Moving Away From The Cross

The idea of Christians moving away from the Cross of Jesus Christ may sound preposterous at first but on closer examination, you will discover that it is perfectly logical and biblical. However, before you light the bonfire over my body, let me emphasize that we are NOT MOVING AWAY FROM THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS but as believers, we, ourselves, have to move away from the milk and move forward to discipleship and spiritual growth. 

Paul the Apostle said, "I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready." Yes, some are not ready for the meats and they still need to learn the basic elements of salvation.

After we have been justified and saved by our Lord, we should move on and not remain lingering at the Cross. We only stay there when we are still under the Law and need justification. When we say that we are not under the Law then why are we behaving like we are still under its yoke.
 
We have been saved once and that's it! We are now under Grace. This means that we are totally free from the power of sins. For the first time, we can fight temptation with the power of His grace. We can obey God and do the right things because we have been empowered.

To claim that we have no need to obey God just because Christ is obeying God on our behalf is a belief known as Progressive Justification. This means that we have not been fully justified and that we need Christ's obedience from His death at the Cross till now so as to keep us continually justified. This can only be so if the Law still have power over us. Thus instead of fully enjoying a life of freedom under Grace, we are continuing a life under Law. 

The idea that the brimstones and fire of the Law are still pouring upon us and Christ is our umbrella or covering is an inaccurate one. There is no more onslaught of the Law upon us now. The Law has no more hold upon our lives. Absolutely zero. We have been justified. Period! Why do we still need the continual obedience of Christ to shield us? From what? 

Do we need to cling to the Cross as though we are still depraved and full of sins? We are no longer sinners but children of the Most High God. Should a drowning man still cling to the float after he is already safe onshore?

We have to move on to the process of sanctification. Sanctification has nothing to do with the Gospel but everything to do with the Living Savior and His Holy Spirit. The Gospel is meant for unbelievers but we are already believers. The Gospel shows Christ was crucified for our sins and whomsoever receives His sacrifice will be justified. We have already done that. Then why do we need to go back to the Cross again? 

We preach the Cross to sinners but we preach the living resurrected Savior to believers.We preach justification to those unsaved but sanctification to those who are disciples.
 
It time for us to move away from the empty Cross to the empty tomb. From the empty tomb to the Upper Room. From the Upper Room to the Public Square. From the Public Square to millions of streets around this world. What message do we carry then? The message of the Cross of course!

Twisting and Double Twisting of Scriptures by Hyper-grace

It's amazing how adherents of Hyper-grace need to re-interpret so many bible verses that are so blatantly easy to understand. They have to twist and double twist to make all of them fit their theology. 

After all these years, they have developed a standard counter-interpretation for anyone who question the validity of their understanding of scriptures. They pride themselves as having the ability to interpret the Bible quite differently from classical interpretation. Some immature adherents even attack all other interpretations as wrong. 

Major portions of the Gospels and the teachings of Christ have been thrown out as irrelevant to believers because these were apparently taught and spoken by Jesus within the context of the Law. For example, the 'Sermon on the Mount' (Matthew 5) has been thrown out because as one adherent told me that if we were to believe that this teaching of Jesus is meant for us to apply, we will all be maimed. Let's check just two of the offending verses and they are found in Matthew 5:29 to 30.

If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

In spite of explaining that Jesus was using hyperbole, this adherent refused to accept that. He said that he was sure Jesus meant it to be literal. Well, what could one say when the obvious was rejected.

No matter how good this Hyper-Grace claims to be, any rejection of the teachings of Jesus Christ should give us a warning bell. 

In fact, another man who called himself a 'grace-based' believer wrote me and asked me to only eat the meat and throw out the bones of Hyper-grace teachings. Honestly, I have been trying to do that for a long time. However, it is almost impossible because their fundamental theology is so shaky.

In spite of the truth that the 'Lamb was slain before the foundation' their teacher has taught them, the New Covenant only begun after the Cross. So any teachings before the Cross should be suspected unless they have been specially referred to by post-Calvary writers. 

Another unwritten rule is that no scripture can be interpreted except through the lens of the Hyper- grace camp. Even ordinary words that contradict the theology of Hyper-grace must be given the 'right' meanings. Stories of people who left the faith or being killed by the Holy Spirit are to be rejected as being punishments for the believers. No believer will ever be punished. Ananias and Sapphira could be believers since the Holy Spirit killed them. ( Acts 5) What about Demas?

Reading a blog by one of these adherents, I could see a split image of the preacher in this blogger. He has memorized the Hyper- grace doctrines well and also the standard arguments used against biblical grace. For example, in defense of the non- repentance belief, he actually says that all the scriptures that admonish believers to repent are for unbelievers. The corrections and strong admonitions given by Paul and James are for unbelievers.

This blogger echoes his teacher well and says that the words 'repent' and 'convict' in the Greek have different meanings. 'Repent' to him means simply 'changing your mind' and 'convict' means 'convince'. In fact, this man says that 'convict' has the same meaning as 'condemn'. No wonder he is so afraid of the word, 'convict'. All English speakers know that these two words must be read within their contexts. In fact all words should be interpreted likewise.

When pointed out that Jesus actually rebuked churches in the Book of Revelation, the man says that most likely the rebukes are also meant for unbelievers. How can one even reason with such type of reasoning?

There is no talk about personal holiness. The concept is that God is only pleased with Christ and nothing that we do can add to pleasing Him or displeasing Him. The truth is that the underlying theology of Hyper-grace is faulty because whether they know it or not, they believe that believers are still depraved... even after being justified by faith.

All our obedience or disobedience does not mean a thing to God because only the obedience of Christ is acceptable. The idea beneath why they accept this is because they believer that all believers are somehow still under the Law. They need Christ to obey for them as they are too depraved to be able to obey.

That's not what the Bible says. After salvation, we are no longer under the Law. God therefore does not judge us under the Law. We have entered into relationship with the living God. Christ, through His one- time sacrifice on the Cross has opened this great door of reconciliation between God and Man.

Now, in this new relationship, we can please God and we can also displease God by our behaviors and attitudes. He rewards us when we please Him and reprimands us when we displease Him. That is why the scripture says that to whom He loves, He chastises. He does not leave us alone in this relationship. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. The Holy Spirit works within us so that we grow to become more pleasing to God. It's a relational type of pleasing and not to be confused with Christ pleasing God by His obedience and death for us on the Cross.

There is something very strange about this Hyper-grace people. They are very defensive and almost hostile. They really get very upset when confronted with the possibility that their interpretation of the scriptures may be inaccurate. Read their blogs and FB remarks and you will understand what I mean.

And they who claim to have more grace are the least gracious of any groups of Christians (or cultivate groups) that we have ever encountered. When we disagree with their interpretations, we are called 'Pharisees' and ' Legalists' etc. One guy attacks me on FB and challenged me with the question, "Who do you think you are?" He then went on with insulting words that are not fit to repeat.

All I can say is that most adherents of Hyper-grace have confused The Finished Work of Christ in Justification with the Work of the Holy Spirit in Sanctification. We believe that Christ alone provided us with salvation through Justification. No one can add anything to the finished work of Christ. We were saved not by works or our own righteousness. It's Christ and Christ alone. God accepted us as who we were during salvation. We have been justified and declared as positionally righteous in the sight of God. Then the next step is for the Holy Spirit to work within us so that we will become more like Christ. The grace of salvation and the grace of transformation are two different aspects of the grace and mercy of God. Justification and Sanctification are thus not the same thing.

The Connoisseur of Churches

One extremely devious scheme of the devil is to get a Christian to attend different churches every Sunday. He causes the believer to become unhappy with all the churches that the latter attends. With this justified excuse of the lack of joy and satisfaction, the old serpent sends the believer all over the city, looking for an ideal church that will ‘suit’ him.

Years will pass by and still no ideal church. The immature Christian will spend his whole life tasting and trying out churches without having the joy of becoming a part of a local congregation and growing spiritually. 

As the man grows older, he may even imagine himself to be a connoisseur of churches. Since rolling stone gathers no moss, this potential disciple of Christ is not able to receive proper spiritual nourishment and grow properly. Neither can he contribute consistently to the kingdom of God.

The worst scenario is that after having been to almost every church in the city, the believer may consider himself to be an experienced disciple cum accomplished church critic. The truth is that he is anything else except a disciple. He is able to give anyone, who is willing to listen, a running commentary about each church but he is not able to tell whether his life has been transformed while attending all these churches.

If left uncorrected, this believer will live in absolute spiritual poverty without even realizing it. He goes to church every Sunday but he is thoroughly useless for the kingdom of God. And sadly, after having lived a fruitless and ineffective Christian life, one dreadful day, he will just roll over and die. As for the commendation of Christ, “good and faithful servant”, he will have to leave for other faithful disciples to claim. AK

Starving The Christians

Spiritual starvation is worse than this

One of the devil’s schemes is to prevent believers from receiving spiritual food. The primary sources of spiritual food are from the Word of God and sermons. If the devil can get the believers to dislike daily reading the Bible, he can literally starve the Christians of spiritual nourishment. In addition, if he can convince the Christians not to attend church on Sundays, he would gain the ultimate victory. 

The famished Christians would die spiritually - slowly but surely. Soon, the believers will have no appetite for anything spiritual. Then as they continue to weaken, they will cross the line when they would no longer believe in God any more. 

Their once-empowered lives are gone. Their outlooks, behaviours, conducts, actions and attitudes would be no different from the people of the world. The devil has done his job well and hell rejoices. 

AK

Becoming the Person that God wants You to be!

No one can stop you from becoming the person that God wants you to be... except you. 

King Saul was appointed by God to be the first king of Israel. He did not serve God accordingly and decided to be "the person that he personally wanted to be" (1 Samuel 15).  That was when all the blessings stopped and his calling as the king was passed on to a young shepherd boy named David. 

It's important to know your calling and be faithful at what God has called you to do and to become. 

No matter how famous or popular you have become, obedience is still the key to God's heart. 

It is only in pursuing after the will of God in your life that you'll find true spiritual fulfillment and joy of service. 

Rev Albert Kang

Any Relationship Is All Right... As Long As It Hurts No One?

Recently, Grace and I have a conversation with one of our relatives who believes that gay marriage relationship is acceptable. Her reasoning is that it should be acceptable "as long as there is love between two persons and the marital relationship is not hurting other people... and most importantly they must be happy".

To her, morality has become a personal choice and morals are entirely relative. There is no right or wrong. Who is to decide?

Then we ask if it is acceptable for a son to marry his mother if both of them are happy about it. After all it hurts no one and they are adults. Our relative is stunned and says no. Then we ask whether it is acceptable for a father to marry his daughter or a grandfather to marry his granddaughter? After all if two adults consent happily to the relationship and it hurts no one, then it should be acceptable... no? Since there is no moral gauge, who is to decide whether these relationships are morally acceptable? She profusely disagrees as her face contorts in disgust at the thought of these types of "unusual" relationships.

The reason why she reacts is because deep down inside, she still holds to certain morals. Little does she realize that there is Someone who has decided for us what is right and wrong. The Creator God does not leave us to second-guess how we should relate and live. He has made it very clear in the Bible.

Out of the five relationships that God has established, 1) Ruler and subject; 2) Husband and wife; 3) Parent and child, 4)sibling and sibling, 5) friend and friend - Marriage is the only sacred institution reserved for a man and a woman. And among these five relationships, the husband and wife are considered as "one flesh" and they are the only pair allowed to have sexual relationship (Genesis 2:24).

The idea that "as long as the relationship does not hurt anybody, and it is acceptable between two persons" cannot hold water. It cannot apply beyond married relationship between a man and a woman. The sacred institution of such union is sanctioned by God, not only spiritually but also naturally. In the beginning it has always been Adam and Eve and never Adam and Steve.

Fear of Love

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries, avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket-safe, dark, motionless, airless-it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

I believe that the most lawless and inordinate loves are less contrary to God’s will than a self-invited and self-protective lovelessness. It is like hiding the talent in a napkin and for much the same reason. “I knew thee that thou wert a hard man.” Christ did not teach and suffer that we might become, even in the natural loves, more careful of our own happiness. If a man is not uncalculating towards the earthly beloveds whom he has seen, he is none the more likely to be so towards God whom he has not. We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it.

—C.S. Lewis (from The Four Loves)

For reflection — Matthew 25:14-30