"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Revelation 2:7)
2 September 2007
The Apostle Peter warned that false prophets were coming (2 Peter 2). Not long after, Jude said they were already here (Jude 4) and found it necessary to write to the believers to "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). Twenty to thirty years later, the churches in Asia Minor were already in a state that grieved the Lord and incurred His severe warnings (Revelation 2, 3). Fast forward 1900 years to now; what is the state of our churches today? What would our Lord say to us today? In His letters to the seven churches in Revelation, our Lord Jesus repeated seven times, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches". Are the churches today better off than those in the first century? Would our Lord give us similar or worse warnings? Lest we think that all is well, let us consider the following.
On 17 June 2007, The Seattle Times (see http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003751274_redding17m.html) carried a shocking article, "I am both Muslim and Christian". An Episcopal (Anglican) priest, the Rev Ann Holmes Redding, in the USA who has been a priest for 20 years, claims she is both a Muslim and a Christian at the same time. "Redding's bishop, the Rt Rev Vincent Warner, says he accepts Redding as an Episcopal priest and a Muslim, and that he finds the interfaith possibilities exciting." The article went on to describe her background, "As much as she loves her church, she has always challenged it. She calls Christianity the 'world religion of privilege'. She has never believed in original sin. And for years she struggled with the nature of Jesus' divinity." How did she get ordained as an Anglican priest in the first place and why was she allowed to serve as one for 20 years? What would our Lord Jesus say to her and the church?
Katharine Jefferts Schori took office on 1 November 2006 as the first woman leader of the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church, the US branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Interviewed by CNN shortly after her historic election, the 26th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the US Episcopal Church was asked if it was a sin to be homosexual. She replied, "I don't believe so. I believe that God creates us with different gifts. Each one of us comes into this world with a different collection of things that challenge us and things that give us joy and allow us to bless the world around us." She added, "Some people come into this world with affections ordered toward other people of the same gender and some people come into this world with affections directed at people of the other gender." Asked how she reconciled her position on homosexuality with specific passages in the Bible declaring sexual relations between men an abomination, Jefferts Schori said the Bible was written in a very different historical context by people asking different questions. She said, "The Bible has a great deal to teach us about how to live as human beings. The Bible does not have so much to teach us about what sorts of food to eat, what sorts of clothes to wear - there are rules in the Bible about those that we don't observe today." It is hard to believe that this was said by the leader of the Episcopalian denomination in the US. But this is not all.
Time magazine asked her ten questions (see http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1211587-1,00.html). To one of the questions, "Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?", she replied, "We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box." This answer is incredible from any Bible-believing Christian, let alone the leader of a major Protestant denomination! One wonders how she understands John 14:6, which says, "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'.? To be fair, not all Anglicans in America agree with her views, but the fact that she gets voted to the highest office in their denomination speaks much about the number who support her and her views. How did the US Episcopal Church get to this state of electing a person with such heretical views as their leader? After they elected Gene Robinson, an openly homosexual, as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003? What would the Lord say to Bishop Schori and the Episcopal churches? (You can hear part of what she said as well as a good commentary by a respected Anglican theologian in an interview with Dr Albert Mohler, the current president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at the latter's radio show website: http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2006-11-09.)
Just this month, on 11 August 2007, Reuters reported that The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America passed a resolution at its annual assembly urging bishops to allow homosexual pastors who are in "faithful committed same-gender relationships" to continue serving as pastors (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227563/). On the same day, the Baptist Press reported that "students in Montgomery County, MD, will be taught to celebrate homosexuality, and they'll likely be shielded from anyone who believes such behaviors are wrong." If and when homosexual acts are decriminalized in Singapore, as has been proposed by the government and lobbied by gay activists, wouldn't this be just a step into the slippery slope that would land us in the same state as Montgomery County where our students may one day be taught that homosexuality is normal and is to be celebrated?
Baptists over the last few decades have also not been spared of the onslaught of liberal teachings. The Southern Baptist Convention churches, once known for their sound biblical teachings and faithfulness to God's Word, were weakened significantly by liberal leaders who did not believe in the authority of the Bible, its infallibility and its inerrancy. But thanks be to God for His grace and mercy, a conservative resurgence, as it is often referred to, began a couple of decades ago to contend for the faith among the Southern Baptist churches. For many of them today, biblical authority has been recovered. However, in his book, Ready for Reformation, Tom Nettles argued cogently that the reformation of Southern Baptist churches will involve more than a recovery of biblical authority. It was an important first step which many Southern Baptist churches have taken but they need to do more than that. They need to re-engage with the doctrinal and practical ideas of the past upon which the early Baptist churches were founded.
What have all these to do with us? First, they reinforce the importance of knowing God's Word. We need to be like the Bereans who "received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so" (Acts 17:11). We need to be rooted in God's Word so that we can tell truth from error. Second, we need to "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). We need to be alert to perversions of truth, especially the Gospel, and be ready to confront and correct with boldness and humility when required. As a church, we need to guard the purity of the Gospel and the church jealously. The church growth movement, often with "easy believism", has unwittingly and recklessly admitted unregenerate people into the churches' membership, and even their leadership. We need to heed the warning that, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). Third, we need to be serious about discipleship. If we hold to His teaching, we are really His disciples, then we will know the truth and the truth will set us free (John 8:31-32). For Christians, the Lordship of Christ is not an option.
But who will cause us to remain true to Christ? Who will present us as a pure bride to the Groom? After warning his audience about certain men who have crept in, Jude gave us one of the most comforting and reassuring words in Jude 24: "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy." Thanks be to God, for He will preserve us till the end. He will enable us to persevere in our faith, for He is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Paul further assures believers that He who calls them is faithful: "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). May God find us faithful.
From the Council and Diaconate
Kay Poh Road Baptist Church
.......................................................................................................................
2 September 2007
The Apostle Peter warned that false prophets were coming (2 Peter 2). Not long after, Jude said they were already here (Jude 4) and found it necessary to write to the believers to "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). Twenty to thirty years later, the churches in Asia Minor were already in a state that grieved the Lord and incurred His severe warnings (Revelation 2, 3). Fast forward 1900 years to now; what is the state of our churches today? What would our Lord say to us today? In His letters to the seven churches in Revelation, our Lord Jesus repeated seven times, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches". Are the churches today better off than those in the first century? Would our Lord give us similar or worse warnings? Lest we think that all is well, let us consider the following.
On 17 June 2007, The Seattle Times (see http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003751274_redding17m.html) carried a shocking article, "I am both Muslim and Christian". An Episcopal (Anglican) priest, the Rev Ann Holmes Redding, in the USA who has been a priest for 20 years, claims she is both a Muslim and a Christian at the same time. "Redding's bishop, the Rt Rev Vincent Warner, says he accepts Redding as an Episcopal priest and a Muslim, and that he finds the interfaith possibilities exciting." The article went on to describe her background, "As much as she loves her church, she has always challenged it. She calls Christianity the 'world religion of privilege'. She has never believed in original sin. And for years she struggled with the nature of Jesus' divinity." How did she get ordained as an Anglican priest in the first place and why was she allowed to serve as one for 20 years? What would our Lord Jesus say to her and the church?
Katharine Jefferts Schori took office on 1 November 2006 as the first woman leader of the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church, the US branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Interviewed by CNN shortly after her historic election, the 26th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the US Episcopal Church was asked if it was a sin to be homosexual. She replied, "I don't believe so. I believe that God creates us with different gifts. Each one of us comes into this world with a different collection of things that challenge us and things that give us joy and allow us to bless the world around us." She added, "Some people come into this world with affections ordered toward other people of the same gender and some people come into this world with affections directed at people of the other gender." Asked how she reconciled her position on homosexuality with specific passages in the Bible declaring sexual relations between men an abomination, Jefferts Schori said the Bible was written in a very different historical context by people asking different questions. She said, "The Bible has a great deal to teach us about how to live as human beings. The Bible does not have so much to teach us about what sorts of food to eat, what sorts of clothes to wear - there are rules in the Bible about those that we don't observe today." It is hard to believe that this was said by the leader of the Episcopalian denomination in the US. But this is not all.
Time magazine asked her ten questions (see http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1211587-1,00.html). To one of the questions, "Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?", she replied, "We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box." This answer is incredible from any Bible-believing Christian, let alone the leader of a major Protestant denomination! One wonders how she understands John 14:6, which says, "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'.? To be fair, not all Anglicans in America agree with her views, but the fact that she gets voted to the highest office in their denomination speaks much about the number who support her and her views. How did the US Episcopal Church get to this state of electing a person with such heretical views as their leader? After they elected Gene Robinson, an openly homosexual, as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003? What would the Lord say to Bishop Schori and the Episcopal churches? (You can hear part of what she said as well as a good commentary by a respected Anglican theologian in an interview with Dr Albert Mohler, the current president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at the latter's radio show website: http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2006-11-09.)
Just this month, on 11 August 2007, Reuters reported that The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America passed a resolution at its annual assembly urging bishops to allow homosexual pastors who are in "faithful committed same-gender relationships" to continue serving as pastors (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227563/). On the same day, the Baptist Press reported that "students in Montgomery County, MD, will be taught to celebrate homosexuality, and they'll likely be shielded from anyone who believes such behaviors are wrong." If and when homosexual acts are decriminalized in Singapore, as has been proposed by the government and lobbied by gay activists, wouldn't this be just a step into the slippery slope that would land us in the same state as Montgomery County where our students may one day be taught that homosexuality is normal and is to be celebrated?
Baptists over the last few decades have also not been spared of the onslaught of liberal teachings. The Southern Baptist Convention churches, once known for their sound biblical teachings and faithfulness to God's Word, were weakened significantly by liberal leaders who did not believe in the authority of the Bible, its infallibility and its inerrancy. But thanks be to God for His grace and mercy, a conservative resurgence, as it is often referred to, began a couple of decades ago to contend for the faith among the Southern Baptist churches. For many of them today, biblical authority has been recovered. However, in his book, Ready for Reformation, Tom Nettles argued cogently that the reformation of Southern Baptist churches will involve more than a recovery of biblical authority. It was an important first step which many Southern Baptist churches have taken but they need to do more than that. They need to re-engage with the doctrinal and practical ideas of the past upon which the early Baptist churches were founded.
What have all these to do with us? First, they reinforce the importance of knowing God's Word. We need to be like the Bereans who "received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so" (Acts 17:11). We need to be rooted in God's Word so that we can tell truth from error. Second, we need to "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). We need to be alert to perversions of truth, especially the Gospel, and be ready to confront and correct with boldness and humility when required. As a church, we need to guard the purity of the Gospel and the church jealously. The church growth movement, often with "easy believism", has unwittingly and recklessly admitted unregenerate people into the churches' membership, and even their leadership. We need to heed the warning that, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). Third, we need to be serious about discipleship. If we hold to His teaching, we are really His disciples, then we will know the truth and the truth will set us free (John 8:31-32). For Christians, the Lordship of Christ is not an option.
But who will cause us to remain true to Christ? Who will present us as a pure bride to the Groom? After warning his audience about certain men who have crept in, Jude gave us one of the most comforting and reassuring words in Jude 24: "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy." Thanks be to God, for He will preserve us till the end. He will enable us to persevere in our faith, for He is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Paul further assures believers that He who calls them is faithful: "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). May God find us faithful.
From the Council and Diaconate
Kay Poh Road Baptist Church
.......................................................................................................................
