Pentecost is not a denomination

Day of Pentecost - Some truth. Pentecost is not a denomination. Pentecost means 50. Today some denominations call themselves as Pentecosts. I am writing this to highlight the significance of Pentecost here

Pentecost was the day when the Ten commandments were given to Moses. In the Old Testament, it was the birthday of Torah being presented to Israelites. In the New Testament, on this very same day, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and this marks the birthday of the Church.

There are 7 major annual Jewish Festivals. Out of these 7 festivals, four festivals fulfilled through the life of Jesus and they are recorded in the first five books of the New Testament. Let us see how these festivals relate to a Christian and how they were fulfilled in the life of Jesus

1. Passover - The day God passed over the Israelites and smote the Egyptians and enabled the Israelites to leave Egypt. Jesus did the very same thing on the cross for us

2. Unleavened bread - Jesus is our passover unleavened bread who died for us

3. First Fruits - The day when Jesus rose up from the dead.

4. Pentecost - 50 days from passover. The day when Holy spirit poured himself on his disciples.

The last 3 festivals are connected to the return of our Lord and I am not getting into an Eschatological drive here

5. Trumpets
6. Atonement and
7. Tabernacles

So Yes! Pentecost means 50 and it is the birthday of the Church. 

The boring genealogies in the Bible

Image from conforming to Jesus

Have you read the Bible chronologically? When you come across genealogies do you get bored? Well, I have been there. I used to be bored when I read passages like Genesis 5

Genesis 5: 12,13

12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters.

When I come across passages like this, I would often think why should I even read these details? I would also feel sleepy and more often I would just skip these verses and move to the next chapter. Have you been in my position?

A few years ago when I decided to read the New Testament, I started with Matthew 1 and to my surprise that chapter also had a genealogy list. This made me thinking "Why Lord! Why?, Why do you do this to me? Does this genealogy help anyone in anyway?" But still I read through that chapter without giving any attention to details and moved on.

Later, during detailed study of scriptures, I realised the importance of genealogies. The very first verse of the Matthew's gospel is one of the best examples of gospel message.

Matthew 1:1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham

If you ask, "how can this be a gospel message?", read that verse again. Matthew, the disciple of Jesus drives home a strong message in this verse. He states three things in this verse

1. Jesus is Messiah
2. Jesus, the Messiah is the son of David
3. Jesus, the Messiah is the son of Abraham

The Jews strongly believed that the Messiah will be from the genealogy of Abraham and David. Two verses that stand out among the Jews are the promises that God gave to Abraham and David. God's promise to Abraham and David got fulfilled through Isaac and Solomon. But the key words "All nations and forever" was a symbol of hope for the Jews that the Messiah will rule for ever and ever

Jesus, the son of Abraham
“In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 22:18)
Jesus, the son of David
When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever ( 2 Samuel 7:12,13)

The Jews missed to see the Messiah when he walked among them. But ordinary men recognised the fact that Jesus was indeed the son of David and Matthew records all these instances in his gospel

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" Matthew 9:27

And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed" Matthew 15:22

And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David! Matthew 20:30

The crowds going ahead of him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!" Matthew 21:9 

But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became indignant Matthew 21:5

Matthew's gospel is all about making sure that the Jews realise that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. And to make this fact known to them, he starts the book with the genealogy. What a perfect start. LT. Jeyachandran uncle often says that the first chapter in the book of Matthew has brought many Jews to the saving grace of Christ.

The genealogies might be boring. But when you dig deep and spend time reading them, you will realise that each and every single verse in the Bible is there for a purpose and may God open our eyes to see this purpose fulfilled in our lives.

Shielded by His grace
Prason

Trial of Pastor Jones

The Tithe Trial of Pastor Jones is fictional but clears all doubts that Christians have on Tithe. It is a long read. But trust us! This just gets interesting

Judge: Mr. Jones you have been charged with multiple counts of extortion. Your crime spree covers 20 years and thousands of victims. You have defrauded people out of their money with fear and manipulation, telling them they had to tithe 10% of their income to your church and that God would bless them if they did. You also told them that if they didn't tithe God would curse them. How do you plead?

Mr. Jones: I plead not guilty your Honor, I have done nothing wrong. I have only preached what the Bible says. In the Bible Abraham tithed to Melchizedek and God blessed him for his faithful giving. The Bible even says he was rich in silver and gold.

Judge: Is it not true, Mr. Jones, that in Genesis chapter 13 verse 2 the Bible says Abraham was rich with livestock, silver and gold?

Mr. Jones: Yes, you are exactly right, that's what I just told you.

Judge: Ok, we read about Abraham being a rich man in chapter 13 but it is not until Genesis chapter 14 that we read about Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek. So Abraham was already a rich man before he tithed to Melchizedek, wasn't he?

Mr. Jones: Yes, I suppose you are right.

Judge: So his riches were not the result of his tithe to Melchizedek?

Mr. Jones: No.

Judge: Mr. Jones, you also say God blessed him for his faithful giving. How many times is it recorded that Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek?

Mr. Jones: Well, just once.

Judge: So the Bible never said that he gave week after week?

Mr. Jones: No it does not.

Judge: Where did Abraham get the things that he gave to Melchizedek?

Mr. Jones: Well the Bible says it was from the plunders of war?

Judge: So you are telling me that he gave from the plunders of war?

Mr. Jones: Yes that's what the Bible says.

Judge: So he basically took things that were not really his in the first place and gave them as the tithe?

Mr. Jones: That is what the scripture seems to indicate.

Judge: Is it recorded that he ever took anything from his own possessions and tithed them to Melchizedek or anyone else?

Mr. Jones: I guess not

Judge: You guess not, you are a Pastor and you are only guessing, is it or is it not written that he ever gave any of his own possessions as a tithe to anyone?

Mr. Jones: No it is not written anywhere that I have seen.

Judge: Is it recorded as to what exactly Abraham did give Melchizedek?

Mr. Jones: I believe it says plunder?

Judge: So plunder could be any number of things?

Mr. Jones: Yes, I suppose

Judge: It could have been food, cattle, sheep, the people's possessions or any number of things. It does not say it was all money correct?

Mr. Jones: Yes you are correct, it does not say just money

Judge: As a matter of fact money is never mentioned in that account at all is that correct Mr. Jones?

Mr. Jones: Yes your Honor, money is never mentioned just goods and food and people.

Judge: So there is no way you can say with any certainty that Abraham in fact gave Melchizedek any money at all?

Mr. Jones: That is right.

Judge: I only have one last question for you Mr. Jones, did God command Abraham to give this plunder tithe to Melchizedek?

Mr. Jones: No, it appears that he did this voluntarily.

Judge: So are you trying to tell me that because of this voluntary, one time gift by Abraham, that may not have even consisted of money, all Christians everywhere are obligated to bring 10% of their weekly paycheck to a local church?

Considering all the evidence I would say you are beyond any shadow of a doubt guilty of deliberately trying to make the scriptures says things they have not said for financial gain.

Mr. Jones: Ok your Honor, I can see how foolish I was to try and use the story of Melchizedeck to try and get the people to tithe money. But there are many other verses that will support my belief on tithing. Jacob said he would give God 10% of everything. I think we should follow his example.

Judge: Let's see what Jacob said. Please read the verse you are talking about for me Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones: In Genesis chapter 28 starting at verse 20 it says. Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God, then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth to you."

Judge: You said we should follow Jacobs's example, is that right Mr. Jones?

Mr. Jones: Yes that is right, he vowed to give a tenth and we should too.

Judge: Let me point out one thing for you Mr. Jones, Jacob said he would Give God a tenth, ONLY if He blessed him first. So as you said previously, we should follow Jacob's example and tell God that we will only give him a tenth if he blesses us first. Is that right?

Mr. Jones: That is not what I meant.

Judge: What did you mean then?

Mr. Jones: That we should give God a tenth also.

Judge: There you go again, trying to make the scripture say what you want it to say for your benefit. I would also like you to tell me the scriptures that say that Jacob kept his vow with God. I would also like to know where he gave the tenth to because there was no temple or Levites to give it to at that time.

Mr. Jones: I can not think of any scriptures that say where or if he ever tithed after his vow.

Judge: It seems fairly obvious to me that Jacob made a voluntary and conditional vow to God. This in no way can be used as a reason to demand others to bring their income to you or any other place.

Mr. Jones: I do have a few more scriptures that I believe will show that we are supposed to tithe.

Judge: You have not said anything yet to convince me one little bit that people are obligated to tithe money to the local churches and that you were justified in what you were doing. You have taken scripture and misapplied it to your beliefs and for your gain. But in order to be fair to you I will allow you to present more evidence.

Mr. Jones: In the book of Malachi chapter 3 starting at verse 8 it says, will a man rob God? yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, In what have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now with this, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. So you see your Honor, we are commanded to bring the tithes into the storehouse or God will curse us.

Judge: Answer me this Mr. Jones, were you aware that God never required anyone to tithe money?

Mr. Jones: No I didn't know that.

Judge: The tithe spoken of here was always edible products never money.

Mr. Jones: well your Honor that is because they didn't have money at the time so God had them tithe food instead.

Judge: Not true, money is first mentioned in Genesis and Malachi was written hundreds of years later. God had them bring food in so that the levites, the fatherless and widows may eat and be satisfied. The tithe was used mainly to take care of people. Also notice it says in the verse you quoted, that there may be food in my house. The food was the tithe. How do you completely overlook the word food in those verses?

Mr. Jones: I don't know

Judge: I also want you to know that these verses speak to people under the Old Testament law. As you may or may not know Jesus fulfilled the law, it is no longer binding. Tithing was part of that law that has been abolished.

Once again you have tried to completely take a scripture out of context and apply it to others for your benefit. Can you give me a single scripture where God changed the tithe from food to money?

Mr. Jones: I do not know of any.

Judge: So if God never changed it from food to money who did?

Mr. Jones: Man must have.

Judge: So far all you have done Mr. Jones is take Old Testament scriptures out of context and try to apply it to believers under the New Covenant. Is this all the proof you have?

Mr. Jones: I do have a New Testament scripture that will show that Jesus told us to tithe.

Judge: Ok let me hear it.

Mr. Jones: Jesus said in Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. See Jesus said we should be tithing.

Judge: Let me ask you a question, who was Jesus talking to?

Mr. Jones: The scripture says the scribes and Pharisees.

Judge: Are you a scribe or Pharisee?

Mr. Jones: Of course not.

Judge: Jesus also said in that passage, you have left undone the weightier matters of the law. Are we under the law Mr. Jones?

Mr. Jones: No.

Judge: Why not?

Mr. Jones: Because Jesus fulfilled it.

Judge: When did Jesus fulfill the law?

Mr. Jones: When He was crucified.

Judge: So the law was still in effect until Jesus death?

Mr. Jones: That is correct.

Judge: I think you know where I am going with this don't you?

Mr. Jones: Yes your Honor. Since Jesus had not yet been crucified and the law was still binding the Pharisees were required to tithe because it was part of the law. Once the law ended, tithing ended also.

Judge: I want you to take a look at that verse again. Also tell me, what were they tithing?

Mr. Jones: The scripture says it was mint, dill and cumin.

Judge: Is money mentioned?

Mr. Jones: No it was not.

Judge: Once again it was edible products that they were tithing, not money. Do you have anything else you would like to say?

Mr. Jones: If people only tithed edible products like the scripture says, then how would the church survive? We have our mortgage payment, utility bills, my salary and a host of other things that we have to pay each week. We depend on the money from the people.

Judge: The need does not justify the means. In other words, just because you have all these debts does not give you the right to twist and manipulate scripture and cause people to give under fear of being cursed by God to meet your needs. In closing, let me recap a few things for you Mr. Jones. The tithe was never money; the tithe was an Old Testament law, which is no longer binding. When it was binding the tithe was used to take care of people, not buildings. We are under a new covenant now. Paul instructs the Corinthian believers how they are to give. He says in second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 7, Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart; not grudgingly, or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. So each believer is supposed to give as he or she has determined in his or her heart. If you are trying to make people give under the threat of being cursed or any other reason you are wrong. Someone can not give cheerfully if they are being forced to give. If your church can not survive on freewill offerings maybe God is not part of your church at all.

Mr. Jones: I never realized all these things, I have always been taught that we had to tithe money to the local church and that is what I have always taught. I can see now that I was completely wrong. I did not study the scripture for myself, I only took mans word for it. Yes I am guilty. I will not teach this error anymore.

Judge: Mr. Jones, I can see that you have done this in ignorance and are repentant, this court will not hold you accountable. It is your responsibility to know the truth. I would advise you and everyone else in this courtroom to really start studying the Bible and seeking God on the subject of tithing and your eyes will be open. Do not just take mans word any longer. Start seeking God as to how and where He would have you give. Court adjourned.

Can we celebrate Christian festivals like Easter and Christmas?

In the Pre-Internet era and before the mass spreading of conspiracy theories, Christians used to attend churches on Sundays, celebrate birthdays, observe lent (40), Mourn on Good Friday and rejoice on Easter and sing carols on Christmas. 

But after Internet and Facebook became a part of our lives, we got our hands on various articles written by various authors about these religious days that are observed by the church. These special days are observed differently by the Eastern Orthodox church, The Roman Catholic church, The Protestant church and the various other denominations in Christianity. There are many denominations that do not observe any of these special days and the reason they give is that these special days have pagan origins.

If you are an active Facebook user, you might have come across FB posts of why we should not celebrate Christmas. People will argue for and against this statement. This usually happens during the month of December. After January, discussions on Christmas will die off and discussions on Valentines day will originate. Then it will be discussions on Lent and Easter where people will link Easter to a goddess called Ishtar. 

Invariably these seasonal arguments around these special days were not even part of Christian discussion before the Internet era. But I find that with the advent of Internet and with lot of conspiracy articles that are spread around the Internet, people fall into different categories and hold onto certain Bible verses and argue tooth and nail considering their opinions as a Biblical conviction that is led by the Holy Spirit.

As a person who has been on both sides of this spectrum where I have been washed to and fro in the sea tide of such debates, I have reached a point on identifying what actually matters for my Christian faith and what does not matter.

What should a Christian do?

The cardinal rule that every Christian should follow in such a scenario is that we should be slow to listen, read extensively about a subject (Both conspiracy and Historical facts), then understand the intention behind each practice and take a stand after weighing all these in line with the  contextual scriptural passages.

Let me state my statement of faith at this point of time so that you will understand my intention for this post. I believe in Salvation by Faith alone, I believe in the Trinity of God. I am reformed and I don't belong to the Roman Catholic Church. I am a Biblical Pentecost and I don't fall under the third wave Pentecostal movements. I believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven and I believe that the elect will rejoice with him for ever in his kingdom and the reprobates will be sent to eternal damnation.

I have stated my faith extensively just for the readers to understand that my belief is an offshoot of my conviction from the above belief that I just stated. There are hundreds of articles that lie in the Internet that connect Christmas to Sun god's birthday. There are hundreds of articles that connect Eater to Ishtar. Now when we read all these articles, the first thing we should do is understand the intention of the author.

Most of the articles are written with an enmity against the Roman Catholic church. I am not a Roman Catholic because I clearly stated that I am a reformed Christian. But I will never throw the baby out with the bath water. I have carefully gone through the Christian Church history as a part of my theological study and I know the value of the Apostle's creed, Nicean council and also the Athanasian creed. So with this understanding, I automatically kick off any allegiance to Arianism as a cultist teaching. If any article has come from the haystack of an Arian follower (Non Trinitarianism is one of the aspects of Arian), I would immediately shun that article because the intent of the article loses its value. Similarly if an article is written just to prove the Roman Catholic church wrong, I would still take it only with a pinch of salt, because lot of Christian practices that we all follow is still an offshoot of the RCC. But I would never accept the Salvation by works teaching by the RC church and many other teachings of the RCC.

Now coming back to the topic on festivals, many of these festivals that are celebrated in Christianity have different cultural, demographic and Political origins. One of the greatest things that I learnt in my study is that Easter is not associated with Ishtar. A very good article on this subject is written here [ Ishtar is not Easter ]

Facebook is filled with debates on why we should celebrate Easter and why we should not observe the lent. But the underlying truth is that it is not compulsory to celebrate Easter and one does not lose salvation by being disciplined in food and prayerful observance. But to make it a cardinal rule saying that we would have salvation by doing this goes against the work of Christ on the cross. At the same time to fight against a person who observes lent with conspiracy theories does not hamper his faith at all. A person who is disciplined for 40 days may be having a healthy and Spiritual lifestyle compared to a glutton who fights tooth and nail against Easter.

The Apostles never sidelined from the great commission. Paul did follow some Jewish practices of tonsuring his head even after he was sealed with the Holy Spirit. He followed those rituals for Christ and he was clear in his mind. Romans 14:5 gives a tight slap across the face for all of us when we still fight for discussions regarding days and observances. Our faith does not take a back step by practicing these rituals and we don't fall out of his salvation plan by adhering to some of these practices.

I will certainly celebrate the resurrection of the Lord and I will definitely sing Carols for Christmas. I worship Christ and not some sun god. I proclaim that he is risen and I don't proclaim the resurrection of some ishtar goddess. When we juggle and struggle to comprehend the truth in the gospel and when we misunderstand these celebrations to religious pluralism, we become majoring in minor subjects. I have participated in debates for and against these two topic for the last 10 years and I have reached a point of ignoring and moving away from people who still hold on to certain topic like this without having a solid historic footprint in Church History. 

Opinions should never be confused for convictions. I rest my case.

What is wrong with youth camps these days?

As an young adult who has involved himself in youth camps for more than two decades, I am compelled to write this. This post is written entirely based on my observation from various youth camps and also after interacting with lot of youngsters over the last ten years.

When I was in my teens, I have participated in many youth camps. Let me take you all back to the 80s and 90s. I have attended SU camps, YFC camps, FMPB camps, Navodya camps and the various camps conducted by the church group and school groups. I have witnessed the following things

1) The camp revolved around prayer. The volunteers, musicians, speakers immersed themselves in prayer
2) The theme would be selected based on a Bible verse and all the events and activities of the camp will revolve around the theme
3) The speakers and the musicians had a testimonial life
4) The speakers had logical answers from the Bible
5) The speakers had a good grounding in the Bible and they knew their doctrinal adherence
6) Follow up sessions were frequent post camp to see how we were growing in the Lord.

These 6 points summarize how youth camps used to happen in the past. Some times these camps were boring too as they did not draw the attention of the youngsters. But now a days this trend has changed a lot. The above 6 points are still preserved but with its own twists and turns. To run a youth camp, all you need today is

1) A music team that invariably can belt out songs in a great manner ( The whole purpose of the music team is to liven up the youngsters) even if they do not have testimonial lifestyle
2) A catchy theme (Mainly an abbreviation, even if it is controversial) I was discussing the theme with a youth gang when they came up with different abbreviations. One suggestion that popped up was SEX 3:16. I had no clue how that popped up. The guy gave his explanation. SEX stands for Soul Enlightened Xtians and 3:16 stands for John 3:16. I could only see at him in disbelief. There have been camp names with titles SHUT UP, 360 UP, OMG, SACHIN and so on
3) A choreographer who can do actions for the songs even if the choreographer does not believe in Jesus
4) A skit team that practices skit (Invariably with the same quit smoking/drinking/ girlfriend theme)
5) Random speakers who have no clue on what their doctrinal stand is (I am not labeling all camps with the same brush. But I have seen this trend booming up big time)
6) Even if there is no prayer, the practise sessions will go on and the media team will take care of promotions on facebook.

Follow up sessions for camps like these are zilch. The camps become an yearly activity with no follow up. It becomes a yearly event management function in most cases.

Solution:

1) Help the youth to be grounded in the word of God
2) Teach them about church history
3) Encourage them to be the salt and light to the world
4) Have corporate prayer fellowships

Unless these four things happen, the youth camps will get worser and worser.

- Prason

What is Hyper Grace Gospel?

Hyper Grace or False Grace gospel is a new wave teaching that distorts the Biblical teaching of Grace and presents only bits and pieces of scripture laying emphasis on one sided view of grace.

Hyper Grace teachers teach that the past , present and future sins of a person are already forgiven on the cross and there is no need to repent of our sins nor confess our sins. Instead they teach that phrase "Just Believe and be Saved". They pick all their doctrines from the Bible, but the sad thing is they pick it totally out of context and put them all together and make a concocted doctrine.

Anyone who disagrees with them is often labelled as a Legalist, Pharisee or as a man bound by Religion . The sad thing is the hyper grace teachers have formed a religion of their own and they are more careful to use their arguments in a religious manner.

Hyper grace teachers often mock the evangelicals as "Hell fire preachers" and warn their followers not to be sin conscious. They stress on "Jesus Conscious" and the problem of sin is never addressed in their gospel.

When ever the hyper grace teachers come across a verse in the Bible that talks about repenting from sins, they would immediately say that particular verse was not written for believers. The Bible clearly talks about repenting from sin (Rev 2 and 3rd chapters).

Preachers of Hyper Grace gospel also say that the Old Testament commands are obsolete. They fail to realize that the moral commands and principles of the Old Covenant is still applicable for Christians. The only difference between the Old Covenant Moral Principles and the new covenant is that Man had to work to keep the old covenant; but God's grace makes Christians to obey the New Covenant.

But the Hyper grace teachers will say that if you follow the Ten commandments , you are bound by law. They fail to realize that one of the commandments that talk about "Honouring your father and mother" is a new covenant command too. When we dig deep into the word and have a discussion with the hyper grace preachers, they will escape saying that Bible is not the only word of God but Bible contains the word of God. The reason they use this escaping stance is because they can't justify many of their teachings. So they use this escape tactic to say that they have progressive revelation that were not even revealed to the apostles.

Hyper grace teachings sound so true on the surface level. For example, we are indeed saved by grace and not by works. This is the bait they use to lure innocent Christians. Once the christians are lured to this bait, they are given poisonous teachings and extra biblical revelations that contradict the foundation teachings of Christ and the Apostles.

If you do not have a grip of the whole counsel of the scriptures, it is better to avoid discussing with a hyper grace preacher because they just beat around the bush and jump from one topic to another without addressing the core issue of discussion.

What should you do if you find yourself in a Hyper Grace church?
Come out of that cult group and join a church where the whole counsel of scriptures is preached and followed.

- Shielded in God's Grace
Prason

For more indepth reading on hyper grace gospel please read the following links

1) Hyper grace Gospel - What is it? [ link ]
2) How to identify if your pastor is preaching the false hyper grace gospel [ link ]
3) The lies of the hyper grace gospel [ link ]
4) Grace on steroids = Hyper Grace [ link ]
5) Questions to Hyper Grace teachers and their wrong answers [ link]
6) Hyper grace horror stories [ link ]

Apostle Paul had a bloated Ego?

The other day I was having a Bible discussion with a friend of mine who suddenly blurted "Apostle Paul had a bloated ego."

I thought I heard him wrong. So I said "Excuse me. Come again"

"Yes, He had such a big ego that he did not even want to take a person along with him for a missionary journey because he had differences with him".

After a moment of silence, we turned the pages of the New Testament to read the passage that my friend was quoting from the scriptures. We opened Acts Chapter 15. We read that passage where Paul and Barnabas were getting ready to go for their second missionary journey.

36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (Acts 15: 36-41)

After we read this passage, my friend said "Look! Paul had such a bloated ego that he did not even have the grace to take Mark along with him for the missionary journey". 

My friend in deed had a point there. It in fact looks as though Paul was so adamant in not having Mark travel along with him for the missionary journey. 

So we tried to find out whether Paul had any reason for making such a decision.  When we read Acts 13:13, we discover that Mark (John) had deserted them midway through the first missionary journey and returned back to Jerusalem. This was one of the major reasons why Paul did not want to take Mark along with him in their second missionary journey in which they were planning to revisit some of the places they had earlier visited.

Mark might have had his reasons for leaving Paul in the first missionary journey. Mark was Barnabas's relative. Till Paul came into the scene, Barnabas was the central figure along with the Apostles. But during the first missionary journey, Paul emerges as the leader of the pack. Mark might not have been comfortable with this sudden transition. The Bible does not explicitly say what exactly made Mark to leave the rest of the gang. But the Bible is very clear that Paul did not appreciate that behavior of Mark.

Because of Paul being adamant, Paul and Silas went together in their missionary journey in one direction and Barnabas and Mark took another route. The gospel spread in different regions. On the surface level, we might just see that incident as a dispute. But as we analyse it deeper, we see that God allowed that dispute to happen so that gospel could spread to different places.

12 years later Paul was in prison. Mark was also arrested along with Paul. This shows that they did minister together after a few years. Mark became more matured and Paul forgave Mark and ministered together with him.

Today when people have personal enmity with a minister, they separate themselves from that ministry and start another ministry as a competition. They also quote that Paul and Barnabas had a fight and they went in two directions. Paul and Barnabas never started two different ministries separately. They were ministers of God and they always had the love for each other.

- Shielded in God's love

Prason

Joseph Prince - False preacher

• Question : I am a Homosexual, but I am a believer. Would God approve me and accept me as I am?

Answer : Yes. You don't have to worry about that. Our God is a Gracious God and he accepts you just as you are. If you believe in your heart that Jesus died for you and if you have accepted him as your personal savior, then you are saved. When you  think of sin, then you start to sin again. So don't think about your sin. You are righteous in Christ

• Question : I am a believer. Do I need to confess my sins when ever I am reminded of my sins?

Answer : No. You Don't have to confess your sins and ask for repentance. The Holy Spirit will only convict the non believers of their sins. But for a believer like you, you don't have to confess and repent for your sins. You are already made righteous when you accepted Jesus to come into your heart. Now you don't have to confess your sins at all. TheHoly Spirit will never convict a believer of his sins. He will only remind the believer of his righteousness in Christ Jesus

If you are confused with the above two answers and if you think that there is something wrong with the two answers, I  welcome you to the new-age-teaching on Grace by Joseph Prince. Many call his teaching as "Cheap Grace teaching".But I would never agree with them. I have been reading his books and listening to his videos for many years; and in the last two years, I am very closely following his teachings by attending New Creation Church in Singapore. I would not term his teaching as "Cheap Grace or Sloppy Grace " teaching. His teaching is simply "Non-Grace" teaching.

When a Prophet cries out loud from the desert, the stone hearted would not listen to his call; the stiff necked would attack the prophet and the deceived will stone him. Only those who have a heart of flesh will listen to the Prophetic voice and only the humble will learn. I certainly believe that only a very few will be Saved. Yes; Narrow is the way to Truth and Life and only a very few will find it. I strongly urge the readers to discern this article with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Read it with an open mind.

I am not gonna start a theological discussion on a Calvinist- Armenian thought. This article is to open the eyes of the deceived poor sheep who are fed with non-spiritual- stench that is puked out by Joseph Prince week after week.

Who is this Joseph Prince and what is his ministry?

I am not gonna write anything about his personal life here. Joseph Prince’s ministry finds its roots in what many people have referred to as the Word Faith Movement. Proponents of this movement include E W Kenyon (whose writings gave rise to most of the radical ideas that inform the movement), Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copleland, Joyce Meyer et al. [ If you are a follower of the word-Faith movement, you would surely hate me for this aticle]. They teach a collective theology which propounds that God has promised to bless His people based on His finished work on the cross, as well as the believer’s positive confession of faith (in other words, if you speak forth your need, and lay hold of it by faith, the spoken need will in due time come to pass. Put simply, if I desire a car, I claim it in Jesus’ name, and the car will come my way). Critics have written quite extensively on Word Faith teachings, so i will not talk further about it here.

What I do want to highlight is that JP’s teaching over the last ten years does not move beyond the whole theme of justification by faith. In fact, there has been no mention of the sanctification process or the need for it. In his teachings, believers become righteous from appropriating the finished work on the cross. There is no need to work out one’s salvation, one simply needs to “rest”.

JP’s teaching on Grace suggests a lack of basic understanding of God’s redemptive work. The Martin Luthers and Calvinists will tell you the only time a believer ever takes a rest in his walk with God is when he is getting saved through the finished work of Christ. One can’t earn salvation through his own good work, but he can by His grace and mercy as demonstrated by His outstretched arms on the cross. This is the turning point in a sinner’s life, when the sinner decides to take up the cross and follow Jesus, so that more and more he can be called to be in His image.

Positionally, the believer is forever saved, but the old man in him still needs to be transformed. Now, this walk of sanctification, JP Ministry completely ignores. It is interesting that JP perceives any effort on the believer’s part to act out God’s imperatives as the believer’s attempt to keep the law. He teaches that under the New Convenant, one does not keep the Law, but lives only by God’s grace. According to him, God has not only rescinded the need to keep the ceremonial laws, He has categorically abolished all laws, including the Decalogue (or Ten Commandments)!

Joseph Prince should get a grip of the old covenant and the New covenant before he even attempts to talk on the subject of Grace. He has a great presentation style, a smiling face (just like Joel Osteen), a charismatic body language and a wonderful root language knowledge (which he twists often)

My questions for all to consider:

1. If God has truly abolished the Decalogue, which reveals His moral character and absolute standards for human decency, then what should a believer hold fast to in order to live out his faith in a corrupt and decadent world? “We are in the world, but not of the world.” God also calls us “the salt of the earth”. What keeps us salty if God removes His standards/values for us? What is Grace? Is it a form of moral standard by which we can define and govern our thought life and behaviour?

2. If,according to JP’s theology, those of us who are trying to work out our salvation with fear and trembling are guilty of earning our salvation through our own “stinking efforts”, then what is the Holy Spirit for in our lives?

I have read almost all his books. One of his books "Destined to reign" is totally unbiblical and promotes anti-christian theology.Check this book review on his book "Destined to reign" with a prayerful heart ( Read slowly and carefully and compare it with Bible with the guidance of Holy Spirit)

 http://www.scribd.com/doc/16272850/Study-of-Joseph-Prince-on-SelfExamination-Confession-Repentance-Stewardship-and-Conviction

I have reviewed many of his books. I am not gonna feed the whole haystack in this article. Would share the other reviews at a later point of time.

In the mean time, also take a look at this video message of Joseph Prince where he preaches that turning away from sin is not necessary for justification or forgiveness. The link also has a wonderful exposition of the sermon by a child of God.

http://www.christian-faith.com/forjesus/joseph-prince-says-turning-from-sin-not-necessary-for-justification-or-forgiveness

Many word-of-Faith exponents proclaim that Jesus did not finish his work on the cross. Instead he was subjected to torture in Hell for three days. If the root is bad, the tree would be bad too. Please keep this man in your prayers. May God open his eyes and May God open the eyes of the sheep too.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says.

Shielded in God's Love,

- The Voice from the desert

Note : I thank all the Prophets of God who shared their inputs for this article.

Destined to Reign - Book Review

I recently became aware of a young man in our congregation who is involved in the vilest of sexual addictions, yet considers himself a believer who has no qualms at all about admitting his sins and the pleasure that he gets from them. 

He has no concerns about his salvation either as he has received assurance from a new (?) doctrine that has been popularized by the book by Joseph Prince called DESTINED TO REIGN. It was probably no coincidence that a friend sent the book to me to look at. My curiosity and concern was definitely piqued.

As prudent Christians, many evangelicals realize that we are very possibly in the end times that Jesus talked about in Matthew 24. Knowing this, we need to be all the more aware of deception in our church and in doctrine. Remember Jesus himself said in Matthew 24:24 “For false Christ’s and FALSE PROPHETS will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Again in 2 Thessalonians 2:11&12 Paul says, “And for this reason God will send them a strong delusion, that they should believe the lie and they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Even during the busy Christmas season, I could not keep away from this book and the theology it promotes. While there are too many ideas to expound on here, the main ideas seem to be

1) Nothing but blessings for the believer,

2) No longer a need to be concerned about God’s judgment as Grace has done away with the law

3) All sin, past and future, was forgiven at the cross for the believer and

4) repentance and confession of sin is never necessary.

BLEST BELIEVERS

In Chapter 1, I learned that God has called us as Christians to be a success, to enjoy wealth, to enjoy health, and to enjoy a life of victory. As soon as we understand his principals , we will see how easy and effortless the Christian walk really is. Prince uses Romans 5:17 …“For by one man‘s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through one Jesus Christ” He then states that the word reign used here comes from the word basiluo (Greek) translated to basilica in English.. Since, he says, basilicas were used as law courts, that means we would have a kingly rule. Well, that’s a stretch to begin with. A basilica is simply a style of building that makes it good for any assembly including meeting places, law courts, funeral homes and often churches. Adam Clarke, translating from the original Greek, along with any major Bible Scholar I am aware of takes this scripture to mean that we will reign over death as a result of Jesus death and resurrection..

Prince fails to mention what Jesus says to expect if we follow him.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” and again in Luke 6:22 Jesus said, “Blessed are you when men hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and caste your name as evil for the Son of Man’s sake.

Jesus also said in Luke 9:23 “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” In Matthew 7:14 Jesus said , “Narrow is the gate and DIFFICULT is the way which leads to life and few there be that find it. And in Luke 9:25 Jesus warns about riches saying, “For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost.” !st Peter 3:17 “For it is better , if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”

In Revelations 6:9, John says “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they maintained.”

Living in a country with abundant wealth such as Singapore (where Prince lives) or the United States certainly makes it more plausible for persons whether Christian or simply diligent citizens to have a measure of wealth, But, is that God’s plan for everyone who loves him? Certainly and clearly it is not. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 19:23 that it would be harder for the rich to get into heaven, and in Luke 18;24 he again lamented about how hard it would be for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus calls us to be willing to give up everything, including our life, to follow Him. Paul, himself, who wrote Romans 5:17, was often beaten, shipwrecked, and finally martyred. (Prince foolishly states that Paul’s thorn could not have been illness--he fails to note in Galatians 4 : 13-14 Paul clearly states he was sick with an infirmity of the flesh). Christians are daily persecuted and martyred around the world for the sake of their faith and the very survival of Christianity depended on the martyrs who came before us. Reigning might sound good for itchy ears but it isn’t what we are guaranteed in this present life.

A GOD OF MERCY ONLY--(New Revelation)

On page 32 Prince reveals his belief that God is continually restoring his truths to the church and the revelation of the finished work will continue to get stronger. Any time new revelation is taught, we must be reminded of how often this has been the basis of new cult’s such asMormonism, Jehovah‘s witness, Christian Scientist etc. This new revelation of Prince’s continues to be the gift of righteousness to reign in life. I.e., more grace and less judgment. The loving and merciful side of God is always emphasized in Prince’s teaching.

While Prince speaks much of the fact that the new covenant does away with the old covenant , he fails to distinguish between the commandments which are still in effect and the ceremonial law that was necessary only until Christ became the sacrifice. Paul was often speaking to new Christians/Jews who kept going back to ceremonial law. --after all as Jews that was very natural for them and , no doubt, they still had many friends who were still in ceremonial law. Paul confirms this in Galations 4:10 when he says “You observe days and months and seasons and years.

As for the commandments, read Matthew 19:17-21 when Jesus clearly told the rich young man he should keep the commandments if he wanted to enter into life……“shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Prince states a merciful God would not Judge America or any other country because of what was done at the cross(pg 49). That, he says is because God is not willing that any should perish. Wow that’s a relief--or is it? In 2nd Cor. 5:11 Paul says that knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men………..Heb 10:30b & 31 “ The Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God’ and Luke 12:5 … “Fear Him who…has the power to cast into hell:,, Of course Revelation has an entire book on the judgments that will be forthcoming on Nations and people. If we believe that God is all powerful, we must believe that whether or not he caused 9;11, He could have stopped it so therefore did allow judgment to come.

ALL SINS PAST AND FUTURE WERE FORGIVEN AT THE CROSS.

Prince continually assures the Believer that, although he does not condone sin , all was forgiven when Jesus died for the Believer so we never have to worry about it again.

On pg 53 Prince says ‘If you receive a word from someone which brings your sins to remembrance or instills an expectation of punishment for sins in your life, don’t fear it, just throw it out the window..”

On page 45, he says that , for the believer, ‘God took all your sins, even the sins that you have not yet committed, and put them all on Jesus. All future sins have been fully judged at the cross.’

On page 138, he states that “Believers are forever righteous. On page 233 he says “you cannot be under grace without becoming holy.”

On page 99 he states that he has never encountered anyone who after receiving grace says “now I can go out and sin”. Really???I know of many people who truly served and loved the Lord at one time and have returned to a life of sin-- don‘t you? Just get any church directory from a few years back and you will see how many did not stay the course.

Prince does not attempt to explain the many examples that were given in the Gospels such as the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins, the seed that fell on good ground but was choked by the things of this world, or the seed that sprung up and then withered or the ninety and nine when the shepherd searched for the one who had left the fold. Even Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer that we should examine ourselves daily when he said “give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”

In Colossians 1:22 & 23 Paul admonishes the believers “ to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable in his sight IF indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you have heard…… Also 2nd Peter 2:20 &21 say ‘For after they have escaped the pollutions of this world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome. The latter end is worse for them than the beginning, for it would have been better for them to have never known the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn from the bold commandment delivered to them. John 15:10 “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love…….”

What Prince believes and teaches is almost beyond Calvinism because most Calvinists, including John Macarthur, will say of a person who practices a sinful life, that they never knew the Lord in the first place I.e. they never studied God’s word to see what would be required of them.

NEVER MIND REPENTENCE

Prince teaches that the word Repent actually only means to turn around.

The new Webster’s inter-collegiate dictionary refers to the root word penitent to describe repent as remorse, sorrow, for sins, contrition etc.

Prince also teaches that since sins are already forgiven, there is no need to repent of them anyway. What we need instead is to be forgiveness -conscious. See page 103 where he says “even when they (Christians) say a wrong thing, do a wrong thing or have a wrong thought…….they see the blood of Jesus continually washing them……..because they are forgiveness-conscious. they experience victory over sin.” Prince uses the example of the sins committed by the Corinthians to say that Paul simply reminded them that their bodies were temples of the Holy Spirit (pg 107) and did not tell them to repent. Well, Paul didn’t exactly ignore the sin either as though it were already forgiven..

See verses 1 Cor 5:5 when Paul told them to “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Clearly, the sin required more attention than simply reminding the offender that he needed to be aware that he was already forgiven. How about getting his attention to the seriousness of the sin and repentance from it? Also note 2 Cor 12:21 written to the Believers at Corinth in which Paul states “Lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you & I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented.

On page 234, Prince states that we are not told to repent (I.e. turnaround) from sins but from dead works which, he says, are not really sins. I.e. if you pray thinking that makes you right with God , that is a dead work. Similarly, If you study the Bible because you think doing so makes you right with God--forget it. You need, he says, to study and pray knowing you are right with God. So, in effect we should not be concerned about our sins but do need to be sure we never pray or search the scripture for answers simply to learn what is right--we just need to accept that we are right because at some time in the past we “turned around“.

While Prince writes his book as the secret to effortless success, wholeness and victorious living, the Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:11-16 that we will need to put on the whole armor of God so that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places ………………

My heart breaks for the young man who thinks he can continue to practice any kind of sin and be considered holy before God, for the Bible says in 1 Thess 4:7 “ for God did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God..”.

Yes, it is wonderful to hear a message of Grace, but until we understand that God is also a God of judgment, can we really know the depths of his Grace? As Paul admonished the believers in Romans, 2:2 “ But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things” and again to the believers In Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.”

Remember, it is in God’s commandments that we learn the heart of God and what he expects of us. . How many will pay the ultimate price for the belief promoted in Destined to Reign? It is, after all, the same old lie, that Satan told Eve when he convinced her, that deliberate sin could go unpunished.

Sister Glady Russel

Verdict : A good book to be in your trashbin