually how she got her name. She revealed that she used to attend a Baptist church until the age of 22, and have stopped attending it ever since. She even remarked that she has “attended church long enough to last her lifetime”.
A week ago, I shared with her about my being a Methodist for nearly 3 decades and how only recently had I begun to understand what the true gospel was all about. I also told her that many well-meaning Christians folks give up going to church because there were just too many rules and regulations imposed upon them. This seems to resonate with her, and she ended up asking whether she could borrow some Ps Prince sermons to listen to.
I was prompted to lend her "See The Father's Love for You", which is about the Prodigal Son, and she told me that she really enjoyed the sermon, especially the part about there being "music and dancing in the Father's house". Not only that, her preconceived stereotyping of pastors being boring and legalistic has changed because she saw one that was humorous and looked sharp in an Armani suit. Praise the Lord!
As I reflected upon this, I realise that missions and evangelism can be carried out without one sounding "preachy" or being "churchy". Rather, it is something really exciting and effortless! My mission is to make known that Christianity is more than just a religion that is practiced on a Sunday, but is a relationship with a true and living God who is relevant and practical for everyday living. And evangelism is being a messenger of that good news.
And so, I have placed on a shelf in my room, in between the book on Consolidated Accounts Singapore and the English-Chinese dictionary, several Ps Prince's CD and DVD sermons, which will come in handy the next time another opportunity to witness arises. Hallelujah!
As a youth growing up, whenever someone mentioned the words "missions and evangelism", I would picture having to give up the comforts of one's home to venture into the innermost jungles of Africa in order to bring the good news to the unreached.
Whenever I heard a sermon about the Great Commission, I would feel a sense of guilt and inferiority, especially when it mentioned martyrs like Jim Elliot who nobly and bravely gave up his life in the course of spiritual battle.
In the first 35 years of my life, I remember bringing only one person to Christ, and would feel envious of those who could share about their faith with others so easily.
Well, one of the results of embracing the grace gospel is that missions and evangelism have suddenly become part and parcel of everyday life, because it is God that puts me in the right place at the right time, and gives me wisdom to somehow bring up the gospel in a natural and non-threatening manner.
This started happening in November 2007 when I was attending my nephew's birthday party. My brother-in-law was steep in Buddhism at that point of time, and used to have statues of Buddha and the like all over his house. Somehow, we got to talking over dinner, during which he mentioned he saw Ps Prince and his family when he was holidaying in Australia. (He recognised Ps Prince because he saw Destined to Reign on sale at the Times Bookshop outlet at the Airport). One thing led to another, and I was soon sharing with him what God had been doing in my life. To cut a long story short, 8 months later, his entire family is now attending New Creation Church! Hallelujah!
With effect from 1 April 2008, I am now with a Canadian company which office is located in the heart of Raffles Place. While my previous workplace had colleagues who were mainly down-to-earth Mandarin-speaking heartlanders, many of my current colleagues are English-speaking intellectuals who may have attended church at some point of their life or another.
And that was when it dawned upon me what God's plans are for me at this stage of my life! It was at my previous company that a colleague introduced me to the gospel of grace. Now that I have been firmly entrenched and rooted in it, God has now placed me in the midst of people who can identify with the journey I have been through, and be shown the way back into the fold.
There is this particular colleague whose name is spelt the Biblical way, so I asked her casually how she got her name. She revealed that she used to attend a Baptist church until the age of 22, and have stopped attending it ever since. She even remarked that she has “attended church long enough to last her lifetime”.
A week ago, I shared with her about my being a Methodist for nearly 3 decades and how only recently had I begun to understand what the true gospel was all about. I also told her that many well-meaning Christians folks give up going to church because there were just too many rules and regulations imposed upon them. This seems to resonate with her, and she ended up asking whether she could borrow some Ps Prince sermons to listen to.
I was prompted to lend her "See The Father's Love for You", which is about the Prodigal Son, and she told me that she really enjoyed the sermon, especially the part about there being "music and dancing in the Father's house". Not only that, her preconceived stereotyping of pastors being boring and legalistic has changed because she saw one that was humorous and looked sharp in an Armani suit. Praise the Lord!
As I reflected upon this, I realise that missions and evangelism can be carried out without one sounding "preachy" or being "churchy". Rather, it is something really exciting and effortless! My mission is to make known that Christianity is more than just a religion that is practiced on a Sunday, but is a relationship with a true and living God who is relevant and practical for everyday living. And evangelism is being a messenger of that good news.
And so, I have placed on a shelf in my room, in between the book on Consolidated Accounts Singapore and the English-Chinese dictionary, several Ps Prince's CD and DVD sermons, which will come in handy the next time another opportunity to witness arises. Hallelujah!
More Pearls of Wisdom
Sunday, 27th July 2008
Here are more pearls of wisdom from Bathsarah. Here was what she wrote in relation to my response to Dr Gordon Wong...
From: Bathsarah
Sent: Tuesday, 15 July, 2008 11:03 PM
To: mloh77@starhub.net.sg
Subject: On Healing
Dear Bro Malcolm,
First of all, way to go, bro! (regarding the issue of forgiving the person who maligned you.)
I am compelled by your posts on the Methodist Pastor's review of D2R to share with you my 2cents regarding the issue of Healing and Health. I have had 'heated discussion' with a close friend (who had gone for several courses in Bible Colleges) over this issue. Same-o, same-o. She insisted that God does not heal everyone and implied that she knew the Bible better than I did.
I feel very strongly against such teachings (not just in the area of healing) because there was a period of time when I turned my back against God because I was so angry with Him. I felt that He was a very unfair, supreme being. Yes, I knew He existed, I knew that turning my back means ending in eternal damnation, but I felt that I would rather die than to live under the tyranny of an unjust God. Why unjust? Cos I felt that He kept changing the 'rules of the game' (so to speak).
I was very frustrated because at that point in time, I was going through a lot of trials and when seeking for answers, I got loads of answers that were no real help because they were so out of the can. I was frustrated because there is no way to 'win'.
Let me explain. I actually told God : "if things turn out well, You get the credit; if things turn out bad, 'You work in mysterious ways' and have a purpose for it. You win loh (the hokkien way of saying it.)". Frankly, even when it comes to friendship with another human being, I cannot stand a person who is two-faced like that. Who can? Everyone wants a friend who has integrity, you know his character and you know his words mean something and not change with the direction of the wind.
I feel that people who give two-faced arguments like that are usually doing out of defence for God because there are things happening around them that they cannot explain. That's why they try to justify God by coming up with their own explanation. They find a few obscure Scriptures to support their arguments, ignoring the greater majority that speak otherwise.
In the end, they are all men's arguments. It is laughable that God needs our defence, as if He screwed up somewhere and we have to try to cover up for him. But most people, preachers included, don't have the guts to say 'I don't know why it didn't happen for so-and-so but I still believe the Bible is true'.
It was only when I attended NCC that I began to learn about God's unchanging nature, who He is, what is His love. It brought so much stability into my life because I now know the 'rules of the game' and the game won't change from one moment basket ball to another moment netball (depending on which is more favourable to God). So to me, even if I have a disease (God forbid!), and I end up in the grave because of it, I will believe God for healing and pray for healing until the very end.
If I die from it, it is not loss for death has no more sting for believers. I get to see God face-to-face to find out why. I won't, for a moment, decide that maybe God does not heal everyone after all. I guess you can say that what is more important to me is to know that God is the same, yesterday, today and forever, than to find an explanation for situations I don't understand. Let God be true and every man a liar.
Oh, before I forget, Pastor Prince did explain about the thorn in the flesh thingy, using Bible interpret Bible principle. There was something in the Old Testament. Sorry, I cannot remember now because it was very, very long time ago. Maybe you can go and search it out yourself. Or ask some old time NCC people who may remember.
Lastly, just to share with you something I said to a sister from another church who asked me about law and grace, the usual stuff. I told her something to the effect of : I cannot argue theology because I don't go to seminary and bible schools. But one thing I know : ever since I attended NCC (ie ever since I learned about Grace), my spiritual life has been more stable (vs the perpetual backsliding and repenting), my life is more stable, I know God better, I love Him more, I have a closer relationship with Him, I am a better person.
Res ipsa loquitur.
Bathsarah
From: Malcolm Loh
To: Bathsarah
Sent: Wednesday, 16 July, 2008 4:50 AM
Subject: On Healing
Hi Bathsarah
Thanks sis. What you wrote to me the last time helped me to see beyond my flesh and from God's perspective. As you can see, even after listening to the grace gospel for 3 years, I am still very much a work-in-progress.
It is uncanny to read what you have written about healing; it was as if I wrote those things myself :-)
Say, I really feel that you should share your thoughts on my blog, because it is going to edify a lot of readers. I will leave out your surname so that you can still retain some privacy. Please reconsider. Who knows, taking this small step may be the first on the road to you becoming a teacher or exhorter standing up in front of hundreds to share His Word...
To be fair to Rev Dr Wong, he was sincere enough to reply to me, and we have arranged to meet up for lunch. After all, the gospel of grace should not be an intellectual argument where one wins and the other loses, but a heartfelt experience that results in life transformation.
Shalom
Malcolm
From: Bathsarah
Sent: Thursday, 17 July, 2008 11:21 PM
To: mloh77@starhub.net.sg Subject: On Healing
Hi Malcolm,
Since Pastor Prince mentioned a few weeks back that shy-ness is still consciousness of self, I will take a step of faith and agree to let you quote me on your blog, on the condition of not mentioning name. Give me grace lah. I am taking one baby step at a time. : P *heart palpitation* I have been thinking of this shy-ness issue because it seems contradictory cos i am not totally, completely a recluse and have my little bit of limelight some times. Still trying to analyze what kind of situation gives me problem. I guess it is confrontation that I am most afraid of. But then, this is plain rabbit trail.......sorry...
Anyway, regarding Rev Wong, I am completely ok with what he wrote. In fact, pleasantly surprised that it wasn't one of those flaming thing that seeks to tear down. I can also understand his areas of concern and understand where he comes from. So it is ok actually.
It is interesting to note how a Methodist brain is wired differently from a Charismatic one. : ) It seems to me that Methodists use a lot of 'brain power' and analyze things quite a lot, but seem to have a bit more difficulty accepting things at the spiritual level (i am using the terms loosely, so please don't get me wrong). Since I am at it, let me share this little incident as an illustration :
A few weeks back, when Pastor Prince was away for 2 weeks, during that period, I was absent from church cos kids were sick, etc. During one of those time I was seeking the Lord , I came across the anointing oil in the Bible and remembered Pastor mentioned before about the Indonesian church and their practice of using the oil. I was wondering how come he has never preached anything about it at all. I wanted so much to learn more about it. So I prayed and ask God to get Pastor Prince to teach on the anointing oil. Lo and behold, the first week he was back in church (as was I), he preached on the anointing oil! However, I can't say I completely understood the sermon even now.
I still feel I need more from the Bible or better clarity, so I am listening to the sermons again and again. In the mean time, I am able to accept it at faith level and practise the use of it even without a complete understanding of it. I guess a Methodist mind would want to understand everything first before putting into action?
Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying which is better. It is just an observation. Maybe that's why we need all kinds of churches around, to meet the needs of all kinds of people. It would be great if our individual strengths would rub off on each other. Then we will all be nicely balanced. : )
Bathsarah
From: Malcolm Loh
To: Bathsarah
Sent: Friday, 18 July, 2008 6:50 AM
Subject: On Healing
Hi Bathsarah
Attagirl, that's the spirit! Guess what my latest blog entries are?
Who knows, maybe people will be reading ROOTSS more so that they can get pearls of wisdom from you...
By the way, followers of Wesley were called Methodists because we are very systematic and methodical. While this is good to maintain some degree of law and order, the downside is that we tend to engage our mind first before we engage our heart. I remember being invited by a college classmate to an AG church as a youth, and felt extremely uncomfortable when people started speaking and praying in tongues. I told myself I would never step into another charismatic church. But hey, God knows better....
Here are more pearls of wisdom from Bathsarah. Here was what she wrote in relation to my response to Dr Gordon Wong...
From: Bathsarah
Sent: Tuesday, 15 July, 2008 11:03 PM
To: mloh77@starhub.net.sg
Subject: On Healing
Dear Bro Malcolm,
First of all, way to go, bro! (regarding the issue of forgiving the person who maligned you.)
I am compelled by your posts on the Methodist Pastor's review of D2R to share with you my 2cents regarding the issue of Healing and Health. I have had 'heated discussion' with a close friend (who had gone for several courses in Bible Colleges) over this issue. Same-o, same-o. She insisted that God does not heal everyone and implied that she knew the Bible better than I did.
I feel very strongly against such teachings (not just in the area of healing) because there was a period of time when I turned my back against God because I was so angry with Him. I felt that He was a very unfair, supreme being. Yes, I knew He existed, I knew that turning my back means ending in eternal damnation, but I felt that I would rather die than to live under the tyranny of an unjust God. Why unjust? Cos I felt that He kept changing the 'rules of the game' (so to speak).
I was very frustrated because at that point in time, I was going through a lot of trials and when seeking for answers, I got loads of answers that were no real help because they were so out of the can. I was frustrated because there is no way to 'win'.
Let me explain. I actually told God : "if things turn out well, You get the credit; if things turn out bad, 'You work in mysterious ways' and have a purpose for it. You win loh (the hokkien way of saying it.)". Frankly, even when it comes to friendship with another human being, I cannot stand a person who is two-faced like that. Who can? Everyone wants a friend who has integrity, you know his character and you know his words mean something and not change with the direction of the wind.
I feel that people who give two-faced arguments like that are usually doing out of defence for God because there are things happening around them that they cannot explain. That's why they try to justify God by coming up with their own explanation. They find a few obscure Scriptures to support their arguments, ignoring the greater majority that speak otherwise.
In the end, they are all men's arguments. It is laughable that God needs our defence, as if He screwed up somewhere and we have to try to cover up for him. But most people, preachers included, don't have the guts to say 'I don't know why it didn't happen for so-and-so but I still believe the Bible is true'.
It was only when I attended NCC that I began to learn about God's unchanging nature, who He is, what is His love. It brought so much stability into my life because I now know the 'rules of the game' and the game won't change from one moment basket ball to another moment netball (depending on which is more favourable to God). So to me, even if I have a disease (God forbid!), and I end up in the grave because of it, I will believe God for healing and pray for healing until the very end.
If I die from it, it is not loss for death has no more sting for believers. I get to see God face-to-face to find out why. I won't, for a moment, decide that maybe God does not heal everyone after all. I guess you can say that what is more important to me is to know that God is the same, yesterday, today and forever, than to find an explanation for situations I don't understand. Let God be true and every man a liar.
Oh, before I forget, Pastor Prince did explain about the thorn in the flesh thingy, using Bible interpret Bible principle. There was something in the Old Testament. Sorry, I cannot remember now because it was very, very long time ago. Maybe you can go and search it out yourself. Or ask some old time NCC people who may remember.
Lastly, just to share with you something I said to a sister from another church who asked me about law and grace, the usual stuff. I told her something to the effect of : I cannot argue theology because I don't go to seminary and bible schools. But one thing I know : ever since I attended NCC (ie ever since I learned about Grace), my spiritual life has been more stable (vs the perpetual backsliding and repenting), my life is more stable, I know God better, I love Him more, I have a closer relationship with Him, I am a better person.
Res ipsa loquitur.
Bathsarah
From: Malcolm Loh
To: Bathsarah
Sent: Wednesday, 16 July, 2008 4:50 AM
Subject: On Healing
Hi Bathsarah
Thanks sis. What you wrote to me the last time helped me to see beyond my flesh and from God's perspective. As you can see, even after listening to the grace gospel for 3 years, I am still very much a work-in-progress.
It is uncanny to read what you have written about healing; it was as if I wrote those things myself :-)
Say, I really feel that you should share your thoughts on my blog, because it is going to edify a lot of readers. I will leave out your surname so that you can still retain some privacy. Please reconsider. Who knows, taking this small step may be the first on the road to you becoming a teacher or exhorter standing up in front of hundreds to share His Word...
To be fair to Rev Dr Wong, he was sincere enough to reply to me, and we have arranged to meet up for lunch. After all, the gospel of grace should not be an intellectual argument where one wins and the other loses, but a heartfelt experience that results in life transformation.
Shalom
Malcolm
From: Bathsarah
Sent: Thursday, 17 July, 2008 11:21 PM
To: mloh77@starhub.net.sg Subject: On Healing
Hi Malcolm,
Since Pastor Prince mentioned a few weeks back that shy-ness is still consciousness of self, I will take a step of faith and agree to let you quote me on your blog, on the condition of not mentioning name. Give me grace lah. I am taking one baby step at a time. : P *heart palpitation* I have been thinking of this shy-ness issue because it seems contradictory cos i am not totally, completely a recluse and have my little bit of limelight some times. Still trying to analyze what kind of situation gives me problem. I guess it is confrontation that I am most afraid of. But then, this is plain rabbit trail.......sorry...
Anyway, regarding Rev Wong, I am completely ok with what he wrote. In fact, pleasantly surprised that it wasn't one of those flaming thing that seeks to tear down. I can also understand his areas of concern and understand where he comes from. So it is ok actually.
It is interesting to note how a Methodist brain is wired differently from a Charismatic one. : ) It seems to me that Methodists use a lot of 'brain power' and analyze things quite a lot, but seem to have a bit more difficulty accepting things at the spiritual level (i am using the terms loosely, so please don't get me wrong). Since I am at it, let me share this little incident as an illustration :
A few weeks back, when Pastor Prince was away for 2 weeks, during that period, I was absent from church cos kids were sick, etc. During one of those time I was seeking the Lord , I came across the anointing oil in the Bible and remembered Pastor mentioned before about the Indonesian church and their practice of using the oil. I was wondering how come he has never preached anything about it at all. I wanted so much to learn more about it. So I prayed and ask God to get Pastor Prince to teach on the anointing oil. Lo and behold, the first week he was back in church (as was I), he preached on the anointing oil! However, I can't say I completely understood the sermon even now.
I still feel I need more from the Bible or better clarity, so I am listening to the sermons again and again. In the mean time, I am able to accept it at faith level and practise the use of it even without a complete understanding of it. I guess a Methodist mind would want to understand everything first before putting into action?
Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying which is better. It is just an observation. Maybe that's why we need all kinds of churches around, to meet the needs of all kinds of people. It would be great if our individual strengths would rub off on each other. Then we will all be nicely balanced. : )
Bathsarah
From: Malcolm Loh
To: Bathsarah
Sent: Friday, 18 July, 2008 6:50 AM
Subject: On Healing
Hi Bathsarah
Attagirl, that's the spirit! Guess what my latest blog entries are?
Who knows, maybe people will be reading ROOTSS more so that they can get pearls of wisdom from you...
By the way, followers of Wesley were called Methodists because we are very systematic and methodical. While this is good to maintain some degree of law and order, the downside is that we tend to engage our mind first before we engage our heart. I remember being invited by a college classmate to an AG church as a youth, and felt extremely uncomfortable when people started speaking and praying in tongues. I told myself I would never step into another charismatic church. But hey, God knows better....
Offline to Online
Saturday, 26th July 2008
I have discovered that there are several readers who have been following ROOTSS faithfully, and I thank the Lord for bringing you into my life at this stage of my journey. As I share my reflections with you and in so doing, allow God to use me to minister to you, God has in turn also used you to minister back to me.
These people would include CybeRanger, Angie, Stanley, Geri, Jeffrey, Dragon, Joo and Mango Chin.
Recently, when I was struggling with unforgiveness, another sister wrote me an email which I found to be very sincere and helped me to see things from another perspective. As I felt it would be edifying to other readers, I sought her permission to reproduce it on ROOTSS, which she declined initially because she does not like publicity. Since then, she has written other emails to me which again resonated deeply in my heart, so I persuaded her again.
Well, praise be to God that she has now taken the bold step of faith to go from offline to online (provided her name is withheld), so here is the first series of email correspondence we had. I will refer to her as Bathsarah, which means daughter of Sarah...
From: Bathsarah
Sent: Saturday, 21 June, 2008 12:02 AM
To: mloh77@starhub.net.sg
Subject: The "Quarrel"
Hi,
You do not know me. I chanced upon your blog and have actually took the trouble to read through almost every single post right from the beginning. After that, I have been following your blog too.
First of all, let me introduce myself. As you can see from the email, my name is Bathsarah. I attend NCC and have been there for a little over 10 years now. When I first came across your blog and read the part where you thought about leaving your own church and joining NCC, I almost emailed you to confirm the prompting in your heart at that time that you should stay on at your own church. God forbid everybody should end up in NCC! LOL! We are already more than overflowing and I need some breathing space! *joke* I thought it was wonderful that you thought of staying on and don't mind telling you that at that time, I felt in my spirit that it was the right thing for you to do.
Your recent post on the Hired Hand Mentality was the push factor that prompted me to actually email you. I read it days ago when it first came up but only felt I should write now. Remember, I have read almost every single one of your posts so I sort of have a feel of your style, (loosely speaking) your train of thought and the events that have happened before. The impression that I get is that the antagonism seem to be increasing rather than the grace of God shining through your life.
I understand your enthusiasm about the grace message. But I have to agree with some of the people who commented on that post (too many 'anonymous'; perhaps you should ban 'anonymous') that some of your post, the Hired Hand included, seem more like veiled accusations than anything. Love is not sarcastic. btw. Remember, I come from the Grace camp. I should be jumping up and down for joy for your 'allegiance'.
I wonder what Pastor Prince will say if he had read all your blog entries, especially on those 'arguments' (we shall not debate about the semantics) with your local church. In fact, I am not sure if you are aware of this but there was one Sunday very recently where he spoke out very strongly against church members who engage in flame wars with people from other churches on the blogsphere. In essence, what he said was that no matter how right we are, if we do that, we are hurting the body of Christ. Hurting the body of Christ is something we should never do and he will never endorse.
Discussing/debating/arguing about grace on the turf of the grace camp (for lack of better description) is one thing. We are pretty much used to it. :P To be at another camp and have the audacity to ask the head of that camp to change his house rule is quite another thing. Remember that no matter what, your pastors are still appointed by God. They are answerable to God. It is not our place to touch the Lord's anointed (remember David and Saul). If what your church teaching is not in line with God's Word, then God will deal with it. As Pastor Prince said, He does not need us to steady the ark for Him.
Yes, you may say that the 'head' of the house is God, and not the man of God, but hey, since God appointed that man of God and not you to lead that church, then I guess it is only right for you to submit to his God-given authority. If you really find it hard to do so, instead of staying in strife and discord, perhaps it is better for you AND your church that you move on to somewhere you feel comfortable with. Otherwise, you may be doing more harm than good.
In your posts, you have subtly and not so subtly accuse your church leaders of many things. Remember who is the Accuser of the Brethren? If we accuse our brethren, are we not partaking in the Devil's work?
Legalists expect overnight behavioural modification. Understanding the Grace of God should make us more understanding, more patient,more loving, more accepting.. Pastor always says to give people time to grow and change slowly. I hope you can extend the same grace towards your church leaders. Arguments don't win souls. Love does.
I hope you don't get offended by my forwardness in emailing you.
Bathsarah
From: Malcolm Loh
Sent: Saturday, 21 June, 2008 6:06 AM
To: Bathsarah
Subject: Re: The "Quarrel"
Hi Bathsarah
Really appreciate your email, as I can see that you have written it out of sincerity.
The frustrations have been building up, and my blog is a means of ventilating. At times, the posts will come across as ungodly and fleshly, but that's my way of being genuine -- I am not a perfect person.
You are so blessed to be in NCC. Many a times, I feel like just giving up and transferring over. I also wish that I could sow into One-North legitimately, but while I remain a PLMC member, that's where my tithe is going.
Please pray for my church and get others to do so as well. Saul/Paul was transformed and I believe deep in my heart that my senior pastor's stand on the grace gospel will one day be changed as well.
Say, is it OK to publish your post on my blog? It will help to keep things in perspective. I will leave out your surname.
From: Bathsarah
Sent: Sunday, 22 June, 2008 6:22 PM
To: mloh77@starhub.net.sg
Subject: The "Quarrel"
Hi Malcolm,
You mean publish my email in entirety? I am not sure I am comfortable with that, mainly because I am extremely uncomfortable with attention. I am not kidding. The thought of it is enough to send my heart racing and my palms sweating. Recently, I met up with an online friend for the first time and trust me, it was a tremendous step of faith. Hope you get what I mean. But I suppose it is ok if you mention about it in your own writing, kind of like summarising the gist.
Since your blog has a following, and has been nominated as 'The Best Christian Blog of the Year', I feel that you should be a little more careful with what you publish. (This is why I prefer LiveJournal as it allows me options to set the privacy setting of individual posts, so some posts are not for public eye.)
I recently studied a little bit on the power of the spoken word and the power of unified speech, mainly based on the teachings of Billye Brim. The Bible has a lot to say regarding the governing of our speech (I guess we can extend to our 'cyber speech' as well). You can catch that series of broadcast from Kenneth Copeland Ministries website :
http://www.kcm.org/media/index.php?p=media
Look for the 'Power of Unified Speech' and 'The Power of the Spoken Word'. Very powerful teaching.
I did my own little study and found this : http://www.jewfaq.org/speech.htm
If nothing else, these are very good for bible knowledge. : )
I can understand your frustration. But I think as it is, it is wonderful you have more in your church who are with you instead of against you. Why not come together in prayer and in love for your church? Do not return evil for evil but return evil for good. Over the years, Pastor Prince received so much persecution for the grace message. Forgive me for being blunt but he would have gotten it worse than what you are getting. But I have never heard a word from his mouth against those people who came against him.
Sure, he has mentioned groups of people in general, e.g. preachers who are preaching legalism in general. But he has never spoken against someone specifically just because that someone did something wrong towards him, especially when it involves another man of God.
I am pretty sure, as human, he would have shared his disappointment and frustration with his close friends and family. But not in the public. I vaguely recall Pastor Mark mentioned that Pastor Prince specially went to bless a particular person's ministry when that person wronged him before.
As for sowing into One North, personally I don't see why you can't sow into One North. I am not saying so just to solicit more funds. First of all, the 10% tithe is for your own local storehouse. You tithe to your own church and rightly so. But there is the offering element that is over and above the 10%. I thought you understood that. Your offering can go anywhere.
For me, I usually give to my church for them to channel to various Kingdom works. Mainly I give to pastors - obeying what the Bible said about giving to those who bring the Word to you - and to missions. I leave the church to channel the funds to the specific pastors or mission work. I do that only because it is the most convenient and also the safest means for sowing my seed. It does not mean that I cannot sow into Kenneth Copeland Ministries, for instance, because I also get some spiritual food from there. So likewise, I don't see why you cannot bring your 10% to your church and sow whatever you like to One North, or to Joseph Prince Ministries.
I also don't see why you can't visit NCC once in a while. So no need to angst over it. : )
Bathsarah
I have discovered that there are several readers who have been following ROOTSS faithfully, and I thank the Lord for bringing you into my life at this stage of my journey. As I share my reflections with you and in so doing, allow God to use me to minister to you, God has in turn also used you to minister back to me.
These people would include CybeRanger, Angie, Stanley, Geri, Jeffrey, Dragon, Joo and Mango Chin.
Recently, when I was struggling with unforgiveness, another sister wrote me an email which I found to be very sincere and helped me to see things from another perspective. As I felt it would be edifying to other readers, I sought her permission to reproduce it on ROOTSS, which she declined initially because she does not like publicity. Since then, she has written other emails to me which again resonated deeply in my heart, so I persuaded her again.
Well, praise be to God that she has now taken the bold step of faith to go from offline to online (provided her name is withheld), so here is the first series of email correspondence we had. I will refer to her as Bathsarah, which means daughter of Sarah...
From: Bathsarah
Sent: Saturday, 21 June, 2008 12:02 AM
To: mloh77@starhub.net.sg
Subject: The "Quarrel"
Hi,
You do not know me. I chanced upon your blog and have actually took the trouble to read through almost every single post right from the beginning. After that, I have been following your blog too.
First of all, let me introduce myself. As you can see from the email, my name is Bathsarah. I attend NCC and have been there for a little over 10 years now. When I first came across your blog and read the part where you thought about leaving your own church and joining NCC, I almost emailed you to confirm the prompting in your heart at that time that you should stay on at your own church. God forbid everybody should end up in NCC! LOL! We are already more than overflowing and I need some breathing space! *joke* I thought it was wonderful that you thought of staying on and don't mind telling you that at that time, I felt in my spirit that it was the right thing for you to do.
Your recent post on the Hired Hand Mentality was the push factor that prompted me to actually email you. I read it days ago when it first came up but only felt I should write now. Remember, I have read almost every single one of your posts so I sort of have a feel of your style, (loosely speaking) your train of thought and the events that have happened before. The impression that I get is that the antagonism seem to be increasing rather than the grace of God shining through your life.
I understand your enthusiasm about the grace message. But I have to agree with some of the people who commented on that post (too many 'anonymous'; perhaps you should ban 'anonymous') that some of your post, the Hired Hand included, seem more like veiled accusations than anything. Love is not sarcastic. btw. Remember, I come from the Grace camp. I should be jumping up and down for joy for your 'allegiance'.
I wonder what Pastor Prince will say if he had read all your blog entries, especially on those 'arguments' (we shall not debate about the semantics) with your local church. In fact, I am not sure if you are aware of this but there was one Sunday very recently where he spoke out very strongly against church members who engage in flame wars with people from other churches on the blogsphere. In essence, what he said was that no matter how right we are, if we do that, we are hurting the body of Christ. Hurting the body of Christ is something we should never do and he will never endorse.
Discussing/debating/arguing about grace on the turf of the grace camp (for lack of better description) is one thing. We are pretty much used to it. :P To be at another camp and have the audacity to ask the head of that camp to change his house rule is quite another thing. Remember that no matter what, your pastors are still appointed by God. They are answerable to God. It is not our place to touch the Lord's anointed (remember David and Saul). If what your church teaching is not in line with God's Word, then God will deal with it. As Pastor Prince said, He does not need us to steady the ark for Him.
Yes, you may say that the 'head' of the house is God, and not the man of God, but hey, since God appointed that man of God and not you to lead that church, then I guess it is only right for you to submit to his God-given authority. If you really find it hard to do so, instead of staying in strife and discord, perhaps it is better for you AND your church that you move on to somewhere you feel comfortable with. Otherwise, you may be doing more harm than good.
In your posts, you have subtly and not so subtly accuse your church leaders of many things. Remember who is the Accuser of the Brethren? If we accuse our brethren, are we not partaking in the Devil's work?
Legalists expect overnight behavioural modification. Understanding the Grace of God should make us more understanding, more patient,more loving, more accepting.. Pastor always says to give people time to grow and change slowly. I hope you can extend the same grace towards your church leaders. Arguments don't win souls. Love does.
I hope you don't get offended by my forwardness in emailing you.
Bathsarah
From: Malcolm Loh
Sent: Saturday, 21 June, 2008 6:06 AM
To: Bathsarah
Subject: Re: The "Quarrel"
Hi Bathsarah
Really appreciate your email, as I can see that you have written it out of sincerity.
The frustrations have been building up, and my blog is a means of ventilating. At times, the posts will come across as ungodly and fleshly, but that's my way of being genuine -- I am not a perfect person.
You are so blessed to be in NCC. Many a times, I feel like just giving up and transferring over. I also wish that I could sow into One-North legitimately, but while I remain a PLMC member, that's where my tithe is going.
Please pray for my church and get others to do so as well. Saul/Paul was transformed and I believe deep in my heart that my senior pastor's stand on the grace gospel will one day be changed as well.
Say, is it OK to publish your post on my blog? It will help to keep things in perspective. I will leave out your surname.
From: Bathsarah
Sent: Sunday, 22 June, 2008 6:22 PM
To: mloh77@starhub.net.sg
Subject: The "Quarrel"
Hi Malcolm,
You mean publish my email in entirety? I am not sure I am comfortable with that, mainly because I am extremely uncomfortable with attention. I am not kidding. The thought of it is enough to send my heart racing and my palms sweating. Recently, I met up with an online friend for the first time and trust me, it was a tremendous step of faith. Hope you get what I mean. But I suppose it is ok if you mention about it in your own writing, kind of like summarising the gist.
Since your blog has a following, and has been nominated as 'The Best Christian Blog of the Year', I feel that you should be a little more careful with what you publish. (This is why I prefer LiveJournal as it allows me options to set the privacy setting of individual posts, so some posts are not for public eye.)
I recently studied a little bit on the power of the spoken word and the power of unified speech, mainly based on the teachings of Billye Brim. The Bible has a lot to say regarding the governing of our speech (I guess we can extend to our 'cyber speech' as well). You can catch that series of broadcast from Kenneth Copeland Ministries website :
http://www.kcm.org/media/index.php?p=media
Look for the 'Power of Unified Speech' and 'The Power of the Spoken Word'. Very powerful teaching.
I did my own little study and found this : http://www.jewfaq.org/speech.htm
If nothing else, these are very good for bible knowledge. : )
I can understand your frustration. But I think as it is, it is wonderful you have more in your church who are with you instead of against you. Why not come together in prayer and in love for your church? Do not return evil for evil but return evil for good. Over the years, Pastor Prince received so much persecution for the grace message. Forgive me for being blunt but he would have gotten it worse than what you are getting. But I have never heard a word from his mouth against those people who came against him.
Sure, he has mentioned groups of people in general, e.g. preachers who are preaching legalism in general. But he has never spoken against someone specifically just because that someone did something wrong towards him, especially when it involves another man of God.
I am pretty sure, as human, he would have shared his disappointment and frustration with his close friends and family. But not in the public. I vaguely recall Pastor Mark mentioned that Pastor Prince specially went to bless a particular person's ministry when that person wronged him before.
As for sowing into One North, personally I don't see why you can't sow into One North. I am not saying so just to solicit more funds. First of all, the 10% tithe is for your own local storehouse. You tithe to your own church and rightly so. But there is the offering element that is over and above the 10%. I thought you understood that. Your offering can go anywhere.
For me, I usually give to my church for them to channel to various Kingdom works. Mainly I give to pastors - obeying what the Bible said about giving to those who bring the Word to you - and to missions. I leave the church to channel the funds to the specific pastors or mission work. I do that only because it is the most convenient and also the safest means for sowing my seed. It does not mean that I cannot sow into Kenneth Copeland Ministries, for instance, because I also get some spiritual food from there. So likewise, I don't see why you cannot bring your 10% to your church and sow whatever you like to One North, or to Joseph Prince Ministries.
I also don't see why you can't visit NCC once in a while. So no need to angst over it. : )
Bathsarah
A Handier Tool
Friday, 25th July 2008
In October last year, I blogged about a handy tool, which was the HTC TyTN II, which had the works in terms of features.
There was however two severe downsides to it. Firstly, the battery would be drained extremely quickly. Typically, the phone had to be charged every other day under normal use. If I did something resource-intensive like watching a Ps Prince video or surfing the Internet, then the battery could only last several hours.
Secondly, the phone also got more and more laggy. When I composed an sms for example, there would be a latency of a couple of seconds before the letters appeared on the screen.
Well, the latest gadget to hit the market is the Samsung i900 Omnia. Since I will be getting my first quarterly bonus at the end of this month, I thought it would be the perfect time to upgrade to a handier tool.
The Omnia has a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash. It also has 16GB of in-built memory to store loads of songs, videos and Ps Prince sermons.
After using it for a couple of days, it does appear that the battery can last much longer, and the response time is acceptable.
Here is a picture of the Omnia taken by my daughter (and she even got our pet hamster Henry posing next to it).
Speaking of upgrading, though I'd share this joke which my Managing Director forwarded to us about a week ago. I found it quite FAR-NEE...
Subject: Installing a Husband
Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance -- particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate
Dear Desperate:
First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. Please enter the command: 'I Thought You Loved Me.exe' and try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.
But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources).. Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0 In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.
Good Luck,
Tech Support
In October last year, I blogged about a handy tool, which was the HTC TyTN II, which had the works in terms of features.
There was however two severe downsides to it. Firstly, the battery would be drained extremely quickly. Typically, the phone had to be charged every other day under normal use. If I did something resource-intensive like watching a Ps Prince video or surfing the Internet, then the battery could only last several hours.
Secondly, the phone also got more and more laggy. When I composed an sms for example, there would be a latency of a couple of seconds before the letters appeared on the screen.
Well, the latest gadget to hit the market is the Samsung i900 Omnia. Since I will be getting my first quarterly bonus at the end of this month, I thought it would be the perfect time to upgrade to a handier tool.
The Omnia has a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash. It also has 16GB of in-built memory to store loads of songs, videos and Ps Prince sermons.After using it for a couple of days, it does appear that the battery can last much longer, and the response time is acceptable.
Here is a picture of the Omnia taken by my daughter (and she even got our pet hamster Henry posing next to it).
Speaking of upgrading, though I'd share this joke which my Managing Director forwarded to us about a week ago. I found it quite FAR-NEE...
Subject: Installing a Husband
Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance -- particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate
Dear Desperate:
First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. Please enter the command: 'I Thought You Loved Me.exe' and try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.
But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources).. Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0 In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.
Good Luck,
Tech Support
Iron Sharpening Iron
Thursday, 24th July 2008
Dearest readers of ROOTSS
A few days ago, I wrote an email to Rev Dr Gordon Wong regarding his review of Destined to Reign, which I have also reproduced here on this blog.
Rev Dr Wong is a lecturer in Trinity Theological College specialising in New Testament Studies. He was kind enough to reply to my email, and we have arranged to meet up for lunch for further discussions. I thank God for opening this door and look forward to an iron-sharpening session with him.
Speaking of which, I invited my own senior pastor out for a lunch treat back in January 2007, but 19 months later, he has still not reverted to me. It appears that he is even busier than President George Bush :-)
Anyway, Rev Dr Wong's nephew Chris is currently worshipping at New Creation Church. He had earlier written a response to his uncle and had hoped that it would be read by his fellow churchmates. I am helping him do the honours by reproducing this in full below...
Thanks Uncle Gordon!
That was a very good writeup, it was concise and to the point, and it addresses some of the main flaws I've come to see in the doctrine at New Creation in a very objective and well-thought out manner, and most importantly, it uses scripture as a foundation rather than opinion, which makes it a joy to read!
I still support very firmly Pastor Prince very firmly, in that on the whole, his preaching, when considered cautiously and prayerfully, has caused me to grow closer to Jesus like nothing else so far. The main thing that has blessed me is that his preaching encourages that righteousness and righteous living (commonly referred to as "works") is a result of salvation and a relationship with God, and not as much a requirement.
On the other hand, I also wholly agree that he tends to use rather vague arguments to justify some of his further fetched interpretations. These are often enough to convince someone who is not too concerned about looking deeper into the text of God's Word, or who come based on the assumption that Pastor Prince is correct unless proven otherwise (there must be heaps of the latter!). For example, several years ago, he did address the issue of Ananias and Sapphira during a Sunday Sermon. He too realised that piece of scripture did have the potential to make a hole in the doctrine, and he did seek God in prayer for the answer, and one night he heard God whispering two sentences to him, "A certain man named Ananias", followed by "A certain disciple named Ananias" over and over again. In response to this, he went to his Bible and did the usual digging. The references were to the the husband of Sapphira, and the man who prayed over Paul immediately after Paul's encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus, as this was how they were referred to in Scripture (or at least in the NKJV interpretation of It). Pastor Prince thus came to the conclusion that Sapphira's husband was referred to as "a certain man" because he did not truly have Jesus in his heart (similar to nominal Christians we find very often in church these days). It is of course clear that the other Ananias who was referred to as "a certain disciple" had a strong (relatively) relationship with God to be able to converse with Him in the manner that he did. The fact that they died, apparently shows the point, since their death gave them no chance for repentance, it is assumed that God knew that they would never repent anyway.
While I certainly am in no position to question anybody's experiences with God (i.e. did God really tell him or not), I have to say that to this day I'm not 100% convinced. The reference you brought up regarding the seven churches in Revelation is also my point of contention with this. This is just one of many examples. Jas and I do find from time to time during his sermons that we have moments that we just look at each other with the "can we take that seriously?" look.
Still, what I do find is that the message that comes through Pastor Prince so far has given me the most appealing picture of the Gospel as a whole. Now, when I say appealing, I don't mean "something I want to hear", but something that appealed to my common sense in the light of almost 16 years (at the time) of Sunday School lessons and church sermons. It made all the bits fall together. Righteousness by grace, and not just a position of righteousness, but a life of righteousness.
After all, it does say in the Word that because we are under grace and not under law, sin shall not have dominion over us, and therefore we are enabled to live righteously. Earlier I said that the message he preached did wonders for my relationship with God. To follow on with that, no other preaching has enabled me to break free of so many sinful addictions and mindsets so far. Or to be more accurate, no other preaching has encouraged me to seek God to break free from sin, rather than to break free from sin in order to seek God, and it was God who through that, continues to enable me to break free from sin.
I think God is using Pastor Prince to break a mindset of legalism, and to encourage a love-relationship with God. However, as you say, I can see that there are many points in his preaching which, if taken too literally or without much thought, could serve as a stumbling block to the receiver. I suppose I'm of the opinion that it is the person who can listen to his sermons objectively and with a questioning, seeking mind, and with strong attention to the Holy Spirit, that would benefit the most! As such, I think the little paper you've written here would be very useful for someone who is genuinely interested in finding Jesus through New Creation church, in contrast to alot of other things written or spoken about pastor Prince which either focus solely on demolishing his teaching or smothering over its weak points, most of which turn out to be equally unconvincing and biased in nature.
Thanks again! I do hope this does get published in the Methodist Message, but a part of me hopes that it will somehow get into circulation at New Creation Church, and be received constructively rather than defensively.
Chris
At the end of the day, the gospel of grace is not a debate involving intellectual arguments where one camp wins and the other camp loses. Rather it should be something that the Christian should experiment and experience for himself. If it does not work for him, well and good --- God will not force His blessings upon anyone. On the other hand, if it works for him, it should ultimately result in life transformation.
Dearest readers of ROOTSS
A few days ago, I wrote an email to Rev Dr Gordon Wong regarding his review of Destined to Reign, which I have also reproduced here on this blog.
Rev Dr Wong is a lecturer in Trinity Theological College specialising in New Testament Studies. He was kind enough to reply to my email, and we have arranged to meet up for lunch for further discussions. I thank God for opening this door and look forward to an iron-sharpening session with him.
Speaking of which, I invited my own senior pastor out for a lunch treat back in January 2007, but 19 months later, he has still not reverted to me. It appears that he is even busier than President George Bush :-)
Anyway, Rev Dr Wong's nephew Chris is currently worshipping at New Creation Church. He had earlier written a response to his uncle and had hoped that it would be read by his fellow churchmates. I am helping him do the honours by reproducing this in full below...
Thanks Uncle Gordon!
That was a very good writeup, it was concise and to the point, and it addresses some of the main flaws I've come to see in the doctrine at New Creation in a very objective and well-thought out manner, and most importantly, it uses scripture as a foundation rather than opinion, which makes it a joy to read!
I still support very firmly Pastor Prince very firmly, in that on the whole, his preaching, when considered cautiously and prayerfully, has caused me to grow closer to Jesus like nothing else so far. The main thing that has blessed me is that his preaching encourages that righteousness and righteous living (commonly referred to as "works") is a result of salvation and a relationship with God, and not as much a requirement.
On the other hand, I also wholly agree that he tends to use rather vague arguments to justify some of his further fetched interpretations. These are often enough to convince someone who is not too concerned about looking deeper into the text of God's Word, or who come based on the assumption that Pastor Prince is correct unless proven otherwise (there must be heaps of the latter!). For example, several years ago, he did address the issue of Ananias and Sapphira during a Sunday Sermon. He too realised that piece of scripture did have the potential to make a hole in the doctrine, and he did seek God in prayer for the answer, and one night he heard God whispering two sentences to him, "A certain man named Ananias", followed by "A certain disciple named Ananias" over and over again. In response to this, he went to his Bible and did the usual digging. The references were to the the husband of Sapphira, and the man who prayed over Paul immediately after Paul's encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus, as this was how they were referred to in Scripture (or at least in the NKJV interpretation of It). Pastor Prince thus came to the conclusion that Sapphira's husband was referred to as "a certain man" because he did not truly have Jesus in his heart (similar to nominal Christians we find very often in church these days). It is of course clear that the other Ananias who was referred to as "a certain disciple" had a strong (relatively) relationship with God to be able to converse with Him in the manner that he did. The fact that they died, apparently shows the point, since their death gave them no chance for repentance, it is assumed that God knew that they would never repent anyway.
While I certainly am in no position to question anybody's experiences with God (i.e. did God really tell him or not), I have to say that to this day I'm not 100% convinced. The reference you brought up regarding the seven churches in Revelation is also my point of contention with this. This is just one of many examples. Jas and I do find from time to time during his sermons that we have moments that we just look at each other with the "can we take that seriously?" look.
Still, what I do find is that the message that comes through Pastor Prince so far has given me the most appealing picture of the Gospel as a whole. Now, when I say appealing, I don't mean "something I want to hear", but something that appealed to my common sense in the light of almost 16 years (at the time) of Sunday School lessons and church sermons. It made all the bits fall together. Righteousness by grace, and not just a position of righteousness, but a life of righteousness.
After all, it does say in the Word that because we are under grace and not under law, sin shall not have dominion over us, and therefore we are enabled to live righteously. Earlier I said that the message he preached did wonders for my relationship with God. To follow on with that, no other preaching has enabled me to break free of so many sinful addictions and mindsets so far. Or to be more accurate, no other preaching has encouraged me to seek God to break free from sin, rather than to break free from sin in order to seek God, and it was God who through that, continues to enable me to break free from sin.
I think God is using Pastor Prince to break a mindset of legalism, and to encourage a love-relationship with God. However, as you say, I can see that there are many points in his preaching which, if taken too literally or without much thought, could serve as a stumbling block to the receiver. I suppose I'm of the opinion that it is the person who can listen to his sermons objectively and with a questioning, seeking mind, and with strong attention to the Holy Spirit, that would benefit the most! As such, I think the little paper you've written here would be very useful for someone who is genuinely interested in finding Jesus through New Creation church, in contrast to alot of other things written or spoken about pastor Prince which either focus solely on demolishing his teaching or smothering over its weak points, most of which turn out to be equally unconvincing and biased in nature.
Thanks again! I do hope this does get published in the Methodist Message, but a part of me hopes that it will somehow get into circulation at New Creation Church, and be received constructively rather than defensively.
Chris
At the end of the day, the gospel of grace is not a debate involving intellectual arguments where one camp wins and the other camp loses. Rather it should be something that the Christian should experiment and experience for himself. If it does not work for him, well and good --- God will not force His blessings upon anyone. On the other hand, if it works for him, it should ultimately result in life transformation.
One Year On
Wednesday, 23rd July 2008
Just last week, my church celebrated her 76th anniversary.
Speaking of anniversaries, it will soon be one year since I was asked to step down as cell leader and treasurer of my church.
One of the thoughts that crossed my mind at that point in time was whether God could still make use of me. After all, I could sense some fellow churchmates taking great efforts to avoid me. They probably think I am the number one troublemaker :-)
As I look back over the past year, I thank God that He is still using me to proclaim the gospel of grace and what He has been doing in my life. Sure, some would say that it was humiliating to have the official appointments being removed from me. But I take great comfort that great men of God like Joseph the son of Jacob, Martin Luther and even John Wesley also went through similar journeys in having their official titles removed from them.
While the influence in my previous cluster has been reduced, God has more than compensated for this by increasing
the influence in many other areas. For example, this blog is read by hundreds of people each day. I was also checking out my YouTube account recently and noticed that there are now 150 subscribers!
As for Facebook, I have now got close to 200 friends, the recent additions being current colleagues of mine.
I'm sure that after I start attending New Creation Church from next month onwards, this number is likely to double by the end of the year :-)
Praise be to God for His providence!
Just last week, my church celebrated her 76th anniversary.
Speaking of anniversaries, it will soon be one year since I was asked to step down as cell leader and treasurer of my church.
One of the thoughts that crossed my mind at that point in time was whether God could still make use of me. After all, I could sense some fellow churchmates taking great efforts to avoid me. They probably think I am the number one troublemaker :-)
As I look back over the past year, I thank God that He is still using me to proclaim the gospel of grace and what He has been doing in my life. Sure, some would say that it was humiliating to have the official appointments being removed from me. But I take great comfort that great men of God like Joseph the son of Jacob, Martin Luther and even John Wesley also went through similar journeys in having their official titles removed from them.
While the influence in my previous cluster has been reduced, God has more than compensated for this by increasing
the influence in many other areas. For example, this blog is read by hundreds of people each day. I was also checking out my YouTube account recently and noticed that there are now 150 subscribers!As for Facebook, I have now got close to 200 friends, the recent additions being current colleagues of mine.
I'm sure that after I start attending New Creation Church from next month onwards, this number is likely to double by the end of the year :-)
Praise be to God for His providence!
A 4th-Generation Methodist's Response - Part 5 of 5
Tuesday, 22nd July 2008
Part V of V
continued from Part 4
[3] This is what you wrote about Healing
What I had reservations about: Whilst the book speaks of Bible passages where physical healing is expected and takes place, it says nothing about the passages that accept (without surprise or anguish) that miraculous physical healing did not take place e.g. 2 Tim 4:20; Philippians 2:25-27; 1 Tim 5:23; Gal 4:13-14. Incidentally, Galatians 4:13-14 tells us explicitly that Paul did have a bodily sickness which resulted in the greater good of the Gospel being preached contra Prince’s statement that “Paul did not suffer any sickness or disease” (p. 71). The problem is not so much with what Prince affirms viz. that healing is a blessing from a God who is full of grace; the problem is with what he omits to affirm viz. that physical illness without healing on earth can also fall within the gracious providence of God. The Bible teaches us both to pray for physical healing and to be prepared to endure illness with patient endurance. The victorious Christian life is one that remains faithful to God in both times of abundance and poverty, in sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer (cf. Philippians 4:12-13). I do not know the ministry of Prince well enough to be sure of what he really thinks about healing on earth. Perhaps if you listen long enough to his sermons, you may be able to make a fairer assessment. Does he preach to help Christians cope with the onslaught of poverty and illness, or does he speak only of removing sickness and suffering by effortless faith? We need both messages, because that is the balance we find in Scripture.
This is probably a topic that is closest to my heart because of my son's condition. Previously, we would accept it as God's will for him, as well as for us. Well-meaning Christians would tell us that this is so that we will be kept humble or so that God can teach us lessons. But does God really operate that way? If an earthly mother sees her daughter playing in the kitchen, does she take the girl's hand, switch on the stove and put it into the fire, so that her daughter will be taught a lesson not to step into the kitchen? If an earthly father sees his son playing by the road, does he ask the boy to lie down, run his car over his legs, so that his son will be taught a lesson about the dangers of being near the road? Yet, we picture our Heavenly Father as giving us diseases and sicknesses so as to keep us humble?
There are yet some other people that say that sicknesses and diseases are punishment and retribution for some wrongdoing. If that's the case, then perhaps Jesus should have told the parable of the Prodigal Son this way...
When the son came back to the house, the father said to him, "How dare you come back here? Haven't you caused me enough shame and suffering already? What has happened to you is what you deserved. Now, get out of my sight before I stone you to death for dishonouring me. Anyway, my firstborn is still with me, so you can go and die for all I care."
Thanks so much for pointing out passages in Scripture that showed that miraculous healing did not take place. However, I can also show you even more passages in Scripture where they did.
The trouble with holding on to the doctrine that sometimes God heals and sometimes He doesn't, or sometimes God blesses us and sometimes He doesn't, makes it difficult for us to know how to pray or what to ask for. Imagine if an earthly father were to behave like that. One day, when he is in a good mood, he will bring his kids out for a good meal. The next day, when he gets up on the wrong side of bed, he will beat up his kids just for the fun of it. Is our God really like that?
At the end of the day, God gives each of us free will and free choice -- He will not force His blessings upon us if we feel ill-at-ease about accepting them. As for me and my household, we choose to believe that by the stripes of Jesus, my son is healed. When the Roman soldiers whipped Jesus with the cat-o-nine-tails and His flesh was being ripped apart, He could have stayed down. Yet He chose to get up time and time again, so as to ensure that every single disease and illness in the world would be taken upon His own body.
And it is already happening, praise God! We read in the newspapers that people are willing to pay even up to S$300,000 for a kidney transplant, and that was the new lease of life that my son was given on 10 April 2008, at a fraction of that price, and after nearly eight years on dialysis. We continue to claim that all God's promises are yes and in Him amen to the glory of God through us.
As a fellow Methodist, I understand perfectly the reservations you have about some of the contents of the book. But unless grace is radically preached, there can be no radical transformation. My prayer is that as you study the Scriptures more and more, God's Holy Spirit will also begin to reveal to you more about what being the righteousness of God means to the believer, and what we are entitled to claim as beneficiaries of the New Covenant. Let us not settle for anything but the best, because the best is yet to be!
Yours-in-Christ
Malcolm Loh
4th Generation Methodist
Baptismal Roll of Paya Lebar Methodist Church (Dec 1970 – Dec 1982)
Preparatory Roll of Paya Lebar Methodist Church (Jan 1983 – Nov 1986)
Membership Roll of Paya Lebar Methodist Church (Dec 1986 – Jul 2008)
On Sabbatical Leave (Aug 2008 till further notice)
LCEC Elective Steward (Sep 1991 – Aug 1994)
Honorary Treasurer (Sep 2006 - Aug 2007)
Cell Leader (Jan 2007 – Aug 2007)
Part V of V
continued from Part 4
[3] This is what you wrote about Healing
What I had reservations about: Whilst the book speaks of Bible passages where physical healing is expected and takes place, it says nothing about the passages that accept (without surprise or anguish) that miraculous physical healing did not take place e.g. 2 Tim 4:20; Philippians 2:25-27; 1 Tim 5:23; Gal 4:13-14. Incidentally, Galatians 4:13-14 tells us explicitly that Paul did have a bodily sickness which resulted in the greater good of the Gospel being preached contra Prince’s statement that “Paul did not suffer any sickness or disease” (p. 71). The problem is not so much with what Prince affirms viz. that healing is a blessing from a God who is full of grace; the problem is with what he omits to affirm viz. that physical illness without healing on earth can also fall within the gracious providence of God. The Bible teaches us both to pray for physical healing and to be prepared to endure illness with patient endurance. The victorious Christian life is one that remains faithful to God in both times of abundance and poverty, in sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer (cf. Philippians 4:12-13). I do not know the ministry of Prince well enough to be sure of what he really thinks about healing on earth. Perhaps if you listen long enough to his sermons, you may be able to make a fairer assessment. Does he preach to help Christians cope with the onslaught of poverty and illness, or does he speak only of removing sickness and suffering by effortless faith? We need both messages, because that is the balance we find in Scripture.
This is probably a topic that is closest to my heart because of my son's condition. Previously, we would accept it as God's will for him, as well as for us. Well-meaning Christians would tell us that this is so that we will be kept humble or so that God can teach us lessons. But does God really operate that way? If an earthly mother sees her daughter playing in the kitchen, does she take the girl's hand, switch on the stove and put it into the fire, so that her daughter will be taught a lesson not to step into the kitchen? If an earthly father sees his son playing by the road, does he ask the boy to lie down, run his car over his legs, so that his son will be taught a lesson about the dangers of being near the road? Yet, we picture our Heavenly Father as giving us diseases and sicknesses so as to keep us humble?
There are yet some other people that say that sicknesses and diseases are punishment and retribution for some wrongdoing. If that's the case, then perhaps Jesus should have told the parable of the Prodigal Son this way...
When the son came back to the house, the father said to him, "How dare you come back here? Haven't you caused me enough shame and suffering already? What has happened to you is what you deserved. Now, get out of my sight before I stone you to death for dishonouring me. Anyway, my firstborn is still with me, so you can go and die for all I care."
Thanks so much for pointing out passages in Scripture that showed that miraculous healing did not take place. However, I can also show you even more passages in Scripture where they did.
The trouble with holding on to the doctrine that sometimes God heals and sometimes He doesn't, or sometimes God blesses us and sometimes He doesn't, makes it difficult for us to know how to pray or what to ask for. Imagine if an earthly father were to behave like that. One day, when he is in a good mood, he will bring his kids out for a good meal. The next day, when he gets up on the wrong side of bed, he will beat up his kids just for the fun of it. Is our God really like that?
At the end of the day, God gives each of us free will and free choice -- He will not force His blessings upon us if we feel ill-at-ease about accepting them. As for me and my household, we choose to believe that by the stripes of Jesus, my son is healed. When the Roman soldiers whipped Jesus with the cat-o-nine-tails and His flesh was being ripped apart, He could have stayed down. Yet He chose to get up time and time again, so as to ensure that every single disease and illness in the world would be taken upon His own body.
And it is already happening, praise God! We read in the newspapers that people are willing to pay even up to S$300,000 for a kidney transplant, and that was the new lease of life that my son was given on 10 April 2008, at a fraction of that price, and after nearly eight years on dialysis. We continue to claim that all God's promises are yes and in Him amen to the glory of God through us.
As a fellow Methodist, I understand perfectly the reservations you have about some of the contents of the book. But unless grace is radically preached, there can be no radical transformation. My prayer is that as you study the Scriptures more and more, God's Holy Spirit will also begin to reveal to you more about what being the righteousness of God means to the believer, and what we are entitled to claim as beneficiaries of the New Covenant. Let us not settle for anything but the best, because the best is yet to be!
Yours-in-Christ
Malcolm Loh
4th Generation Methodist
Baptismal Roll of Paya Lebar Methodist Church (Dec 1970 – Dec 1982)
Preparatory Roll of Paya Lebar Methodist Church (Jan 1983 – Nov 1986)
Membership Roll of Paya Lebar Methodist Church (Dec 1986 – Jul 2008)
On Sabbatical Leave (Aug 2008 till further notice)
LCEC Elective Steward (Sep 1991 – Aug 1994)
Honorary Treasurer (Sep 2006 - Aug 2007)
Cell Leader (Jan 2007 – Aug 2007)
A 4th-Generation Methodist's Response - Part 4 of 5
Monday, 21st July 2008
Part IV of V
continued from Part 3
[2] This is what you wrote about God's Laws:
What I had reservations about: That the Law can be preached and understood in such a way as to promote soul-destroying guilt and deeper condemnation is certainly true. Prince is to be commended for eloquently highlighting this biblical warning about the danger of the Law, and stressing the wonderful grace of God that forgives us all through Christ. But while there are many who need this message of God’s grace-filled forgiveness to save them from their guilt and despair over sin, there are many others who need the message of God’s grace-filled discipline and rebuke to save them from presumption and indifference to sin. Prince’s emphasis on free and full forgiveness is very good at helping the former, but not so good for the latter. Does Prince believe that guilt is the only problem people have because of sin? If so, that would present an incomplete picture. Sin does not only imprison us in guilt; it also lulls us into indifference and presumption. The Bible addresses both these effects of sin. The book appears to suggest that there is no way of preaching the Law in a graceful manner in order to set us free from our sinful indifference and presumption.
Similarly, Prince is correct to stress that the Law cannot save or justify, but his writings give the impression that the Law has no other positive function except to prove that we cannot be saved by it. But the Law in the Bible is also presented as a positive expression of God’s grace in telling us what God desires. But because Prince contrasts Law and Grace in this manner, he gives the impression of implying that the Law has only the negative value of telling people that they cannot be saved by their attempts at obedience to the Law. The Law certainly does perform that valuable function, but it does much more as well. It helps us know what is good in God’s eyes. The book is weak on emphasising the ongoing value of the Law for both Christians and unbelievers.
To be fair to this book, there are certain parts of the Bible that also speak in similarly strong negative tones against the Law (e.g. most of Galatians and parts of the books of Romans and Hebrews). But this negative view is balanced out in other parts of the Bible that are very positive about the Law (e.g. Jesus in Matt 5:19-20; James 1:25; Psalm 119 etc.). In other words, the Law as a means of salvation is spoken of very negatively in the Bible, but the Law as a means of showing us God’s pleasure or desire for our lives is spoken of very positively. The book seems to emphasise only the negative picture of the Law. Doing so would fail to do justice to the biblical balance which speaks also of the ongoing positive value of the Law for Christians. Paul, himself, could sum up the Law very positively as teaching us to love one another (Gal 5:14; Rom 13:8,10).
Once again, I used to hold these views like yourself too. After all, we Methodists are known to be "balanced", always safely sticking to the middle ground. On the one hand, we are not so strict like some denominations that insist that only the King James Version of the Bible is the correct on, for example. On the other hand, we also do not swing to the other extreme like those "crazy charismatics" who are only interested in speaking in tongues and casting out demons.
Like I mentioned earlier, I was very uncomfortable when I heard sermons about the Law no longer being relevant to us Christians. I felt more comfortable in striking a balance between Law and Grace. However, the more I read the Scriptures, the more I realise that this is one area that we *CANNOT* have a balance.
In most of Paul's epistles, he would emphasise the need for unity in the Body of Christ. Yet we read of him apparently contradicting himself in the book of Galatians. In Gal 2:11, we see him putting aside niceties to tell off in no uncertain terms the apostle Peter, who was 1 of the 3 privileged to be in Jesus' inner circle while He was on earth. Note that by mentioning this in the letter written to the churches in Galatia, and by it being included as part of the canon, the consequences are that hundreds of millions of people down through the centuries are being made aware of his disagreement with Peter. This would pale in comparison to the mere thousands who read my blog about my disagreement with law-based people, but who's counting :-0
In this same book, Paul talks in chapter 5 verses 22 and 23 about the fruit of the spirit, being love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Would he not be considered a hypocrite if he told the Galatians to be gentle and kind, and yet in the same book in chapter 3 verse 1 call them "foolish"? Would he not been practising what he preached if he told the Galatians to be patient and self-controlled, and yet in chapter 2 verse 11, oppose Peter to his face?
Why the extreme behaviour then? Because if there is one thing that cannot be balanced, it is Law and Grace. In fact, Paul calls such a mixture a "different" gospel (Gal 1:6), and a "distortion or perversion" of the gospel (Gal 1:7), and pronounces a double curse on those who preach such a mixture (Gal 1:8-9). In chapter 4, he likens Law and Grace to Hagar/Ishmael and Sarah/Isaac and tells us in verse 30 that we have to "cast out the bondwoman and her son".
Now that Abraham has got Sarah and Isaac in the home, I am sure we are not asking him to take back Hagar and Ishmael, so to speak, are we? That would be akin to committing spiritual adultery, like what I have blogged below:
Can Grace be Over-Emphasised?
One Leg Step Two Boats
I recall also that when young, I was told that we should not be lukewarm Christians because Jesus will spit us out. This was used to encourage us to be passionate in serving the Lord. But if this is the correct interpretation, why did Jesus say that He preferred that we are "hot or cold" (Rev 3:15)? If this was about being passionate, then wouldn't a "lukewarm" Christian be better off than a "cold" one?
The interpretation of lukewarm as being in a state of accepting a mixture of Law and Grace seems to make more sense to me. A person who is either hot or cold is better off because if he is totally under Grace, He operates under the New Covenant and enjoys the benefits thereof. If he is totally under Law, he will be brought to the end of himself because he cannot keep it, and that will then lead him to Jesus. Having said that, if you do have a better interpretation of lukewarmness, please let me know.
to be continued in part 5
Part IV of V
continued from Part 3
[2] This is what you wrote about God's Laws:
What I had reservations about: That the Law can be preached and understood in such a way as to promote soul-destroying guilt and deeper condemnation is certainly true. Prince is to be commended for eloquently highlighting this biblical warning about the danger of the Law, and stressing the wonderful grace of God that forgives us all through Christ. But while there are many who need this message of God’s grace-filled forgiveness to save them from their guilt and despair over sin, there are many others who need the message of God’s grace-filled discipline and rebuke to save them from presumption and indifference to sin. Prince’s emphasis on free and full forgiveness is very good at helping the former, but not so good for the latter. Does Prince believe that guilt is the only problem people have because of sin? If so, that would present an incomplete picture. Sin does not only imprison us in guilt; it also lulls us into indifference and presumption. The Bible addresses both these effects of sin. The book appears to suggest that there is no way of preaching the Law in a graceful manner in order to set us free from our sinful indifference and presumption.
Similarly, Prince is correct to stress that the Law cannot save or justify, but his writings give the impression that the Law has no other positive function except to prove that we cannot be saved by it. But the Law in the Bible is also presented as a positive expression of God’s grace in telling us what God desires. But because Prince contrasts Law and Grace in this manner, he gives the impression of implying that the Law has only the negative value of telling people that they cannot be saved by their attempts at obedience to the Law. The Law certainly does perform that valuable function, but it does much more as well. It helps us know what is good in God’s eyes. The book is weak on emphasising the ongoing value of the Law for both Christians and unbelievers.
To be fair to this book, there are certain parts of the Bible that also speak in similarly strong negative tones against the Law (e.g. most of Galatians and parts of the books of Romans and Hebrews). But this negative view is balanced out in other parts of the Bible that are very positive about the Law (e.g. Jesus in Matt 5:19-20; James 1:25; Psalm 119 etc.). In other words, the Law as a means of salvation is spoken of very negatively in the Bible, but the Law as a means of showing us God’s pleasure or desire for our lives is spoken of very positively. The book seems to emphasise only the negative picture of the Law. Doing so would fail to do justice to the biblical balance which speaks also of the ongoing positive value of the Law for Christians. Paul, himself, could sum up the Law very positively as teaching us to love one another (Gal 5:14; Rom 13:8,10).
Once again, I used to hold these views like yourself too. After all, we Methodists are known to be "balanced", always safely sticking to the middle ground. On the one hand, we are not so strict like some denominations that insist that only the King James Version of the Bible is the correct on, for example. On the other hand, we also do not swing to the other extreme like those "crazy charismatics" who are only interested in speaking in tongues and casting out demons.
Like I mentioned earlier, I was very uncomfortable when I heard sermons about the Law no longer being relevant to us Christians. I felt more comfortable in striking a balance between Law and Grace. However, the more I read the Scriptures, the more I realise that this is one area that we *CANNOT* have a balance.
In most of Paul's epistles, he would emphasise the need for unity in the Body of Christ. Yet we read of him apparently contradicting himself in the book of Galatians. In Gal 2:11, we see him putting aside niceties to tell off in no uncertain terms the apostle Peter, who was 1 of the 3 privileged to be in Jesus' inner circle while He was on earth. Note that by mentioning this in the letter written to the churches in Galatia, and by it being included as part of the canon, the consequences are that hundreds of millions of people down through the centuries are being made aware of his disagreement with Peter. This would pale in comparison to the mere thousands who read my blog about my disagreement with law-based people, but who's counting :-0
In this same book, Paul talks in chapter 5 verses 22 and 23 about the fruit of the spirit, being love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Would he not be considered a hypocrite if he told the Galatians to be gentle and kind, and yet in the same book in chapter 3 verse 1 call them "foolish"? Would he not been practising what he preached if he told the Galatians to be patient and self-controlled, and yet in chapter 2 verse 11, oppose Peter to his face?
Why the extreme behaviour then? Because if there is one thing that cannot be balanced, it is Law and Grace. In fact, Paul calls such a mixture a "different" gospel (Gal 1:6), and a "distortion or perversion" of the gospel (Gal 1:7), and pronounces a double curse on those who preach such a mixture (Gal 1:8-9). In chapter 4, he likens Law and Grace to Hagar/Ishmael and Sarah/Isaac and tells us in verse 30 that we have to "cast out the bondwoman and her son".
Now that Abraham has got Sarah and Isaac in the home, I am sure we are not asking him to take back Hagar and Ishmael, so to speak, are we? That would be akin to committing spiritual adultery, like what I have blogged below:
Can Grace be Over-Emphasised?
One Leg Step Two Boats
I recall also that when young, I was told that we should not be lukewarm Christians because Jesus will spit us out. This was used to encourage us to be passionate in serving the Lord. But if this is the correct interpretation, why did Jesus say that He preferred that we are "hot or cold" (Rev 3:15)? If this was about being passionate, then wouldn't a "lukewarm" Christian be better off than a "cold" one?
The interpretation of lukewarm as being in a state of accepting a mixture of Law and Grace seems to make more sense to me. A person who is either hot or cold is better off because if he is totally under Grace, He operates under the New Covenant and enjoys the benefits thereof. If he is totally under Law, he will be brought to the end of himself because he cannot keep it, and that will then lead him to Jesus. Having said that, if you do have a better interpretation of lukewarmness, please let me know.
to be continued in part 5
A 4th-Generation Methodist's Response - Part 3 of 5
Sunday, 20th July 2008
Part III of V
continued from Part 2
Now having given you a brief (?!) background about my own spiritual journey, please allow me to comment on your comments on the book.
As I mentioned earlier, if I had read your comments as recent as 2 years ago, I would have agreed with your views 100%. After all, we probably have similar upbringings in terms of growing up in a Methodist family, attending a Methodist church and having studied in a Methodist school.
I suppose what has made my journey somewhat different to yours is what happened to my son. In spite of being a Christian practically all my life, the answers that were previously given to me regarding his condition just did not seem to satisfy, such as "accept it as God's will" or "maybe it is a generational curse" etc.
The gospel is not good news if the news is not good. Abundant life is not abundant life if one is being hooked up to a dialysis machine.
Having now heard and embraced the grace gospel, I have understood that it was the devil that gave my son the kidney condition. Had my wife and I known back then, we would have not just prayed for a son, but claimed the blood of Jesus over him, that because of Jesus' finished work on the cross, we have every right to demand that he would be born in perfect health. In fact, because God had already judged Jesus on the cross, we could have told the devil that he had no right to put any disease on our offspring. My wife and I used to struggle with guilt and condemnation about whether it was our unconfesssed sin that led to our son's condition, but we now know that such thoughts are from the devil, because he is the accuser of the brethren and there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). Generational curses no longer apply to us because Jesus took them upon Himself when he hung on the tree (Gal 3:13).
Ever since discovering that Jesus was made poor on the cross, so that we can in turn be made rich (2 Cor 8:9) , I have no problems believing God for material blessings, and He has proven Himself faithful in this area by giving me the means to tithe 60% more than I did four years ago.
So you see, the gospel of grace is not only liberating. It is also relevant and applicable for everyday living.
Okay, let's (finally) get down to your comments on the book.
[1] This is what you wrote about God's anger:
What I had reservations about:
In stressing grace, the book appears to suggest that God no longer gets angry with Christians. If this is what it really means to teach, then this is not biblical. On p. 41, read: “We do see God being angry in the Old Testament, and in the book of Revelation, where his anger is toward those who have rejected Jesus. But for you and me, believers in the new covenant, we are not part of the Old Testament and we will never be punished because we have already received Jesus. As believers, God is no longer angry with us because all His anger for our sins fell upon Jesus at the cross.”
I suspect (and hope) that what the book really means is that God’s anger is not the type that takes delight in condemning us and pointing out how horrible we are. Also, I think (and hope) that what the book means to say is that God’s anger and punishment on believers does not result in the loss of eternal salvation. But to say the above is very different from saying that God gets angry only with unbelievers and never with true believers (p. 41), or to insist that “the Holy Spirit never convicts you of sin” (p.134). Does the Bible really say that God never gets angry with believers anymore? In the Bible (both Old and New Testaments), God is presented as getting angry with believers. For example, the letters to the 7 churches (i.e. people who profess to be believers) in Revelation 2-3 include a lot of stinging rebuke and condemnation from Jesus himself, including the use of threats of punishment and judgement. (I find attempts to say that the “churches” in Revelation do not really refer to believers as far-fetched.) God Himself seems to punish two professing believers Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. Isn’t this an example of the Holy Spirit, through Peter, convicting Ananias and Sapphira of their sins? Or must we assume the (not so gracious) judgement that Ananias and Sapphira cannot have been true believers?? For argument’s sake, even if they were not true believers, they were certainly in the church assembly. So there is place still for Spirit-inspired preaching for the conviction of sin within church walls. There may be many “believers” like Ananias and Sapphira who need the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and our need for grace. Perhaps the book could have made a clearer distinction between divine anger at Christians that results in the loss of eternal salvation (which is what he is most concerned to speak against) and divine anger at Christians that aims to correct and discipline (which he seems to reject). To be fair, Prince does accept the positive idea of child discipline or training (pp. 65-67), but he rejects any association of this discipline with the words “anger” or “punishment”.
God’s anger was, and can still be an expression of His love and grace, just like a loving mother who sometimes scolds her child. (Prince is, hopefully, only joking when he implies, p.37, that children will become schizophrenic if parents sometimes express happiness and at other times anger!) To say that God will never get angry or punish believers anymore may promote (unwittingly or mistakenly) a distortion of the Bible’s teaching about God’s grace. God’s anger is an expression of His love and grace towards his children. Prince would perhaps do better to speak of righteous anger (Ephesians 4:26) versus unrighteous anger. God never gets (unrighteously) angry with us, but loving grace demands a place for righteous anger as long as His beloved children still need discipline.
I used to hold the same view as you on this. As children, I remember my parents getting angry with my sisters and I whenever we did something wrong. Although we did not feel good about it, we knew at the back of our minds that it was an expression of their love for us. Likewise, before I embraced the grace message, I would also get angry with my kids when they did not obey. I remember getting very upset with my daughter when she wanted to give up swimming lessons when she was in K2. She had shown lots of potential and I even imagined her winning medals. She could sense me withdrawing my love from her during this time, and it was actually a result of how I viewed my own Heavenly Father. I would picture Him withdrawing His protection and blessings from me whenever I did something wrong.
So is there a Biblical basis for saying that God is no longer angry with His children? Yes there is. In Isa 53:9, God spoke about a time when He swears that He will be no longer be angry with us. The author of Hebrews quotes Jer 31 when he writes in verses 16 and 17 of chapter 10 that under the New Covenant, God remembers our sins and lawless deeds no more.
In fact, the best illustration of this is depicted in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Even though the wayward son squandered all he had on prostitutes and riotous living, not even once did Jesus mention that the Father was angry with him. On the contrary, the Father went the other extreme by putting a robe on him, giving him a ring and sandals, and killing the fatted calf for him!
This has in turn transformed the way I deal with my kids too. Last year, when my daughter wanted to give up table tennis (even though she was captain of the school team) as the number of practices was 3 times a week and was affecting her studies, I no longer pictured lost medals but a child who has so much joy knowing how much her dad loves her, no matter what. When she misplaced a 512KB thumb drive containing some project work she did about 2 months back, I did not chide her because I knew she felt miserable enough having to redo the work, without me having to add to that misery. Instead, I bought her a 2GB one, no questions asked. Her friends were amazed and said that their parents would have scolded and even punished them. Does this mean I am lax in the disciplining of my daughter? Well, if you want to put it that way, then I suppose I am, but definitely not as lax as compared to the father in the Prodigal Son parable :-)
As for the story about Ananais and Sapphira, please read the following blog entry:
The Ananias in Acts 5 vs the Ananias in Acts 9
to be continued in Part 4
Part III of V
continued from Part 2
Now having given you a brief (?!) background about my own spiritual journey, please allow me to comment on your comments on the book.
As I mentioned earlier, if I had read your comments as recent as 2 years ago, I would have agreed with your views 100%. After all, we probably have similar upbringings in terms of growing up in a Methodist family, attending a Methodist church and having studied in a Methodist school.
I suppose what has made my journey somewhat different to yours is what happened to my son. In spite of being a Christian practically all my life, the answers that were previously given to me regarding his condition just did not seem to satisfy, such as "accept it as God's will" or "maybe it is a generational curse" etc.
The gospel is not good news if the news is not good. Abundant life is not abundant life if one is being hooked up to a dialysis machine.
Having now heard and embraced the grace gospel, I have understood that it was the devil that gave my son the kidney condition. Had my wife and I known back then, we would have not just prayed for a son, but claimed the blood of Jesus over him, that because of Jesus' finished work on the cross, we have every right to demand that he would be born in perfect health. In fact, because God had already judged Jesus on the cross, we could have told the devil that he had no right to put any disease on our offspring. My wife and I used to struggle with guilt and condemnation about whether it was our unconfesssed sin that led to our son's condition, but we now know that such thoughts are from the devil, because he is the accuser of the brethren and there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). Generational curses no longer apply to us because Jesus took them upon Himself when he hung on the tree (Gal 3:13).
Ever since discovering that Jesus was made poor on the cross, so that we can in turn be made rich (2 Cor 8:9) , I have no problems believing God for material blessings, and He has proven Himself faithful in this area by giving me the means to tithe 60% more than I did four years ago.
So you see, the gospel of grace is not only liberating. It is also relevant and applicable for everyday living.
Okay, let's (finally) get down to your comments on the book.
[1] This is what you wrote about God's anger:
What I had reservations about:
In stressing grace, the book appears to suggest that God no longer gets angry with Christians. If this is what it really means to teach, then this is not biblical. On p. 41, read: “We do see God being angry in the Old Testament, and in the book of Revelation, where his anger is toward those who have rejected Jesus. But for you and me, believers in the new covenant, we are not part of the Old Testament and we will never be punished because we have already received Jesus. As believers, God is no longer angry with us because all His anger for our sins fell upon Jesus at the cross.”
I suspect (and hope) that what the book really means is that God’s anger is not the type that takes delight in condemning us and pointing out how horrible we are. Also, I think (and hope) that what the book means to say is that God’s anger and punishment on believers does not result in the loss of eternal salvation. But to say the above is very different from saying that God gets angry only with unbelievers and never with true believers (p. 41), or to insist that “the Holy Spirit never convicts you of sin” (p.134). Does the Bible really say that God never gets angry with believers anymore? In the Bible (both Old and New Testaments), God is presented as getting angry with believers. For example, the letters to the 7 churches (i.e. people who profess to be believers) in Revelation 2-3 include a lot of stinging rebuke and condemnation from Jesus himself, including the use of threats of punishment and judgement. (I find attempts to say that the “churches” in Revelation do not really refer to believers as far-fetched.) God Himself seems to punish two professing believers Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. Isn’t this an example of the Holy Spirit, through Peter, convicting Ananias and Sapphira of their sins? Or must we assume the (not so gracious) judgement that Ananias and Sapphira cannot have been true believers?? For argument’s sake, even if they were not true believers, they were certainly in the church assembly. So there is place still for Spirit-inspired preaching for the conviction of sin within church walls. There may be many “believers” like Ananias and Sapphira who need the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and our need for grace. Perhaps the book could have made a clearer distinction between divine anger at Christians that results in the loss of eternal salvation (which is what he is most concerned to speak against) and divine anger at Christians that aims to correct and discipline (which he seems to reject). To be fair, Prince does accept the positive idea of child discipline or training (pp. 65-67), but he rejects any association of this discipline with the words “anger” or “punishment”.
God’s anger was, and can still be an expression of His love and grace, just like a loving mother who sometimes scolds her child. (Prince is, hopefully, only joking when he implies, p.37, that children will become schizophrenic if parents sometimes express happiness and at other times anger!) To say that God will never get angry or punish believers anymore may promote (unwittingly or mistakenly) a distortion of the Bible’s teaching about God’s grace. God’s anger is an expression of His love and grace towards his children. Prince would perhaps do better to speak of righteous anger (Ephesians 4:26) versus unrighteous anger. God never gets (unrighteously) angry with us, but loving grace demands a place for righteous anger as long as His beloved children still need discipline.
I used to hold the same view as you on this. As children, I remember my parents getting angry with my sisters and I whenever we did something wrong. Although we did not feel good about it, we knew at the back of our minds that it was an expression of their love for us. Likewise, before I embraced the grace message, I would also get angry with my kids when they did not obey. I remember getting very upset with my daughter when she wanted to give up swimming lessons when she was in K2. She had shown lots of potential and I even imagined her winning medals. She could sense me withdrawing my love from her during this time, and it was actually a result of how I viewed my own Heavenly Father. I would picture Him withdrawing His protection and blessings from me whenever I did something wrong.
So is there a Biblical basis for saying that God is no longer angry with His children? Yes there is. In Isa 53:9, God spoke about a time when He swears that He will be no longer be angry with us. The author of Hebrews quotes Jer 31 when he writes in verses 16 and 17 of chapter 10 that under the New Covenant, God remembers our sins and lawless deeds no more.
In fact, the best illustration of this is depicted in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Even though the wayward son squandered all he had on prostitutes and riotous living, not even once did Jesus mention that the Father was angry with him. On the contrary, the Father went the other extreme by putting a robe on him, giving him a ring and sandals, and killing the fatted calf for him!
This has in turn transformed the way I deal with my kids too. Last year, when my daughter wanted to give up table tennis (even though she was captain of the school team) as the number of practices was 3 times a week and was affecting her studies, I no longer pictured lost medals but a child who has so much joy knowing how much her dad loves her, no matter what. When she misplaced a 512KB thumb drive containing some project work she did about 2 months back, I did not chide her because I knew she felt miserable enough having to redo the work, without me having to add to that misery. Instead, I bought her a 2GB one, no questions asked. Her friends were amazed and said that their parents would have scolded and even punished them. Does this mean I am lax in the disciplining of my daughter? Well, if you want to put it that way, then I suppose I am, but definitely not as lax as compared to the father in the Prodigal Son parable :-)
As for the story about Ananais and Sapphira, please read the following blog entry:
The Ananias in Acts 5 vs the Ananias in Acts 9
to be continued in Part 4
A 4th-Generation Methodist's Response - Part 2 of 5
Saturday, 19th July 2008
Part II of V
continued from Part 1
Sometime in May 2005, we were looking for someone to fill a managerial position. There was this candidate who came for the interview, who not only mentioned that he was a Christian but told us that he could not work late on Thursdays because he wanted to attend Bible Study.
We ended up hiring him because he could answer our questions, but what left a deeper impression on me was that this guy was bold enough to stand up for his convictions.
Two months into the job, he started bringing his pastor's sermons to the office and left them in a common area for anyone to borrow. Out of curiosity, I borrowed one back to listen in the car and within the first 10 minutes, tears started streaming down my face. I ended up borrowing the others as well, and would sometimes remain in the car even after reaching home or the office carpark because I had to finish listening to what the preacher had to say.
There were sermons that I heard that made sense of what I already knew about. In fact, what I enjoyed most during that time was when the preacher expounded on Old Testament books such as Deuteronomy, Numbers, Esther, Ruth, Song of Songs, Joel, Nehemiah, Amos, the list just goes on and on. During my 30-odd years in a Methodist Church, I cannot recall many, if any sermons on these books. Yet, this preacher could uncover truths in the most boring and obscure of passages!
But truth be told, there were also some other sermons that were hard to swallow. When I first heard about how the 10 commandments were no longer revelant, or when sins past, present and future were already put on the body of Jesus, I struggled to accept them. However, I did what the Bereans did by not just accepting what the preacher said but by searching the Scriptures, and lo and behold, there they were. Take the following examples:
It was God who found fault with the Old Covenant, and saw the need for a New one (Heb 8:8).
It was Paul who said that what was written on stones was the ministry of death (2 Cor 3:7)
It was Jesus who said "It is finished" (Jn 19:30) when he hung on the cross 2,000 years ago. The argument that only our past and present sins are forgiven, but not our future ones seems a strange one. In fact, taking the argument further would result in all of us born after 33AD being doomed because our sins would be considered to be "future" as far as that historical event at Calvary is concerned.
By the end of that year (2005), I had finished listening to all the sermons my colleague had bought, and ended up ordering some for my own from his church's website.
It was also at that time that I became aware that other denominations (including us Methodists) had some reservations about the over-emphasis on the grace message, as this night cause Christians to think they had a licence to go out and sin. However, the more I listened to the messages, the more I was made aware of Jesus' love for me -- and the gift of no condemnation actually empowers one to go and sin no more.
I was searching for an answer to healing because of my son's condition, but God gave me more than that... He gave me the answer to a healthy marriage, prosperity and the meaning of the abundant life while here on earth... and that is the gospel of grace.
As I began to understand that not only did Jesus take my sin, but in return had given me His robe of righteousness which encompasses health, prosperity, peace, etc, it was as though a veil had been lifted, and I felt spiritually liberated. In fact, this is a common testimony among many of them who are now attending New Creation Church. They have been attending traditional and denominational churches, but only when they were exposed to the grace gospel did Christianity suddenly begin to make sense, and be relevant for everyday living.
At the end of 2006, when God blessed me with the biggest bonus I had in my career (at that point in time), I decided to get this preacher's entire sermon and book collection.
I am not sure whether you have heard about this already, but I was asked to step up as a cell leader and Honorary Treasurer sometime in 2006. However, when my stand on the grace gospel became more and more evident, I was asked to step down from both appointments in August 2007. I could have chosen the easier option of toning down my stand. After all, my dad is a well-known and respected church leader and it was probably not an easy decision for the relevant person to make in asking me to step down. But the reality of the grace gospel was so deeply rooted in my heart, that the titles of treasurer and cell leader did not mean anything to me anymore. In fact, I could identify with Paul when he said in Phil 3:8 that he counted whatever he obtained prior to knowing Christ as "rubbish".
Which now leads me to the book Destined to Reign. It was released in late-July 2007, round about the time when I was relieved of my official church appointments. Personally, I found the book to be the best one I have ever read (apart from the Bible) and felt the Lord prompting me to give out more than 70 of his books to total strangers, in response to His giving me numerous salary increments and an even bigger bonus than the one I had in 2006. You can watch the following video on YouTube.
to be continued in part 3 ...
Part II of V
continued from Part 1
Sometime in May 2005, we were looking for someone to fill a managerial position. There was this candidate who came for the interview, who not only mentioned that he was a Christian but told us that he could not work late on Thursdays because he wanted to attend Bible Study.
We ended up hiring him because he could answer our questions, but what left a deeper impression on me was that this guy was bold enough to stand up for his convictions.
Two months into the job, he started bringing his pastor's sermons to the office and left them in a common area for anyone to borrow. Out of curiosity, I borrowed one back to listen in the car and within the first 10 minutes, tears started streaming down my face. I ended up borrowing the others as well, and would sometimes remain in the car even after reaching home or the office carpark because I had to finish listening to what the preacher had to say.
There were sermons that I heard that made sense of what I already knew about. In fact, what I enjoyed most during that time was when the preacher expounded on Old Testament books such as Deuteronomy, Numbers, Esther, Ruth, Song of Songs, Joel, Nehemiah, Amos, the list just goes on and on. During my 30-odd years in a Methodist Church, I cannot recall many, if any sermons on these books. Yet, this preacher could uncover truths in the most boring and obscure of passages!
But truth be told, there were also some other sermons that were hard to swallow. When I first heard about how the 10 commandments were no longer revelant, or when sins past, present and future were already put on the body of Jesus, I struggled to accept them. However, I did what the Bereans did by not just accepting what the preacher said but by searching the Scriptures, and lo and behold, there they were. Take the following examples:
It was God who found fault with the Old Covenant, and saw the need for a New one (Heb 8:8).
It was Paul who said that what was written on stones was the ministry of death (2 Cor 3:7)
It was Jesus who said "It is finished" (Jn 19:30) when he hung on the cross 2,000 years ago. The argument that only our past and present sins are forgiven, but not our future ones seems a strange one. In fact, taking the argument further would result in all of us born after 33AD being doomed because our sins would be considered to be "future" as far as that historical event at Calvary is concerned.
By the end of that year (2005), I had finished listening to all the sermons my colleague had bought, and ended up ordering some for my own from his church's website.
It was also at that time that I became aware that other denominations (including us Methodists) had some reservations about the over-emphasis on the grace message, as this night cause Christians to think they had a licence to go out and sin. However, the more I listened to the messages, the more I was made aware of Jesus' love for me -- and the gift of no condemnation actually empowers one to go and sin no more.
I was searching for an answer to healing because of my son's condition, but God gave me more than that... He gave me the answer to a healthy marriage, prosperity and the meaning of the abundant life while here on earth... and that is the gospel of grace.
As I began to understand that not only did Jesus take my sin, but in return had given me His robe of righteousness which encompasses health, prosperity, peace, etc, it was as though a veil had been lifted, and I felt spiritually liberated. In fact, this is a common testimony among many of them who are now attending New Creation Church. They have been attending traditional and denominational churches, but only when they were exposed to the grace gospel did Christianity suddenly begin to make sense, and be relevant for everyday living.
At the end of 2006, when God blessed me with the biggest bonus I had in my career (at that point in time), I decided to get this preacher's entire sermon and book collection.
I am not sure whether you have heard about this already, but I was asked to step up as a cell leader and Honorary Treasurer sometime in 2006. However, when my stand on the grace gospel became more and more evident, I was asked to step down from both appointments in August 2007. I could have chosen the easier option of toning down my stand. After all, my dad is a well-known and respected church leader and it was probably not an easy decision for the relevant person to make in asking me to step down. But the reality of the grace gospel was so deeply rooted in my heart, that the titles of treasurer and cell leader did not mean anything to me anymore. In fact, I could identify with Paul when he said in Phil 3:8 that he counted whatever he obtained prior to knowing Christ as "rubbish".
Which now leads me to the book Destined to Reign. It was released in late-July 2007, round about the time when I was relieved of my official church appointments. Personally, I found the book to be the best one I have ever read (apart from the Bible) and felt the Lord prompting me to give out more than 70 of his books to total strangers, in response to His giving me numerous salary increments and an even bigger bonus than the one I had in 2006. You can watch the following video on YouTube.
to be continued in part 3 ...
A 4th-Generation Methodist's Response - Part 1 of 5
Friday, 18th July 2008
About a week ago, I reproduced in full a review that was done by a Methodist pastor of the book Destined to Reign by Ps Prince.
Over the next five days (five being the number of grace), I will reproduce a 4th-generation Methodist's response to that book review.
----------------------------------------------------
Part I of V
Dear Rev Dr Gordon Wong
Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
About a week ago, a fellow church member forwarded to me your review of the book Destined to Reign by Ps Joseph Prince. Had I read your review even as recently as two years ago, I would have agreed with what you wrote 100%. Please allow me to explain why.
I have been attending a Methodist church since the day I was born. My late great-grandad was a Methodist pastor. My grandparents, parents, siblings and now children have been attending this church. That would make me a 4th-generation Methodist (if there was such a term for it).
I have also served in the LCEC as an elective steward in the 1990s, and as Honorary Treasurer and cell leader as recently as last year.
One of the strengths of the Methodist church is traditions and generational involvement. You would probably know who my parents are, and I also know who your brothers are, one of whom used to be our pastor in the 1980s.
At times however, this strength can become a weakness because "blood is thicker than water" and there is a tendency to close ranks when there is a perceived "external" attack. Methodists take pride that they are Methodists, just like ACS boys take pride that they are from ACS.
I happen to be both, and I believe that you are too.
With this sort of background in mind, please allow me to share my spiritual journey with you.
I have been very contented to be a Methodist for the most part of my life as a Christian. Whenever I had trials and tribulations, I would interpret it as God's way of testing my faith and making me a stronger person.
One of the biggest trials happened to me sometime in 1997, which nearly caused me to give up my faith. My wife and I had just been blessed with a baby girl, and were praying specifically for a baby boy. When he was born in September 2007, we did not suspect that anything was amiss... until a month later when he showed signs of breathlessness. To cut a long story short, he was discovered to have small kidneys and ended up having to go on dialysis by the time he was three years old.
I was very, very angry with God. We had prayed for a son, and He answered our prayer by giving us one with a kidney condition? Guilt and condemnation was also the order of the day. Some well-meaning churchmates would ask whether we had any unconfessed sins. Others would tell us to accept this condition as God's will for him. The list goes on...
Well, I suppose when everything is going right, we don't ask questions. But when things do not go right, questions abound. One of them that went through my mind during that time was "Is sickness really God's will for my son? If Isaiah and Peter said that by Jesus' stripes we are healed, then isn't God now negating the work of His Son, or worse yet, was Jesus going against the "will" of His Father when He took those stripes upon Himself?"
It was during this time of seeking that my wife was introduced to Kenneth Copeland Ministries and the Word of Faith circle. Being steeped in Methodism, I refused to be swayed. After all, I was extremely wary of independent churches, especially the ones whose pastors drove around in flashy cars and lived in big houses. They were preaching what their congregation wanted to hear such as prosperity and health, in order to fleece them of their hard-earned money. In fact, there was a secular song called "Jacob's Ladder" made popular in 1986 by the band Huey Lewis & The News that aptly reflects this scepticism.
However, seeing my son being hooked up to a dialysis machine every night made me wonder whether this was really what Jesus meant by the abundant life. I would escape reality by putting long hours at work in the office, and this resulted in my marriage also being put severely to the test, that we even mentioned about getting a divorce.
As I live with my parents, the domestic squabbles did not go unnoticed, and my dad told us to see my then Pastor-in-Charge, the Rev Dr Wee Boon Hup and his wife for marital counselling. I would have separate sessions with him to vent out all my frustrations about my wife, while my wife would have separate sessions with his wife to vent out hers.
The turning point came during one of the subsequent sessions, which was the first time when it was a combined one. I was asked to pray for my wife and vice-versa. I started first, and prayed something like "Lord, I ask for your forgiveness for hurting my wife. Please restore our marriage". When it was her turn, she prayed something like, "Lord, I thank you that Malcolm is a good husband and our marriage is strong." I was shocked to hear that, because the fact of the matter was that I was a horrible husband and our marriage was on the rocks then.
But this was a real eye-opener. Mrs Wee then showed me the verse Rom 4:17 where God had changed Abram's name to Abraham and by doing so had "called for things that were not as though they were already so".
Over the next few months, the wrong impressions that I had of God began to change. I discovered that it was not God, but the devil who was the one behind what happened to my son. Things then started to go awry at work, and I knew for sure that the devil, having attacked my family and my marriage, was now attacking my career. When I left PricewaterhouseCoopers at the end of 2004 and took up a job at Infineon Technologies at the start of 2005, it was on a one-year contract basis. In the car on the way to work, my wife and I would pray in agreement "We thank you Lord that Mal has a permanent stable job" and this came to pass just 3 months later, when the Head of Shared Services resigned and I was offered her position. Not only was this a permanent position but it also involved a promotion to Senior Manager and an increment. God was giving to me "exceedingly abundantly over and above what I asked or imagined"!
As I look back, I realise that God was progressively revealing more and more about Himself to me. The pride and haughtiness about being a "Methodist all my life" began to melt. And He was preparing me for even greater revelations to come!
to be continued in part 2...
About a week ago, I reproduced in full a review that was done by a Methodist pastor of the book Destined to Reign by Ps Prince.
Over the next five days (five being the number of grace), I will reproduce a 4th-generation Methodist's response to that book review.
----------------------------------------------------
Part I of V
Dear Rev Dr Gordon Wong
Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
About a week ago, a fellow church member forwarded to me your review of the book Destined to Reign by Ps Joseph Prince. Had I read your review even as recently as two years ago, I would have agreed with what you wrote 100%. Please allow me to explain why.
I have been attending a Methodist church since the day I was born. My late great-grandad was a Methodist pastor. My grandparents, parents, siblings and now children have been attending this church. That would make me a 4th-generation Methodist (if there was such a term for it).
I have also served in the LCEC as an elective steward in the 1990s, and as Honorary Treasurer and cell leader as recently as last year.
One of the strengths of the Methodist church is traditions and generational involvement. You would probably know who my parents are, and I also know who your brothers are, one of whom used to be our pastor in the 1980s.
At times however, this strength can become a weakness because "blood is thicker than water" and there is a tendency to close ranks when there is a perceived "external" attack. Methodists take pride that they are Methodists, just like ACS boys take pride that they are from ACS.
I happen to be both, and I believe that you are too.
With this sort of background in mind, please allow me to share my spiritual journey with you.
I have been very contented to be a Methodist for the most part of my life as a Christian. Whenever I had trials and tribulations, I would interpret it as God's way of testing my faith and making me a stronger person.
One of the biggest trials happened to me sometime in 1997, which nearly caused me to give up my faith. My wife and I had just been blessed with a baby girl, and were praying specifically for a baby boy. When he was born in September 2007, we did not suspect that anything was amiss... until a month later when he showed signs of breathlessness. To cut a long story short, he was discovered to have small kidneys and ended up having to go on dialysis by the time he was three years old.
I was very, very angry with God. We had prayed for a son, and He answered our prayer by giving us one with a kidney condition? Guilt and condemnation was also the order of the day. Some well-meaning churchmates would ask whether we had any unconfessed sins. Others would tell us to accept this condition as God's will for him. The list goes on...
Well, I suppose when everything is going right, we don't ask questions. But when things do not go right, questions abound. One of them that went through my mind during that time was "Is sickness really God's will for my son? If Isaiah and Peter said that by Jesus' stripes we are healed, then isn't God now negating the work of His Son, or worse yet, was Jesus going against the "will" of His Father when He took those stripes upon Himself?"
It was during this time of seeking that my wife was introduced to Kenneth Copeland Ministries and the Word of Faith circle. Being steeped in Methodism, I refused to be swayed. After all, I was extremely wary of independent churches, especially the ones whose pastors drove around in flashy cars and lived in big houses. They were preaching what their congregation wanted to hear such as prosperity and health, in order to fleece them of their hard-earned money. In fact, there was a secular song called "Jacob's Ladder" made popular in 1986 by the band Huey Lewis & The News that aptly reflects this scepticism.
I met a fan dancer
Down in South Side Birmingham
She was running from a fat man
Selling salvation in his hand
Now he's trying to save me
We'll I'm doing alright the best that I can
Just another fallen angel
Trying to get through the night
Step by step, one by one, higher and higher
Step by step, rung by rung climbing Jacob's ladder
Coming over the airwaves
The man says I'm overdue
Sing along, send some money
Join the chosen few
Well mister I'm not in a hurry
And I don't want to be like you
And all I want from tomorrow
Is to get it better than today
Step by step, one by one, higher and higher
Step by step, rung by rung climbing Jacob's ladder
However, seeing my son being hooked up to a dialysis machine every night made me wonder whether this was really what Jesus meant by the abundant life. I would escape reality by putting long hours at work in the office, and this resulted in my marriage also being put severely to the test, that we even mentioned about getting a divorce.
As I live with my parents, the domestic squabbles did not go unnoticed, and my dad told us to see my then Pastor-in-Charge, the Rev Dr Wee Boon Hup and his wife for marital counselling. I would have separate sessions with him to vent out all my frustrations about my wife, while my wife would have separate sessions with his wife to vent out hers.
The turning point came during one of the subsequent sessions, which was the first time when it was a combined one. I was asked to pray for my wife and vice-versa. I started first, and prayed something like "Lord, I ask for your forgiveness for hurting my wife. Please restore our marriage". When it was her turn, she prayed something like, "Lord, I thank you that Malcolm is a good husband and our marriage is strong." I was shocked to hear that, because the fact of the matter was that I was a horrible husband and our marriage was on the rocks then.
But this was a real eye-opener. Mrs Wee then showed me the verse Rom 4:17 where God had changed Abram's name to Abraham and by doing so had "called for things that were not as though they were already so".
Over the next few months, the wrong impressions that I had of God began to change. I discovered that it was not God, but the devil who was the one behind what happened to my son. Things then started to go awry at work, and I knew for sure that the devil, having attacked my family and my marriage, was now attacking my career. When I left PricewaterhouseCoopers at the end of 2004 and took up a job at Infineon Technologies at the start of 2005, it was on a one-year contract basis. In the car on the way to work, my wife and I would pray in agreement "We thank you Lord that Mal has a permanent stable job" and this came to pass just 3 months later, when the Head of Shared Services resigned and I was offered her position. Not only was this a permanent position but it also involved a promotion to Senior Manager and an increment. God was giving to me "exceedingly abundantly over and above what I asked or imagined"!
As I look back, I realise that God was progressively revealing more and more about Himself to me. The pride and haughtiness about being a "Methodist all my life" began to melt. And He was preparing me for even greater revelations to come!
to be continued in part 2...
Dilemma Resolved
Thursday, 17th July 2008
Sometime earlier this year, I shared about how my wife's elder brother, who had accepted Jesus Christ as a youth, had come back to the Lord after listening to a sermon by one of the pastors whom I had dismissed as ineffective. He joined my cell group and even signed up for baptism classes.
While this was great news, it did cause a dilemma for me. On the one hand, I had already been contemplating for several months making the move to New Creation Church. Yet, on the other hand, my brother-in-law and his family had embarked on a new spiritual journey and the last thing I wanted to do was stumble them by only being in church when Ps Reuben was preaching.
Well, I praise and thank God that in spite of my human frailties, He prevails and the dilemma has been resolved in a most wonderful and unexpected manner! Read on...
My brother-in-law travels occasionally and ended up missing the baptism classes. The church office told him that because he did not attend those classes, he could not get baptised. Meanwhile, he continued to attend church regularly and even started to bring along his wife and wife's sister to the services.
Then on 5 July 2008, he called me on my handphone and we spoke for nearly an hour. I apologised to him that I had not had the time to "follow-up" on him because I had just changed jobs, my son had just had a transplant and I had been implicated in a vandalism case. He told me that he read my blog about wanting to take a sabbatical, and rather than this stumbling him, he appreciated my honesty and the struggles that I was going through. In fact, what seems to have stumbled him was that a sheep was left unprotected and even offered to the wolves.
The next day (Sunday 6 July 2008), I received an sms from him at about 2pm telling me that he had just brought his entire family for the 11.30am service in New Creation Church! I caught up with him over the weekend and he told me he and his family will be settling there! He had gone to find out more about the children's ministry and it so happened that the one in charge of registration was his ex-neighbour's teenage kid. He also bumped into another of his ex-neighbours when he was in the overflow room on the 3rd floor. He took these as indications to confirm to him that God wanted his family to worship at the Rock!
As I reflected on the above, I could not help but chuckle. God sure has a sense of humour. He had used me as His vessel to bring my brother-in-law back to Him, and was now using my brother-in-law as His vessel to bring me and my family to New Creation Church!
And thus, God had resolved the dilemma His way, and I just cannot wait to sow into One-North legitimately, because I know that He will cause a bountiful harvest to take place that will cause our barns to overflow. Amen?
Sometime earlier this year, I shared about how my wife's elder brother, who had accepted Jesus Christ as a youth, had come back to the Lord after listening to a sermon by one of the pastors whom I had dismissed as ineffective. He joined my cell group and even signed up for baptism classes.
While this was great news, it did cause a dilemma for me. On the one hand, I had already been contemplating for several months making the move to New Creation Church. Yet, on the other hand, my brother-in-law and his family had embarked on a new spiritual journey and the last thing I wanted to do was stumble them by only being in church when Ps Reuben was preaching.
Well, I praise and thank God that in spite of my human frailties, He prevails and the dilemma has been resolved in a most wonderful and unexpected manner! Read on...
My brother-in-law travels occasionally and ended up missing the baptism classes. The church office told him that because he did not attend those classes, he could not get baptised. Meanwhile, he continued to attend church regularly and even started to bring along his wife and wife's sister to the services.
Then on 5 July 2008, he called me on my handphone and we spoke for nearly an hour. I apologised to him that I had not had the time to "follow-up" on him because I had just changed jobs, my son had just had a transplant and I had been implicated in a vandalism case. He told me that he read my blog about wanting to take a sabbatical, and rather than this stumbling him, he appreciated my honesty and the struggles that I was going through. In fact, what seems to have stumbled him was that a sheep was left unprotected and even offered to the wolves.
The next day (Sunday 6 July 2008), I received an sms from him at about 2pm telling me that he had just brought his entire family for the 11.30am service in New Creation Church! I caught up with him over the weekend and he told me he and his family will be settling there! He had gone to find out more about the children's ministry and it so happened that the one in charge of registration was his ex-neighbour's teenage kid. He also bumped into another of his ex-neighbours when he was in the overflow room on the 3rd floor. He took these as indications to confirm to him that God wanted his family to worship at the Rock!
As I reflected on the above, I could not help but chuckle. God sure has a sense of humour. He had used me as His vessel to bring my brother-in-law back to Him, and was now using my brother-in-law as His vessel to bring me and my family to New Creation Church!
And thus, God had resolved the dilemma His way, and I just cannot wait to sow into One-North legitimately, because I know that He will cause a bountiful harvest to take place that will cause our barns to overflow. Amen?
Constant Supply of Food
Wednesday, 16th July 2008
I notice that there are both NCC as well as non-NCC members who read ROOTSS.
For those of us who are not from NCC, there is another way to get a constant supply of food, and that is to subscribe to Ps Prince's sermons, which is what I have been doing since 2007.
One can either subscribe to 40 titles at $320 or 80 titles at $640. What is also good about subscribing is that the sermons are mailed to one's home postage-free.
About 5 days after he preaches, an envelope similar to the one seen
on the right will arrive in my post box.
Initially, this arrangement was handled by Joseph Prince Ministries, but now it seems like the company handling it is called 22 Media, the logo of which contains aleph-tav, which are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. I have a feeling that the company is named so because there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
Even after I start attending NCC, I will still continue to subscribe to his sermons, not only to build up the library of anointed resources, but also to ensure that I will get a copy of sermons that would otherwise be sold out (like the one on the anointing oil that he preached a couple of weeks
ago).
In fact, I have just renewed my subscription for another 80 titles :-)
I notice that there are both NCC as well as non-NCC members who read ROOTSS.
For those of us who are not from NCC, there is another way to get a constant supply of food, and that is to subscribe to Ps Prince's sermons, which is what I have been doing since 2007.
One can either subscribe to 40 titles at $320 or 80 titles at $640. What is also good about subscribing is that the sermons are mailed to one's home postage-free.
About 5 days after he preaches, an envelope similar to the one seen
on the right will arrive in my post box.Initially, this arrangement was handled by Joseph Prince Ministries, but now it seems like the company handling it is called 22 Media, the logo of which contains aleph-tav, which are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. I have a feeling that the company is named so because there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
Even after I start attending NCC, I will still continue to subscribe to his sermons, not only to build up the library of anointed resources, but also to ensure that I will get a copy of sermons that would otherwise be sold out (like the one on the anointing oil that he preached a couple of weeks
ago).In fact, I have just renewed my subscription for another 80 titles :-)
Tales of the Unexpected - Part 3
Tuesday, 15th July 2008
This is the last and final instalment of this tale. Read the earlier instalments here:
Part 1
Part 2
The last time we left off, the complainant had met up with my dad and several leaders of the PPRSC (which is a committee made up of 7 laymen) regarding the vandalism case. He gave the excuse that he meant no ill-intent and did not offer any apologies for the inconvenience and potential embarrassment caused. He even had the cheek to ask my dad to ask me to stop blogging!
Well, you can just imagine how dumbstruck I was. I called the police officer involved and he told me that I was no longer a suspect. At the police station, I was made to write the sentence "XXXXX XXX = pig" (where XXXXX XXX is the complainant's name) 30 times. This was because the vandal had scrawled those words upon the pillars of the flyover in front of the church, a photo of which with the words blanked off is shown on the right).
The police officer compared my handwriting against that of the vandal, and established that the handwriting was not mine.
I spoke to a lawyer friend who told me that I had a good legal case for damages amounting to tens of thousands of dollars on the following grounds:
(1) My dad is a doctor
(2) I am an accountant
(3) I had just started a new job and was on probation at that point in time
(4) My son just underwent a kidney transplant operation
(5) My daughter is taking her PSLE exams this year
I then informed the complainant and key leaders that I expected a public apology for being wrongly implicated.
After a week without any indication that the apology was forthcoming, I seriously considered going ahead with legal action. After all, I told the Lord that it was my right to have my name cleared and I would donate the damages to a noble and worthy cause (like sowing into One-North, for example).
Then, I read the following comments by Geri about releasing forgiveness, even when the complainant does not ask for it.
Thank God that your name has been cleared. =)
And why fast from blogging? I agree feasting and rejoicing is called for! =D
But I must say - it is a greater thing to forgive that man who reported you to the police.
Even though he owes you a debt of apology, it is gracious to forgive him. I'd be real upset too if I were in your shoes... no one likes to be wrongly accused esp in such an unfair and painful manner... but try your best to find the strength in Christ to let go of your frustration with him and forgive him. Afterall, we are in grace now.
Remember the parable of the master who forgave a big debt of his servant, and then the servant who went to chase a guy who owes him money for repayment... I think you know what I am trying to say.
It brings Christ greater glory I am sure, and brings greater edification to those who happen to read your blog either by chance or regularly.
Pray about it and we are still behind you all the way brother! =)
Cheers!
Geri
I struggled and wrestled with God, bargaining and telling Him that I was going to use the proceeds to sow into His kingdom work.
Then I heard Him saying, "Son, did I allow any damage to be done to you? Have I not protected your family's reputation? Have I not prospered you in your current job? Isn't your son recovering well from his transplant? Isn't your daughter coping well with her studies?"
As I allowed His words of comfort to sink in, I realised that He had indeed protected me from any and all harm! Instead of focusing on His goodness and providence, I was focusing on the wrong that was done to me by that individual.
I told the Lord, "You are right. You have vindicated me and I do not need to seek redress. After all, you also said that vengeance is yours. Okay, Lord, I forgive XXXXX XXX for having wronged me, and will not insist on any apology, nor take any legal action against him."
So dear readers, please understand why I will not release his name on this blog, even though there is every right for me to do so, since it is no longer a police case. But being a recipient of God's undeserved favour, I have to learn to extend the same undeserved favour to those who do me wrong.
And with that, we come to the end of this tale of the unexpected. I believe God will provide me with some other means to sow into One-North. Amen?
This is the last and final instalment of this tale. Read the earlier instalments here:
Part 1
Part 2
The last time we left off, the complainant had met up with my dad and several leaders of the PPRSC (which is a committee made up of 7 laymen) regarding the vandalism case. He gave the excuse that he meant no ill-intent and did not offer any apologies for the inconvenience and potential embarrassment caused. He even had the cheek to ask my dad to ask me to stop blogging!
Well, you can just imagine how dumbstruck I was. I called the police officer involved and he told me that I was no longer a suspect. At the police station, I was made to write the sentence "XXXXX XXX = pig" (where XXXXX XXX is the complainant's name) 30 times. This was because the vandal had scrawled those words upon the pillars of the flyover in front of the church, a photo of which with the words blanked off is shown on the right).
The police officer compared my handwriting against that of the vandal, and established that the handwriting was not mine.
I spoke to a lawyer friend who told me that I had a good legal case for damages amounting to tens of thousands of dollars on the following grounds:
(1) My dad is a doctor
(2) I am an accountant
(3) I had just started a new job and was on probation at that point in time
(4) My son just underwent a kidney transplant operation
(5) My daughter is taking her PSLE exams this year
I then informed the complainant and key leaders that I expected a public apology for being wrongly implicated.
After a week without any indication that the apology was forthcoming, I seriously considered going ahead with legal action. After all, I told the Lord that it was my right to have my name cleared and I would donate the damages to a noble and worthy cause (like sowing into One-North, for example).
Then, I read the following comments by Geri about releasing forgiveness, even when the complainant does not ask for it.
Thank God that your name has been cleared. =)
And why fast from blogging? I agree feasting and rejoicing is called for! =D
But I must say - it is a greater thing to forgive that man who reported you to the police.
Even though he owes you a debt of apology, it is gracious to forgive him. I'd be real upset too if I were in your shoes... no one likes to be wrongly accused esp in such an unfair and painful manner... but try your best to find the strength in Christ to let go of your frustration with him and forgive him. Afterall, we are in grace now.
Remember the parable of the master who forgave a big debt of his servant, and then the servant who went to chase a guy who owes him money for repayment... I think you know what I am trying to say.
It brings Christ greater glory I am sure, and brings greater edification to those who happen to read your blog either by chance or regularly.
Pray about it and we are still behind you all the way brother! =)
Cheers!
Geri
I struggled and wrestled with God, bargaining and telling Him that I was going to use the proceeds to sow into His kingdom work.
Then I heard Him saying, "Son, did I allow any damage to be done to you? Have I not protected your family's reputation? Have I not prospered you in your current job? Isn't your son recovering well from his transplant? Isn't your daughter coping well with her studies?"
As I allowed His words of comfort to sink in, I realised that He had indeed protected me from any and all harm! Instead of focusing on His goodness and providence, I was focusing on the wrong that was done to me by that individual.
I told the Lord, "You are right. You have vindicated me and I do not need to seek redress. After all, you also said that vengeance is yours. Okay, Lord, I forgive XXXXX XXX for having wronged me, and will not insist on any apology, nor take any legal action against him."
So dear readers, please understand why I will not release his name on this blog, even though there is every right for me to do so, since it is no longer a police case. But being a recipient of God's undeserved favour, I have to learn to extend the same undeserved favour to those who do me wrong.
And with that, we come to the end of this tale of the unexpected. I believe God will provide me with some other means to sow into One-North. Amen?
Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God?
Monday, 14th July 2008
Okay, let's get back to the "severely disturbing" posts :-)
A week ago, a fellow PLMC member asked me to watch on YouTube a law-based sermon entitled "The Shocking Youth Message" by Paul Washer.
Well, something similar happened last year...
From Aug 2005 to Dec 2006, I was in a cell group named 3L2. (3L is the name of a cluster of cell groups, and the groups are numbered from 1 through 6).
In Jan 2007, the cell multiplied, and from that a daughter cell 3L7 was formed, with me being appointed as the cell leader. (This cell was dissolved in Dec 2007, four months after I was made to step down as its cell leader, as well as treasurer of the church, of which you can read about here so I won't go into further details in this blog entry, lest I be accused of sounding like a broken record...)
Anyway, in spite of being in a new cell, I received a forwarded email from one of the members of 3L2 (let's call him Mr A), which contained an attachment of an article entitled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". This is another one of those law-based sermons by an 18th century pastor by the name of Jonathan Edwards.
This email had originated from another 3L2 cell member (let's call him Mr B), who strongly holds on to the belief that Christians can lose their salvation, and circulated this article to support his point of view.
Dear readers of ROOTSS, do write in and tell me what your views on the article are.
Coming back to the story. At first, I was curious as to why Mr A would send me an email that was meant for the consumption of my previous cell. Then it dawned upon me that he knew my stand on the grace gospel, and wanted to get my response on that email. And so I did (much to the chagrin of Mr B, I believe).
Anyway, since then Mr B has moved on to another Methodist Church.
As for Mr A, we still keep very much in touch. In fact, he now attends New Creation Church every week! Having tasted gourmet food, I doubt he would settle for anything less. Amen?
Okay, let's get back to the "severely disturbing" posts :-)
A week ago, a fellow PLMC member asked me to watch on YouTube a law-based sermon entitled "The Shocking Youth Message" by Paul Washer.
Well, something similar happened last year...
From Aug 2005 to Dec 2006, I was in a cell group named 3L2. (3L is the name of a cluster of cell groups, and the groups are numbered from 1 through 6).
In Jan 2007, the cell multiplied, and from that a daughter cell 3L7 was formed, with me being appointed as the cell leader. (This cell was dissolved in Dec 2007, four months after I was made to step down as its cell leader, as well as treasurer of the church, of which you can read about here so I won't go into further details in this blog entry, lest I be accused of sounding like a broken record...)
Anyway, in spite of being in a new cell, I received a forwarded email from one of the members of 3L2 (let's call him Mr A), which contained an attachment of an article entitled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". This is another one of those law-based sermons by an 18th century pastor by the name of Jonathan Edwards.
This email had originated from another 3L2 cell member (let's call him Mr B), who strongly holds on to the belief that Christians can lose their salvation, and circulated this article to support his point of view.
Dear readers of ROOTSS, do write in and tell me what your views on the article are.
Coming back to the story. At first, I was curious as to why Mr A would send me an email that was meant for the consumption of my previous cell. Then it dawned upon me that he knew my stand on the grace gospel, and wanted to get my response on that email. And so I did (much to the chagrin of Mr B, I believe).
Anyway, since then Mr B has moved on to another Methodist Church.
As for Mr A, we still keep very much in touch. In fact, he now attends New Creation Church every week! Having tasted gourmet food, I doubt he would settle for anything less. Amen?
Office Decor
Sunday, 13th July 2008
Time for another light-hearted post before I resume the serious ones...
One particular morning, I was carrying a plastic bag to work, and my CFO asked me what was in the bag.
I told him that since I spend more than a third of each weekday at work, I thought it would be good to get my room decorated.
Here are some of the stuff that I surround myself with :-)
On one of the shelves are the bear and card were given to me by my daughter and son respectively for Fathers' Day this year.
I am a big fan of Aston Villa, hence have their fixtures for the upcoming season displayed on the wall on the right.
My boy never fails to make me laugh, hence I have a poster with photos of him clowning around just next to my room door.
Next to the printer is a plaque that was meant for my 15th wedding anniverary containing a photo taken in November 1992.
In front of it is another wooden ornament with my name and my favourite verse (2 Cor 1:20) written below it.
These become conversational pieces when colleagues come into my room fo
r a chat.
And as colleagues begin to warm up to me, the Holy Spirit will give opportunity for the grace gospel to be shared, and I have some great Ps Prince sermons handy in one of the drawers :-)
Time for another light-hearted post before I resume the serious ones...
One particular morning, I was carrying a plastic bag to work, and my CFO asked me what was in the bag.
I told him that since I spend more than a third of each weekday at work, I thought it would be good to get my room decorated.
Here are some of the stuff that I surround myself with :-)
On one of the shelves are the bear and card were given to me by my daughter and son respectively for Fathers' Day this year.
I am a big fan of Aston Villa, hence have their fixtures for the upcoming season displayed on the wall on the right.
My boy never fails to make me laugh, hence I have a poster with photos of him clowning around just next to my room door.
Next to the printer is a plaque that was meant for my 15th wedding anniverary containing a photo taken in November 1992.
In front of it is another wooden ornament with my name and my favourite verse (2 Cor 1:20) written below it.
These become conversational pieces when colleagues come into my room fo
r a chat.And as colleagues begin to warm up to me, the Holy Spirit will give opportunity for the grace gospel to be shared, and I have some great Ps Prince sermons handy in one of the drawers :-)
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