让我们歌颂主耶稣
歌颂主耶稣的圣名
让我们呼欢因为祂快降临
歌颂主耶稣的圣名
称颂主耶稣，我的心
称颂主耶稣，我的心哪
称颂主耶稣，我的心哪。
( Let’s sing praises to the Lord Jesus.
Let’s shout for joy for He is coming soon.
Bless the Lord Jesus, O my soul)
Year: 2023
Manila Seminar
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.
Introducing An Alpha-course-like Gospel Presentation
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.
The Kingdom Of God (II)
What was at the heart of all the teachings of our Lord Jesus ? The answer was clear in Luke 4:43 – the Kingdom of God.
(Luke 4:43 NIV. But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”
Mark 1:14-15 NKJV. Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God [g]is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”)
Most of our Lord’s parables focused on the Kingdom of God. And even after His resurrection and before His ascension to heaven, He spent some 40 days with the disciples preparing the disciples for their mission ahead by teaching them on the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
(Acts 1:3. NASB. To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of things regarding the kingdom of God.)
We read in Acts of what Paul did primarily in his missionary journeys when he went around preaching and testifying about the kingdom of God.
(Acts 14:22. And after they had preached the gospel to that city and had made a good number of disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “It is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God.”
Acts 19:8. And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, having discussions and persuading them about the kingdom of God.
Acts 20:25. “And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face…”
Acts 28:23. When they had set a day for Paul, people came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.
Acts 28:30-31. Now Paul stayed two full years in his own rented lodging and welcomed all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching things about the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.)
It is with much sadness that I realize many churches do not preach centrally about the kingdom of God anymore but focus mainly on paradoxes of doctrines and differences in practices on one extreme; and false teaching of life without tribulation as abundant life in Christ on the other extreme. The devil has been very successful in corrupting the plain truth of the kingdom of God over the centuries.
What constitutes a kingdom ? A kingdom must have at least these 4 elements – a King, territory, laws and subjects.
The King of the Kingdom of God is our Lord Jesus Christ. In Eph 1:10, we read that it is God’s plan in the fullness of the times to bring all things together under the kingship of Christ. The territory is still the same planet earth. It will be renewed again. Heaven will descend on this new earth at the end of age.
God’s laws will be the basis of the reign of this Kingdom and will be adhered perfectly in this Kingdom for all subjects will be perfect as He is perfect when Christ returns. (Isaiah 2:2-4). False teachers have preached about the abolition of God’s laws. They have completely ignored the clear teaching in the Bible that God’s laws are good and perfect. We were created in the original image of God and His laws were the blueprint of our godly character. But the fall of man caused us to lose most of this image. The subjects of this new Kingdom of God will be those who place their trust in the Lord Jesus and desire everything in this Kingdom. It is inconceivable of those, who do not desire the laws in this kingdom, still wishing to enter this kingdom.
In the Millennium, the saints will reign on the physical earth with Christ our Lord.
(Rev 5:9-10. And they *sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation.You have made them into a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”)
The Jews at the time of Christ on earth were expecting a real kingdom of God ruled by the Messiah to be imminent. Because Jesus was near to Jerusalem, they asked Him whether the kingdom of God would come immediately. In Luke 19:11-27, we read that Jesus answered them with the parable of the ten minas. In verse 12, He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then to return…” The government of this kingdom of God will be on His shoulder and there is no end to the increase of His government and peace. Isaiah 9:6-7. During the Millennium, He will rule and judge righteously and there will be no conflict. Isaiah 11.
Let not the false apostles and prophets of the New Apostolic Reformation corrupt the saints with the idea that the Kingdom in its full form will appear before Christ even return. it is just a fallacy to establish their apparent authority over the church by insisting that the Kingdom is now happening and they are placed in charge. Luke 19:12 clearly debunks that.
(The early church leaders also taught of the coming physical kingdom of God. For further research, one can read up their writings on this subject.)
Our current mission is to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey every commandment of Christ now so that they can fully appreciate and desire the Christ-like life in the Kingdom of Christ our King and Lord. Matt 28:19-20.
In Matt 6:33, we read that if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all things will be added to us, yet in Heb 11:35-40, we read that many heroes of faith did not receive what was promised though they were all commended for their faith. As the Scripture is definitely inerrant, the promise of all things will be realised in the coming Millennium Kingdom. The Old Testament saints were all waiting for the coming perfection together with all the New Testament saints. (Heb 11:40). CS Lewis put it this way : aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in, but if you aim at earth, you get neither.
In summary, the Good News is that the kingdom of God is at hand and we no longer need to be under the bondage of the kingdom of darkness. In a nutshell, it is accepting and putting Jesus as King and Lord in repentance and enter and live in His kingdom. His kingdom is here and yet not here. It is here in one sense that Jesus is reigning as King in the hearts of the truly repentant, and will be fully here when Jesus returns as King when He reigns physically from Jerusalem.
The Bible’s Teaching On Spiritual Gifts And The NAR New Age Teachings
I took the liberty to summarize and paraphrase one chapter of the book, Counterfeit Kingdom authored by Holly Pivec and R Douglas Geivett, which detailed the new age teachings of the NAR movement. I did so in the hope that the summary could give a quick understanding of the danger of such teachings.
Occultic Practices
Biblical teachings about miraculous gifts and the NAR new age teachings are worlds apart. The Christian gifts are given to serve and build up the church. However, God forbid occultic practices that seek to obtain supernatural power and secret knowledge such as fortune telling and communicating with the dead using various methods of divination. Deut 18: 9-12. They are forbidden because they are usually associated with the activity of demons. Deut 32:17; Ps 106:34-43; Acts 16:16-18; 1 Cor 10: 19-21; 9:20-21. The stranger thing is that these NAR prophets acknowledged that all such practices were stolen from the Christians. Jonathan Welton in one of the chapters of the book, The Physics Of Heaven, said that spirit guide, trances, meditation, auras, power objects, etc, were actually stolen and cleverly repackaged by the New Agers. As such, many NAR prophets believe they have to reclaim these practices to advance the Kingdom of God. The Christian gifts are given by the Holy Spirit and nowhere does the Bible teaches that they can be activated.
Levitation And Teleportation
A generation growing up with Harry Porter would surely be drawn to the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM). It is no surprise that these BSSM students attempt to practice levitating coins and guitar picks and walking through walls. Bethel leaders merely laughed them off when questioned by the media.
Psychic Fairs And “Spirit Readings”
After the BSSM students are activated with a prophetic gift, they are sent out to the Bethel community to “prophesy “ to strangers. Usually they will go undercover to set up booths in psychic fairs to offer dream interpretation and spirit readings. They will claim that they are involved in a creative way to reach the New Agers with the gospel. And that is strange because in blending in, they won’t say anything religious and refer to God as Spirit of Creation. By not sharing about Jesus, wonder what is the gospel they are sharing ?
Destiny Cards
At these fairs, the BSSM students used a Christianized version of the tarot cards, the “Destiny Cards” designed by a Christian organization named Christalignment. The card images of angels, animals and nature scenes have symbolic meanings and functions much like tarot in the hands of prophetic readers. Through Christalignment readings, clients can receive answers to questions like “Have I chosen the right career ?” or “Will I have any more children ?”. The following description of one deck of Destiny Cards appeared on an early version of Christalignment”s website : “Psalm readings are similar to Tarot in that cards are counted out according to your birth date…Only three cards are used and these will represent your past, present and future.” This controversy erupted in 2017 when it came to light that many BSSM students had joined Christalignment teams over the years and Bethel Church prophets Kris Vallaton and Theresa Dedmon published statements online defending Ken and Jenny Hodge, the founders of Christalignment and their Destiny Cards.
Telepathy
Mind reading or telepathy is taught by Seth Dahl (a BSSM graduate) and co-author with Bill Johnson of the children’s book, God Is Really Good. In one Facebook video in 2017, Dahl told parents that the practice is helpful with children who are very young or sick or have trouble verbalizing their needs. He said he used it successfully with his son who was one and a half year old then. His son could not sleep and they communicated spiritually with each other and his son psychically told him to stay near his crib and rub his back, and his son fell asleep within minutes. How absurd ! It is just plain common sense.
Seeing Dead People
Ben Armstrong, the Bethel Church’s Prophetic Ministry Director, shared in a video about stories of Christians who have seen and talked to dead people. The deceased people they encountered were Christian “revivalists” including faith healers such as Maria Woodworth-Erter and Kathryn Kuhlman. Such practice known as necromancy is strictly forbidden by Scripture. Deut 18:9-12; Gal 5:19-20; Acts 19:19.
The Death Spiral Of The Babylonian Financial System
I take the liberty to summarize an article titled “The Death Spiral” written by John Rubino.
Conventional wisdom tells us that governments with unlimited printing presses would spend and borrow too much, forcing their central banks to keep interest rates unnaturally low to make interest costs manageable, which would encourage even more credit growth and inflation to spike. And it will spiral this way until everyone loses faith in the fiat currencies and send these currencies to their intrinsic value of zero.
We can see that the national debt of US has gone exponential from the chart below, and you can extrapolate the curve to see the debt in another few years. Inflation has jumped by 10% in 2022 causing the central bank to raise interest rates to counter the inflation. The author and I opined that here is where the death spiral kicks in. (The sudden escalation part of the exponential curve is the critical phase to watch in any event. This is explained in Chapter 2 of my book, The Coming Economic Flood.)
In 2023, the annual interest cost bill will hit USD 1 trillion. Combined with the soaring cost of Medicare and Social Security, the US government is looking at USD 2 trillion just in interest and entitlements. The annual budget deficit already stands at USD 1 to 2 trillion. It will require even more borrowing and will spiral till it all comes crashing down.
This is the situation of a rock and a hard place the monetary authorities is facing. Either choice of keeping interest rates high or pushing them down leads to the same place of a currency crisis.
Is that how the wealth of Babylon is laid waste in one hour and the kings of the earth, merchants and those who make their living by the sea will weep together since all live in luxury with her and grow rich because of her ? Rev 18.
The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse
Rev 6: 1-8
I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword. When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two poundsof wheat for a day’s wages, and six poundsof barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
In the last 3 years, we have witnessed a global pandemic, a war that could lead to a global war and global inflation. Many have speculated that probably the first 2 or 3 of the horsemen have already appeared.
The rider of the first white horse is given a crown. Could the crown refer to the covid-19 virus plague or pandemic for the appearance of the virus resembles a crown ? It has indeed affected all nations. (The interpretation of a plague is very plausible because the fourth horsemen seems to be given the power of each of the first three horsemen to kill by sword, famine and PLAGUE.) The rider of the second fiery red horse is given a sword to take peace from the earth and make people kill each other. Could it refer to the on-going Russia-Ukraine war ? The rider of the third black horse is holding a pair of scales. Two pounds of wheat cost a whole day’s wages and that sounds like runaway food inflation which we are witnessing right now for some countries like Lebanon, Laos and Sri Lanka. And more are facing bankruptcy. The World Bank has predicted a global famine disaster from 2023 and the Horn of Africa is already facing critical famine right now. The rider of the fourth pale horse is given power to kill by sword, famine and plague over a fourth of the earth. If the above interpretation of the first three seal judgments are plague, war and famine, it seems to me then that the last horsemen is given the power to escalate the first 3 seal judgments simultaneously. To be given the authority over a fourth of the earth to kill does not necessarily mean a fourth of the earth’s population will be killed. It is more likely that authority is given to kill over a TERRITORY covering a fourth of the earth. Scripture at times call extremely evil people as wild beasts and they join in the slaughter.
The pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and inflation cum famine are still continuing right now. Will all these three seal judgments worsen suddenly and usher in the pale horse seal judgment ?
Eternal Security
There is always this perennial argument whether believers are really saved initially but lose their salvation when they fall away later; or they are NOT really saved at all in the first place when they fall away and leave completely later. Let us take a look at the following two Scriptural passages closely.
John 2:23-25
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name as they observed His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, because He knew all people, and because He did not need anyone to testify about mankind, for He Himself knew what was in mankind.
1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they were NOT REALLY of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out so that it would be EVIDENT that they all are not of us.
John 6:60-66
So then many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This statement is very unpleasant; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is this offensive to you? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him. And He was saying, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” As a result of this many of His disciples left, and would no longer walk with Him.
In John 2:23-25, Scripture said that many believed in His name but Jesus our Lord did not entrust Himself to them. In other words, He did not believe their faith. So did these people believe in His name initially ? Were their faith illegitimate from the start which was why Jesus our Lord said He could not trust their faith ? 1 John 2:19 also seemed to affirm that the faith of those who departed were illegitimate in the first place.
Later in John 6:64-65, Scripture said that Jesus our Lord knew from the BEGINNING who did not believe. In John 6:66, Scripture said clearly these believers, who were His DISCIPLES, left and no longer walked with Him. Were these believers DISCIPLES from the beginning but later fell away ?
Reading the passages of John 2:23-25 and John 6:60-66, one can interpret that the believers can lose their salvation when they fall away for Scripture mentioned that they believed in the name of Jesus and were disciples. Another can interpret otherwise that they were not believers in the first place because Jesus our Lord did not trust their faith and He knew from the beginning those who did not believe even though they followed Him for some time.
The parable of the sower gave 4 different heart responses to the gospel. Can the rocky ground and the ground with weeds be transformed to the good soil ? Or the condition of the heart already settles the receptivity to the gospel even though they may receive the gospel with joy initially. Luke 8:13.
I believe a better question to ask, which we can have a definite answer from Scripture, is to ask how we can know if we have eternal life in Christ. Scripture does give us an answer to examine our faith.
1 John 5:13
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
The apostle John said in 1 John 5:13 that he had written all these things in his epistle so that we may know we have eternal life. So what are these things written in 1 John ? https://www.gotquestions.org/signs-saving-faith.html
Scripture also gives us the the right repentance leading to legitimate faith in 2 Cor 7:9-11. http://www.jcmanifesto.org/?s=godly+sorrow
Only with legitimate faith can one be born again with the new heart and new spirit. So can it be that some believers do not have the new heart and new spirit given by the Lord when they first believed apparently ? Perhaps these believers do not count their cost of discipleship or have the wrong repentance leading to faith in the first place which render their faith to be illegitimate all along. Zacchaeus decided there and then on the cost of following Jesus by taking appropriate action upon having the right repentance leading to faith; while the rich young ruler decided the cost was too high and walked away. Even if the young ruler decided to follow Jesus without the repentance shown by Zacchaeus, his faith would be illegitimate.
Recurring Visions Of Sep 2008 Great Recession
I nearly forgot to put this testimony in this blog. I felt it was necessary because the visions for the Sep 2008 Great Recession could be corroborated.
It was in late 2004 that I started to have the vision of a great recession. I blogged about it in 2005 in one website Antioch.sg and I entitled it “The Coming Financial Tsunami”. (I was surprised as well that the media also called the crisis a financial tsunami later in 2009. Another surprise was that it turned out to be caused by the US subprime loan crisis which I had blogged.) When I was first called to missions in China in 2007, I started warning the Chinese church to be prepared for the looming economic crisis.
In late 2007, I went to the Hakka region between Fujian and Guangdong province to warn the three-self church in Dapu. The church leaders were not happy for they misconstrued that I was slighting the economic progress of China. Nevertheless I started to save up the ministry funds in case of need.
In early 2008, I went to a rural city in Liaoning province near to Shenyang. The church gathered several pastors and ministry workers from other remote places to meet in a three day conference in an obscure village. (It was still not allowed then to hold such conference without official approval.) I spoke and warned of the looming economic crisis which would happen after the Sep 2008 Olympics held in Beijing. I just blurted out the date spontaneously when I was giving the message. My traveling partner CH Goh, a missionary based in Hong Kong, translated for me for I was not fluent in speaking Mandarin then. (Later he told me that he lost USD 20,000 in his stock portfolio. Though he translated for me, he admitted that he was not paying attention to what I shared then. The picture below was taken when he was leading the worship then.)
In early 2009, I went again to the Dapu church bringing funds to relieve the financially strapped elderly brothers and sisters. Their children, who were working in Dongguan, did not remit money to them after the financial crisis hit. I believed they were laid off. The church leaders were awkward when I reminded them of their unpleasant attitude towards me in my last visit in 2007. We had a good laugh to break the awkwardness.
All glory to the Lord.
