Hi,
Really sorry for not being able to blog for the last few months. Things have been busy busy busy ever since becoming a new father.
This year has been really stretched for me trying to juggle with ministry, work and family as well in the midst of starting to build my own business.
I will be turning 30 this year. Lots of thoughts are running through my mine. This is the year whereby Jesus also started His ministry. Where will i be 3 and a half years from now?
I believed God knows best what is in store for me.
Matt 6:33
Alvin
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2 comments:
Hi Alvin :)
It's Jasmine, thomas's girlfriend, here. I happened to browse through some blogs and got to know that you have a blog as well. It's nice to know that you, too, write blogs to share about your daily life. (:
Anyway, I was there the other day during service when you shared your testimony about SOT. I was,indeed, impacted by it. Thanks alot!
I believe that even as we began to surrender ourselves to the Lord, God will use us to do miraculous work.
Jia You!! May God bless your career,family,work and your cell group!
Best Regards,
Jasmine Toh
The Singapore Christian community has had to grapple with the controversy that is the "prosperity gospel" for the past few years.
I was a former CHC member and I left the church partly out of disagreements about the manner in which the prosperity gospel was preached. Apart from the issue about the "prosperity gospel", I only have good things to say about the church; the focus on evangelism, the excellence of its organizational structure, its vision. I shall not elaborate here.
The prosperity gospel has many detractors. In all fairness,we cannot deny that the core of the prosperity gospel has biblical basis. 2 Corinthians 9:6-14 offers solid backing. Paul declares in verse 6,
"But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."
He continues in verse 8,
"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work."
Any Christian will know that the Word of God contains all truths pertaining to life, and that in any Christian debate about the prosperity gospel, biblical truths cannot be disregarded. We cannot dismiss the veracity of the prosperity gospel when a good part of 2 Corinthians Chapter 9 is devoted to affirming this spiritual truth.
However, I am opposed to the manner in which it is preached at City Harvest and I shall contend with the following beliefs that have attached themselves to this "prosperity gospel".
1. Prosperity (financial blessing) is a reward that we can rightly expect when we sow generously into God's Kingdom.
In City Harvest, financial blessings are viewed as an entitlement and a just consequence of the faith we put in God. God-given prosperity is never an entitlement and reward for the works we have done; it is a responsibility. 2 Corinthians verse 9 is unequivocal,
"God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you, having all sufficiency in all things, may have an ABUNDANCE for EVERY GOOD WORK."
That said, in any prosperity teachings, the focus should not be on the "harvest"; rather, it should be on how we should manage the responsibility of God-given prosperity i.e. meeting the need of others in the words of Pastor Kong Hee.
It is unbiblical to "claim" financial blessings; to do so suggests that our eyes are on the gift rather than on the "Giver". Regardless on the heavenly nature of the Giver, to covet for the gift itself is wordly and materialistic.
2. It is right to flaunt the prosperity of God's Kingdom because it glorifies and attests to the incredible power of God.
It is hypocritical to build an extravagant church building and give a biblical justification for the expense.
Our Father is the source of all honour, praise and glory. He looks at our hearts and not our works. God does not need monumental buildings to glorify Him; He IS all honour, praise and glory. City Harvest defends by its expensive church building and future building project by pointing to the extravagance of secular building projects. It claims that a building dedicated to God can similarly be,if not more breathtaking and extravagant. To say that misses out on the whole point of salvation; Jesus died on the cross to liberate us from our sinful, wordly nature. We glorify God not by showing our physical abundance, but the abundance that flows out of our hearts. I think CHC should channel more money into its community service arm, biblical education and evangelical efforts.
Pastor Kong claims that with God-given material abundance, we are better positioned to be the "head and not the tail" in society, the "salt and light" of the world. Very befitting his "practical" take on life and religion.
The Bible's stand on this is clear;
Paul (Philippians 4:11-13) : "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be ABASED, and I know how to abound. Everything and in all things I have learned to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and SUFFER NEED. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Being poor and financially in lack in no way makes us disadvantaged in preaching Christ; to insinuate otherwise makes a mockery of the victorous position we already have in Christ.
3.Our mandate to be fruitful entails material abundance; we have God's blessings to be materially well-off
Pastor Kong quotes Genesis Chapter 1:22 and God's command within to be "fruitful". To be fruitful does not only connote material abundance; we need to look at the term in a broader sense, i.e. fruitfulness in procreation, evangelism, spiritual life. In other words, the "fruits of righteousness".
The Bible's stand on wealth and "financial breakthroughs" is clear.
Matthew 19:24 and Luke 18:25,repeated for emphasis
"And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
Matthew 6:19-21,
""Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal."
Philippains 3:18-19,
"For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is their shame- who SET THEIR MIND ON EARTHLY THINGS."
In another of his epistles, Paul warns of the danger of twisting our gospel preachings to make for more sweet hearing for unsaved ears. Galatians 1:10,
"For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of God."
In no way should we skew our gospel to conform to the world. In all ways we should seek to conform ourselves to the image of Christ. It is dangerous to run a church based pseudo-Christian beliefs.
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