Hard, but still must forgive & love one another

God loves us when we are yet sinners (Rom 5:8).  This obviously means that we have wronged God.  A sinner is one who has sinned – one who has sinned against God, wronged God.  Is he loveable?  When someone wronged us, and in the process hurt us, is he/she loveable?  No; we find it hard to love a person who has wronged us, and in the process, has hurt us; we do not find that person loveable. 

Naturally hard

We find it hard to forgive the person, and love the person.  It is naturally hard to do that, especially we have been conditioned increasingly by the ways of the world which was and is propagated by the Devil.  The Apostle John wrote of the world and its ways this way (1 John 2:15-17):

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Does God NOT know it, hard for us?  Yes, I believe He did and does.  But the Father God was able to do it – to forgive us when we are yet sinners; and to fulfill all righteousness or meet the demand of God’s own holiness, the Son of God was willing, as the Father was willing, to be the propitiation for our sins.  In other words, the Son of God, Jesus, was also willing to forgive men who are yet sinners.

God is able to do it

When someone wronged you, in the natural, the expectation is for that someone to provide that which would appease you; and NOT, you, the wronged party (to provide).  In the case of our offence against God, it was God who provided that which appeased Himself. Of the Triune God, Jesus, Himself, provided Himself as the propitiation for our sins, so that, it was and is possible for forgiveness to flow out to us, and the love of God be poured forth and received by us.  Are we naturally able to this - that which God did, to forgive others who wronged us, and who do NOT provide that which would appease us?

Image of God wreaked and Man got counted with the Devil

Perhaps, before the wreaking of the image of God, with which we were created (through the creation of the first Man, Adam), we were able to; at least to the extent that, image does come close to the actual.  Then, Adam was of God, NOT of the world.  After the wreaking of the image of God in us, through The Fall in the Garden of Eden by Satan, there was set into motion, the “of the world” and “of the Kingdom of God”.  Man became counted with the Devil, in the world. 

Though we read in Scripture, God did come, and has continued to come to men (scenes after The Fall pointed to that), after The Fall, over time, the separation was and is there. Immediately after The Fall, God still came looking for Man, spoke with Man, and made Man skin-covering.  Then, after Man was placed outside of the Garden of Eden, God still came to Man, and helped Adam and Eve; the first children of Man were given birth to, with the help of God (these, you can read from Scripture).  Increasingly, darkness closed in, after The Fall, with Satan propagating his ways, lies and deceptions and rebellion against God in the world, and with the involving of men, in his game-plan.

Things got so bad, and then came The Flood, and then the new beginning with Noah

There came a time, things got so very bad, with men being utterly corrupted by the ways of the world or Satan, that God had no choice but to bring forth The Flood.  Every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time (Gen 6:5).  After The Flood, with the God-counted righteous Noah, a new beginning was started, but because Satan was still in the world, soon enough, the world was again full of the ways of Satan.  Of course, meanwhile, God and His ways, the ways of the Kingdom (of God) did NOT and does NOT change, remain holy and righteous and just. 

Then The Law got introduced

God then introduced The Law to avoid men constantly incurring His wrath with their living out the ways of the world; and that went on, for a long, long time. Included in The Law was the call of God (to us, Man) to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength (Deu 6:5), and to love our neighbours as ourselves (Lev 19:18) (although many careless preachers, today, teach as if this twin pillar of love commandments were non-existing in the OT time). 

Did all of these laws or The Law help us to incline towards the ways of God, so that, men did NOT constantly incur the wrath of God, through their sinning without regard?  Did all of these (laws), help men to forgive one another and love one another? It did; it must have (helped, though NOT the total solution), otherwise God would NOT have instituted them, yet wickedness and the moving away from God’s ways, continued to grow in the world.

One key function of The Law was to tell what was against the ways of God

The laws were instituted so as to tell what was against the ways of God; and when wicked corrupted-ness increased, more trespasses (of the laws) happened.  In Romans 5:20b, it was said, where sin increased, grace increased all the more.  It went on and on, till a time when The GRACE had to come, and that GRACE was Jesus Christ, and He came.  Yes, Jesus epitomized grace.

Sins still increased, The Grace had to come

This time God did NOT come with a wipe-out; after The Flood, God was greatly grieved, and He made a covenant that He would NOT do a wipe-out by flood ever again, and to remind Himself, He set the rainbow in the clouds.  This time, God tackled the increased wickedness and wide-spread sinfulness with the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the propitiation of our sins and the sins of the world (1 John 2:2, KJV). 

The time has come that God knew the efficacy of the Law ALONE was NOT and will NOT be sufficient to move men to embrace wholesomely the ways of God.  Jesus had to be sent, and the Holy Spirit to follow suit, after the death and resurrection of Jesus; this was so that, a “God factor” can be in us, to counter the “Iniquity factor” in us.  The God factor is none other than the Spirit of Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God (all the 3 are the same).

John 3:16 said that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but to have eternal life.  Preachers commonly use this verse, John 3:16, to emphasize God’s love for us.  It is true that God loves us very, very, very much, so very much that He let His Son to be born as a man and then to die for us, through a cruel death of crucifixion, when we were yet sinners, yet there was more to it.  All of this, was and is, so that, we can be UNcounted with Satan who was and is destined to the burning fire of Hell.  Through The Fall, all men were counted with Satan, and so, to go where Satan will go, destined to Hell.

We have to continue on life, NOT going along with Satan or concurring with him and his world

The first men, Adam and Eve, they went along with Satan, concurred with Satan, instead of sticking to God’s words to them, and that was what led them, and consequently us all, to be counted with Satan.  And so, we, Christians, even when we have been UNcounted with Satan when we acknowledged or appropriated the works of Jesus on the Cross, we must live a life NOT going along with Satan or concurring with him, and so, NOT going with any ways which are of Satan (the ways of the world being taken as denoting the ways of Satan, for Satan is still in the world, and is still deceiving and “polluting”). It is simply a lie to say that after born-again, one does NOT need to live right.

God factor given upon entry into salvation

By giving of His Son to die, God NOT just love us, He loves us in a way that the insufficiency of the Law is being made up for, so that we are NOT hopeless to embrace the ways of God wholesomely, to continue to be uncounted with Satan, and so, to be "NOT rebounded" to the journey leading to where Satan is bound – Hell.  What the Law ALONE can no longer help us (NOT that the Law serve no more purpose, which many preachers, especially the overly grace ones, are saying; it is just that the Law ALONE is NOT sufficient), the “God factor”, empowers us.  As have been said, the God factor is the Spirit of Christ or the Holy Spirit.  When we become a Christian, Scripture said that God puts in us the Spirit of Jesus or the Holy Spirit.

Coming back to the same, same questions, of love and forgiveness

Can the natural fallen man love like God first loved, with the wrongs unappeased for? Can the natural fallen man forgive like God forgave, with Himself providing that which appeased?  The answer is that it was once, hard (before Fall), and then, even harder; even NOT easy for the ones under salvation!

Love Commandments NOT new, but new in how it can be achieved

The twin pillar of love (commandments) already existed in the OT, but why is it that, in one of the Gospels, “to love one another” was said to be a new command.  What is the “new” in the command?  It was NOT new as in, it was NOT there or NOT in existence, and now it is (Don’t say it that way, please).  It is new in that, now we are to love our neighbours with the love of Christ Jesus.  This, John 13:34 has it as, “…you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (ESV), “Just as I have loved you” – this was referring to how Jesus loved (and still loves). [You will realise John 13:34 is about the second (love) commandment, when you studied how Jesus talked about “love one and another” in John 15:12-13].

In Christ Jesus, similarly

What is “in Christ Jesus” that we every now and then read, in Scripture?  It means, we allowing Jesus to work through us.  I cannot heal people, but in Christ Jesus, I can heal someone of unequal leg lengths; I can pray and the Spirit of Jesus comes “through” me and makes one leg to grow longer (to match the other)!   To love as Jesus loved or doing in Christ Jesus, both have the connotation that we have to be prepared to, and be willing to allow the Lord to work through us, in forgiving, in loving or in blessing.

Ye are already supernatural if ye live out the ways of the Kingdom

I find it very hard, naturally, to forgive a person who has hurt me a lot, and I find it very difficult, naturally, to love that person whom I have NOT forgiven.  The world agrees with me, naturally; or to go with the ways of the world, is natural.  The ways of the Kingdom (of God) or the ways of God is different, if NOT, opposing to the ways of the world, for holiness and evil are opposed; and we need to go with the ways of the Kingdom to continue our journey headed to eternity in Heaven, the holy place, where God dwells!  It is difficult-right, and so, I often tell people that they are already supernatural when they live out the ways of the Kingdom, even when there is no such miracle of leg growing in length!  Is it NOT supernatural, when you exceed the nature?! 

Coming back to love and forgiveness; to love the loveable is natural, and it is easy.   A long-distance pastor friend of mine, Ps Prentis, put it this way: “Jesus said that it is no big deal to love those who love you.” Matthew 5:46 (ESV) - For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Those who do NOT love you, instead wrong you, abuse you and hurt you, they are NOT loveable.  Is it NOT difficult for you to forgive them?  Yes, in the natural.  Be supernatural; you are being supernatural when you forgive them in Christ Jesus.  Col 3:13 said it this way: Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Forgive as the God forgave
How did God forgive you? He forgave you when you were yet a sinner; and He forgave you NOT through your provision of that which appeased Him, but He Himself provided that which appeased - gave of His Son, Jesus, more than 2,000 years ago and Jesus died for you, to appease the demand of God's holiness. You got to (through yourself) welcome God to forgive those who have wronged you for the wrongs, hurts and pains they done to you.  It is NOT exactly you allow God to, but it is you want to and welcome God to forgive the person for wrong he has done to you.  That is the only way to forgive, as the "as God forgave you" – you got to take on the character of God; and you can only take on the character when you welcome Him to work through you.
 
At this juncture, I want to borrow a testimony from the wife of a missionary to Indonesia.  This husband and wife from England became missionaries to Indonesia soon after their marriage, and was there doing the work among the Indonesians for tens of years.  In the early days, this wife of the preacher, one day was almost raped by the locals.  While cycling, when the husband had gone ahead of her, she was confronted by the locals and forced to the ground and was nearly raped before the husband came back in a nick of time. 

She was traumatised and hurt badly, and was full of anger and resentment against the very people she and her husband were wanting to bring the Gospel to.  She shared she was NOT able to forgive, but she knew she had to, because the God factor (the Holy Spirit was prompting) and after days, she told God she wanted to do the right thing, and asked God to give her the grace to accept God’s forgiveness for the people for thing they had done to her.  And God honoured that, she recovered from her traumatisation, and God gave the missionary couple breakthroughs to reach out to the locals, and so, they continued to serve the Lord in missionary work in Indonesia for many years, and even adopted Indonesian children as their own. 

 

Yielded-ness and persistence, the key

We have to tap on and yield to the God factor given us, and in us – the Holy Spirit or Spirit of Christ.  Many things, including forgiving and loving the unloveables, we find it hard to do, but the Spirit of God can do all things, and we need to welcome Him to come and do it.  The only way things can get easier is through constant use, meaning, we persist in practising the ways of God (train ourselves) (Heb 5:14).  The “I can do all things, in Christ Jesus”, saying of the Apostle Paul in Phil 4:13, was said from a heart of true yielded-ness that would lead to actions in the right direction.

I also believe this

I believe this verse, John 20:23 – “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”, means this too: That when someone wronged us (NOT someone else), and we forgive them, God would honor that, and forgive them on the account that we have forgiven them (but if we do NOT forgive them, then their wrong against us, God does NOT just pretend they never happened; they are NOT forgiven, until the people, they ask God to forgive them). 

You see, you got to be willing to forgive, and willing let them have the forgiveness of God, otherwise you are behaving just like the unmerciful servant in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matt 18:21-35) [I am aware that this is NOT the only view of John 20:23; in fact, I am aware possibly quite a number of people would NOT concur with my belief expressed here, but I believe it is possible, for if you already NOT hold it against the person who wronged you, why would God still hold it against the person, when He commands us to forgive others, regardless!]

Love … as yourself

The Father God first loved, to the extent that He Himself provided that which appeased.  He gave His one and only begotten Son to be that which appeased – to be born as a man and to die for us.  For this kind of love, you got to be supernatural – to take on the character of God; and to take on the character of God, is in fact letting God to live through us.  Jesus said there is no greater love one has than this, that he lay down his life for a friend (John 15:13).  Jesus did that – He laid down His life for us all.  Jesus loved to the extent that He Himself provided that which appeased.  He gave His own sinless life for our sinful lives.  For that kind of love, we got to be supernatural – to take on the character of Christ Jesus; and to take on the character of Christ Jesus, is in fact letting Jesus to live through us.

To love is to sacrifice

Jesus loved the Father God to the extent that He Himself willing to sacrifice His glory in Heaven and came down to earth to be born as man and to die for sinful men.  What manner of love was that? Such sacrificial love!  He embraced the true meaning of “to love”: to love is to sacrifice.  Jesus made great sacrifice to love the Father God.  In His sacrifice, He would do whatever the Father asked of Him; He obeyed absolutely (He kept saying He was only to do His Father’s will, and to finish His Father’s will) in His sacrifices. 

To love is also to obey God

From it too, we can see, “to love God” is also to be obey God.  It is hard to sacrifice; and it is hard to obey; they don’t come naturally.  You, as a Christian, has the God factor, the Spirit of Christ Jesus (or the Holy Spirit) in you; you can be supernatural, you can embrace the character of Jesus, and so, allowing Him to come through you, to love sacrificially or love with giving up of your rights.

We are NOT God but are BEING restored or redeemed

We are NOT God, but we, as Christians, are being restored (the works of Jesus is ……. redemptive or redemption!) back to the image of God, and we can make it because we have been given the counter, and that counter against the “Iniquity factor” is the indwelling Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Christ.  To be an overcomer, overcoming inability to forgive, and inability to love, there is no other way than to go “IN CHRIST JESUS”.  Indeed, Gal 2:20 is what we must embrace if we really mean Jesus is Lord.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20 NIV).

It is an on-going thing; it is a resolution and commitment on our part

It is an on-going thing or daily thing; don’t let any overly grace preacher fool you.  Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23). Matt 16:24 said this: Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” 

We have made the commitment and so, we need to be resolute, on-going to be supernatural – take on the character of God or the Lord; to be in Christ Jesus; to be allowing the Spirit of Christ or the Holy Spirit to work through us, including first of all, to forgive and love our neighbours. 

Oops! Who is our Father?

When we do not love one another, men we have seen, we are not loving God, and when we still insisted that we love God whom we have not seen, God said we are liars (1 John 4:20).  And when we are liars, our father is NOT God, but Satan.  All believers profess they love God.  Any believers NOT loving God; be careful, you are on the edge of cross back into the territory of Satan!  You say you love God; God says, you are a liar when He sees you NOT loving fellow men.

In a discourse with the Jews of His time, Jesus said this concerning the Devil and those who are the Devil’s: John 8:38 - I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you {referring to the Jews He was speaking to} do what you have heard from your father.” Verse 41b – The Jews protested: “The only Father we have is God himself.” Verse 44 – Jesus said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Resolve today to forgive and love one another as God has forgiven and loved you (and still does)

1 John 4:7-8 - 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Some people see there is contradiction in the 2 Love Commandments of God. To me, there is no oxymoron in the Love commandments, of firstly, to love God with our ALL, and secondly, to love one another or our neighbours, as ourselves, for we are to love God with our ALL; the love with which we love one another is to be the love coming from God.  In other words, when we love God with our all, we yieldingly be the instruments of God’s love to other men.  Therefore, if you love NOT, and the love here, is NOT referring to your love in the flesh, but God’s love coming through you, you know NOT God, said verse 8 above, for God is love, and can only be wanting to love (men unto righteousness).

Anthony Chia, high.expressions 

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Since that last article (ministry-update)

When I looked at my last article under the section of  "my little ministry", I realized, that last article was dated more than 6 months ago. In other words, I have not done any article-update of my ministry here, on this blogsite, especially on my ministry in my church setting.

Change in corporate atmosphere
From that last article, "At cross-road, then suddenly, I am encouraged", we can see that one of changed factors in the church has been that 2012 has been with a leadership change. Somehow, along with that, the altar ministry corporate atmosphere of the several years before, has changed with that leadership change (old Senior Pastor retired).  Lest I be said as putting the blame on the new Senior Pastor, I want to say, apart from the uncanny coincidence of timing, I really cannot say I know exactly whose fault it was and is. The change in corporate atmosphere could be due to more than one reason; and it is all parties, the church leadership, the members of congregation, the altar ministry "ministers", need to self-reflect.  That is if the party(ies) wants to see a re-emergence of the atmosphere we have witnessed for about 4-5 years previous. These months I have pondered if I was and am at fault, for I have not been just a member of the congregation, but I have been one of the most active "ministers" of that altar ministry where words of knowledge and prophecy were released, people responded, and people were prayed for, for healing, wholeness, breaking of bondages, and for breakthroughs in lives' impasses.

Concerning the change of ministry corporate atmosphere of the church services, it depends on what you want to see in a church service, that you will say the change is for the better or we have retraced to an old spot.  I have been with the church for more than 20 years; from my observation, we have retraced to an old spot. Going backwards, if it is the desire of the Lord, it is good, it has to be, for God knows best, but is it the desire of the Lord?  Maybe not.

Cannot boast
I cannot boast and will not boast, God forbids; but I am gladden to see God still honors those who are persistent in wanting to do what He desires.  There is still, regardless of poor corporate atmosphere or any resistance to His move (has there been?), if God wants to minister to one in need, He will do it, and He can use anyone who is a yielding and available vessel. I believe there are still a few persistent ones, despite hurdles before them.  I am one of these, and we seize opportunities afforded us to minister, regardless.

God still ministered to some
Fewer updates here was because there have been few meaningful or edifying testimonies to share, and fewer positive testimonies were due to fewer times of going into ministry.  Of course, I am conscious, it is not necessarily that, poor ministry corporate atmosphere is the sole cause of fewer positive testimonies; it can be the problem lies with me, the vessel. My observation has been that it pervaded other "ministers"; it has not been I alone, and hence, the inclination to attribute significance to the corporate atmosphere. When not encouraged, generally speaking, many would slide back into positions of casualness and easiness, and that was what has happened too; "ministers" slackened, and increasingly fewer and fewer operated. Along with that, members' faith of God's presence in the sanctuary to minister in supernatural ways, dwindled.

Like I have said, however, God is not, not able.  Even in that time that Jesus was in His own hometown, and the corporate atmosphere there, was not good, He still ministered to a few. Also important to note is that after leaving that hometown, He quickly was ministering powerfully with signs and wonders and miracles, in other places, in the Holy Land.  Why would God show or give different treatments? 

There necessarily be diferences, if God is God
Some people just don't get it, the specific treatments are different, but the underlying overarching treatment is the same - God chastises, and He chastises because He loves, and because we need to be conformed to holiness, for He is holy. 

It is about Him, but it is not, it is always got nothing to do with how we conduct ourselves. For example, if one or one church wants to do evil, and another wants to do good works and acts of love, God has to treat differently specifically, not supporting the former, and supporting the latter. Don't be naive, and be deceived, there has to be a difference, otherwise, people just do what they fancy, including evil. God judges and there is an eventual judgement, otherwise, where is justice and righteousness, and God is not God.

Testimonies
I must now return to the core nature of articles placed under this caption of "my little ministry", and that is to record of my acts in ministry and the testimonies connected to it. Once again, I thank the Lord for the encouragement, and the honor He still sneaked in, for me, as I persisted to serve Him, despite circumstances.

Words and swords
In early Dec (2012), at the end of one of the services, I prayed for a woman who was about to go the Israel, in a contingent of some 300 people. She shared that she "kinda of  know" God would use her in this trip, and talked a little about the political tension in the region, and so on and so forth.  

All of us like to say we prayed as led by the Spirit.  Exactly, how is that? Frankly speaking, at times, I did get an obvious thought or two, coming into me, and I would pray it/them out, but often, and especially you have been praying for people for years, regularly, you also develop a framework of what to say in your prayers for the different circumstances.  What I am saying is that certain petitions become standard items, and it is when, you say them in prayer, that you "play around" with.  But such routine-ness is not shunned by God.  There bound to be a certain routine-ness in repetitive events.  Look, even the natural passing of a day, with break of dawn, sun rise, noon heat, clouds or no clouds, rain and or rain, sun set and setting in of the twinkle lights curtain over the earth, there is routine-ness in it.  What I am saying, is that we endeavor good routines, and God will come into our routines.  And we are to expect Him to come in, into those routines.  If you don't have the good routines, you limit His coming into situations and times of need, of grace, mercy, or direction or encouragement for you or for others. For example, doing quiet time is routine, and praying for others in need,is also a routine, yet when we don't perform these, we can miss the opportunities that God wants to manifest to you and others.

There was nothing special that I said in the prayer for this woman who was about to make this trip to the Holy Land.  None of the things I said in prayer was new to me, all were routinely said in the past for people. All I can remember was that I heard the expectancy conveyed by the woman, and I prayed into that expectancy that God would use her.

Afterwards, after the prayer, the woman shared, that what I prayed about, that God would use her, to intercede for Israel and the region, and that God would send angels to protect her, she saw in a vision.  This is what she shared concerning the vision she saw when i was praying for her: A giant sword came from above , coming right into her (she saw herself in the vision before her). As she was wondering what was happening, of the picture she saw, she then saw, out of her mouth, came forth many small swords! Wow, what a vision. She then shared she saw behind her shoulders, figures, which her inner witness told her they were angels.  She said when she have seen the angels, she heard my utterances of calling for angels to be assigned to protect her. I believe my thought of angels to come, preceded the appearance of the angels in the vision, it was the release in words was afterwards.  This, happens; we, at times, received a thought of what to pray, but we speak it out only after we finish up with the item that we are praying at the moment.

I remember I ended the prayer with speaking out that the woman be blessed.  After the woman shared of her vision, I exclaimed, "You are blessed". Come to think of it, I was blessed, too.

How have I been blessed? I am blessed because despite the fewer times of ministry and the slackened ministry corporate atmosphere, the Lord has encouraged me, in my routine-ness, in my persistence in service.  It has not been nothing happens! I am blessed because this would be the second time I prayed for an individual, and the person was given a vision as I prayed.  The last time, that happened, the person was smiling away when I prayed for her, and afterwards, she shared she was given a vision of a beautiful waterfall. Thirdly, I am blessed, for although, I have not, have the occasion to visit the Holy Land despite having lived that long (not young-lah), and generally, also not served the Lord overseas, in any capacity, not even as on mission trip, I have through my prayer for this woman, with that vision given her, encouraged her and given her courage, and imparted faith for her to be used by the Lord for such a time and season for the Holy Nation.

I sometimes wondered if it was that easily had, of words for people we prayed for, that so very often, people asked me if I had received a word for them, when I prayed for them. Is it that other people have been getting these words, so very easily, that they expected me to receive words from God for them.  Quite often,  I would shyly say, "No".  And then, I would think this, in my heart, "I would say it, right, if I did receive.". Rarely, do I receive specific words from God for people I prayed for, although, I believe God does grant me wisdom for the situations of those I pray for.  The problem, sometimes, is that people don't want this, they only wanted an actual word from God; but I cannot say, "This is the word from God for you......", unless in my spirit, I receive it as such.  This testimony of the woman is of course better; God told direct, in vision! Hallelujah, more Lord.

50% better
Also in Dec, a brother came to the front of the sanctuary, to me, to ask for prayer. I prayed for him, probably a week or two earlier. He shared that, then I prayed for his arm, which he somehow had injured it, there were pain and discomfort in one of his upper arm, near to the joint to the shoulder. I remember he could not lift his arm beyond the shoulder level without great pain.  He shared that with my prayer the last time, the arm was 50% better, and so, he came again that I might say a prayer for him, for complete healing.  I am a lay minister, volunteering, not church staff or pastor of the church, and so, have no access to any formal feedback; such a reporting back by this brother, sure help to encourage people like me, to persist in our good routines for the Lord.

Vision of someone slipping and falling down
The last one, also in Dec (16/12/2012); perhaps, the Lord was encouraging me even as I round up another year of serving Him, voluntarily, and wondering what to do, next year, to cut down, to do something else, or what.  In the service, I received a vision or picture of someone slipping and falling heavily to the ground, and released that word or picture of knowledge, and said that I would like to pray for anyone who have had a fall and was still suffering from that fall.

Several people came forward; one came closest to the vision.  He has had a bad fall the week before, and he was still suffering from the fall.  He injured one of his knees very badly.  He was having great difficulty (painful and all) flexing his legs.  He also could not shake his injured knee to left or to the right. After prayers, he was surprised he could do both with much greater ease. He would look to complete healing from the Lord in the days to come.

I thank my Lord, and I wonder
Lord, I thank you for these, coming in the last month of another year of serving you. Yet, Lord, you know, generally what I am doing, I have been doing them, all voluntarily, for the past 5 years, since you raised me up from the depth of my great affliction of life. Although, now I am out of that long drawn affliction, and I am no longer the same from that, and I am no longer the same  from your scooping me up from the pit, and putting me to serve you, even honored me before men, true to your words in Ps 19:14-15, I am now uncertain of what to do, in the time to come. This "what am I to do", is stronger than the same for the past several years.  Perhaps, 5 years have passed, and I have 5 years less, of my already old life. Oh, how time has passed me by.  Lord, have I been lukewarm - drawn back somewhat from the drawings of the world, inclined to you somewhat, and served you somewhat.  Lord, am I neither here nor there, no achiever in the eyes of the world, and done nothing much for you?

Anthony Chia, high.expressions - Lord, how I wish I could overcome more, and love you more. Lord, help me to make my life count for you.  Lord, there is no turning back, for me, isn't it so. Ever needing your mercy, grace and encouragement, Lord.  Amen.

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Ananias and Sapphira – not believers, how convenient!

The myth of “Not talking to believers”
Coming principally, from the present day and growing crowd of overly grace preachers, is this teaching that we have been misled by the traditional church (TC), concerning applicability of scriptures referring, purportedly, to only non-believers.  Such preachers claim that quite a number of significant scriptures are NOT applicable to us, believers, but have been taught to us, by the TCs, to be applicable to us.  So strong was their push, that there is now a wide following among believers to reinterpret by an easy-way out - of taking scriptures as NOT applicable to them, by simply saying that the concerned scriptures were NOT targeting at the believers, but were talking to non-believers or referring to non-believers.

We, closer to the last days?!

I don’t know.  Will Jesus be coming back within my own life-time? I don’t know, but one thing I can see is this - the unfolding in greater and greater measure, of the warning contained in 2 Tim 4:3.  This is what is said in this text:

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Easy-believism on the rise

Easy-believism is on the rise, and very quickly.  We are NOT referring to separate groups coming by different names of identification, like the many “Christian cults” that have come.  I am generally NOT bothered with the separate-name groups, for because of their separate entity by name, they are understood to be different from us, main-stream Christians.  What irks me is the proliferation of different, highly skewed and even false, core tenets of the Faith, within our general body of believers or Christians.  At least in the past, these people broke out into separate-name groups; but the present easy-believism bunch is NOT.  The biggest issue with this is that it confuses and misleads both the common believers and the pre-believers, alike.

Be careful of the overly grace preachers

I will NOT name individuals, but I feel compelled to name the major bunch tearing at the established core tenets of the Christian faith.  The overly grace preachers and their followers are growing in great numbers through their easy-believism teachings.  The internet world is full of their teachings, and today’s enquirers are making their enquiries on the net, and are therefore, easily misled by such skewed and even false teachings.

Be part of the balancing voice

Easy-believism including the overly skewed grace teachings have contributed to Church growth, but at the same time, that growth is NOT accompanied by depth but superficiality – the Church is growing but it is growing with superficiality and NOT with depth.  For properly grounded preachers and servants of God who so dearly love the Word, may I take this opportunity to urge you (to make time) to contribute to the internet space, your valuable inputs of correct interpretation of the Word, to balance out the inaccuracy of the teachings of our faith on the net; be part of the voice leading to real water and life, so that wanderers would NOT be taken to mirages that lead only to dryness and death.

“Not targeted at believers” wrongly applied – egs.

The most hotly debated one is of course, 1 John 1:9.  The overly grace preachers and their followers are claiming that 1 John 1:9, calling for us to confess our sins (and God is just and faithful to forgive us, and cleanse us of all our unrighteousness) is NOT for believers.  In fact, according to such proponents, a believer to confess his sin, is guilty of unbelief and profaning the name and grace of the Lord.  1 John 1:9 is for believers; if you want to read my take on the text, go to: 1 John 1:9 is for believers.

Because of the core tenet of the overly grace believers being that upon one’s conversion (or entry into salvation), all his FUTURE sins are forgiven him at that moment of conversion, no repentance, confession, and asking for forgiveness, and seeking of righteousness, is ever necessary or should be engaged in, subsequent to conversion!  And so, armed with a need to make their core tenet hold true all the time, overly grace believers, are “pushed” to believe that wherever Scripture talked about repentance, confession, forgiveness, seeking or practicing righteousness, NON-BELIEVERS must have been referred to.

Matt 6:33 has NOT been spared.  This text calls for us to seek, first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, and then all our needs would be added to us; yet some overly grace believers had taken the text to be NOT applicable to them.  Their fallacy in reasoning is this: The moment they became a believer they have become fully righteous, and so, they cannot be seeking righteousness anymore; and so, that exhortation cannot be targeted at them!  How wrong they are; the words were said to believers!  Just read the context, it is staring at us, that the words were said to believers!

It is so easy, right; just add “non-“ and they are out of scope; no need to seek righteousness, no need to repent, no need to confess our sins, and no need to ask for God’s forgiveness.  Now, such easy-believism is spreading, and it has now also being applied to the account of Ananias and Sapphira.

If all sins are forgiven, how come Ananias & Sapphira were struck dead?

Some overly grace preachers said, “No-lah, God did NOT kill the duo; Peter was probably the culprit!”  But what make them say that? One answer is this:  the sin of Ananias & Sapphira God had already forgiven; had got to be, to be consistent to the tenet that all FUTURE sins were forgiven of the duo when they became believers or followers, and so, no matter what, it could NOT have been God who killed them!  God could have no reason to kill them since all sins were already forgiven. The most “logical” speculation, according to such preachers, is that Peter killed them, purportedly abused the power of his tongue!  Is this NOT mere speculation?!  Before I say more, let us read the account of the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11

Acts 5:1-11 - Death to Ananias and Sapphira

¹Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. ²With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.

 ³Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? ⁴Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."

 ⁵When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. ⁶Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

 ⁷About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?"
      "Yes," she said, "that is the price."

 ⁹Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also."

 ¹⁰At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Death for premeditated conspired lying to God

Very simply the account is like this: A certain couple, Ananias and Sapphira also sold a piece of land (Joseph Barnabas, we can read from the end of the previous chapter {Acts 4:36-37}, sold a field). The couple conspired to lie to the apostles. 

I believe the background could be along the following lines:  Perhaps, visibly people could see what Joseph Barnabas did; he encouraged everyone by his sacrificial giving and sharing.  Perhaps, he was commented for this act of selflessness. Perhaps, this couple also wanted the praise from the people, and decided to sell their land to give to the apostles for distribution.  The problem was that they conspired to lie to the apostles, which was not different from lying to God.

They did not say they were giving part of the proceeds from the sales, but rather they must have said the entire proceeds was given up for God’s use as the apostles saw fit. The Apostle Peter, who could from time to time exhibit supernatural abilities (like healing of the crippled beggar from birth, at the temple gate {Acts 3:1-10}), by the Holy Spirit enabling, spoke out that Ananias had lied when he brought in the money. 

Peter declared that Ananias had not lied to men but to God.  When Ananias heard this he fell down and died. A great fear fell on all the people who had heard what happened.  Ananias was taken out and buried. 

A few hours later, Ananias’ wife, came in without knowing what had happened.  Peter gave Sapphira a chance to own up that she had lied, but she still insisted the amount given was the full price.  Again, at Peter’s declaration (….. they will carry you out also), Sapphira fell down and died at the feet of the Apostle.  She was buried, and buried beside her husband; and with this, a great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

It is one of those “not easy to explain away” texts

Now, this account of Ananias and Sapphira’s deaths is one of the several “not easy to explain away” events in Scripture; and we should treat it or them, as such.  It is not easy because it seemed clashing with our perception of love and grace.  Other difficult accounts, along the same line, included The Flood, where all men except Noah and his family were spared; and God’s killing of the great prophet Ezekiel’s wife with one blow (Eze 24:15-18). 

Please, at times, it is NOT that simple as “God is love or God is grace, and so, there cannot be death by God!”  In brief, I can only say, one has NOT known of God enough (although He cannot be fully known), if he insists God cannot kill because He is love or grace.  For those of us with deep understanding, in explaining the workings of God, we know, that God is love or God is grace, may be adequate to explain many scenarios, but is NOT necessarily sufficient all the time; there is more to God, than God is love or God is grace.

Speculation, at best

What is wrong with filling in the gap, or even hypothesize?  Yes, you can fill in the gap, or even hypothesize, but you have to say so, including your assumptions and all; and let the readers know that you are suggesting that it could be this or it could be that.  It is wrong when you hold out your speculation as “gospel truth”!  On top of that, meaningless or contradicting assumption or speculation or filling in the gap, should be avoided as a respect of the Word, and as a correctly dividing of the Word.

Yes, we sometimes, fill in the gaps, but such filling in the gap must be consistent with what little that has been revealed in the text or be consistent with the overall counsel of the Word.

Now, concerning the exposition above, by some grace preachers, that because “FUTURE sins were forgiven at conversion” of Ananias and Sapphira, and so, there could not be death punishment by God for the lying, and so, it probably was the abuse of power by the Apostle Peter, it is far from even being adequate, not to mention, it isn’t sufficient.

One more, so typical of the grace preacher

Here is one more explanation by a widely known grace preacher: Ananias and Sapphira were NOT believers!  How convenient, but it was most likely they were believers.  In fact, the context strongly suggested that they were believers.

This is what is just above the Acts 5:1-11 text:

³²All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. ³³With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. ³⁴There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.  ³⁶Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), ³⁷sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. (Acts 4:32-37)

Acts 5:1 was the immediate continuation from this text; remember now, that in the original manuscript, there were no chapters and verse numbers; Acts 5:1 was just a continuation of the above. Verse 32 above said all the believers were of one heart and mind with no one claiming that any of his possessions was really his own. They shared everything they had! 

Now, it was the believers who were of one heart and mind, and shared together generously; not the non-believers with the believers.  Now, would you, if you are NOT a believer, join us, believers, to be of one heart and mind, and share with us, your hundreds of thousands of dollars, from the value of your property to be sold?!  It was more UNLIKELY, rather than likely, that Ananias and Sapphira were non-believers (By the way, the name, Ananias, in Hebrew, may mean "the Lord is gracious”, still it did NOT stop God from acting against him).

The argument that because it was non-believers coming to deceive the believers or the church, God must necessarily punish harshly, death, even, is NOT necessarily true all the time.  The Apostle Paul, as Saul before his conversion, persecuted the believers or followers of Jesus, but God did NOT kill Paul.

They NOT truly converted-lah!

Now this is again often a wrong prognosis.  Just because one sins, he is NOT truly converted?!  How can this stand?: “There, there, you see, they lied, they kept some back; they were still engaged in deception, so, they could NOT have been converted or truly believed! They were NOT believers-lah!”  No, we must NOT simply jump to such conclusion.  Have I not sinned?  Have I not lied?  Of course, I have.  And so, I am NOT a believer?  Nonsense!  I am a believer.  I may be a believer with some unbelief; at times, sinned; at times, doubted; at times, unwilling; but I am a believer, albeit NOT a perfect believer.  I have NOT arrived; and so, I have the need for God’s grace and mercy; and I am dependent on God’s grace, mercy and compassion; and I better be mindful of that; and you, too! 

We will read further down this article that the Apostle Peter denied Jesus 3 times, so was he no believer or follower of Jesus Christ?!  Of course, not.

Please, what kind of a pastor or preacher are you, if you are always wondering if this one is truly converted or NOT, and that one over there, in the 3^rd row, whom you baptized a year ago, is truly converted or NOT!  Come on, we don’t mature instantly; Scripture painted the picture that we, as a believer, grows from infancy into maturity, from drinking milk to eating solid food.  We should stop buying into the teachings of instant perfection and righteousness, and instant full mind of Christ.

Isolated event, it would NOT happen to you-lah!

I have heard of preachers saying this was an isolated event, and apparently implying that it should be treated as such.  Now, it is NOT common, but it does NOT mean it cannot happen to you, a believer!

God is holy and righteous; if you sin, you sinned; punishment and chastisement are His to call the shot.  God is sovereign; mercy and compassion is His prerogative; it is all up to Him if he will have mercy or compassion on you and I (Rom 9:15).  The point is that we are to embrace His holiness, and be righteous.  When we sin, and He is NOT yet punishing, and He is longsuffering, it is still His prerogative, but it does NOT mean that He is NOT entitled to punish or chastise.

Don’t profane His grace and mercy, and longsuffering

If He does not strike us down, it is out of His grace and mercy.  Don’t over-argue that God is love and God is our father, and imply that we can approach God carelessly (not be bothered) without incurring His wrath. We must approach God with the fear of the Lord.  Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the fear of the Lord is to hate that which God hates, which is, evil.

I am not saying God is not love, and God is not our father, but I am saying, even for our earthly fathers, we approach with proper conduct of the heart, what more when we, the Father God, whose fundamental nature is holiness.

Of course, what happened is not a simple lie; it is a premeditated conspiracy to deceive.  Such plotting is wickedness in the eyes of God, and stubbornly wicked people can be punished by God presently, i.e. in their current lives, not necessarily at Judgment Day.

But people are NOT struck dead every now and then.  Why?

Yes, it is true, we don’t get believers or non-believers struck dead by God every now and then.  It is because God is longsuffering and desire all men be saved (1 Tim 2:4).  If you, as a non-believer, are struck dead, your chance of becoming a believer becomes nil; death is the cut-off point; once you are dead, you can no longer able to accept Jesus into your life. If you are a believer, it still does NOT mean that you cannot be punished or even be struck dead by God.  It is rather God would like to reform you (chastise) so that more and more you will take on the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ, and end up an overcomer, to the very end, and then enter into the fullness of what God has prepared for you (1 Cor 2:9). But remember, the volition of a man is still with the believer; in other words, you and I, as a believer can still choose to go against God.  In the same token, God always have the prerogative to chastise and punish, according to demand of His own holiness.

God chose to

In the case of Ananias and Sapphira, God had chosen to punish, and plain reading of the text is that they were struck dead by God, NOT an abuse of power of the tongue by the Apostle Peter, like what some overly grace preachers had said it to be.

In a way, this story paralleled another in the OT, that of Achan’s case.  In Joshua 6 & 7, we have the account of God’s bringing down of the walls of Jericho, and capturing the city for the people of God, on entering into the Promised Land.  In Joshua 6:17-19, God gave clear instruction as what was to belong to God, absolutely (called devoted to the Lord {Joshua 6:17 & 7:1}); no one was to take any of it for himself.  But Achan took some from it when going through the city of Jericho.

The common thread here is that, that which is dedicated to the Lord, belongs to the Lord, you and I should NOT take it for ourselves.  When we take it (especially through thought-through deception) that is embezzlement of sort.  Achan was put to death, too.  The LORD’s words to Jsohua calling for the death of Achan can be read from Joshua 7:10-12.

Another closely paralleling death punishment found in the OT is the offering of strange fire of Nadab and Abihu (sons of High Priest, Aaron) - Lev 10:1-7.

But why God chose to be so severe with this case?

Firstly, the seriousness of the sin is NOT “not giving the whole lot” as such.

It is NOT the matter of NOT being generous enough.  Peter made it clear that the land or the proceeds, they belonged to Ananias.  The latter could have kept some or the whole lot, and NOT incurred God’s wrath, had he NOT lied. 

Yes, there had been more serious cases during that period of time; the Apostle Paul, before his conversion, as Saul, persecuted the believers, but God did NOT kill him, and instead turned him into a great apostle of the faith; the Apostle Peter himself denied Jesus 3 times by lying, but God did NOT struck him down; and of course, there must have been many other sins done by people, believer and non-believers alike; but why this?

Many possible reasons can be given, and if they are generally consistent to the overall counsel of the Word, they are acceptable as one or more possible reasons God did what He did.  Of course, the precise reason(s), only God knew. These are possible ones:

1.   Generally, God abhors sin, and He can punish;

2.   As an example, lesson for the church;

3.   Sin of hypocrisy;

4.   Not recognizing God is the knower of heart; contempt;

5.   God hates liars;

6.   Evil with deceit plotted in the heart;

7.   Even Pro 6:12-17; Ps 7:11-17.

My own set is evident all over this article – premeditated conspired lying (premeditated plot - evil), rebellion by deceit and lying to God (NOT to just men), dishonest with God, embezzling God (held out as belonging to God, and then one takes it for himself), deceiving and testing God – maybe God can be fooled?!;mocking God.  And of course, finally, there is the element of “it is His prerogative”.

I want to emphazise that attempting to deceive and lie to God is very serious, and I will elaborate more subsequent to this.  This combination, deception and lying, is NOT mere disobedience, NOT wanting to do something God want us to do; it is you are trying to cheat God, trying to outwit Him; it is audacity to the extreme.  It is better we tell God honestly that we need it (money, etc, etc), and say to God, “please let me take it”, than to try to deceive and lie to God, and inadvertently make a mockery of God (if you succeed).  I believe God can take it like this: “If you would deceive Me, I am NOT your God.”  Think about it, if God can be deceived by you, obviously, He is no (longer) God to you!  It is a refusal or about-turn of recognition of who He is.  Another way of looking at it, it is you are declaring to Him that you are smarter, you are God, NOT Him -rebellion!

Can and does Satan tempt the believer to lie?
Apparently, Peter thought it was all possible, and he put it to Ananias as Satan had filled his (Ananias’) heart to lie to the Holy Spirit.  Well, Peter himself was taken hold by Satan (Luke 22:31), and he, Peter lied 3 times that he knew NOT Jesus, when before that, he assured Jesus that he would even go to prison and death, with Jesus!  Judas Iscariot was a follower of Jesus, he lied big time, too!  Satan entered him (Luke 22:3); and he ultimately betrayed Jesus to the Cross. Satan even came at Jesus when Jesus walked the earth – Jesus was tested in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-11). We just have to be careful, Satan is the father of lies (Jn 8:44), and he, Satan, would start works in the heart, the source of all decisions concerning possessions and their relation to God (Lk 12:34 – where your treasure is, there your heart will be; Lk 16:14-15 – love of money from your heart, God knows and detests; Acts 8:21-22 – heart not right with God; 2:46 – of glad & sincere heart; 4:32 – heart of unity & sharing).

Don’t deceive & don’t put God to test

Deception against God is a serious matter.  It is open rebellion against God; why do I say that?  You see, we actually know that God is the knower of heart (Acts 1:24), and God can know it all and see it all, yet we dare to pull a fast one on God, so to speak.  Please, again don’t try to deceive God.

Also do NOT put God to the test.  Don’t try to deceive God, and see if you can get away with it; that is testing God.  Of course, testing God can take other forms (e.g. Jesus’ Temptation – Lk 4:12), but the point is: don’t do that.

In the wilderness the Israelites through their unbelief and murmuring against God were actually putting Him to the test to see if He would punish sin. At Kadesh in the Desert of Paran they discovered that he does (Num 14:20-23; Ps 95:7-11; Deu 6:16).

Here, from the Ananias and Sapphira account we can learn that in our curent life God can, and when he chooses, will, punish sinners either by immediate death or by some other means. This can happen to those who claim to be, and may truly be, a part of his covenant people, having enjoyed his salvation blessings and yet deliberately sin and remain unrepentant (1 Cor 5:5 – be given over to face the full fury of evil with the hope that one may repent; 1 Jn 5:16-17 – except for the one sin that leads to death, we are to pray for a brother with sin to repent, and be forgiven by God).

God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows

We, believers, are to be warned: Do NOT so luxuriate (self-indulge) in the love and grace of God that we do not take seriously the consequences of our deliberate sinning. God will not be mocked (Gal 6:7- Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.).

Lastly, be careful if you want to go legal with God!

Overly grace preachers love to harp on standing, and legal status, and implying to their followers that right standing is all that matters.  That is a dangerous position to take with God.  Yes, we are a child of God on conversion, but Scripture also have it said about who is truly a child of God – 1 John 3:10 – “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother (NKJV).”

Can you be a believer who practices NOT, His righteousness?  Can God NOT punish you now, if you are so, if He so chooses?  My friends, guard your heart; may it be found by God to be ever so sincere and humble.  Let NOT deceit enters it; be honest when it fails (sin), repent, confess, and seek God’s forgiveness; in other words, be broken and contrite of heart.  Only in this way, we get to be assured of NOT be despised by God (Ps 51:17b).

 

Anthony Chia, high.expressions

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