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The Beginning Of The Birth Pains

Jesus our Lord mentioned the following signs which will precede His coming in Matt 24:

  1. False Christs.
  2. Wars and rumors of wars.
  3. Famines.
  4. Earthquakes.
  5. Persecution leading to many falling away.
  6. Many false prophets leading many astray.
  7. Lawlessness will increase.
  8. The love of many will grow cold.

Yet these are merely the signs of the beginning of the birth pains.

Throughout the history of the last 2000 years or more since Jesus ascended to heaven, such signs have been observed anyway.  So how can we be certain we are staring at the beginning of the birth pains ?

Can exponentially increased instances of these signs be considered conclusive proof ?

Firstly, it is interesting to ponder why Jesus our Lord called the beginning of the end times as birth pains.  At the onset of labor in child birth, pain caused by uterine contractions will intensify in magnitude till the baby is born.  The intensification of labor pain is a good illustration of the sudden escalation or exponential occurrence of calamitous events.

Secondly,  the sudden-ness of the escalation of an event in an exponential fashion seems to mirror the sudden-ness of His coming that our Lord Jesus had talked about that many will still be caught unawares.  Mark 13:35-37; Luke 21:34-35; 1 Thess 5:3; Prov 29:1.

The exponential function is lingering at the bottom for the most part of the time and then suddenly it shoots up to the top.   That sudden turn will usually catch many unawares because for the most part,  the event has remained dormant.

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Habakkuk 2:3

For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.

Dr Albert Bartlett was the president of the American Association of Physics Teachers in 1978.  In his seminal presentation, “Arithmetic, Population and Energy”,  he mentioned this famous phrase “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is the inability to understand the exponential function”.

In his lecture, he was trying to explain that within a finite system, modest annual growth at a certain percentage cannot continue indefinitely.  In the example of oil usage, the human race may be caught unawares when modest annual growth of the use of critical resources like oil due to population growth can result in sudden escalation of depletion in a relatively short period of time.  The logic is simple and irrefutable.  And when this critical stage of depletion of oil happens, for example,  we will face an apocalypse.

Today, we face this scenario of exponential depletion of all critical resources.

And also the exponential increase of fiat monetary supply without corresponding industrial productivity expansion will result in a collapse.  We have seen the increase way past the inflexion point of the exponential curve.

Get ready for the fulfilment of the judgment of wealth mentioned in Rev 18 when the kings of the earth (governments),  merchants (global MNCs and all SMEs) and those who make their living by the sea (major seaports cum financial centres)  will weep when God judges.

– extracted from my book, The Coming Economic Flood.

The End Times Apostasy Of A Different Gospel And A Different Jesus

2 Cor 11:4.  For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

Gal 1:8-9.  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Matt 24:24.  For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

The coming apostasy that our Lord had warned has come with a vengeance with the church readily accepting doctrines of a different gospel as well as a different Jesus.

The hyper grace reformation brings a different gospel while the new apostolic reformation brings a different Christology.

The main false Christology taught today is that Jesus left aside His divinity while He was incarnate on earth.  Why is there this necessity for the new apostolic reformation prophets to preach this peccability belief ?  (http://www.gotquestions.org/could-Jesus-have-sinned.html) It is due to misplaced zeal to promote that mere man like us can perform miracles similar or exceeding those performed by Jesus as long as one is filled by the power of the Holy Spirit since Jesus was also mere man without His divinity when He was on earth.

In my opinion,  due to the possibility of false christs and prophets to perform great signs and wonders and possibly deceive the elect,  the only way to determine whether one is from God or from the enemy today is the test on the correct doctrine of the gospel and Christology.

We must bear in mind that these false prophets today are deceitful workmen who can disguise themselves very well as apostles of Christ with their mouths even full of biblical wisdom all the time.  2 Cor 11:13-15.

So listen carefully to their core teaching on the gospel and Christology.  

(Un)conventional Wisdom

All wisdom comes from God.  The wisdom God has given us generously is meant to be shared with fellow believers.

At exceptional times like recession, certain decisions made against conventional bias are necessary to stay afloat in business.

I would like to share on two business strategies which make a difference in recession times – turning a disadvantage into an advantage;  and risk pooling which is a mathematically proven stratagem.

Strategy Of Turning A Disadvantage Into An Advantage

When every competitor sees a disadvantage in certain business situation and reject or walk away,  we can triumph through accepting the challenge of the disadvantage and turn it to our advantage.

After the 9/11 terror attack on New York World Trade Center, the dot com bubble burst and the world plunged into recession.  All over the world, the factories were cancelling orders.  I was working for a global distributor of electronic components as the chief executive in Asia then.  I allowed all cancellation knowing that the customers would bully us by not accepting deliveries anyway.  I tried cancelling the same with our suppliers at the same time otherwise I might end up with a lot of inventory booked at higher prices in case there would be price erosion due to the recession.  The group CEO and the board of directors of this NASDAQ listed company thought I was rash to allow such cancellation causing a huge drop in order backlog.  The bigger competitors of ours faced the same dilemma but they refused to allow cancellation from the same customers.

Over the next few months, I received the main bulk of the orders back from our customers at lower prices but I also got lower prices from our suppliers who were keen to keep their factories going.   The customers simply kept rescheduling the orders retained by our competitors which were booked at higher prices as compared to ours.

We had the best sales performance in this particular recession year as a result of this unconventional decision.

Strategy Of Risk Pooling

Risk pooling is a known concept in controlling inventory.   Instead of having several warehouses in several countries to service the customers better but running the risk of having the wrong inventory in the wrong country all the time,  it is better to pool all inventory in one location and service all countries.  Today, the logistics capability of delivering to the doorstep by the courier services is efficient, fast and relatively cheap.  Even for sea freight, any delivery within Asia can be accomplished in one week including custom clearance.

Risk pooling has the advantage of reducing inventory carried in total in all locations and enables sharing of the same inventory across all locations.  It also enables savings in using less human resources to manage multiple warehouses and the rental cost as well.

I have one centralized warehouse in Singapore servicing Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, South Korea and Southeast Asia with satellite sales and marketing offices in all these countries as opposed to our competitors having an office cum warehouse in each Asian country.   As a result, the delivery performance of my company is consistently above 98% while the rest of the bigger competitors are at 90% giving us a place to be competitive against the much bigger competitors.

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Confirm Your Calling And Election

2 Pet 1:3-11

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. (2 Pet 1:3).   Firstly,  the gospel is the power of God granted for eternal life in Christ Jesus (Rom 1:16) and secondly,  His precious promises are the power of God granted for growing godliness in Christ Jesus. (2 Pet 1:4).   Chief among the precious promises are the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the correction and instruction of the Word of God.

God will not make us holy against our will and without our involvement though He has given us all things necessary for us to become more and more like Christ.  We must want it and we must make every effort through discipline in supplementing our faith in Christ with the following graces of holiness :

  1. Virtue. Moral excellence which is also spiritual courage to stand for what is right.
  2. Knowledge. Knowledge of spiritual truth which can only come through studying and obeying the Word of God.
  3. Self control. We must have discipline in feeding on the Word of God, prayer, curbing our appetites and giving sacrificially.
  4. Steadfastness. Patient endurance in the face of persecution and adversity as the world will hate us on the account of our Lord and the gospel.
  5. Godliness. Our godly conduct will show others that we are truly children of God.
  6. Brotherly affection. When we love one another,  others will know we are the disciples of Christ.
  7. Love. Love for the brothers will lead to love for all man.

We must be diligent in practicing these qualities otherwise we will regress.  There is no standstill.  Either we advance or retreat in our path of discipleship in knowing our Lord more and more and be like Him. 2 Pet 1:8.  Retreat will lead to shortsightedness, blindness and forgetfulness.  2 Pet 1:9.

And if we practice these qualities diligently, we will never fall.   2 Pet 1:10.

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Facing Argument Tricks Contending For The Truth

In contending against false teaching over the years,  I have tried my best to show the whole counsel of the Word of God concerning the true gospel and Christology.  Yet the defenders of the false gospel such as hyper grace gospel usually resorted to the following argument tricks.

I am contending for the gospel and Christology truth because it concerns eternal life and death and I will be most uncharitable not to try to bring back those who have wandered from the truth and will face the second death.  I am always wondering even if the defenders of the false gospel and false Christology are to wear me down with the following argument tricks, what profit is there for them ?

(The definition of the terms are gleaned from various internet sources such as Wikipedia.)

1.  Red Herring.  It is a kind of fallacy that is an irrelevant topic introduced in the argument to divert the attention of readers from the original issue.

2. Argumentum Ad Hominem. It is a logical fallacy in which an argument is rebutted by attacking the character, motive or other attribute of the person making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself.

3. The Straw Man Argument. It deliberately misrepresents and weakens the argument of the opposing side by leaving out key points of an opposing argument, quoting a person’s words out of context, or presenting a particular person’s poor defense as the entire defense of an opposing side.

4. Weak Analogy Argument. It is used to prove or disprove an argument, but the analogy is too dissimilar to be effective, that is, unlike the argument more than it is like the argument.

 

Evangelism Through Giving Out Tracts

I still believe in this old fashioned way of evangelism.   The Good News gospel about Christ is by itself the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes.  Rom 1:16. NLT.

Several years ago,  I went to the Sunday morning worship service of a church to meet up with an old classmate.  After the service,  an Indian man approached me and gave me a hug.   I had no Indian close friend so I was pleasantly surprised.  He even remembered my name.

He told me that I was the guy who gave him a gospel tract when I went giving out tracts in the Orchard Road area many years ago.

Praise the Lord for this old fashioned and effective way of evangelism.  Worldly wisdom will view such ways as weak and foolish but it is the power of God at work that really matters.

God (deliberately) chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.  1 Cor 1:27-29 NLT.

Getting ready to start this evangelism effort again this weekend in the vicinity of the church I currently help out.  I have written this tract to show the Chinese that our ancient forebears had this knowledge of one and only Triune God all along through history as evidenced in our written language, customs and philosophies.

May God bless our harvesting labour in the field.  And God willing,  may He bless and avail the labourers to bring forth this tract to the whole nation and beyond.

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Hyper Grace Belief Is Illegitimate Faith

By grace, one is saved by faith alone in Christ Jesus.  Eph 2:8.

What is faith ? Faith is believing in God. Abraham believed in God and it was counted to him as righteousness. * (See Note below)  James 2:23. But the demons also believe in God and shudder even. James 2:19.

So what is the difference ?  The difference is between legitimate and illegitimate faith.

Abraham believed in God and obeyed His commandments, even to uproot Himself from Ur and was willing to sacrifice his son. It was heart belief on the part of Abraham and he acted proving his faith. While the demons believed in their intellect only and they not only do not obey God’s commandments but wreck havoc on God’s Kingdom even.

What if Abraham said, “Lord, I believe You” but rubbished obeying God’s commands to leave Ur or to sacrifice his son, is that still faith ?

What do the hyper grace believers believe ? Is their faith legitimate when they rubbish obeying God’s commandments ? When they sin, they do not even worry about it and dismiss it altogether like the demons. What action is there on their part to prove that they believe in God when they belittle and do not want to obey God’s commandments like the demons ?

They believe repentance is just a change of mind. The demons do not need to change their minds. They know what God can do except they do not want to obey God. Legitimate faith will have action to prove it is true. Obedience to the guidance and training of the Spirit of God is that action that leads to transformed lives.

Jesus our Lord gave His commission to us to make disciples of all nations and teaching them to obey every commandment of His. Do the hyper grace believers obey ? They are proliferating half truth leaving out the obedience of the commandments of Jesus. What is the difference between their action and the action of demons in luring people to ignore obeying God’s commandments ?

By rubbishing obeying God’s commandments,  do they truly love Jesus ?   For Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”   John 14:15.  Or is it another Jesus that they believe in ?   I believe a child can discern easily.

End Note :

*   Gal 3: 7-9, 14

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith…14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

But it is important to note that salvation is not obtained through works of the Law but through faith alone in Christ Jesus lest I am accused of preaching salvation by works.  It is a world of  difference between compliance of the Jewish Law, Halakha, and obedience to God’s commandments proving our love of Jesus and our faith.  For clarity,  kindly read this post :  http://www.jcmanifesto.org/on-law-works-and-faith-works/

 

Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem

Psalms 122 : 6,9

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
May they prosper who love you.

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God
I will seek your good.

詩 篇 122 : 6,9

你 们 要 为 耶 路 撒 冷 来 求 平 安

爱 你 的 人 必 然 兴 旺

我 要 为 你 求 福

因 神 的 殿 的 缘 故 

你 们 要 为 耶 路 撒 冷 来 求 平 安

爱 你 的 人 必 然 兴 旺

Sectarian Spirit

Mark 9:38-40
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.  For the one who is not against us is for us.

Prior to these verses, we saw the immaturity of the disciples in failing to cast out demons and arguing who was the greatest.  And now they possessed a sectarian spirit.

Today, there are some evangelicals who will go around discrediting all charismatics as though they belong to the devil. Some charismatics are merely doing great works in the mighty name of our Lord in casting out demons or prophesying for the good of Christendom. Yet they are discredited like as though they are preaching a false gospel or living in sin.

(Side note :  I say some charismatics and not all because I am also disgusted with pagan-like signs and wonders which may be demonic in nature. Such abuse should not be the reason to discredit all charismatics and all spiritual gifts.)

It seemed to me in the above Scriptural passage that the only qualm was those casting out demons were not a team with the apostles. That was all. Jesus our Lord had clearly said that these people who did mighty works in His name were not damaging His name and would surely not speak ill of Him.

(Side note :  Though I agree that the signs and wonders performed by the apostles were to substantiate their apostleship,  we saw from this Scriptural passage that others, not traveling with Jesus our Lord and the apostles, could also perform mighty works in His name which our Lord did not deny.)

On the contrary, I am wondering today if those, who harbor such critical sectarian spirit, are being influenced by the enemy instead to deprive God of the glory for such works. Matt 5:16.

We must have a good balanced stance. Like for the gift of prophecy, do not despise straightaway. Test all of them and hold fast what is good as exhorted by Scripture. 1 Thess 5:20-21.

 

On Law-works And Faith-works

Rom 4: 2-5
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

James 2: 21-23
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.

On the cursory reading of these 2 passages, they seem to contradict each other. But if we delve further into the wider context of these 2 passages, we will soon realize that the Works mentioned are different. I will call the Works in Romans as Law-works while that in James as Faith-works.

In Romans, Paul was addressing the Jews who might still be trying to earn their salvation by law-works in keeping the Halakha, the Jewish Law, which includes 613 prohibitions so devised as to comply with the Mosaic Law, the Ten Commandments. But we read in Phil 3:4-6 that Paul could be blameless in keeping this Jewish Law like many Pharisees at that time and yet he persecuted the church. The Pharisees could keep the Jewish Law meticulously yet their hearts were not repentant – they were lovers of money, mean-spirited and self righteous. They could go through the physical circumcision meticulously but their hearts were not circumcised.

In James, James was not talking about keeping this Jewish Law but about Action or Faith-works which will prove that Faith is legitimate. He quoted 2 examples of legitimate faith in Abraham and Rahab. One was about to perform child sacrifice and the other committed treason – not good works exactly. But their action proved that they believed God and it was counted to them as righteousness.