More on the Global Day of Prayer

Following on with the previous article which shows the serious problems inherent in the Global Day of Prayer, which should give any Christ-honoring believer pause and much deliberation when considering whether to take part, here is an article written by my friend and brother-in-Christ Chen Wenxian (surname underlined), on his blog.

In his blog entry, he shows how the Global Day of Prayer committees have misquoted Scripture (Hab. 2:14) and twisted it to mean what it does not mean. I sincerely doubt that the people involved REALLY meant for this Global Day of Prayer event to pray Hab. 2:14 as it ought to be prayed according to the context; which is to pray for God's glory to be shown in the judgment of evil individuals and nations, and that His church is to be stand firm and faithful throughout. Last I have looked, the website uses this verse to pray for the blessing of the nations, which is about as far from judgment as anyone can get. Therefore, from the misquotation and misapplication of this verse Hab. 2:14 and the verse Is. 66:18 as shown in my previous missive, the committe involved are found to be guilty of serious eisegesis and the mishandling of God's Word. It is my hope that they repent of this and turn to Christ and His Word alone.

Now, with regards to his article, I would like to just state that I DO subscribe to the Apostle's Creed — as it was meant to be understood by the Apostles, that is. I do not criticize it but its usage, as the passage of time since its inception has seen the emergence of various heresies which is not addressed by this short creed. Its language has thus become inprecise and ambiguous for the modern Christian, resulting in heretics being able to agree with the wording of the creed.

What makes its usage by the Global Day of Prayer Singapore committee disastrous, however, is that they do not even quote the Apostle's Creed correctly on their website! The correct rendering of the Apostle's Creed as usually recited today reads thus:

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

Notice the difference between the phrase "he descended into hell" as seen in the proper rendering of the Apostle's Creed and the improper rendering on the website with the phrase "he descended to the dead", which both may have different meanings. John Calvin, in his Institue of the Christian Religion, writes regarding this phrase that it expresses the spiritual torment that Christ goes through for us Christians, which is possibly correct. However, this explanation is not compatible with the improper phrase of "descended to the dead", thus the Global Day of Prayer has added their own interpretation of what the phrase "he descended into hell" as found in the Apostle's Creed means, which may not be correct. Unless the Global Day of Prayer has geniunely make a mistake, such a move is disingenuous, to say the least.

In conclusion, with all this amount of error in the Global Day of Prayer movement in Singapore and elsewhere, Christians are strongly discouraged from going to it and/or supporting it in any way. For Christians who should have a heart to pray for their churches, their peoples, their countries and the world, you may want to consider coming together for prayer with other like-minded believers who know the real needs of our land (Hint: it does not consists of blessings upon blessings) independently of the Global Day of Prayer movement. We could come together to pray for an awakening in our land; for the clear proclaimation of the whole counsel of God, including the "offensive parts" of Scriptures, and for repentance in our churches, for judgment begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

Global day of prayer ...

There is an event called the 'Global Day of Prayer' coming up in Singapore, on the 4^th June 2006. After watching the promotional video, I am grieved in my spirit by the things I have seen in it.

In this wideo, you can see both Bishop T.D. Jakes and Rev. Rick Warren taking part in this prayer movement. T.D. Jakes denies the Trinity and is a Sabellian, making the Father, Son and Holy Spirit three manifestations of one person, God. This could be confirmed from the belief statement of the Potter's House, T.D. Jakes' church, accessed 29^th April 2006, where it is stated thus:

God — There is one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three Manifestations: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Bold added)

This marks T. D. Jakes to be a heretic, being condemned by the historic Christian faith as expressed in the Anthanasian Creed, being subscribed by Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches alike.

As for Rick Warren, he is hetero-orthodox, promoting a social gospel with his PEACE plan and teaching wrong doctrine in the Purpose Driven^® Life, also misquoting Scriptural verses.

With the participation of these two "teachers", it would suffice to show that this whole ecumenical event is not approved by God. God told us to separate from false teachers (2 Cor. 6:14-18), thus unless the organisers distant themselves from and rebuke these two men, especially T.D. Jakes, this event is not blessed by God.

Also in this video, Is. 66:18 was quoted out of context. It was used to ask people to pray, as the video states that it is written that when we go about our Christian works and our thoughts towards God, God will come and gather all nations and tongues, and we will come and see God's glory, using the NIV version of the verse. However, when one look at the context and the verse in a better translation like the ESV, it can be seen that the verse is wrenched out of context, even if one uses the NIV version. It is rendered thus in the ESV:

For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see my glory, ... (Is. 66:18 — ESV)

and in the NIV:

And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory. (Is. 66:18 — NIV)

From the context of this verse, it can be seen that the 'they' being stated here refers to those peple who are among those who have rebelled against God (v. 15-17) but have received mercy and are saved by God's grace (v. 19) as revealed in His glory (v. 18b). Primarily, it is referring to the Jews who are in the process of being judged by God then, whom God will save a remnant (v.19) to bring forth the other Jews and also prophetically future Gentile believers unto salvation. (Ref: Matthew Henry's commentrary on this pasage, scroll down for the passage in question).

Thus, with regards to this verse, it is NOT talking about our Christian activity and piety which would bring about God's glory. The ESV is clear this verse is talking about God knowing the works and thoughts of the unregenerate elect among the sinners whom he shall bring to salvation from every nation and tongue(v. 18b-19). In the immediate context, it is talking about the elect Jews who will be gathered from all nations and tongues of the known world then from which they were dispersed. Prophetically, it refers to the ingathering of the elect, both Jews and Gentiles, from every nation, tribe and tongue in the world (cf Rev. 7:9). The ESV thus translate the verse better unlike the NIV which make the reason why God does his work due to the works and thoughts of the unregenerate elect. Such a casual relationship is not suggested in the context, and would overturn what we know of the sovereignty of God in his dealings with Man, as if our actions or non-actions determine what God will do or won't do. The only "casual relationship" which is plausible is the fact that God has decided to bring forth His glory and salvation to His elect "due to" the sinfulness of His yet unsaved people as expressed in their works and thoughts.

With such misapplication of the verse, it shows the anthropocentricity of the people involved in the video and the whole event in the first place. It does not help that throughout the whole video, nothing was said about preaching the Word of God, standing firm on it and rebuking the heretics present in the visible churches. It should be noted also that the statement of faith used by the Global Day of Prayer movement is the Apostle's Creed, which is ambiguous enough for heretics like T.D. Jakes to subscribe to. With such disregard for the Word of God and for what is says, can there ever be revival? No matter how much prayer, without the preaching of the pure Word of God, how can God be glorified and people saved, since salvation is accomplished through the preaching of the Word of God (Rom. 10:17)?

Since this is the case, it is highy recommanded that Christians should not attend this Global Day of Prayer, as it will accomplish little, unless it be building up the Kindom of the Antichrist, as Bishop T.D. Jakes and the heretics involved in the Word-faith movement would do so.

Joke: Arminian puppies...

Interesting joke on Arminian puppies here: Ouch!!

Excerpts: John Calvin vs. the 'spirit led' Charismatics and the Emerging church

While having a break from my studies, I started and finished reading a small book regarding the written debate between the Protestant Reformer John Calvin and the Roman Catholic bishop Jacopo Sadoleto. The book is entitled A Reformation Debate: John Calvin and Jacopo Sadoleto, edited by John C. Olin (copyright 1966), 11^th printing (1993), published by Baker Book House with permission of Harper & Row, Publishers.

In this small book, which I must admit is rather heady and hard to read, I would like to share a few quotes from John Calvin which is pertinent for us today. In particular, these quotes show us that the fight today against those Charismatics which de-emphasize the Word in favour of 'new revelation' from the Holy Spirit whom they claim is speaking to them today, and against those in the 'Emerging church' who do likewise while going further in their denigration of the written Word, is nothing new (Ecc. 1:9-11). John Calvin fought against these same tendencies in his day, as found in the Roman Catholic church.

So, here goes. John Calvin vs. the 'spirit led' Charismatics & the Emerging 'church':

And yet, ... Satan never transforms himself so cunningly as not in some measure to betray himself, [thus] the principal weapon with which they both (referring to the Pope and the Anabaptists — the heretics and servants of Satan in his time) assail us is the same. For when they boast extravagently of the Spirit, the tendency certainly is to sink and bury the Word of God, that they may make room for their own falsehoods. ... [It is an] affront which you (referring to Sadoleto — the heretics of his time) offer to the Holy Spirit, when you seperate Him from the Word. (p. 61)

Now, then, will not the first machination of the enemy (Satan) be to wrest the sword from the soldier of Christ? And what the method of wrestling it, but to set him adoubting whether it be the Word of the Lord that he is leaning upon, or the word of man?(p. 78)

---

To make it more explicit, here is John Calvin's words to the 'spirit-led' Charismatics:

For when you boast extravagently of the Spirit, your tendency certainly is to sink and bury the Word of God, that you may make room for your own falsehoods. It is thus an affront which you offer to the Holy Spirit, when you seperate Him from the Word.

And here is John Calvin's words to the 'Emerging' church:

Now, then, will not the first machination of the enemy Satan be to wrest the sword from the soldier of Christ? And what the method of wrestling it, but to set him adoubting whether it be the Word of the Lord that he is leaning upon, or the word of man?

And I will add:

People in both of these movement have been deceived by the devil! People of God, please seperate youself from these two unbiblical movements immediately!

Another reason why NOT to watch the Da Vinci Code movie

Here is another reason why Christians should not watch the Da Vinci Code movie when it comes out on the 19th May. (See my earlier post regarding this also.)

Article: Gambling - Antithesis of Charity

In light of Singapore's desire to open a casino here, I offer up this article as a warning that such a move would implicate the government as the 'oppresor of the poor and the promoter of activities that spawn all kinds of corruption and evil'.

Compilation: On speaking the truth in love

The various articles on speaking the truth in love are now compiled and formatted on my website here.

Total meltdown of Troy Brooks

OK, this will be my last post on the Pelagian gnostic heretic Troy Brooks. He has posted a reply on his heretical website here to the overview of our correspondence posted at my website here as mentioned in my last blog post. In this post, I will show his utter meltdown in utter irrationality and moral, spiritual, epistemological and intellectual bankruptcy.

[Note: Readers are advised to read the correspondence first before reading this]

Note: Since Troy has shown himself to be a obstinate unregenerate heretic, it is therefore proper for me to apply Scriptural language and condemnation to him, and I will use it in this post. Those of you who may feel that it is too harsh please first read the correspondence, then furthermore note that Jesus call the Pharisees whitewashed tombs (Mt. 23:27), and Paul called the unbelievers fools (Rom. 1:22), which could be legitimately translated as moron as well. Addenum: More concerned readers could perhaps read this article here.

I will now show the utter moral, spiritual and intellectual bankruptcy of Troy Brooks. Not content with letting me post our correspondence without his final input, he has posted his reply and slandered me and asaulted my character, my salvation and my God, the Holy One of Israel. I will not refute him further here but will expose clearly his major errors in basic reasoning, not even doctrine, which make him totally unfit to say anything at all.

Here are the crimes which that heretic committed:

1) Straw man argumentation

That heretic thinks he knows my position, but he doesn't. Despite constant reminders by me, he insists on telling me what I believe and what I don't. To illustrate this, here is a sample conversation:

Daniel: I believe that this thing is red Troy: You stupid! This thing is green, not blue. D: I said that I believe that this thing is red. I didn't say that it was blue! T: You heretic. Now you will go to hell for your belief that the thing is blue.

etc. ad infinitum ad nauseum.

Only people as stupid as Troy, or those worse than him, can keep on committing this error, over and over again, ad nauseum.

2) Redefinition of words

Troy is also in the reprehensible practice of redefining terms. For example, he redefine 'sanctification' to 'consecration', totally ignoring how the terms have been used for the last few centuries. He also redefine 'libertarian free will', also totally ignoring how the term has been used throughout the centuries. Again, here is a simple conversation to aptly illustrate this:

T: I frighten my friend today with an expensive gift for his birthday D: You mean you surprise him? T: What are you talking about? I frighten him. You stop surprising me. D: Surprise you? T: Yes. I do not fall victim to your surprise. D: What surprise? T: What you are trying to do now. Trying to bluff me.

Here, for 'Troy', frighten is redefind to mean surprise and surprise is redefined to mean deception.

With such redefinition of words and concepts, it is all but impossible to communicate.

3) Contradictory accusations

In his reply rant, Troy called me a Pelagian. First he called me an unsaved Calvinist; now I am a Pelagian? Wow.... so I am both a non-Calvinist (Pelagian) and a Calvinist at the same time. Give me a break, Troy. You are showing forth your utter stupidity and irrationality. I wonder if he has ever heard of the law of non-contradiction at all. Judging by his irrational rantings and ravings, I doubt so!

In conclusion, I have pointed out the major flaws of basic reasoning in this irrational person. Troy also has poor English which seems to be roughly equivalent to that of a Grade 3 (Primary 3) child or worse, similar to his reasoning skills. To such a heretic, just stop your arrogant, pompous, judgmental attitude and I don't need your so-called 'love', which is nothing but hate for whoever you engage. Your pathetic attempts at attacking the doctrines of grace and the doctrine of original sin don't deserve a serious look, when you can't even get your facts right and your reasoning right.

So Troy, carry on your ranting and raving if you so wish. Oh, one more thing, I doubt if you are in a church anyway, judging by your unteacheable and arrogant attitude.

PS: I find it very revealing that his so-called conversion experience is based purely on emotions, and of his experience 'in the Holy Spirit', as if his spirit reaches the third heaven, yet he denounced the Pentecostals/ Charismatics as being heretics, and especially Matt Slick of CARM due to his belief in the present day operation of all the spiritual gifts.

PPS: Notice from his testimony how many I's are there. There are about 14 I's in just two short paragraphs telling of his 'conversion experience'. Talk about self-centeredness. Salvation is all about him - "Me, myself and I"

PPPS: For Pelgians like Troy, one wonders if he ever prays to God for the salvation of others. According to his philosophy, he shouldn't, since God is doing all he can to save everyone anyway. This also applies to Arminians, btw. Unles you acknowledge the sovereignty of God in salvation, there is no point whatsoever in praying to God for the salvation of others. Like Troy's pathetic god who just pleads like a beggar for anyone to accept him, and just wranggling his hands because he can do nothing to save those he died for, and in the end, the vast majority goes to hell regardless that their sins are supposedly atoned for by Christ, yet they mst repay the penalty again in hell even though Christ has already paid once for all their sins (so in fact Christ did not atone for their sins, for it is impossible to pay the penalty for sins twice, unless of course, all do go to heaven?).

Correspondence with a Pelagian heretic

I did say that I going to take my exam break. Unfortunately, some things did hapen which took place not at the best time, which leads to this post.

Basically, I had an email feedback from someone who read an article on my website regarding the difference between the Arminian doctrine of Once saved, always saved (OSAS) and the Calvinistic doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. He wasn't very happy over it, to say the least, and emailed me, leading to a correspondence which lasted two days and only a few posts, but was very long in terms of content, to say the least.

The correspondence is found here. I was rather exasperated by the guy Troy Brooks' utter and constant inability to represent me and my position correctly. To put it very nicely, I am fed up with his constant derogatory, judgmental, pharisiatical insults and attitude. His poor English didn't help either.

Anyway, I have managed to see his true colors as he has revealed them during the email exchange. I have shown that he denies original sin and thinks that nobody deserves to go to hell because of their sin. He is therefore a Pelagian heretic (and not a OSAS Arminian as he claims to be). As such, he is not a Christian and is one of the false teachers in this world.

It is my hope that this exchange would be edifying to its readers by showing forth the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and also that heresies and errors as espoused by Troy Brooks be illuminated by the true light of the Gospel and seen as what it is. Also, readers do take note of this false prophet in our midst, and warn others against him and his heresies.

[Oh, and by the way, Troy can also be classified as a hyper-Arminian, since he believes that only people who believe the same as what he claims he believes in (OSAS Arminianism or 4-point Arminianism) are saved and all others are damned.]

So readers, do tell me what do you think of Troy Brooks and/or our exchange.

Announcement: Exam break

My exams are drawing near, so I will not be posting much, if any at all, until after the 5^th May 2006. For any NUS readers, all the best in your exams. May God bless you as you study for the exams.

On speaking the truth in love (part 6 - Finale)

We have seen in the last installment the principles of speaking the truth in love. Therefore, to practice speaking the truth in love, we are to apply these principles in such a way which would result in our fulfiling the purposes of such speaking the truth in love.

Therefore, in our daily living, in order to speak the truth in love, we are to ask ourselves the following questions:

In our conversations, are we

1) Speaking the truth?
2) Doing it with a good and loving motivation, which is derived from biblical principles?
3) Doing it with an intent not to cause unnecessary friction?
4) Doing it in a manner which would portray your love and concern for the other person, and not to cause unnecessary friction?
5) With a mind to build up the other person in Christ, both in Word (doctrine) and in life?
6) With a mind to make the other person firm in the faith?
7) With a mind to equip the other person for God's service?

If we can answer in the affirmative for the above questions, then our speeches, encouragements and even admonitions would thus be speaking the truth in love.

I would just like to emphasize questions 1 and 6 again, as in this effeminate climate in which we now live in, these two points are very much neglected. If we neglect these two points, what we have is definitely not speaking the truth in love, no matter how sweet it sounds to perhaps another person. Also, conflict by itself does not necessarily mean that one has not practise speaking the truth in love, as our Lord Jesus Christ who is perfectly loving and righteous instigated quite a lot ot controversy and conflict Himself. In fact, judging by His example, speaking the truth in love would, ironically, create more conflict and strife, as Man is rebellious against God and is resentful when anyone exposes his sins, no matter how loving the other person is.

I would like to close this series by reminding us how do we go about practicing speaking the truth in love. By ourselves, such an activity is difficult, and even more so when it comes down to rebuking or admonishing another person in love. The only way we can go about practicing speaking the truth in love is firstly to know the truth (not only intellectually knowing but a knowing which assimilates the knowledge into one's worldview) as written in the Scriptures, and secondly to know God, who is Love, through spending time with Him and living the Spirit-filled life. Until we do both, this practice would remain ever elusive to us.

[Completed]

Musings: Interesting statistics

I jst have a look at the statistical data of the people who frequent both my website and my blog. Here is what I saw, as of today April the 5^th:

Fig.1: Visitor statistics for my blog according to country

Fig. 2: Visitor statistis for my personal website according to country

Fig. 3: Recent most frequented webpages on my website

This looks interesting. (The visitor count is not correct, btw, since my log size is only 100 per site and therefore only a random sample of 100 visitors were used.) It seems that my blog attracts mainly Singaporeans while my personal website attracts a significantly large number of Americans. Also, judging from the popular pages on my website, it seems that the article on whether judging is correct seems to be the most popular, followed by my review of Richard Abanes' book Rick Warren and the Purpose that Drives him, and then my review of Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life itself (nevermind my home page). As I have said, interesting.