Psalm 119 is not only the longest psalm written in
scripture, but also one that displays a lot of affection for the Lord’s
commands. This has been one psalm that I really wanted to know, and I certainly
wouldn’t say that I’ve plumbed the depths of this beautiful psalm. But there
had been something bothering me all this time, as I was reading this psalm and
reading how the psalmist had unbounding affection for the Lord’s precepts,
commands, statutes and instruction…I couldn’t help but ask myself “why? Why does
he have so much affection for the Lord’s instruction?” I read the psalm again
and again, in search for my answer, carefully reading into the verses that
speak of where the Psalmist’ heart was at. And then I prayed…
It was as if I couldn’t see the forest through the trees, I
wanted to know so much why the Psalmist had an abundant delight in the Lord’s
commands. So I asked God to reveal it to me and there it was, staring right at
me, a single verse that gave greater meaning to every line of affection exposed
in this great psalm!
I will never forget Your precepts, for You have given me life through them. Psalm 119:93
This one verse took on a new light of the
entire psalm for me, and it was as if I was questioning myself at the same time
“do I delight in the Lord’s commands under the new covenant in the same way?” I
began reading the preceding verses and I also noticed something else about the
Psalmist’ affections.
I have not turned from Your judgments, for You Yourself have instructed me. Psalm 119:102
The Psalmist exposes an intimate
relationship in the delight of knowing the Lord’s instructions, as one who is
instructed by the Lord! I believe this psalm speaks volumes of how we as
Christians should respond knowing that it is Christ who established a new
covenant with His people and allows us to delight in His instruction. Do we as
Christians remember the Lord’s commands because He has provided life through
them? Do we as Christians fear the Lord rightly knowing that He has personally instructed
us through His word? Dear friends I would encourage you all to know this psalm,
to know the affections that this Psalmist is displaying and to know why the
psalmist takes delight in the Lord’s commands. To know this is to know that God
has provided life through His word!
I want to
look at the birth of Christ in a different light. I want to focus on the
actions of King Herod and his response after hearing of the birth of Christ.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of
Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in
Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the
Jews? For we saw His star in the east[a] and have
come to worship Him.”[b]
3 When
King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
Matthew 2:1-3
I believe King Herod
knew that his position as king was threatened, and since the rest of Jerusalem
was under the reign of the Roman Empire at the time, it makes perfect sense why
the rest of Jerusalem was also largely disturbed. The birth of Christ was so
significant that it could make a powerful king shake in his royal boots. So how
does a king deal with such a threat? Like what any king would do to protect his
own position, but let us consider how far Herod was willing to go in order to
maintain his position on the throne.
After they were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a
dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay
there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy
Him.” Matthew 2:13
Herod sort out to kill Christ. Consider this for a minute; this is the Roman
Empire under full control of Jerusalem. The Roman Empire that has its
historical name for being the proverbial juggernauts in battle, and the king is
in fear of this new born Jesus Christ. None of this makes ANY sense…unless the
birth of Christ was foretold by the prophets.
So he assembled all the chief priests
and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born.
5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they
told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet:
6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land
of Judah,
are by no means least among the leaders of Judah:
because out of you will come a leader
who will shepherd My people Israel.” Matthew 2:4-6
And so
Herod as we read later on from verse 16, flew into a fit of rage and kills
every male child under the age of two, so as we should let us consider the
value of Christ’ kingship when observing these biblical truths. Herod certainly
knew that Jesus was the Christ, the messiah, the one to take the royal throne
over His people. Herod certainly acted on this truth, but in a way that was
undeniably wicked! How much more should we as Christians respond in a way that
is glorifying to God, knowing that Christ is king over our lives? We should
likewise fear God but in a way that honours His position as king. John Piper
once said (in paraphrasing) “the fear of God is not drawing back away from God when you’ve
sinned, but knowing that He’s sovereign and running back to Him!”
In part one of this article blog series, I presented
a partial summary of beliefs within the Church of God. The belief in the mother
god and the belief in a second Christ named Ahnsahnghong. As I also pointed out
within the first article, the COG also believes that we as human beings are
fallen angels. I will be exposing this belief in light of scripture and more
doctrinal beliefs within the COG, in particular the influence that Ahnsahnghong
has had on many millions of followers. Let’s begin by looking at the idea that
we as humans are an actual state of fallen angelic beings according to the
Church of God.
One of the main passages that COG uses for backing
up their belief that all humans are fallen angelic beings comes from Proverbs
8:22-31.
22 “The Lord made[a] me at the beginning of His creation,[b] before His works of long ago. 23 I was formed before ancient times, from the beginning, before the earth began. 24 I was born when there were no watery depths and no springs filled with water. 25 I was delivered before the mountains and hills were established, 26 before He made the land, the fields, or the first soil on earth. 27 I was there when He established the heavens, when He laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean, 28 when He placed the skies above, when the fountains of the ocean gushed out, 29 when He set a limit for the sea so that the waters would not violate His command, when He laid out the foundations of the earth. 30 I was a skilled craftsman[c] beside
Him. I was His[d] delight
every day, always rejoicing before Him. 31 I was rejoicing in His inhabited world, delighting in the human race.
“Doesn’t Wisdom call out? Doesn’t Understanding make her voice heard? 2 At the heights overlooking the road, at the crossroads, she takes her stand.” Proverbs 8:1-2
By observing
scripture from the premise of knowing the author’s written intentions and what
the author has intended to convey, we can distinguish between eisegetical and
exegetical language. A good way to begin with scripture is by asking yourself
“what is the author’s intentions of this passage? Is my interpretation
biblically accurate?” If you struggle interpreting scripture in a biblical way,
observe commentaries that might help you understand the meaning of the
scripture.
As for Ahnsahnghong, I had
done a little research on this man. And a lot of the information that is
available is written in Korean. There was a massive problem when I started
investigating who Ahnsahnhong was. The reason for this is that I wanted to
essentially uncover the reason behind his preaching of the ‘mother god’.
However when I found some info on this, Ahnsahnhong never supported the teachings of a ‘mother god’. During the time
that Ahnshanhong was alive, a woman by the name of UmSooln apparently claimed
to be the ‘mother god’. After Ahnsahnhong’s death in 1985, it was the WMSCOG
that gave a new name to the ‘mother god’, ZhangGilJah. Ahnsahnhong never
claimed to be the second Christ as what I first indicated in part one of my
blog entries; instead he claimed to be the prophet Elijah (still quite strange
if you ask me). The reason it’s so hard to profile Ahnsahnghong is because
there’s a lot of information that reveals the inconsistencies of the Church of
God’s doctrine. For more information, I recommend visiting this site http://www.examiningthewmscog.com/. This site has citations and some of Ahnsahnghong's writings have been translated into english.
This is a short blog entry that I want to express what’s
been on my heart lately. This blog is for the parents and the young men and
women who are considering university or college studies. I’m in my second year
at Murdoch University based in Perth (I study via correspondence). As a
Christian I will tell you this straight up, your worldview will constantly be
attacked, this may be directly or indirectly. The one plea I have with godly
Christian parents is this, please please don’t send your children to a secular
university until they know the gospel and going to university is their primary
mission to share the gospel.
I did an introductory course a couple of years ago and they
taught us a lot about worldviews. They taught some truth but not all truth,
what do I mean by that? The course never explored ‘how’ people assume their own
worldview. They taught more or less that it’s everyone’s right to a worldview
(which isn’t wrong). What they left out was information that is extremely vital
in allowing Christians to have an excellent foothold in good apologetics, it’s
called presuppositions.
Presuppositions are essentially the things that are
presupposed. For example, before even discussing the cosmic evolution theory, a
lecturer might presuppose that God doesn’t exist and therefore truth itself
might be relative. Presupposition argumentation allow for a Christian to take
out the pillars that hold up the secularist worldview. It’s dangerous, because
you’re exposing the inconsistencies within their worldview. It’s an argument
that has no effective counter argument to it. That’s why I say it’s dangerous
because the premise of using this argument should effectively be out of love
for the non-believer.
This argument works for the religious and non-religious
people. It’s ‘nuclear’ as professor Greg L. Bahnsen would have it put. It’s
easy to trust in the argument more so than the gospel, so like anything pray
before using this. Remember this is just a tool in order to share the truth of
the gospel. That’s why I plead with parents to not send their children to
university until they know the gospel. I’ve posted up a youtube video of Greg
L. Bahnsen’s first lecture on the ‘Myth of Neutrality’; this is an important
position to know since secular lecturers still love to use this trick in the
lecture halls. I also recommend purchasing Greg L. Bahnsen’s book “Pushing the
Antithesis”, it’s a great book based on all 5 lectures which are all on youtube
and I highly recommend viewing each one of them.
The False Impressions
of ‘Celebritised’ Christianity
The one thing that has me frustrated recently is many
articles and apparent Christian quotations from Paul Walker who died recently
in a car accident. Paul Walker was well known for his star role in ‘The Fast
and Furious’ movie series. Many of these articles are quoting Paul Walker as a
Christian, and therefore we as Christians should be at peace with his death as
a response. I want to make it very clear that I’m not attacking Paul Walker,
nor am I saying that Paul Walker is in hell. As a Christian I strongly believe
that judgment completely rests in God’s hands. At the same time, there are
signs of knowing what to look for in
a true believer.
Jesus says in Matthew 7:15-17
“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing
but inwardly are ravaging wolves.16 You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from
thornbushes or figs from thistles?17 In the same way, every
good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.”
In this particular passage Jesus speaks of
two kinds of people, both outwardly agreeing to be believers in some measure.
However there’s a distinguishing difference between the two, both might appear
to have come from the same proverbial tree but the outward signs of the fruit
show what is produced is either good or bad. So what is good fruit? In
Galatians 5:22-23 we see the signs of the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,[a]23 gentleness,
self-control. Against such things there is no law.
These are the essential fruits of knowing a
true believer. Jesus goes on in saying in Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’
will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My
Father in heaven.22 On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t
we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles
in Your name?’23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’
Jesus emphasises that although a person may emphatically call Jesus Christ ‘Lord’,
it most certainly doesn’t save them. And they may very well have done many
things, even miracles but still be cast out as a lawbreaker. So what does the
difference look like? Jesus certainly doesn’t leave anyone in the dark on this
one! He goes on to explain what is meant by the above statement.
Matthew 7:24-27
“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be
like a sensible man who built his house on the rock.25 The rain fell, the rivers rose,
and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its
foundation was on the rock.26 But everyone who hears these
words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his
house on the sand.27 The rain fell, the rivers rose,
the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was
great!”
Jesus speaks here of two kinds of people. Both of which are actively building
houses yet the house that survives is grounded on the rock. Essentially Jesus
is saying that unless your life is so dependent upon Christ, than you’re
building on sand! We should be a people who continually check the foundation
for what it is we’re building our lives on. Do the things we do and say reflect
the glory of God?
As I mentioned earlier, I do not have the power to say “Paul Walker is in hell!”
But as a Christian who has read and understood these passages, it is clear that
Christ has given us a foundation of understanding true biblical Christianity.
So what does true biblical Christianity look like in a celebrity? Consider someone like Tim Tebow, the American
footballer who has made frontline in sporting magazines, sporting interviews
and who openly shares his faith about Christ. I admire someone like Tebow who puts
Christ first above his celebrity career, he’s a man who checks the foundation
to make sure he’s building on the rock!
