Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Thursday, December 7, 2017
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Pastor Joseph Prince
Entering the local Koorong Christian bookstore yesterday, I immediately noticed a book with an attractive looking young Asian man on the cover. The picture was of Joseph Prince, the title of the book, "Destined to Reign", and the subtitle went as follows: "The secret to effortless success, wholeness and victorious living."
Wow. Effortless Success! Amazing! And this young man can teach me the secret to this! Folks, there's one born every minute. Even the front cover of this book should tell you that something is wrong.
The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 4 the following, and I used it for the biblical basis of why I would take the time to write an article like this:
"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
(2 Timothy 4:1-5)
The apostle Paul tells us here to convince, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. So by the grace of God we will do that.
Now Joseph Prince uses the writings of the apostle Paul, in particular verses like Romans 5:17 and other verses about God's mercy and grace to establish his position. If Joseph Prince and his followers wish to quote the apostle Paul as a source of true inspiration, they should be willing to listen to everything he said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and not just construct something pleasing to the ear out of selected portions of the Scripture. If Prince is a lover of truth, he has to deal with all the New Testament Scriptures and not just some favorite ones.
The warning here is a prophecy given by God. It says that the time will come when God's people will begin to heap for themselves teachers who will speak to them according to their desires, according to what their itching ears want to hear. Now I don't know about you, but the idea of "effortless success" kind of appeals to me. And before I learned to love righteousness and hate wickedness, the idea of unconditional forgiveness and acceptance from God while I serve my own desires was also kind of appealing. It was something I could believe in, because I wanted to, and so did many of the people I knew. If you read my testimony, you will know that I thought I was a Christian because I believed certain doctrines about God's forgiveness being available to me through the cross of Christ - and I thought I could live for myself while still receiving these benefits. The idea of needing to REPENT of sin seemed way to narrow for us. We would have called it "legalistic".
If you and I can have "effortless success", then why did Jesus Christ make the following statement?
Luke 13:24 Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. (NIV). In the New King James: "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able."
Jesus, if I can have "effortless success", Ps Joseph Prince tells me in a top selling book in a respected Christian bookstore and around the world, why do you tell me to "make every effort" to enter salvation, or even worse, to "strive".
And Jesus, if you were so keen to do away with the moral requirements of the law, why did you seem to make it even tougher when you said:
Mat 5:27 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.'
Mat 5:28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Mat 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Jesus, is that teaching really for us today, or were you just being a bit tough on the Jewish people of the time because they were under the law anyway, and you wanted to rub it in until your servant Paul could come and change the message for you?
There are hundreds of passages which don't fit in nicely with the idea of effortless success or salvation without repentance, but we live in a biblically illiterate age, where church people are too busy pursuing wealth and material success to have time to study the Bible. So for this reason, people flock to charismatic pastors like Joseph Prince whose theological education is limited to get their feel good message for the week to keep them motivated and upbeat about the week ahead. I understand that, but I see it as idolatrous nonetheless. We MUST study God's Word for ourselves at some stage in our lives, and heavily, if we are going to avoid being pulled into the Last Day's Deception which the Bible promises us and which in fact seems to be upon us now also in the charismatic, full gospel church scene.
I first heard about Joseph Prince from my pastor at the time on the Gold Coast who heard him speak at a Hillsong Conference. This pastor told me he considered Joseph Prince to be a false teacher, that he teaches salvation without the need for repentance or godly living, and that to preach the Ten Commandments at all makes you a "preacher of death". Hearing this report made me lose more respect for Brian Houston, the leader of the Hillsong Megachurch. For you see, Brian Houston must be very appreciative of the teachings of Joseph Prince. This is evidenced firstly by the repeated invitations to minister at the huge Hillsong Conferences, and secondly by the glowing endorsement Houston wrote on the back of the book I just referred to. But rather than focus at this stage on names, I would like to look at the actual ideas that Joseph Prince is promoting, and compare them with Scripture. In the end it will be for my readers to decide which doctrine they will believe, and which doctrine conforms most to the spirit and intent of the Scriptures as they are written.
I hope to write more on this subject later and soon, because the situation can't be properly addressed in a short blog post like this one. But it should be addressed as it relates to the very core of what our faith is about, and the issue of what God requires for those who wish to be reconciled to Him and saved. And because there is a real dearth of courageous pastors in the Pentecostal movement who are willing to rebuke false teachers, I, even I, will have a go. If the Lord should reveal further truth to myself or others in this process, may His Name be praised. We need a love of the truth to even make it into Christ's Eternal Kingdom these days. The love of the truth is going to cost us something. Its NOT going to be effortless. Yes, Christ's grace DOES empower us in the fight, and without Christ's grace we would be utterly inadequate. It is to the true grace of God I look in order to be saved in these last days.
Let us remember the words of Jesus Christ:
Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Matthew 7:22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
Matthew 7:23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
God's grace be with you.
Wow. Effortless Success! Amazing! And this young man can teach me the secret to this! Folks, there's one born every minute. Even the front cover of this book should tell you that something is wrong.
The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 4 the following, and I used it for the biblical basis of why I would take the time to write an article like this:
"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
(2 Timothy 4:1-5)
The apostle Paul tells us here to convince, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. So by the grace of God we will do that.
Now Joseph Prince uses the writings of the apostle Paul, in particular verses like Romans 5:17 and other verses about God's mercy and grace to establish his position. If Joseph Prince and his followers wish to quote the apostle Paul as a source of true inspiration, they should be willing to listen to everything he said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and not just construct something pleasing to the ear out of selected portions of the Scripture. If Prince is a lover of truth, he has to deal with all the New Testament Scriptures and not just some favorite ones.
The warning here is a prophecy given by God. It says that the time will come when God's people will begin to heap for themselves teachers who will speak to them according to their desires, according to what their itching ears want to hear. Now I don't know about you, but the idea of "effortless success" kind of appeals to me. And before I learned to love righteousness and hate wickedness, the idea of unconditional forgiveness and acceptance from God while I serve my own desires was also kind of appealing. It was something I could believe in, because I wanted to, and so did many of the people I knew. If you read my testimony, you will know that I thought I was a Christian because I believed certain doctrines about God's forgiveness being available to me through the cross of Christ - and I thought I could live for myself while still receiving these benefits. The idea of needing to REPENT of sin seemed way to narrow for us. We would have called it "legalistic".
If you and I can have "effortless success", then why did Jesus Christ make the following statement?
Luke 13:24 Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. (NIV). In the New King James: "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able."
Jesus, if I can have "effortless success", Ps Joseph Prince tells me in a top selling book in a respected Christian bookstore and around the world, why do you tell me to "make every effort" to enter salvation, or even worse, to "strive".
And Jesus, if you were so keen to do away with the moral requirements of the law, why did you seem to make it even tougher when you said:
Mat 5:27 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.'
Mat 5:28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Mat 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Jesus, is that teaching really for us today, or were you just being a bit tough on the Jewish people of the time because they were under the law anyway, and you wanted to rub it in until your servant Paul could come and change the message for you?
There are hundreds of passages which don't fit in nicely with the idea of effortless success or salvation without repentance, but we live in a biblically illiterate age, where church people are too busy pursuing wealth and material success to have time to study the Bible. So for this reason, people flock to charismatic pastors like Joseph Prince whose theological education is limited to get their feel good message for the week to keep them motivated and upbeat about the week ahead. I understand that, but I see it as idolatrous nonetheless. We MUST study God's Word for ourselves at some stage in our lives, and heavily, if we are going to avoid being pulled into the Last Day's Deception which the Bible promises us and which in fact seems to be upon us now also in the charismatic, full gospel church scene.
I first heard about Joseph Prince from my pastor at the time on the Gold Coast who heard him speak at a Hillsong Conference. This pastor told me he considered Joseph Prince to be a false teacher, that he teaches salvation without the need for repentance or godly living, and that to preach the Ten Commandments at all makes you a "preacher of death". Hearing this report made me lose more respect for Brian Houston, the leader of the Hillsong Megachurch. For you see, Brian Houston must be very appreciative of the teachings of Joseph Prince. This is evidenced firstly by the repeated invitations to minister at the huge Hillsong Conferences, and secondly by the glowing endorsement Houston wrote on the back of the book I just referred to. But rather than focus at this stage on names, I would like to look at the actual ideas that Joseph Prince is promoting, and compare them with Scripture. In the end it will be for my readers to decide which doctrine they will believe, and which doctrine conforms most to the spirit and intent of the Scriptures as they are written.
I hope to write more on this subject later and soon, because the situation can't be properly addressed in a short blog post like this one. But it should be addressed as it relates to the very core of what our faith is about, and the issue of what God requires for those who wish to be reconciled to Him and saved. And because there is a real dearth of courageous pastors in the Pentecostal movement who are willing to rebuke false teachers, I, even I, will have a go. If the Lord should reveal further truth to myself or others in this process, may His Name be praised. We need a love of the truth to even make it into Christ's Eternal Kingdom these days. The love of the truth is going to cost us something. Its NOT going to be effortless. Yes, Christ's grace DOES empower us in the fight, and without Christ's grace we would be utterly inadequate. It is to the true grace of God I look in order to be saved in these last days.
Let us remember the words of Jesus Christ:
Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Matthew 7:22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
Matthew 7:23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
God's grace be with you.
Water Baptism
Water Baptism
John's ministry and Baptism was for the Jews only, following the Jewish tradition of ceremonial washings; here are a few:
To consecrate them ...Then you (Moses) shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and wash them with water. Exo 29:1-4.
And he who is being cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean; and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall stay out of his tent for seven days. Lev 14:8
And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening; and he that bears any of those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. Lev 15:10
And thus shall you do to them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. Num 8:11
But it shall be, when evening comes, he shall wash himself with water; and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again. Deu 23:11.
John's Baptism ceremonially washed away the Jews' sins of the past, providing men showed the fruits of repentance - a changed lifestyle with beginning repentance: sharing from their excess with those who lacked the necessities of life, not taking advantage of anyone, not defrauding anyone, not oppressing anyone, not lying, not wanting more, and not complaining. But John's baptism was only to prepare people to receive the ministry of Christ; and in no way excused their future sins, nor excused them from the necessity of becoming true disciples of Christ who finally produce the fruit of the Spirit. In the beginning of the early Church, they (Peter particularly) maintained Jewish circumcision, dietary law, and the Jewish water baptism of John. Peter even applied some of these practices on the Gentiles, until: the Holy Spirit corrected him on food, Paul further corrected him on food, and the Apostles Council issued different guideline for Gentiles. Since both Christ and John the Baptist spoke of a better baptism, this baptism was later eliminated from Christian practice and the faith maintained one faith, one Lord, and one baptism, the baptism of fire or of the Holy Spirit. Clearly, just as there are no multiple lords, there are no multiple baptisms.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Eph 4:4-5
John said: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire: Mat 3:11
Jesus said: For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. Acts 1:5
Paul said: There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, Eph 4:4-5
I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel:1 Cor 1:14-17.
In this scripture Paul is plainly not happy that he water baptized even the handful that he did; clearly he is speaking about water baptism because the Corinthians were identifying themselves as belonging to Paul or Apollos, who only knew of water baptism.
Acts 8:13- 22
Simon the magician believed and was baptized. He tried to buy the power of laying on of hands. Acts 8:13-18
Peter said to him, "Repent therefore of your wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity." Acts 8:22
Does this sound like a man saved by believing or baptism - who in in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity?
You can't be 'saved' and still be in bitterness and the bond of iniquity?
Peter said "perhaps" he could be forgiven, if he repented and prayed for forgiveness.
But forgiven is not saved. He was forgiven before.
Clearly the one baptism needed is the fire of the Holy Spirit, which circumcises the heart, by plunging down sin and iniquity, and puts off the body of death and sins of the flesh so that we are without sin; "..baptized into Jesus Christ .. his death, buried with him by baptism into death, that they should walk in newness of life."
Peter corroborates the same: And baptism, which is the figure of this, now saves us, (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 3:21. Note! The baptism Peter is speaking about, is the baptism of death, resulting in the resurrection of Jesus Christ within a man.
Although to be avoided as an unnecessary ritual, water baptism is not harmful, unless you think it somehow makes you righteous, thereby being prevented from your seeking righteousness, which is Christ's top priority command " Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness." If you have been baptized in water in the past, don't fret over it being held against you; but if you understand that the one baptism needed is the death of the selfish human nature, then to be water baptized is to deny the true hope.
George Fox has an outstanding writing, distinguishing the Baptism of the Holy Spirit's Unquenchable Fire vs. Outward Water. He makes two critical observations: 1) John clearly declares for what end he was sent to baptize with water, namely, that Christ might be made manifest to Israel, the Jews, that had the figures and shadows of Christ; for John does not say, he came baptizing with water, that Christ might be made manifest to the Gentiles or heathen, but to Israel; and 2) as soon as John's ministry was finished, (along with his baptism), Jesus' started: from that time John was cast into prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe the gospel.’ Mark 1:14- 15, Mat 4:12,17.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, Eph 5:26-27 . You must habitually seek and hear the Spirit of God, which is the Word of God, to be washed inside and outside by holy pure water; and obey the heard Words from the mouth of God, continually, to ever be sanctified. The water is not outward water, and neither is the word hearing the Bible; it is the power of the Word of God, Jesus Christ, who said: if I don't wash you, you can have no part of me.
Most sects have "Christening" as a sacrament also, or simply infant baptism, still with a fee charge or expected gift by the originating sect. There is no scriptural basis for this baptism at all. It is derived from the mistaken belief that one must be baptized in water to be 'saved' and therefore it applies to children also. God is not so unfair as to banish one infant, who has not been sprinkled with water, and embrace another who has been sprinkled or immersed - that makes him a God who judges on a ridiculous technicality or ritual, completely without fairness and justice. It further assumes that infants need 'saving,' which is further silliness. What sin have infants committed?
From George Fox's Journal:
There were some Baptists in that country, whom I desired to see and speak with, because they were separated from the public worship. So Oats, one of their chief teachers, and others of the heads of them, with several of their company, came to meet us at Barrow, where we discoursed with them. One of them said, 'what was not of faith, was sin.' Upon which I asked them, what faith was? And how it was created in man? But they turned off from that, and spoke of their baptism in water. Then I asked them, whether their mountain of sin was brought down, and laid low in them? And their rough and crooked ways made smooth and straight in them? They looked upon the scriptures as meaning outward mountains and ways; but I told them, they must find them in their own hearts; at which they seemed to wonder. We asked them, who baptized John the Baptist? who baptized Peter, John, and the rest of the apostles? And put them to prove by scripture, that these were baptized in water: but they were silent.
and:
In like manner he [Paul] was tender concerning the baptizing with water; but when he saw they began to make sects about it, some crying up Paul, others Apollo, he judged them, and called them carnal, and thanked God he had baptized no more but few; declaring plainly, that he was sent to preach the gospel, and not to baptize; and brought them to the one baptism by the one spirit, into the one body which Christ, the spiritual man, is the head of; and exhorted the church, "all to drink into that one spirit." For he asserted in the church the one faith, which Christ was the author of; and one baptism, which was that of the spirit into the one body; and one Lord Jesus Christ, who was the spiritual baptizer, who John said should come after him. And further the apostle declared that they, who worshipped and served God in the spirit, were of the circumcision of the spirit, which was "not made with hands;" by which the "body of the sins of the flesh was put off:" which circumcision Christ is the minister of.
and:
And although the Corinthians had eaten the bread and wine, and had been baptized in water, the apostle told them they were "reprobates [still subject to sin], if Christ was not in them;" and told them "examine themselves."
and:
While I was in London, I went one day to visit him that was called squire Marsh, who had showed much kindness both to me and Friends. I happened to go when he was at dinner. He no sooner heard of my name, but he sent for me to come up, and would have had me sit down with him to dinner; but I had not freedom to do so. Several great persons were at dinner with him; and he said to one of them who was a great Papist, 'here is a Quaker, which you have not seen before.’ The Papist asked me, 'whether I did own the christening of children?' I told him,' there was no scripture for any such practice.' 'What!' he said, 'not for christening children!' I said, 'no' I told him, 'the one baptism by the one spirit into one body we owned; but to throw a little water on a child's face, and say, that was baptizing and christening it, there was no scripture for that.'
Jesus said: I tell you the truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God, unless he is born of water and spirit, John 3:5
Some say the above verse proves water baptism;
but to be born of water, is to be washed by his spoken, heard, and obeyed words:
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, Eph 5:25-26
Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth. John 17:17
Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. John 15:3
Peter said unto him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. John 13:8
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Heb 10:22
For there are three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
And there are three that bear witness in earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; these three agree as one. 1 John 5:7-8
Some of you from evangelist sects are saying to yourself now: "But what about the great commission." I say the evangelists of today are completely ignorant of what the great commission really is. Lets look at it:
Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things in whatever I have commanded you; and, look, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Mat 28:19-20.
First: No one is supposed to go and preach or teach unless they have been trained, perfected, and restored to the image of God that Adam had before falling, and then authorized and sent: Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest, Mat 9:38; notice he sends the workers.
Second: Christ's true workers only speak words they hear the Spirit of God tell them to speak: He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of the One who sent him, that man is true, and there is no unrighteousness is in him. John 7:18. Just as Jesus spoke only what he was told to say, we must wait until we can hear what to say; otherwise we are seeking our own glory; this is doing "thy will" instead of our will.
Third: Disciples are not only supposed to baptize, but are supposed to be trained and expert in Teaching them to observe all things in whatever I have commanded you. Not just teaching the commands, anyone can read the Bible to them; but teaching them to observe (to obey) all things in whatever I have commanded you. So, his true disciples are supposed to be teaching us to observe all his commands, But Christendom ignores all his commands. From the Voice of the Lord within: "They have gutted Jesus. They have made the Bible hollow." Where is the teaching of Christ's commands in Christendom today? And who is showing people how to observe all his commands?
Who is teaching: Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect, Mat 5:48? (and then telling you how to comply?)
Who is teaching: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, Mat 6:33?
Who is teaching: Repent or Perish, Luke 13:3?
Who is teaching: Sin no more, John 5:14?
Who is teaching: Believe in the light so that you may become children of the light. John 12:36?
Who is teaching: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me, Luke 9:23?
Who is teaching: So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple, Luke 14:33?
Who is teaching: He who finds his life shall lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake shall find it, Matthew 10:39?
What? Not your preacher? Then he is not a true disciple of Christ, but is a duped minister of Satan, transformed to appear as a minister of righteousness. 2 Cor 11:14-15.
A true disciple of Christ is told by the Spirit of God, exactly where to go, when to go, and what to say when they arrive. The teacher is Christ. Everyone else is a supposed to be a student. If the student starts teaching before the teacher has authorized him, then the blind pupil thinks he can see and is superior to the teacher. (Luke 6:39-40). Such authorization comes from him directly and specifically; you hear him say: you are now a teacher, or: preach repentance with remission of sins.
Jesus said that a man who preaches from his own mind seeks his own glory. He seeks your money, your admiration, and your subjection to his authority. The preachers of Christendom stand condemned for seeking their own glory and then accepting pay for their worthless words; when to even charge for true words of life like Balaam, spoken from the spirit of God, is expressly forbidden by Peter and Jesus. Seeking their own glory, the preachers of Christendom speak from their carnal minds, the nature of death, and in their vain imaginations from the evil of their hearts.
So, baptizing, in water, without teaching them to observe all things in all commands is worthless, creating converts twice as fit for Hell as the false disciples. Mat 23:15.
If his true disciples were teaching to obey all commands, those who were obedient would be baptized by the Holy Spirit, the one baptism needed.
Finally there are those who say: Jesus was baptized with water, so that proves it necessary. If you follow this logic, you must get circumcised (whatever your age, whatever the pain), follow all the dietary laws, observe all the Jewish ceremonies, etc. But Jesus was Jewish, and he had to completely fulfill the Law to live without sin, the Law being replaced by the new covenant that he came to establish. Of course all the above is not required, and practicing them would only put you under condemnation of the Law. And remember, there is absolutely no record of Jesus water baptizing anyone.
John's ministry and Baptism was for the Jews only, following the Jewish tradition of ceremonial washings; here are a few:
To consecrate them ...Then you (Moses) shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and wash them with water. Exo 29:1-4.
And he who is being cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean; and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall stay out of his tent for seven days. Lev 14:8
And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening; and he that bears any of those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. Lev 15:10
And thus shall you do to them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. Num 8:11
But it shall be, when evening comes, he shall wash himself with water; and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again. Deu 23:11.
John's Baptism ceremonially washed away the Jews' sins of the past, providing men showed the fruits of repentance - a changed lifestyle with beginning repentance: sharing from their excess with those who lacked the necessities of life, not taking advantage of anyone, not defrauding anyone, not oppressing anyone, not lying, not wanting more, and not complaining. But John's baptism was only to prepare people to receive the ministry of Christ; and in no way excused their future sins, nor excused them from the necessity of becoming true disciples of Christ who finally produce the fruit of the Spirit. In the beginning of the early Church, they (Peter particularly) maintained Jewish circumcision, dietary law, and the Jewish water baptism of John. Peter even applied some of these practices on the Gentiles, until: the Holy Spirit corrected him on food, Paul further corrected him on food, and the Apostles Council issued different guideline for Gentiles. Since both Christ and John the Baptist spoke of a better baptism, this baptism was later eliminated from Christian practice and the faith maintained one faith, one Lord, and one baptism, the baptism of fire or of the Holy Spirit. Clearly, just as there are no multiple lords, there are no multiple baptisms.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Eph 4:4-5
John said: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire: Mat 3:11
Jesus said: For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. Acts 1:5
Paul said: There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, Eph 4:4-5
I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel:1 Cor 1:14-17.
In this scripture Paul is plainly not happy that he water baptized even the handful that he did; clearly he is speaking about water baptism because the Corinthians were identifying themselves as belonging to Paul or Apollos, who only knew of water baptism.
Acts 8:13- 22
Simon the magician believed and was baptized. He tried to buy the power of laying on of hands. Acts 8:13-18
Peter said to him, "Repent therefore of your wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity." Acts 8:22
Does this sound like a man saved by believing or baptism - who in in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity?
You can't be 'saved' and still be in bitterness and the bond of iniquity?
Peter said "perhaps" he could be forgiven, if he repented and prayed for forgiveness.
But forgiven is not saved. He was forgiven before.
Clearly the one baptism needed is the fire of the Holy Spirit, which circumcises the heart, by plunging down sin and iniquity, and puts off the body of death and sins of the flesh so that we are without sin; "..baptized into Jesus Christ .. his death, buried with him by baptism into death, that they should walk in newness of life."
Peter corroborates the same: And baptism, which is the figure of this, now saves us, (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 3:21. Note! The baptism Peter is speaking about, is the baptism of death, resulting in the resurrection of Jesus Christ within a man.
Although to be avoided as an unnecessary ritual, water baptism is not harmful, unless you think it somehow makes you righteous, thereby being prevented from your seeking righteousness, which is Christ's top priority command " Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness." If you have been baptized in water in the past, don't fret over it being held against you; but if you understand that the one baptism needed is the death of the selfish human nature, then to be water baptized is to deny the true hope.
George Fox has an outstanding writing, distinguishing the Baptism of the Holy Spirit's Unquenchable Fire vs. Outward Water. He makes two critical observations: 1) John clearly declares for what end he was sent to baptize with water, namely, that Christ might be made manifest to Israel, the Jews, that had the figures and shadows of Christ; for John does not say, he came baptizing with water, that Christ might be made manifest to the Gentiles or heathen, but to Israel; and 2) as soon as John's ministry was finished, (along with his baptism), Jesus' started: from that time John was cast into prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe the gospel.’ Mark 1:14- 15, Mat 4:12,17.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, Eph 5:26-27 . You must habitually seek and hear the Spirit of God, which is the Word of God, to be washed inside and outside by holy pure water; and obey the heard Words from the mouth of God, continually, to ever be sanctified. The water is not outward water, and neither is the word hearing the Bible; it is the power of the Word of God, Jesus Christ, who said: if I don't wash you, you can have no part of me.
Most sects have "Christening" as a sacrament also, or simply infant baptism, still with a fee charge or expected gift by the originating sect. There is no scriptural basis for this baptism at all. It is derived from the mistaken belief that one must be baptized in water to be 'saved' and therefore it applies to children also. God is not so unfair as to banish one infant, who has not been sprinkled with water, and embrace another who has been sprinkled or immersed - that makes him a God who judges on a ridiculous technicality or ritual, completely without fairness and justice. It further assumes that infants need 'saving,' which is further silliness. What sin have infants committed?
From George Fox's Journal:
There were some Baptists in that country, whom I desired to see and speak with, because they were separated from the public worship. So Oats, one of their chief teachers, and others of the heads of them, with several of their company, came to meet us at Barrow, where we discoursed with them. One of them said, 'what was not of faith, was sin.' Upon which I asked them, what faith was? And how it was created in man? But they turned off from that, and spoke of their baptism in water. Then I asked them, whether their mountain of sin was brought down, and laid low in them? And their rough and crooked ways made smooth and straight in them? They looked upon the scriptures as meaning outward mountains and ways; but I told them, they must find them in their own hearts; at which they seemed to wonder. We asked them, who baptized John the Baptist? who baptized Peter, John, and the rest of the apostles? And put them to prove by scripture, that these were baptized in water: but they were silent.
and:
In like manner he [Paul] was tender concerning the baptizing with water; but when he saw they began to make sects about it, some crying up Paul, others Apollo, he judged them, and called them carnal, and thanked God he had baptized no more but few; declaring plainly, that he was sent to preach the gospel, and not to baptize; and brought them to the one baptism by the one spirit, into the one body which Christ, the spiritual man, is the head of; and exhorted the church, "all to drink into that one spirit." For he asserted in the church the one faith, which Christ was the author of; and one baptism, which was that of the spirit into the one body; and one Lord Jesus Christ, who was the spiritual baptizer, who John said should come after him. And further the apostle declared that they, who worshipped and served God in the spirit, were of the circumcision of the spirit, which was "not made with hands;" by which the "body of the sins of the flesh was put off:" which circumcision Christ is the minister of.
and:
And although the Corinthians had eaten the bread and wine, and had been baptized in water, the apostle told them they were "reprobates [still subject to sin], if Christ was not in them;" and told them "examine themselves."
and:
While I was in London, I went one day to visit him that was called squire Marsh, who had showed much kindness both to me and Friends. I happened to go when he was at dinner. He no sooner heard of my name, but he sent for me to come up, and would have had me sit down with him to dinner; but I had not freedom to do so. Several great persons were at dinner with him; and he said to one of them who was a great Papist, 'here is a Quaker, which you have not seen before.’ The Papist asked me, 'whether I did own the christening of children?' I told him,' there was no scripture for any such practice.' 'What!' he said, 'not for christening children!' I said, 'no' I told him, 'the one baptism by the one spirit into one body we owned; but to throw a little water on a child's face, and say, that was baptizing and christening it, there was no scripture for that.'
Jesus said: I tell you the truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God, unless he is born of water and spirit, John 3:5
Some say the above verse proves water baptism;
but to be born of water, is to be washed by his spoken, heard, and obeyed words:
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, Eph 5:25-26
Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth. John 17:17
Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. John 15:3
Peter said unto him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. John 13:8
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Heb 10:22
For there are three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
And there are three that bear witness in earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; these three agree as one. 1 John 5:7-8
Some of you from evangelist sects are saying to yourself now: "But what about the great commission." I say the evangelists of today are completely ignorant of what the great commission really is. Lets look at it:
Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things in whatever I have commanded you; and, look, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Mat 28:19-20.
First: No one is supposed to go and preach or teach unless they have been trained, perfected, and restored to the image of God that Adam had before falling, and then authorized and sent: Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest, Mat 9:38; notice he sends the workers.
Second: Christ's true workers only speak words they hear the Spirit of God tell them to speak: He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of the One who sent him, that man is true, and there is no unrighteousness is in him. John 7:18. Just as Jesus spoke only what he was told to say, we must wait until we can hear what to say; otherwise we are seeking our own glory; this is doing "thy will" instead of our will.
Third: Disciples are not only supposed to baptize, but are supposed to be trained and expert in Teaching them to observe all things in whatever I have commanded you. Not just teaching the commands, anyone can read the Bible to them; but teaching them to observe (to obey) all things in whatever I have commanded you. So, his true disciples are supposed to be teaching us to observe all his commands, But Christendom ignores all his commands. From the Voice of the Lord within: "They have gutted Jesus. They have made the Bible hollow." Where is the teaching of Christ's commands in Christendom today? And who is showing people how to observe all his commands?
Who is teaching: Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect, Mat 5:48? (and then telling you how to comply?)
Who is teaching: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, Mat 6:33?
Who is teaching: Repent or Perish, Luke 13:3?
Who is teaching: Sin no more, John 5:14?
Who is teaching: Believe in the light so that you may become children of the light. John 12:36?
Who is teaching: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me, Luke 9:23?
Who is teaching: So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple, Luke 14:33?
Who is teaching: He who finds his life shall lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake shall find it, Matthew 10:39?
What? Not your preacher? Then he is not a true disciple of Christ, but is a duped minister of Satan, transformed to appear as a minister of righteousness. 2 Cor 11:14-15.
A true disciple of Christ is told by the Spirit of God, exactly where to go, when to go, and what to say when they arrive. The teacher is Christ. Everyone else is a supposed to be a student. If the student starts teaching before the teacher has authorized him, then the blind pupil thinks he can see and is superior to the teacher. (Luke 6:39-40). Such authorization comes from him directly and specifically; you hear him say: you are now a teacher, or: preach repentance with remission of sins.
Jesus said that a man who preaches from his own mind seeks his own glory. He seeks your money, your admiration, and your subjection to his authority. The preachers of Christendom stand condemned for seeking their own glory and then accepting pay for their worthless words; when to even charge for true words of life like Balaam, spoken from the spirit of God, is expressly forbidden by Peter and Jesus. Seeking their own glory, the preachers of Christendom speak from their carnal minds, the nature of death, and in their vain imaginations from the evil of their hearts.
So, baptizing, in water, without teaching them to observe all things in all commands is worthless, creating converts twice as fit for Hell as the false disciples. Mat 23:15.
If his true disciples were teaching to obey all commands, those who were obedient would be baptized by the Holy Spirit, the one baptism needed.
Finally there are those who say: Jesus was baptized with water, so that proves it necessary. If you follow this logic, you must get circumcised (whatever your age, whatever the pain), follow all the dietary laws, observe all the Jewish ceremonies, etc. But Jesus was Jewish, and he had to completely fulfill the Law to live without sin, the Law being replaced by the new covenant that he came to establish. Of course all the above is not required, and practicing them would only put you under condemnation of the Law. And remember, there is absolutely no record of Jesus water baptizing anyone.
Friday, August 26, 2011
JOSEPH PRICE'S FALSE TEACHING - Gladys Russel
Gladys Russel has this profound insight into this very subtle false teaching:-
"Destined to Reign" by Joseph Prince
I recently became aware of a young man in our congregation who is involved in the vilest of sexual addictions, yet considers himself a believer who has no qualms at all about admitting his sins and the pleasure that he gets from them. He has no concerns about his salvation either as he has received assurance from a new (?) doctrine that has been popularized by the book by Joseph Prince called DESTINED TO REIGN. It was probably no coincidence that a friend sent the book to me to look at. My curiosity and concern was definitely piqued.
As prudent Christians, many evangelicals realize that we are very possibly in the end times that Jesus talked about in Matthew 24. Knowing this, we need to be all the more aware of deception in our church and in doctrine. Remember Jesus himself said in Matthew 24:24 “For false Christ’s and FALSE PROPHETS will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Again in 2 Thessalonians 2:11&12 Paul says, “And for this reason God will send them a strong delusion, that they should believe the lie and they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Even during the busy Christmas season, I could not keep away from this book and the theology it promotes. While there are too many ideas to expound on here, the main ideas seem to be 1) Nothing but blessings for the believer, 2) No longer a need to be concerned about God’s judgment as Grace has done away with the law 3) All sin, past and future, was forgiven at the cross for the believer and 4) repentance and confession of sin is never necessary.
BLEST BELIEVERS
In Chapter 1, I learned that God has called us as Christians to be a success, to enjoy wealth, to enjoy health, and to enjoy a life of victory. As soon as we understand his principals , we will see how easy and effortless the Christian walk really is. Prince uses Romans 5:17 …“For by one man‘s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through one Jesus Christ” He then states that the word reign used here comes from the word basiluo (Greek) translated to basilica in English.. Since, he says, basilicas were used as law courts, that means we would have a kingly rule. Well, that’s a stretch to begin with. A basilica is simply a style of building that makes it good for any assembly including meeting places, law courts, funeral homes and often churches. Adam Clarke, translating from the original Greek, along with any major Bible Scholar I am aware of takes this scripture to mean that we will reign over death as a result of Jesus death and resurrection..
Prince fails to mention what Jesus says to expect if we follow him.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” and again in Luke 6:22 Jesus said, “Blessed are you when men hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and caste your name as evil for the Son of Man’s sake.
Jesus also said in Luke 9:23 “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” In Matthew 7:14 Jesus said , “Narrow is the gate and DIFFICULT is the way which leads to life and few there be that find it. And in Luke 9:25 Jesus warns about riches saying, “For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost.” !st Peter 3:17 “For it is better , if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”
In Revelations 6:9, John says “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they maintained.”
Living in a country with abundant wealth such as Singapore (where Prince lives) or the United States certainly makes it more plausible for persons whether Christian or simply diligent citizens to have a measure of wealth, But, is that God’s plan for everyone who loves him? Certainly and clearly it is not. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 19:23 that it would be harder for the rich to get into heaven, and in Luke 18;24 he again lamented about how hard it would be for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus calls us to be willing to give up everything, including our life, to follow Him. Paul, himself, who wrote Romans 5:17, was often beaten, shipwrecked, and finally martyred. (Prince foolishly states that Paul’s thorn could not have been illness--he fails to note in Galatians 4 : 13-14 Paul clearly states he was sick with an infirmity of the flesh). Christians are daily persecuted and martyred around the world for the sake of their faith and the very survival of Christianity depended on the martyrs who came before us. Reigning might sound good for itchy ears but it isn’t what we are guaranteed in this present life.
A GOD OF MERCY ONLY--(New Revelation)
On page 32 Prince reveals his belief that God is continually restoring his truths to the church and the revelation of the finished work will continue to get stronger. Any time new revelation is taught, we must be reminded of how often this has been the basis of new cult’s such as Mormonism, Jehovah‘s witness, Christian Scientist etc. This new revelation of Prince’s continues to be the gift of righteousness to reign in life. I.e., more grace and less judgment. The loving and merciful side of God is always emphasized in Prince’s teaching.
While Prince speaks much of the fact that the new covenant does away with the old covenant , he fails to distinguish between the commandments which are still in effect and the ceremonial law that was necessary only until Christ became the sacrifice. Paul was often speaking to new Christians/Jews who kept going back to ceremonial law. --after all as Jews that was very natural for them and , no doubt, they still had many friends who were still in ceremonial law. Paul confirms this in Galations 4:10 when he says “You observe days and months and seasons and years.
As for the commandments, read Matthew 19:17-21 when Jesus clearly told the rich young man he should keep the commandments if he wanted to enter into life……“shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Prince states a merciful God would not Judge America or any other country because of what was done at the cross(pg 49). That, he says is because God is not willing that any should perish. Wow that’s a relief--or is it? In 2nd Cor. 5:11 Paul says that knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men………..Heb 10:30b & 31 “ The Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God’ and Luke 12:5 … “Fear Him who…has the power to cast into hell:,, Of course Revelation has an entire book on the judgments that will be forthcoming on Nations and people. If we believe that God is all powerful, we must believe that whether or not he caused 9;11, He could have stopped it so therefore did allow judgment to come.
ALL SINS PAST AND FUTURE WERE FORGIVEN AT THE CROSS.
Prince continually assures the Believer that, although he does not condone sin , all was forgiven when Jesus died for the Believer so we never have to worry about it again. On pg 53 Prince says ‘If you receive a word from someone which brings your sins to remembrance or instills an expectation of punishment for sins in your life, don’t fear it, just throw it out the window..” On page 45, he says that , for the believer, ‘God took all your sins, even the sins that you have not yet committed, and put them all on Jesus. All future sins have been fully judged at the cross.’ On page 138, he states that “Believers are forever righteous. On page 233 he says “you cannot be under grace without becoming holy.” On page 99 he states that he has never encountered anyone who after receiving grace says “now I can go out and sin”. Really???I know of many people who truly served and loved the Lord at one time and have returned to a life of sin--don ‘t you? Just get any church directory from a few years back and you will see how many did not stay the course.
Prince does not attempt to explain the many examples that were given in the Gospels such as the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins, the seed that fell on good ground but was choked by the things of this world, or the seed that sprung up and then withered or the ninety and nine when the shepherd searched for the one who had left the fold. Even Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer that we should examine ourselves daily when he said “give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
In Colossians 1:22 & 23 Paul admonishes the believers “ to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable in his sight IF indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you have heard…… Also 2nd Peter 2:20 &21 say ‘For after they have escaped the pollutions of this world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome. The latter end is worse for them than the beginning, for it would have been better for them to have never known the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn from the bold commandment delivered to them. John 15:10 “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love…….”
What Prince believes and teaches is almost beyond Calvinism because most Calvinists, including John Macarthur, will say of a person who practices a sinful life, that they never knew the Lord in the first place I.e. they never studied God’s word to see what would be required of them.
NEVER MIND REPENTENCE
Prince teaches that the word Repent actually only means to turn around.
The new Webster’s inter-collegiate dictionary refers to the root word penitent to describe repent as remorse, sorrow, for sins, contrition etc.
Prince also teaches that since sins are already forgiven, there is no need to repent of them anyway. What we need instead is to be forgiveness -conscious. See page 103 where he says “even when they (Christians) say a wrong thing, do a wrong thing or have a wrong thought…….they see the blood of Jesus continually washing them……..because they are forgiveness-conscious. they experience victory over sin.” Prince uses the example of the sins committed by the Corinthians to say that Paul simply reminded them that their bodies were temples of the Holy Spirit (pg 107) and did not tell them to repent. Well, Paul didn’t exactly ignore the sin either as though it were already forgiven.. See verses 1 Cor 5:5 when Paul told them to “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Clearly, the sin required more attention than simply reminding the offender that he needed to be aware that he was already forgiven. How about getting his attention to the seriousness of the sin and repentance from it? Also note 2 Cor 12:21 written to the Believers at Corinth in which Paul states “Lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you & I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented. On page 234, Prince states that we are not told to repent (I.e. turnaround) from sins but from dead works which, he says, are not really sins. I.e. if you pray thinking that makes you right with God , that is a dead work. Similarly, If you study the Bible because you think doing so makes you right with God--forget it. You need, he says, to study and pray knowing you are right with God. So, in effect we should not be concerned about our sins but do need to be sure we never pray or search the scripture for answers simply to learn what is right--we just need to accept that we are right because at some time in the past we “turned around“.
While Prince writes his book as the secret to effortless success, wholeness and victorious living, the Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:11-16 that we will need to put on the whole armor of God so that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places ………………
My heart breaks for the young man who thinks he can continue to practice any kind of sin and be considered holy before God, for the Bible says in Eph 4:7 & 8a “ for God did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God..”.
Yes, it is wonderful to hear a message of Grace, but until we understand that God is also a God of judgment, can we really know the depths of his Grace? As Paul admonished the believers in Romans, 2:2 “ But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things” and again to the believers In Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.”
Remember, it is in God’s commandments that we learn the heart of God and what he expects of us. . How many will pay the ultimate price for the belief promoted in Destined to Reign? It is, after all, the same old lie, that Satan told Eve when he convinced her, that deliberate sin could go unpunished.
"Destined to Reign" by Joseph Prince
I recently became aware of a young man in our congregation who is involved in the vilest of sexual addictions, yet considers himself a believer who has no qualms at all about admitting his sins and the pleasure that he gets from them. He has no concerns about his salvation either as he has received assurance from a new (?) doctrine that has been popularized by the book by Joseph Prince called DESTINED TO REIGN. It was probably no coincidence that a friend sent the book to me to look at. My curiosity and concern was definitely piqued.
As prudent Christians, many evangelicals realize that we are very possibly in the end times that Jesus talked about in Matthew 24. Knowing this, we need to be all the more aware of deception in our church and in doctrine. Remember Jesus himself said in Matthew 24:24 “For false Christ’s and FALSE PROPHETS will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Again in 2 Thessalonians 2:11&12 Paul says, “And for this reason God will send them a strong delusion, that they should believe the lie and they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Even during the busy Christmas season, I could not keep away from this book and the theology it promotes. While there are too many ideas to expound on here, the main ideas seem to be 1) Nothing but blessings for the believer, 2) No longer a need to be concerned about God’s judgment as Grace has done away with the law 3) All sin, past and future, was forgiven at the cross for the believer and 4) repentance and confession of sin is never necessary.
BLEST BELIEVERS
In Chapter 1, I learned that God has called us as Christians to be a success, to enjoy wealth, to enjoy health, and to enjoy a life of victory. As soon as we understand his principals , we will see how easy and effortless the Christian walk really is. Prince uses Romans 5:17 …“For by one man‘s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through one Jesus Christ” He then states that the word reign used here comes from the word basiluo (Greek) translated to basilica in English.. Since, he says, basilicas were used as law courts, that means we would have a kingly rule. Well, that’s a stretch to begin with. A basilica is simply a style of building that makes it good for any assembly including meeting places, law courts, funeral homes and often churches. Adam Clarke, translating from the original Greek, along with any major Bible Scholar I am aware of takes this scripture to mean that we will reign over death as a result of Jesus death and resurrection..
Prince fails to mention what Jesus says to expect if we follow him.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” and again in Luke 6:22 Jesus said, “Blessed are you when men hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and caste your name as evil for the Son of Man’s sake.
Jesus also said in Luke 9:23 “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” In Matthew 7:14 Jesus said , “Narrow is the gate and DIFFICULT is the way which leads to life and few there be that find it. And in Luke 9:25 Jesus warns about riches saying, “For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost.” !st Peter 3:17 “For it is better , if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”
In Revelations 6:9, John says “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they maintained.”
Living in a country with abundant wealth such as Singapore (where Prince lives) or the United States certainly makes it more plausible for persons whether Christian or simply diligent citizens to have a measure of wealth, But, is that God’s plan for everyone who loves him? Certainly and clearly it is not. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 19:23 that it would be harder for the rich to get into heaven, and in Luke 18;24 he again lamented about how hard it would be for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus calls us to be willing to give up everything, including our life, to follow Him. Paul, himself, who wrote Romans 5:17, was often beaten, shipwrecked, and finally martyred. (Prince foolishly states that Paul’s thorn could not have been illness--he fails to note in Galatians 4 : 13-14 Paul clearly states he was sick with an infirmity of the flesh). Christians are daily persecuted and martyred around the world for the sake of their faith and the very survival of Christianity depended on the martyrs who came before us. Reigning might sound good for itchy ears but it isn’t what we are guaranteed in this present life.
A GOD OF MERCY ONLY--(New Revelation)
On page 32 Prince reveals his belief that God is continually restoring his truths to the church and the revelation of the finished work will continue to get stronger. Any time new revelation is taught, we must be reminded of how often this has been the basis of new cult’s such as Mormonism, Jehovah‘s witness, Christian Scientist etc. This new revelation of Prince’s continues to be the gift of righteousness to reign in life. I.e., more grace and less judgment. The loving and merciful side of God is always emphasized in Prince’s teaching.
While Prince speaks much of the fact that the new covenant does away with the old covenant , he fails to distinguish between the commandments which are still in effect and the ceremonial law that was necessary only until Christ became the sacrifice. Paul was often speaking to new Christians/Jews who kept going back to ceremonial law. --after all as Jews that was very natural for them and , no doubt, they still had many friends who were still in ceremonial law. Paul confirms this in Galations 4:10 when he says “You observe days and months and seasons and years.
As for the commandments, read Matthew 19:17-21 when Jesus clearly told the rich young man he should keep the commandments if he wanted to enter into life……“shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Prince states a merciful God would not Judge America or any other country because of what was done at the cross(pg 49). That, he says is because God is not willing that any should perish. Wow that’s a relief--or is it? In 2nd Cor. 5:11 Paul says that knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men………..Heb 10:30b & 31 “ The Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God’ and Luke 12:5 … “Fear Him who…has the power to cast into hell:,, Of course Revelation has an entire book on the judgments that will be forthcoming on Nations and people. If we believe that God is all powerful, we must believe that whether or not he caused 9;11, He could have stopped it so therefore did allow judgment to come.
ALL SINS PAST AND FUTURE WERE FORGIVEN AT THE CROSS.
Prince continually assures the Believer that, although he does not condone sin , all was forgiven when Jesus died for the Believer so we never have to worry about it again. On pg 53 Prince says ‘If you receive a word from someone which brings your sins to remembrance or instills an expectation of punishment for sins in your life, don’t fear it, just throw it out the window..” On page 45, he says that , for the believer, ‘God took all your sins, even the sins that you have not yet committed, and put them all on Jesus. All future sins have been fully judged at the cross.’ On page 138, he states that “Believers are forever righteous. On page 233 he says “you cannot be under grace without becoming holy.” On page 99 he states that he has never encountered anyone who after receiving grace says “now I can go out and sin”. Really???I know of many people who truly served and loved the Lord at one time and have returned to a life of sin--don ‘t you? Just get any church directory from a few years back and you will see how many did not stay the course.
Prince does not attempt to explain the many examples that were given in the Gospels such as the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins, the seed that fell on good ground but was choked by the things of this world, or the seed that sprung up and then withered or the ninety and nine when the shepherd searched for the one who had left the fold. Even Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer that we should examine ourselves daily when he said “give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
In Colossians 1:22 & 23 Paul admonishes the believers “ to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable in his sight IF indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you have heard…… Also 2nd Peter 2:20 &21 say ‘For after they have escaped the pollutions of this world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome. The latter end is worse for them than the beginning, for it would have been better for them to have never known the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn from the bold commandment delivered to them. John 15:10 “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love…….”
What Prince believes and teaches is almost beyond Calvinism because most Calvinists, including John Macarthur, will say of a person who practices a sinful life, that they never knew the Lord in the first place I.e. they never studied God’s word to see what would be required of them.
NEVER MIND REPENTENCE
Prince teaches that the word Repent actually only means to turn around.
The new Webster’s inter-collegiate dictionary refers to the root word penitent to describe repent as remorse, sorrow, for sins, contrition etc.
Prince also teaches that since sins are already forgiven, there is no need to repent of them anyway. What we need instead is to be forgiveness -conscious. See page 103 where he says “even when they (Christians) say a wrong thing, do a wrong thing or have a wrong thought…….they see the blood of Jesus continually washing them……..because they are forgiveness-conscious. they experience victory over sin.” Prince uses the example of the sins committed by the Corinthians to say that Paul simply reminded them that their bodies were temples of the Holy Spirit (pg 107) and did not tell them to repent. Well, Paul didn’t exactly ignore the sin either as though it were already forgiven.. See verses 1 Cor 5:5 when Paul told them to “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Clearly, the sin required more attention than simply reminding the offender that he needed to be aware that he was already forgiven. How about getting his attention to the seriousness of the sin and repentance from it? Also note 2 Cor 12:21 written to the Believers at Corinth in which Paul states “Lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you & I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented. On page 234, Prince states that we are not told to repent (I.e. turnaround) from sins but from dead works which, he says, are not really sins. I.e. if you pray thinking that makes you right with God , that is a dead work. Similarly, If you study the Bible because you think doing so makes you right with God--forget it. You need, he says, to study and pray knowing you are right with God. So, in effect we should not be concerned about our sins but do need to be sure we never pray or search the scripture for answers simply to learn what is right--we just need to accept that we are right because at some time in the past we “turned around“.
While Prince writes his book as the secret to effortless success, wholeness and victorious living, the Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:11-16 that we will need to put on the whole armor of God so that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places ………………
My heart breaks for the young man who thinks he can continue to practice any kind of sin and be considered holy before God, for the Bible says in Eph 4:7 & 8a “ for God did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God..”.
Yes, it is wonderful to hear a message of Grace, but until we understand that God is also a God of judgment, can we really know the depths of his Grace? As Paul admonished the believers in Romans, 2:2 “ But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things” and again to the believers In Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.”
Remember, it is in God’s commandments that we learn the heart of God and what he expects of us. . How many will pay the ultimate price for the belief promoted in Destined to Reign? It is, after all, the same old lie, that Satan told Eve when he convinced her, that deliberate sin could go unpunished.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Why did Job suffer?
Was Job to Blame for His Trials?
Some well-meaning people who want to exonerate God in this story, try to place the blame on Job for his problems. If we can find some flaw in Job, then we can let God “off the hook.” We need to be careful, however, in looking for flaws in a man about whom God Himself said, “There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:8).
Some have suggested that Job opened the door to Satan through his fear, based upon Job’s statement in 3:25: “For what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.” They say that if Job hadn’t been afraid, he never would have lost his children, servants, health, and livestock.
I must ask, If Job opened the door through fear, what is the point of the first two chapters of the book of Job? Why did Satan have to appear before God before he afflicted Job?
Some have suggested that Job opened the door to Satan through his fear, based upon Job’s statement in 3:25: “For what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.” They say that if Job hadn’t been afraid, he never
If Job was full of fear and not faith, why would God brag about him as the one person on the earth who stood out among all the rest? Especially when we know that “without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6)? Job was a man of much greater faith than the average person, as demonstrated by the fact that he worshiped God after being afflicted. How many of us would have lost all faith in God if we had been in Job’s place?
If Job’s fear was the reason for his affliction, did he become more fearful after the first test and, therefore, open the door wider to lose his health?
If Job opened the door through fear, why did God or Satan never mention that fact?
If Job opened the door through fear, why didn’t the loving God tell him so he could resist Satan and not be afflicted? Or why didn’t God mention to Job that he opened the door through fear during the final chapters when He spoke directly to Job? Foremost, why did God say to Satan, “You incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause.” (Job 2:3, emphasis added)?
Again, if Job opened the door through fear, then what is the point of the first two chapters of this book? The idea that Job opened the door to Satan through fear is certainly not valid, and such an interpretation, although well-meaning, is strained at best.
I might also mention that Job said in 30:26: “When I expected good, then evil came; when I waited for light, then darkness came.” By taking another scripture out of context, we could just as easily (and wrongly) prove that Job opened the door to Satan by expecting good things!
A Happy Ending
Job persevered during his months (see Job 7:3; 29:2) of being tested. He spent some of that time debating with a few of his friends who had nicely packaged God into their own theological box. Although they relentlessly tried to convince Job that his suffering was punishment from God because of his sin (a D.I.T.), Job steadfastly maintained his innocence.
Understandably, Job also spent some of his time in prayer, and there were a few times when he questioned God as to what he had done to deserve the treatment he had received. He concluded that God hated him and was treating him unfairly, punishing a righteous man. For that, in the end, Job was rebuked by the Lord Himself:
Then the Lord said to Job, “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it....Now gird up your loins like a man; I will ask you, and you instruct Me. Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?” (Job 40:2, 7-8).
Job never cursed God, and to that degree he passed his test. Job could have done better, but who can criticize him except God?
True to God’s character, Job was blessed at the end of his test:
And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning, and he had 14,000 sheep, and 6,000 camels, and 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. And he had seven sons and three daughters....And after this Job lived 140 years, and he saw his sons, and his grandsons, four generations (Job 42:12-13, 16).
God’s blessings made Job even wealthier than he had been before his testing, enabling him to do even more good than he did previously. Job had first proved himself trustworthy, and it was now obvious that Job did not serve God only because of the prosperity that came with obedience.
Are God and Satan Arguing About Us?
When we find ourselves in the middle of a “M. I. T.,” is it because God and Satan have had an argument about us? I don’t think so, but then I don’t really know. Other scriptures do indicate that Satan may still have access to God’s throne (see Zech 3:1-2; Luke 22:31-32).
Satan is referred to as “the accuser of the brethren” in the Revelation 12:10. In fact, the scripture there says, “The accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.” Still, that doesn’t prove that every M.I.T. is a result of an argument between God and Satan. To me, this is one of “the secret things that belongs to the Lord our God” (Deut. 29:29). We just don’t know everything we would like to know. Job’s story, however, does illustrate the same truth that we have seen in other scriptures: God may allow Satan to bring a trial in order to mature or test us.
What Can Suffering Do For You?
Job became a better man because of his trial, both materially and spiritually. According to the Bible, suffering can have many positive results. We have already learned that by passing tests, we can prove ourselves trustworthy to handle more blessings and responsibilities. That’s one positive result of persevering under trial. Beyond that, Paul wrote:
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character (Rom. 5:3, emphasis added).
Notice again that through persevering in tribulation, we prove our true character.
The apostle James wrote:
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (Jas. 1:2-4, emphasis added).
When we endure during the times our faith is tested, the result is that we are perfected and completed, finally lacking in nothing. That is why we should count it all joy when we face difficulties. They are a part of God’s divine plan to make us more like Jesus. God is dedicated to our spiritual growth, and whether we care to admit it or not, Christ-like character is forged in the fires of afflictions, tests, and trials.
© Heaven's Family 2011 "Loving God and One Another - Matt. 22:36-40"
Some well-meaning people who want to exonerate God in this story, try to place the blame on Job for his problems. If we can find some flaw in Job, then we can let God “off the hook.” We need to be careful, however, in looking for flaws in a man about whom God Himself said, “There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:8).
Some have suggested that Job opened the door to Satan through his fear, based upon Job’s statement in 3:25: “For what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.” They say that if Job hadn’t been afraid, he never would have lost his children, servants, health, and livestock.
I must ask, If Job opened the door through fear, what is the point of the first two chapters of the book of Job? Why did Satan have to appear before God before he afflicted Job?
Some have suggested that Job opened the door to Satan through his fear, based upon Job’s statement in 3:25: “For what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.” They say that if Job hadn’t been afraid, he never
If Job was full of fear and not faith, why would God brag about him as the one person on the earth who stood out among all the rest? Especially when we know that “without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6)? Job was a man of much greater faith than the average person, as demonstrated by the fact that he worshiped God after being afflicted. How many of us would have lost all faith in God if we had been in Job’s place?
If Job’s fear was the reason for his affliction, did he become more fearful after the first test and, therefore, open the door wider to lose his health?
If Job opened the door through fear, why did God or Satan never mention that fact?
If Job opened the door through fear, why didn’t the loving God tell him so he could resist Satan and not be afflicted? Or why didn’t God mention to Job that he opened the door through fear during the final chapters when He spoke directly to Job? Foremost, why did God say to Satan, “You incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause.” (Job 2:3, emphasis added)?
Again, if Job opened the door through fear, then what is the point of the first two chapters of this book? The idea that Job opened the door to Satan through fear is certainly not valid, and such an interpretation, although well-meaning, is strained at best.
I might also mention that Job said in 30:26: “When I expected good, then evil came; when I waited for light, then darkness came.” By taking another scripture out of context, we could just as easily (and wrongly) prove that Job opened the door to Satan by expecting good things!
A Happy Ending
Job persevered during his months (see Job 7:3; 29:2) of being tested. He spent some of that time debating with a few of his friends who had nicely packaged God into their own theological box. Although they relentlessly tried to convince Job that his suffering was punishment from God because of his sin (a D.I.T.), Job steadfastly maintained his innocence.
Understandably, Job also spent some of his time in prayer, and there were a few times when he questioned God as to what he had done to deserve the treatment he had received. He concluded that God hated him and was treating him unfairly, punishing a righteous man. For that, in the end, Job was rebuked by the Lord Himself:
Then the Lord said to Job, “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it....Now gird up your loins like a man; I will ask you, and you instruct Me. Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?” (Job 40:2, 7-8).
Job never cursed God, and to that degree he passed his test. Job could have done better, but who can criticize him except God?
True to God’s character, Job was blessed at the end of his test:
And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning, and he had 14,000 sheep, and 6,000 camels, and 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. And he had seven sons and three daughters....And after this Job lived 140 years, and he saw his sons, and his grandsons, four generations (Job 42:12-13, 16).
God’s blessings made Job even wealthier than he had been before his testing, enabling him to do even more good than he did previously. Job had first proved himself trustworthy, and it was now obvious that Job did not serve God only because of the prosperity that came with obedience.
Are God and Satan Arguing About Us?
When we find ourselves in the middle of a “M. I. T.,” is it because God and Satan have had an argument about us? I don’t think so, but then I don’t really know. Other scriptures do indicate that Satan may still have access to God’s throne (see Zech 3:1-2; Luke 22:31-32).
Satan is referred to as “the accuser of the brethren” in the Revelation 12:10. In fact, the scripture there says, “The accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.” Still, that doesn’t prove that every M.I.T. is a result of an argument between God and Satan. To me, this is one of “the secret things that belongs to the Lord our God” (Deut. 29:29). We just don’t know everything we would like to know. Job’s story, however, does illustrate the same truth that we have seen in other scriptures: God may allow Satan to bring a trial in order to mature or test us.
What Can Suffering Do For You?
Job became a better man because of his trial, both materially and spiritually. According to the Bible, suffering can have many positive results. We have already learned that by passing tests, we can prove ourselves trustworthy to handle more blessings and responsibilities. That’s one positive result of persevering under trial. Beyond that, Paul wrote:
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character (Rom. 5:3, emphasis added).
Notice again that through persevering in tribulation, we prove our true character.
The apostle James wrote:
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (Jas. 1:2-4, emphasis added).
When we endure during the times our faith is tested, the result is that we are perfected and completed, finally lacking in nothing. That is why we should count it all joy when we face difficulties. They are a part of God’s divine plan to make us more like Jesus. God is dedicated to our spiritual growth, and whether we care to admit it or not, Christ-like character is forged in the fires of afflictions, tests, and trials.
© Heaven's Family 2011 "Loving God and One Another - Matt. 22:36-40"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
