Gospel

If you, like me, are Chinese but can’t preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in Mandarin well, this video might help you.

It’s comprehensive, lasting 76:10 minutes  — giving a detailed account of the fall of man, Abraham, Exodus and the life, death and resurrection of our Lord. For me, it was a good way to learn the Chinese terms for salvation, repentance, etc.

Judging by this “appreciative” email sent by a certain Rose after watching Ray Comfort on TBN, perhaps this might be indicative of the fact that what Ray is preaching is the true Gospel without compromise.

To understand this “Ray Comfort Issue” (a term I coined for the entire episode), first read this post then this.

Read the entire email at Atheist Central (Ray’s new tongue-in-cheek name for his blog).

I’m overjoyed reading this piece of news. No doubt there remains much persecution of Messianic Jews in Israel, but it is wonderful to witness more in Israel coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Source: The Christian Broadcasting Network.
Original broadcast July 13, 2008.

Israel’s Messianic Jews: Some Call it a Miracle 

Photo by Brew*Crew

In Israel, a resurgence in the number of Jews who believe in Jesus is getting a lot of attention. Many leaders say it’s the strongest growth since the time of Jesus and that the Messianic movement could be on the brink of a great revival.

“This is the first time where we’ve seen Israeli society in general being so open to consider who Yeshua is,” said Messianic leader Asher Intrater. “This is a real miracle, and there’s beginning to be grace and favor with us in the land.”

Although Jesus and the early disciples were Jewish, for nearly 2,000 the gospel has been viewed as a religion mainly for Gentiles. Even the name Jesus or Yeshua has been a forbidden word among many Jews. But in the last few years, Messianic leaders in Israel say something important is happening.

Read the rest of this entry »

Photograph "Rock Concert" by Udy

Just last year, I was convicted by the Lord that I should stop listening to the filth that is secular music. Consequently, I began building up a library of Christian music, most of it contemporary, with the likes of Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Paul Baloche, Paul Wilbur, and even Hillsong.

What I then noticed was that much of the songs from some, not all, of these artistes weren’t that Christian, to the point where it was more about “me” rather than the Lord Jesus Christ, or even if there was a reference to God, He was referred to as “He”, “Him”, or even the generic “You” and not specifically.

Worse yet, there were songs which seemed to suggest that the Lord Jesus Christ is our “homeboy”, “boyfriend” and even some needy, lonely man who needs our companionship.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mikael Thomsen is a young man in Denmark who burns to preach the true Gospel. Listen as he delivers some thunder from the pulpit to a stunned congregation. Pray for him, this is highly unusual preaching in this part of the world (Danish with English subtitles).

My thanks to AllSufficientGrace for bringing this to my attention.

Broken Flower Pot

Has the Church forgotten about doing good in the name of the Lord that He might be glorified? Reading Matthew 25, it occurred to me that we have become self-serving, cocooned in our own Christian bubbles and forgetting about the need to feed the poor and care for widows.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Matthew 25:34-40

The following story reminded me that there is much more we can do as Christians, aye, even for our own brethren. No, I am not preaching the social gospel, but it seems to me that we have lost much of our saltiness if we have faith but are without works.

Works will not save us, but works demonstrate our faith in Christ (James 2:14-26).

A Beautiful Flower In A Broken Pot

Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic.

One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. “Why, he’s hardly taller than my eight-year-old,” I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw.

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Hillsong: Savior King

Looks like it’s a musical Monday today…

This piece of news, taken from Symphony of Scripture, rather saddens me because I’ve always quite enjoyed the more Biblical songs by Hillsong such as Hosanna and Savior King:

Hillsong church are promoting and uniting with the gospel of the Roman Catholic religion. On a poster advertising World Youth Day, Hillsong worship leader Darlene Zschech says:

“We see WYD08 as a great opportunity to serve the Catholic Church in its vision to present the gospel and reach out to our city, our nation and our world in unity.” (Source)

Serve the Roman Catholic Church, the Whore?!

And which gospel would that be, Darlene?

Moving forward, I don’t see myself spending any more money buying their CDs and thereby indirectly supporting the preaching of a false, ecumenical gospel.

Full story at Symphony of Scripture.

The good folks at Tominthebox.net recently learned that Benny Hinn has been granted the first official “sainthood” by Health, Wealth and Prosperity “Gospel” (HWPG) leaders like Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland, Leroy Thompson, and Joel Osteen.

In a statement, Kenneth Copeland explained the rationale behind the decision to bestow the sainthood upon (Benny) Hinn:

“Well, the man has healed many,” said Kenneth Copeland. “And his ministry is worldwide, plus he’s got that cute little accent which really adds a sort of cultural flair to the whole deal. Overall though, we looked primarily at his bank account and his possessions. That man’s got a lot of stuff and that’s proof he’s got a lot of faith.”

I wonder what I might get if I revere this saint alongside the popes of the Emergent movement and the Environment (Al Gore). First things first though, I’ll have to print this out, get it laminated then stick it on my bank book!

Full story here.

HT: Team Tominthebox News Network (TBNN) via Daniel’s Place.

I’ve just come home from the hospital visiting my mom who has just undergone a surgery on her right knee. Visits to hospitals always remind me of the frailty of life itself — that one day, rich or poor, king or peasant, we’ll have to face the ultimate destiny of all man: death.

What matters is what happens after death, for that is the beginning of one’s fate in eternity, be it abject suffering in hell or overflowing joy in the presence of the Lord, our Creator and God. As Christians, we all have the truth that those who die without Christ are condemned to suffer the wrath of God for their sins against God no matter how much good works they have done during their time on earth.

The question, therefore, is what are you doing about it?

Beloved: we know very well that people need the Lord, and we’d do well to share the Gospel whenever we can, in season and out of season. May this song exhort and encourage us all to continue to share God’s good news of salvation through Christ Jesus with the lost.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Romans 1:16

Shabbat Shalom.

I received an email from a dear brother, Nick, who is currently on a mission trip in China, coveting our prayers. Here’s a quick update that he gave me in his email:

Hubei - where we’ve been doing all his work for the past 10-20 years and where we are this week. The main people we’ve been working with is the head of the Hubei Christian City Council (in charge of all the govt churches in the Hubei Province) and they’ve been the one opening all the doors for us, including outdoor crusades every week in one of the smaller towns, booking a stadium for our band, etc. Sadly, last night, these leaders we’ve been working with just got ousted out of the council and kinda forced into retirement. Not only that, their church has been taken away from them. It’s still early to tell the impact as we liaise with the new leaders and teach them the ways of God so please keep this in prayer. But apparently there’s some politics going on in the church already, people turning people in to the Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) and apparently we were turned in too! The RAB didn’t wanna care about us but because somebody reported us, they had to come on Sunday to film our services (we actually praised God for that - that they can hear the word of God, ha ha ha)

Hunan - Mao Ze Dong’s hometown. Apparently more than 2000+ govt churches changed their worship styles after my last trip there (think you remember the last testimony I sent out on this one where even the govt officials were touched in our worship sessions) and the Hunan Christian City Council (head of all the govt churches in Hunan) kinda want me back there to teach for 1 year *gulps* (I’m trying to see if I can arrange anybody else to go)

Personally I’ve been doing back to back leading worship and teaching Praise and worship to the church, to their bible training centre, their Christian School (called ‘the Ark’) and to their seminary (all in Hubei) for the past 2 days from dawn to dusk literally (6am to 10pm everyday). The pollution here is not good for my voice I remember last time I came I fell really sick by the end of the week (which was also spiritual warfare) so covet your prayers there.

Please pray for the missionaries, and the Church in China.

Nick, here’s an encouragement for you that I hope you’ll be able to see all the way in Wuhan.

The LORD bless and keep you safe.