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Year: 2021

God Is My Fortress

Psalms 46:1-2; 10-11

G                                C
Lord, You are my refuge and strength
Am                                         D
Lord, You are my present help in trouble
G                                              C
I will not fear though the earth gives way
Am                                                                       D                     G
Though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea

Chorus:

C                                               G
Be still and know that the Lord is God
Am                                                  D
He will be exalted among the nations
C                                            G
The Lord of hosts is with us
Am                                        D
The God of Jacob is our fortress

Teaching Ministry On Christian Growth

Conducted the Christian Growth class from 7th Feb to 2nd May 2021.  All thanks and praise to the Lord for the faithful attendance of 5 brothers and sisters over 13 weeks.

Will be conducting the basic theology class with the following topics soon and I pray that a short concise booklet will be birthed out of this class.

  1. The Kingdom of God.
    1.  Perished Kingdom.
    2. Partial Kingdom.
    3. Restored Kingdom.
  2. The Trinity.
  3. Doctrine of Jesus Christ.
  4. Doctrine of Salvation.
  5. Canonization and Inspiration of the Bible.
  6. Illumination of the Holy Spirit.
  7. Discipleship and Christlikeness.
  8. End things.

The High Priestly Prayer

The office of the high priest was instituted when God gave the law to the Israelites.  The high priest was responsible for interceding for Israel before God.   In John 17, Jesus our Lord interceded for Himself, His disciples and all believers so the prayer became known as the High Priestly prayer.

Who can know exactly how to pray to God better than the Son of God Himself who had been with God since eternity past and for all eternity.  This prayer, together with the Lord’s Prayer, will be comprehensive enough as examples to pray for oneself and others for the main petition priorities are mentioned in them.  How important it will be for all believers to know the petition priorities made in these two prayers by our Lord.

The Lord’s Prayer is a personal prayer while the High Priestly Prayer is a corporate prayer.  One prays for oneself for provisions, forgiveness and deliverance; the other prays for the security, sanctification and unity of one’s disciples and the church at large.

The outline of this High Priestly prayer is as follows :

  • Jesus prayed for Himself. Vs 1-5
  • Jesus prayed for the security of His disciples. Vs 6-12
  • Jesus prayed for the sanctification of His disciples. V s3-19
  • Jesus prayed for His whole Body of believers. Vs 20-26

The main petition priorities gleaned from the High Priestly prayer are :

  1. Pray to submit to God’s given mission and obey for the sake of God’s glory.   Vs 1-5
  2. Pray for the security, sanctification and unity of one’s disciples, or local church or fellowship.
  • Pray (similarly) that we will teach the Word of God faithfully and that the disciples will receive them and come to know the truth, particularly to know the truth about Christ and that God sent Him. Vs 8
  • Pray for their security and unity. Vs 11
  • Pray for them to have joy. It is so necessary living in these end times when we will be persecuted.  Pray that they will endure with the joy set before them looking forward to the coming glory. Vs 13
  • Pray for them to be protected from the evil one. Vs 15
  • Pray to sanctify them with the truth. Vs 17
  1. Pray for the unity of the church at large. By praying for the other churches around the world, we are made to be aware of the similar struggles of the least of our brothers in these groups or nations.  Christian unity is not about denominational membership but about shared life in Christ.  It is about common love, common purpose and common mission just like in the first century.

 

Trinitarianism Versus Binitarianism

There are already many articles written on the subject of the Holy Trinity.  I just want to share some clear evidence from Scripture to debunk Binitarianism specifically.  Binitarianism is the belief that there is no Third Person in the God-head and the Holy Spirit mentioned in Scripture is either the spirit-being of God the Father or God the Son.

Firstly,  2 Cor 13:14 mentioned all three persons in the benediction in which there is no necessity to mention the Holy Spirit if it is not existent separately.  ( 2 Cor 13:14. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.)

Secondly, during the baptism of our Lord Jesus, it was clearly mentioned that God the Father spoke from Heaven and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and alighting on our Lord Jesus.  (Matt 3:16-17. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”)

Thirdly,  our Lord Jesus mentioned that He had to leave in order for God the Father to send the Helper (the Holy Spirit) to the disciples. John 16:7.  And the Holy Spirit will not speak on His own authority but will only speak what He hears and will glorify our Lord Jesus implying the subordination of the Holy Spirit to Him.   So there is clearly this subordination to one another in the God-head. God the Father would send God the Spirit to be subservient in His ministry to glorify God the Son and will not speak on His own authority but declare the truths from God the Son. John 16:14.  These verses – John 16:7, 13-14 –  will be incomprehensible if God the Spirit is not a separate Person from God the Father and God the Son.  According to Binitarianism, if the Holy Spirit is just the spirit-being of God the Father or God the Son, re-reading these verses will be incomprehensible. (John 16:7,13-14.  Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you…When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare to you.)

Fourthly,  the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.  If the Holy Spirit is the spirit-being of God the Father, then it will be ambiguous to intercede to Himself since we know from John 16 that our Lord Jesus is distinct from the Helper, the Holy Spirit.  (Rom 8:26-27.  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.)

Lastly,  we are given the Great Commission by our Lord to make disciples of all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Triune God – God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  In Acts 19:1-7, the disciples in Ephesus did not even know of the Holy Spirit despite being baptized by John the Baptist and telling them to believe in the name of Jesus our Lord.  They did not have the Holy Spirit since their understanding of the gospel and the Triune God were likely to be spurious.

Through the centuries since the birth of the church, creeds from ecumenical councils and confession of huge part of Christendom have affirmed the Holy Trinity.

The Nicene Creed, accepted by all Christendom, clearly states in the creed that the Holy Spirit is worshiped and glorified together with God the Father and God the Son : “…And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified…”  The Athanasian creed affirms the Holy Trinity though it is not universally accepted by all Protestant churches.  (http://www.prca.org/about/official-standards/creeds/ecumenical/athanasian).

Other confession through the centuries include the Belgic Confession (https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/belgic-confession-1561/) and the Cape Town Commitment (https://www.lausanne.org/content/ctcommitment#p1-5).

The Big Stock Market-Economy Disconnect Today

The US economy was already showing sign of distress in September 2019 when the Federal Reserve had to conduct repo action by pumping hundreds of billions into the market.  The covid-19 pandemic simply amplified the distress.  The Fed created so much new money out of thin air to enable the US government to provide stimulus package to the economy in March 2020.  The balance sheet had set new record.  The G4 (US, EU, UK, Japan) balance sheet will grow from USD 16.5 trillion in 2019 to 29.5 trillion in 2022.

(What is a repo ?  When enacting a repo operation, the US central bank buys government securities from banks with predetermined repurchase dates. The offerings create temporary liquidity for the financial system, adding more funds to the plumbing that connects banks, accounts, and transactions.)

Sadly, all these monies went to bankroll the government debt and backstop all the bonds of almost all major corporations including zombie ones.  Think of what the zombie CEOs would do with the easy helicopter money.  They bought back the shares of the companies and sent the stock market into record frenzy heights creating the biggest disconnect between the stock market and the real economy.  No longer is the stock market the barometer of the health of the economy.  While the big corporations, including zombie corporations, have easy access to such money,  the SMEs will close in record numbers.

Imagine how the rich and the poor Americans will spend their stimulus check of USD 1200.  The rich will have no need of this money and put it in stock or Bitcoin and putting this USD 1200 into Bitcoin in March 2020 will yield USD 4000 in Jan 2021, while the poor will have spent it on basic necessities.  This has caused the biggest rich and poor divide.  The rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.

The interest rates from central banks are now at record low between near zero to negative even.   Imagine now the failing states like Italy, Spain and Portugal continue to get zero or negative interest loans from ECB to bankroll their deficits indefinitely.   The central bank of Japan is now the only sole buyer of the government bonds and the government now owns 50% of the stock market.  Italy, Spain and Portugal are imitating what Japan is doing.

I can see no solution at all except for the G4 central banks to continue to print money to finance everything without any end in sight.

How will this crazy imbalance end ?   I believe the judgment of all wealth by God mentioned in Rev 18 will be the final outcome.  The wealth of US and all who grow rich because of her will be destroyed.  All the kings of the earth (governments), merchants (global MNCs, SMEs and their supply chain components) and those who make their living by the sea (global ports cum financial centres) will weep when the judgment comes.  I believe the prophecy in Scripture – that the fourth empire under the Antichrist will emerge to lead the disillusioned world – will be fulfilled after this destruction of wealth.

Testimony (22)

One of the main missions that God had given me was to galvanize the churches in the region to prepare for the coming hard economic times.  As such, though I was appointed as the missionary pastor of Alfa Omega Ministries, Indonesia, I was unable to preach regularly on Sunday in Batam.

Only in 2015 was I able to commit for a year to preach at some 4 services on one weekend each month.   I would arrive in Batam on Saturday afternoon in time to preach at the evening youth service.  The next day, I would attend the service in the main congregation in Baloi Centre, Batam at about 7 am before leaving at about 9.30am to preach at an affiliated congregation in Batu Haji, Batam.  After lunch, I would take the fast boat service to Tanjong Uban to preach there at 2 pm.  After which, I would catch the last ferry at 5 pm to head back to Batam for the evening service at another congregation near the jetty.

On one particular Sunday,  while waiting for the last boat service at 5 pm at the ferry terminal cafe,  I was assured that the custom officers or the boat operator would announce or call for us when the boat was about to depart.   But the last service went off without us.  I prayed for a miraculous option, despite the terrible slim odds, to take us back to Batam in time for the evening service. Without any particular reason, the last boat turned back for us fifteen minutes later.  I was still loitering around the jetty thinking of options and praying.  Had I just left immediately to look for a hotel to stay overnight in Tanjong Uban, I would miss the boat returning for us.   What a relief and heartfelt gratitude to our Lord for an answered prayer.  Hallelujah !   Praise the Lord !

Testimony (21)

On the day I was about to bring my two younger children to Gold Coast Australia in November 2016,  I went to my office to clear some paperwork first in the afternoon.   I left my office keys in the public toilet on a careless moment after leaving the office.  By the time I remembered the incident, it was already 3 hours past and I rushed back to the office.  I prayed along the way and by the grace of God, the keys were still in the same place.  If not, I would have to spend time replacing the keys which would be so tedious and time consuming and I might not have the time to do so as we were catching the flight later in the evening. I prayed for a calm spirit, given the vexed situation, and a safe and hassle free trip as well.

At the check in counter at the airport, I was informed that my Australian passport visa was not valid. And thanks be to God, it could be processed immediately at another counter to my relief.

We checked into the hotel immediately upon arriving at Gold Coast in the morning. We went straight up to the hotel room on the 17th floor after collecting the keys. While I was bringing in two pieces of luggage into the room and turning around to pick up the third just outside the room, it was gone.  Someone had stolen it so fast.  I rushed straight down to the lobby to inform the hotel security.  Unfortunately the hotel did not have CCTV security.  I informed all the counter staff and guests at the lobby to look out for my black luggage bag before I went back up to the 17th floor.  This was to prevent the thief from using the escape staircase to sneak out of the lobby.  Then I went down the escape staircase from the 17th floor.  After going down 2 flight of stairs, I saw my black luggage.  It was slit open at the side but I lost nothing.

Though there was nothing valuable in the luggage It contained my son’s special eczema creams and many sets of clothing to last the trip which he would need to change frequently.  If the bag was not recovered, it would greatly inconvenience us for the whole holiday trip.

I was really grateful that God had answered my prayer yet again in spite of so many inconveniences and possibly not making the holiday as well.  All thanks and glory to His name.