2015 | JC’S MANIFESTO

2015 (Page 2)

Dialogue Between Christ Jesus Our Lord And A Cheap Grace Teacher

Christ Jesus : “Watch out ! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15.

Cheap grace teacher : “No. Abundant life in Christ is an abundance of every good thing in life !”

Christ Jesus : “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes…You want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you.” ” Luke 12:23-24. John 6:26-27 NLT.

Cheap grace teacher : “No. What the Body of Christ needs most is food first and not holiness for holiness will follow after you have food. It is the duty of Christ, the Good Shepherd, to give you food and rest first as promised in Psalms 23.”

Christ Jesus : “The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.” Matt 13:20-21 NLT.

Cheap grace teacher : “No. Persecution and trouble will not happen to Christians for God will protect them. Persecution talked about by Christ referred only to the Jews during His time.”

Christ Jesus : “The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced…(God will) cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit.” Matt 13:22-23; John 15:2 NLT.

Cheap grace teacher : “No. God wants to prosper Christians and He will empower them to get wealth.”

Christ Jesus : “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that Day will not come on you suddenly like a trap.” Luke 21:34-35

Cheap grace teacher : “No. Christians are called to enjoy wealth, to enjoy health and to enjoy a life of victory.”

Postscript :

The false cheap grace teachers are deceptive in twisting the intent of Scripture for their own purpose in all their sermons with a corrupted replacement theology –

preaching that the blessings for Jews in the Old Testament are blessings for Christians today as well, but warning concerning hardship and persecution for Christians in the last days in the New Testament only concern the Jews in the early years of Christianity.

USD 11 Trillion Wiped Out In Markets Globally In Late Aug And Sep 2015

Yes, something did happen in the global financial system in September 2015.

USD 11 trillion was wiped out in markets globally in late Aug and Sep 2015. Global trade has gone down by 8.4% which is unprecedented and global GDP has shrunk by 3.4% so far this year according to HSBC.

The figures are saying the global recession is under way. We read of imploding hedge funds, bond default of commodity and energy companies, imploding large retailers, the economic hardship of emerging economies due to appreciating US dollar, missing profit projection of global companies and their subsequent retrenchment between 10 to 20% of their workforce, the new recession under way in Japan and the tremendous economic hardship faced by several European countries right now with no relief in sight.

Yet it seems that there is a calm before the storm.

Is God being patient again waiting for His people to come out of Babylon ?

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/yes-this-is-a-financial-crisis-11-trillion-dollars-in-stock-market-wealth-was-wiped-out-in-the-3rd-quarter

Testimony (9)

James 5:13.
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

Phil 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Suffering and pain are part and parcel of life. Yet each time we face severe trials, we are lost for words as to what to pray for deliverance. We thank God that His Spirit does help us in our weakness when we do not really know what to pray, He intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words. Rom 8:26-27.

A few years ago, my family and I went for a winter holiday overseas. My eldest son suffers from severe eczema since birth. Arriving at the destination in freezing temperature, his skin started cracking and he was in severe pain. When I was applying the moisturizing cream on his whole body, I saw the extent of his suffering – almost 90% of his body skin was terribly inflamed. I cried and I pleaded with God to heal him.

I have received miraculous healing from God before, praise the Lord, for an excruciating pain beyond medical help, but seeing the severe pain of my son was more than any pain I could bear. The groaning in my heart was so loud and I thanked the Lord’s Spirit for pleading on my behalf.

All praise and thanks to God who answered my prayer in one of my weakest moments in life !

My son’s skin condition improved so dramatically the next day that he could enjoy the whole holiday without any pain.

Over the next 6 months, 80% of skin on his whole body healed. Ever since, his skin condition is in check.

Last year, I saw a sister in her forties with similar eczema condition. I asked if she would like me to pray for her. I asked her if God would heal her for even one day, would she accept ? She related that she suffered this condition only 13 years ago. She never had a day going without itch and inflammation on her whole body. Her hands were really bad.

All praise and thanks to God again for hearing my prayer. Her skin condition improved dramatically over the next 2 weeks. Her face was clear of inflammation and her hands improved so much.

But recently, I saw her again and her severe condition returned. I prayed for her again. (At the point of writing this testimony, I do not know of her present condition.)

Anyone who suffers severe eczema will understand that even regular vigorous treatment can only stabilize the condition but improvement is never so quick and drastic. We can be sure of the miraculous healing hand of God in these two instances.

All honor and glory to God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

Heavy Responsibility Of Overseers In The Last Days

Acts 20:28-31

28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

We are now seeing false teachers arise from among us speaking twisted things and luring so many away. And they also export their twisted teaching worldwide.

Yet some leading overseers in this part of the world even call these people as one of us and standing with them. They are not alert. They have failed to care for the flock of Jesus our Lord which He had obtained by His blood. I pray that these leaders will wake up for because of their respectable standing in Christendom, the flock is not aware of the danger and will follow their decision of affirming the false teachers. Not only have they failed the flock but more importantly their dear Lord whom they claim to serve.

Why did Paul admonish for 3 years with tears ? Because it concerns eternal life and death of those disciples who are lured away ! A true faithful servant will not see fellow servants die a second death. So all the more, the overseers must pay close attention to protect the flock from the wolves, the false teachers.

By speaking against cautious and faithful overseers, who contend against false teaching, on the pretext of unity and peace, the detractors are guilty of trivializing this exhortation of the Word of God in Acts 20:28-31 and participating in their wicked works by affirming them. 2 John 1:10-11.

The Prosperity Gospel Is Soberly Called A False Gospel

The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (Cape Town, 16-25 October 2010) brought together 4,200 evangelical leaders from 198 countries, and extended to hundreds of thousands more, participating in meetings around the world, and online. Its goal? To bring a fresh challenge to the global Church to bear witness to Jesus Christ and all his teaching – in every nation, in every sphere of society, and in the realm of ideas. The Cape Town Commitment is the fruit of this endeavour.

Part IIE Paragraph 5 says this :

The prosperity gospel offers no lasting solution to poverty, and can deflect people from the true message and means of eternal salvation. For these reasons it can be soberly described as a false gospel. We therefore reject the excesses of prosperity teaching as incompatible with balanced biblical Christianity.

Do we accept the testimony of hundreds of thousand evangelical leaders from 198 countries whom all conclude the prosperity gospel is soberly described as a false gospel ?

I do.

(The blessing given to the Commitment by the late Dr John Stott is good enough for me. He had chaired the Lausanne Theology Working Group and succeeded by capable saints as well in Lindsay Brown, former General Secretary of IFES, and Chris Wright, International Director of Langham Partnership.)

And if anyone proliferates a false gospel, he or she is not on the same road with me. I will have nothing to do with him or her except to pray for his or her repentance and repudiation of the false gospel. By affirming him or her as one of us or in any other way, we are deemed to participate in his or her wicked works according to 2 John 1:10-11.

http://www.lausanne.org/content/ctc/ctcommitment

The “Wonderful” Promises Of Hyper Grace Doctrine

We want grace that soothes but not truth that hurts;

we want Christ’s miracles and glory but not His suffering; (1 Pet 4:13; 2 Tim 2:3; Matt 10:22)

we want instant fruit of His Spirit but not training and discipline; (Titus 2:11-12; Heb 12:3-11)

we want more prosperity but not godliness with contentment. (1 Tim 6:6-10)

And hyper grace promises all that…but that leads to another gospel and another Jesus.

When one preaches grace at the expense of truth, he preaches another Jesus. For Jesus is FULL of grace and truth. John 1:14.

A Project Of Love

Myanmar is at the dawn of a new era of change and progress. It is all God’s timing and sovereignty. May God bless this nation !

Thanks be to God that JC’s Manifesto can be a channel of blessings through Brother SJ Long to Myo Myanmar Youth Development Centre in Taikgyi Township, Yangon, an orphanage under the pastoral care of Pastor Arnold.

All thanks and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ.

National Convention Of The National Auxiliary Chaplaincy Of Philippines (NACPHIL)

5th November 2015

All thanks and glory to God for allowing me to be a partner of this God-fearing chaplaincy to fulfill God’s given commission to strengthen a godly Filipino society with good governance through a righteous leadership.

I am so thrilled and filled with joy that the chaplaincy has prayed and acted to get an executive order to allow them to share the Good News to the whole nation – not only to all levels of government but also to schools, hospitals and other institutions.

This is a most wonderful acknowledgement that believing in Jesus Christ as one’s personal Savior and Lord is the only way to transformed godly lives.

Felt so blessed to receive the letter of recognition from all my beloved bishops and comrades in Christ.

All glory and honor to our Lord Jesus Christ ! All praises to His holy name !

On Extraordinary Divine Guidance

There are times, though we know clearly the teaching of the Word of God, we are still unable to discern whether we are right or wrong about our response towards a particular issue.

As we seek God for wisdom in the first instance, we will not be disappointed. He had promised in James 1:5 that He will give generously without reproach.

Once, my wife was particularly disturbed about the long corporate prayer in church and had this feeling that the person who prayed was not really sincere in her prayer and deliberately prayed long prayers to impress the congregation. I did not want to make any similar judgment immediately. Firstly, I might err in having a critical spirit on such an important worship as corporate prayer. Secondly, I might hurt my wife by disagreeing straightaway if it turned out it was really so. In Matt 6:5, our Lord did mention that there could be hypocrisy in prayer by loving to stand and pray in synagogues to be seen by others.

I prayed on a Saturday as we would be hearing this long corporate prayer during worship service the next day. I wanted to know if my wife could really discern the hypocrisy or we were overly critical. After finishing my prayer, I turned on the TV. I saw Mr Ron Atkinson (aka Mr Bean) in front of the computer typing this question : “What is the difference between praying in the church and praying in a casino ?” The reply came back from the computer : “In the casino you really mean it.”

I believed it was surely God’s reply to my prayer. I could very well turn on the TV a few seconds late and this scene would be over. The timing could not be more perfect to give me the answer.

Here is another episode of how God answered my prayer with such unique circumstances.

I was disturbed by the malice of the lay leader and his wife, who was a choir leader, against some brothers in church a decade ago. I had no choice but to bring up to higher leadership in the denominational church. As I was about to meet the leadership over this matter, I prayed the day before whether I should simply ignore the whole matter or should I stand on justice.

I could not sleep whole night thinking about how the discussion would go. Would the leadership try to cover up as it would be embarrassing for the church ? Would I be portrayed as a troublemaker ? Did I err in suspecting them of malice ?

At 3 am which I should be sleeping, I turned on the TV and switched to the Crime and Investigation channel. An episode of the Top 10 Crimes – the BTK Killings – was about to start.

What a surprise ! I hardly watch crime stuff. This crime was about a serial killer who was the president of the church council of a Lutheran church and his wife was the choir leader. What a coincidence. The crime came to be known as BTK as the serial killer, Dennis Rader, described how he bound (B), tortured (T) and killed (K) his victims deliberately challenging the police. He went into hiatus when his children were born and he was really a good father. He was only caught later in his 70s when he felt he would not have the strength to commit another crime later. The court granted his wife immediate divorce upon conviction to protect her from possible mental health problem. He was a good husband, good father and a good church leader all this while. Unbelievable !

But I got my answer to my prayer – human hearts are deceptively wicked – and I was right about the malice of the lay leader and his wife. In my discussion with the higher leadership, I told them to read up the BTK killing crime. Later the lay leader and his wife left the denominational church when their malicious acts were exposed.

If I did not turn on the TV at the right time, I would not have watched this similar crime episode.

Surely these are not coincidences. These are God’s specific answers to my prayers. Praise the Lord for His divine guidance always.

Safer To Rejoice In The Salvation By The Grace Of God

Luke 10:17-20

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

When the 72 disciples returned, they were elated that they had authority over the power of the enemy. I believe our Lord warned them instead that pride was the reason Satan fell from heaven. In Matt 7:22-23, we were reminded that even with such power and authority, our Lord may not know us.

It is, therefore, safer to rejoice in the salvation by the grace of God which was exhorted by our Lord.

In my faith journey so far, I have experienced miracles, visions, acts of providence and divine guidance by the grace of God. And I know how easy I can get conceited just like St Paul who was given a thorn in the flesh to humble him. Now in my second decade in evangelistic missions, thanks be to God for His grace is truly sufficient for me and I am actually more glad to share of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can rest fully in me.

By the grace of God, I have learned how to live in joy in the salvation so graciously given us and to walk as our Lord has walked by the gracious guidance of His Spirit.

I can’t say it better than 2 Pet 1:3-11 (NLT).

3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are short-sighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
10 So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. 11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Year: 2015