Went to visit a primary school cum orphanage started by a missionary sister in the hope of bettering the lives of the poorest children in the world through provision of holistic education. Due to the lack of resources, the Lord had given her the wisdom to address some of the sustenance needs of the school by utilising a small farm plot on the school ground. Budget challenges are enormous with enrolment growing in the hundreds which demand more teachers and helpers.
It is so heartwarming to learn that such a remote non-governmental school with no funding can produce 7 ace students who go on to excel in engineering and medicine.
May the Lord bless her and her ministry richly on account of her faith and life dedication to the Kingdom of our Lord.
All thanks and praise to our Lord for His calling to connect and fellowship with the churches in Kenya. I was both humbled and joyous to fellowship with the humble servant leaders of this denomination of 28 churches. I was hosted by their bishop and county (provincial) chaplain. We had the pastoral conference for a day in which I shared about the impending Rev 18:17-19 judgment and the necessity to prepare for it. The next day, I joined the regular worship session in which the bishop hosted leaders from other denominations. The messages I have heard all day were about fearing God and living in holiness. And I saw the one-ness and brotherly love in the churches between the leaders and the congregation when they honoured one another. (I am not making a pious courteous comment for I have seen most church leaders in the affluent countries are more of status seekers with their lofty protocol than humble servants.)
St Paul had ever been to the third heaven. (The third heaven refers to the place where God dwells.) He wrote in the third person in 2 Cor 12:2-4,“I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that NO ONE IS PERMITTED TO TELL.” While he was there in heaven, he saw and heard things which he could not describe and was forbidden to relate. Scripture made it clear in 2 Cor 12:4 that NO ONE IS PERMITTED TO TELL of such experience.
Only 6 persons in Scripture had visions of heaven but not near death experiences – Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micaiah, Paul, John and Stephen. And possibly three wrote about the glory of God and their own fear in the presence of God. And all those who were brought back to life by our Lord Jesus or Paul did not have their post mortem experience mentioned in Scripture. Moments after our Lord died, many dead saints came out of their tombs and went into the city and appeared to many. Neither were their post mortem experience mentioned in Scripture.
Alex Malarkey was six years old when a car crash put him in a coma for two months, during which time he said he went to heaven and visited angels. The resulting memoir, co-authored with his father, was a best-seller. But five years after its publication in 2015, Alex says he made the whole thing up, NPR reports. “I did not die. I did not go to Heaven,” he wrote in an open letter to Christian books retailers. “I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention.” The story was believable because it was related by a 6 year old boy whom hardly anyone would suspect he could have the guile to invent such a story to get attention. If a young boy could do that, surely there would be many charlatans today doing so for money and fame whose heaven visitation stories could not be verified by anyone, except himself or herself.
Is buying insurance biblical ? In other words, if we buy insurance, do we lack trust in the Lord ? Since it is not specifically mentioned in the Scripture, then let it be treated as a matter of conscience. Let each pray and decide.
Scripture does advise not to guarantee loan for anyone for fear of unforeseen default consequence affecting oneself and family.
Proverbs 22:26-27 NLT
Don’t agree to guarantee another person”s debt or put up security for someone else. If you can’t pay it, even your bed will be snatched from under you.
So it is analogous and reasonable to take steps to mitigate unforeseen circumstances such as buying insurance for, in my opinion, insurance is like a collective pooling of resources in a community to help any individual in the community facing unforeseen emergency that require financial aid.
Whenever the Lord warns of impending disaster in Scripture, He expects the faithful to act to prepare. The story of Joseph in mitigating the famine faced by his family is one good example.
We are also told to be prudent.
Proverbs 17:12
A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
In my opinion, one ought to buy insurance such as hospitalisation insurance, fire insurance, travel insurance and dependent income insurance.
The NAR apostles and
prophets claim great authority in the church because of one doctrinal teaching
that our Lord Jesus gave five offices for governing and directing the church :
apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. The NAR apostles and prophets claimed that
they were entrusted to reclaim back these two offices to make the church
complete and also operate in supernatural power. Kris Vallaton claimed the
restoration of these offices would result in increased angelic activity
manifested by miracles rarely witnessed in the history of the planet. They would have the authority to make “prayer
declaration” that the angels must carry out. They lure and bait their followers
with the promise of blessings. All along the church teaches the written Word of
God and nurture their flocks, but now these NAR apostles and prophets have the
new revelations their followers need to develop miraculous powers, bring God’s
kingdom, and fulfill His will on earth.
From Matt 23:8-10,
Jesus our Lord mentioned so clearly we are all brothers and call no one rabbi,
father or instructor for we have only one Lord Jesus. Yet the NAR apostles and prophets claim great
authority over the church and they can wreck havoc in the lives of many who
submit to them.
I took the liberty to summarize a chapter of the well researched book, Counterfeit Kingdom, by Holly Pivec and Douglas Geivett on the spiritual abuse of the NAR leaders using very questionable tactics.
They are told that
through their submission, they can then experience physical and emotional
healing, learn to work miracles and protect themselves from demons who hinder
the fulfillment of their destinies. Without submission to their authority,
angels will not help them.
Here are some tactics or ruses to secure their submission :
1. Twisted Scriptures.
They need to use Scripture to bolster their teaching of supreme authority, but Scripture does not support this teaching as stated cearly in Matt 23:8-10 and Scripture has to be twisted or quoted out of context. 2 Pet 3:16. I explained in detail the five fold ministry as mentioned in Eph 2:20-21 and Eph 4:11 which does not contradict Matt 23:8-10.
2. Euphemisms Or Playing With Words.
a. Alignment.
Instead of calling for submission to their authority, they use the word “alignment” to suggest submission. Kris Vallaton shared,”If we don’t understand how to recognize and align ourselves under true spiritual authority, we may build bigger armies, develop better strategies and buy more powerful weapons, but we will still lose.
b. Spiritual Covering.
With spiritual covering from the apostles and prophets, all the bad things like demonic attacks will be blocked.
c. Covenant Relationships.
That is another teaching to solicit submission to another wiser believer.
d. Culture Of Honour.
A must read book for students in the Bethel School of
Supernatural Ministry, Culture of Honour : Sustaining a Supernatural
Environment, teaches that believers must show proper honour to the apostles and
prophets as a condition to receive miraculous gifting and supernatural
empowerment from them.
We can notice that these NAR leaders do not state candidly their controversial teachings but rather they rely on insinuation, implication and innuendo. But the followers fully comprehend that if they want to be blessed, they have to show honour and submit to these NAR leaders.
3. Brainstoppers.
a. “Eat the meat and spit out the bones.”
This catchphrase actually absolves the NAR leaders of any wrong teaching or immoral lifestyle. If the follower is part of a “revival” and it comes to light that such an apostle or prophet has a secret immoral lifestyle like Todd Bentley, he or she should still believe God was working through that “unclean” person and that they led a genuine “move of God”.
b. “You should trust God’s ability to protect you from being deceived more than you trust Satan’s ability to deceive you.”
This catchphrase is to dispel the followers’ fears of being deceived by them. This teaching clearly contradicts so many warnings in Scripture about guarding against false teachings.
c. “God offends the mind to reveal the heart.”
This catchphrase is to excuse all kinds of bizarre works of the prophets. If the followers refuse to listen to these prophets, that is a sign of an evil and hard heart.
d. “God is bigger than His book.”
Another catchphrase is “Don’t put God in a box.” Such catchphrases are used to defend bizarre experiences reported by these NAR leaders not found in Scripture.
4. Book Ban.
The NAR leaders strongly warn their followers not to read books that are critical of NAR teachings.
5. Name Calling.
Critics are given labels like “mean-spirited, heresy hunters, judgmental, Jezebel, Pharisee, legalist, unanointed”.
6. Threats.
When all other tactics fail to silence criticism, these NAR leaders resort to threats. The famous catchphrase is the repetition of the warning, “Touch not the anointed”. That implies critics may be judged by our Lord for criticizing them.
While in prison in 1943, Dr Dietrich Bonhoeffer meditated on the question why the German people – in spite of their education, culture, and intellectual achievements – had fallen so far from reason and morality. he concluded the people had been afflicted with collective stupidity. He was not flippant when he used this term stupidity to describe actually a sociological problem rather than a psychological one, and a human defect rather than a intellectual one. The atrocities during World War 2 had shown him that perfectly intelligent people could be rendered stupid under the pressure of political power and propaganda. That is, they could be rendered incapable of critical reasoning.
He continued to expound that stupidity is even more dangerous than wickedness. Evil can be protested against, exposed and prevented by force. But against stupidity, there is no defense. Facts that contradict one’s prejudice simply don’t need to be believed, and when they are inescapable, they can simply be brushed aside as meaningless or isolated cases. The advice is not to convince the stupid with reason, it is pointless and dangerous. It is a fact that stupid people are stubborn and when one is dealing with them personally, it seems that catchphrases and slogans have taken possession of them like under a spell. That is blindness which Scripture often mentioned.
We can also see this blindness and stupidity in the religious sphere. Despite the clear error of false teaching such as false Christology and the shamanistic practices of the NAR movement, yet we see millions following them without any critical reasoning.
A few brothers and sisters in the Philippines were keen to know more about the coming hard times and have invited me to share about my book message, The Coming Economic Flood, in person a year ago. I was finally able to travel there this month with the lifting of most vaccine-related restrictions. They have decided to organise a seminar instead of an informal fellowship meeting. All thanks to the Lord for the wonderful fellowship and discussion.
I have written a comprehensive gospel message of the kingdom of God and the redemptive work of our Lord God from Genesis to Revelation. I included the major doctrines of the Holy Trinity, Personhood of Jesus Christ and the history of the Israelite nation in the narrative as well. The similarity of the Chinese culture, language, philosophy and religion is also included.
I have invited some 8 persons to listen to this 1 hour presentation to gauge the response followed by questions and answers before proceeding to dinner. I hope to share the gospel in this novel Alpha-course-like way and introduce it to churches in the region, God willing. All glory and honour to our Lord Jesus.
