emptying everything, how stands your faith?
yeah i found god and he was absolutely nothing like me
he showed me up like a dime store hooker
who was plain to see
i couldn't take it anymore
so i went back to the sea
because that's where fishes go
when fishes get the sense to flee
where're you going now?
what's your plan?
for the past two days, i had been following a friend to his church in perth. it's a presbrytarian church, and i knew it was more tradiotional and conservative. no harm, no biggie, it's all good. i went there wanting to learn something from God, what did he have to say about us, the human race, the church? the seminar was entititled "last day deceptions"
prior to this
i had a small discussion with sue about why we spoke in tongues. i said it was a gift of the Holy Spirit. but what is tongues? when studied in the bible, tongues were not random utterences as empowered by the Holy Spirit. it was always in a different language. when we speak in tongues at church and rallys, are they really a different language? i dont know, no one has ever translated it for me. but we're thought that it is an empowerment of the Holy Spirit, so it's gotta be good right? *shrug* anyhow, in 1 Corinthians 14, it does state pretty clearly how the gift of tongues should be used.
"for this reason, anyone who speaks in a tongue (another language - see footnotes) should pray that he may interpret what he says" 1 Cor 14:13
i'll confess i have not attended any workshops regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit. come to think of it, i should have if i had the time then.
yeah, well, so because of this discussion, it seemed to lead in with the whole seminar. from God? only he knows now i guess. but also prior to this, a week ago.. i knew i had prayed in a church i was attending that i wanted my heart to be scraped inside out, cuz there were things that even i didnt know about that might be preventing me from truely communing with God. and then, there were also the times whereby, if God required me to give up all my music, from playing the intsruments i love and stuff i listen to, to playing for worship, wotever the case, i would have to give it up.
well, it's really happening right now. is it from God? only he knows.. i can only pray and consult his word. or run back to the sea.
"last day deceptions" by Rev (Dr) Jeffefy Khoo. anybody heard of him? i didnt. he's the dean of the Far Easten Bible College. somewhere in spore. anyways, the outlook of this college, or church, is that of seperatism. to seperate themselves from the rest of the world by shining for God. which is kind of like wot our church preaches about isn't it? however, the seperation dosent just go into the seperation of the world, but from the false teachings of the current church. the wave of charismatism especially.
they don't see the charismatic movement as coming from God. they see it that in the last days of our time, there will the falling away of believers. there will be false prophets and teachers. that includes us, for a variety of reasons. the main underlying reason, is that the charismatic movement is seen as the middleman to reunite the protestant faith with the roman catholic faith. during the seminar, there was a brief history lesson about this reformation.
the reformation. at a time when the roman catholic was the official religion of rome, and quite a lot of europe. it was corrupt, and the doctrines of the Bible were falsified. our salvation would be through faith AND works. now we know this is not true. we are saved by the grace of God. however, during this time, the roman church was witholding the truth about God's word from his people. people did not know about the free salvation and were working their way to being saved. as expected, the roman church was living off the people and very corrupt. however, in the 16th century, a man called martin luther and a committee of others led the reformation, and we have the protestant faith as it stands now. how it was intended to be.
now.. how is the roman church different from the protestant faith as well? the romans believe in purgatory, the extra books, the apocapher (sp), they pray to the virgin Mary and other saints. as if they were idols. some may see this as blatant idolatry, some may not, but in the context of this post, it is.
and so, now we have charismatism as the middleman to unify the protestant faith with the roman catholic one? Dr Khoo goes on to explain how in the higher-ups of our church, they were saying that the reformation was a mistake and that they should never have left. if this is true, we have in issue at hand. is our church really seeking that reunificiation? i don't know, i have little knowledge of that. but with the occurances of the gay arch-bishop, i did wonder a little where the church as a whole was headed. there was no way i expect my own church, SJSM to advocate such a thing. we stand by the word, the doctrine of God. by the doctrine, we will be able to test the false prophets and teachers..
but then the seminar goes on. the debate about using the King Jame's Version as opposed to the New International Version. i was the only one at the seminar with an NIV bible. mebbe for once i knew wot a non-christian feels like in a congregation, and the sermon is somewhat judgemental. but i think i was there by God's grace, and i prayed, too see and hear things with his senses. there are evidences of differences between the NIV and the KJV.
let's take Psalms 12:7
O Lord you will keep US safe... (NIV)
Thou shalt keep Them... (KJV)
contextually different isn't it? us and them. although some of my defence would go in that, based on the context of the entire passage, using both us and them fit the context of the passage. but meanings change. in the KJV, it means God will protect his everlasting work from the evils of men. in the NIV, it means that God will protect us from the evils of men. another part of my defence would go as such. that over the course of time, when you're translating something to english, all your adjetives and syntaxes and verbs and nouns and pronouns.. they're alot more complicated. english is relatively simple, did something happen in the translation process? i believe that with regards to that, God has never compromised in his word, meaning, grammer, vocabulary. anything! that is my faith. thats why i never questioned the use of the NIV. Dr Khoo, and this seperatist move, seeks to question it.
he goes on a little more into some history of how our respective bibles came about. apparently the NIV has been corrupted over the years, namely by two blokes Wescott and Hort. they didn't believe in certain fundamental truths, and actually left out many verses. if you look at your NIVs for example John 7:53 - 8:11, you'll have a heading note saying that earlier more accurate manuscripts did not have this section of text. apparently Wescott and Hort took them out, but revised versions of the NIV put them back. why? Dr Khoo did not say. or if it did, he didnt go in depth into it, mentioning that people wanted it in anyhow.. look at more verses in the NIV, a lot of footnotes, regarding "earlier maunscripts say 'blabla'." well, it seems to me, that to the seperatist, these measures aren't enough to make the NIV God breathed, but evil.
yeah.. so now comes the scary part. friends back in SJSM, is our doctrine sound? we base our teachings from the NIV. we refer to the NIV for sermons and bible study. our fundamental truth of salvation, who God is, what his will is for us, all came from the NIV. how God SPOKE to us, was through the NIV. why then, are we so different from these mroe tradiotional churches who use the KJV? if our doctrine is unsound, we have an issue at hand don't we? are we so comfortable in our church, that this is wot Christianity is about, that when perhaps we have been misled? oh, i pray for my soul that i am being decieved NOW rather than being decieved in the past.
and its not just me, everyone back home. almost every other Christian i know. i can deal with men calling us names. but God turning is eye from us? in our fervor, even though we say, we proclaim, its all for God's glory, he has saved us, and everything else we have ripped our fabric of existence so that we could taste that grace. and then we can never do anything to make him save us, EXCEPT to accept his grace and mercy.
and how can i discount the way God speaks to me, back when im using the NIV, or worshipping in SJSM? our leaders especially, i mean.. they're honest. i believd God was in control of my life, of our church, the direction, the will he wanted from us. that surrender to him. all this, from yesterday, in a flash.. not of God? we're the false ones?
my current stand is.. yeah, i'm glad, thankful that God allowed this to happen in my life. i'm pretty convicted that God islways watching over me, my family, friends and church. i believe that God loves us all, and will do al he/we can to save the souls, regardless right now, whether we sing hymns or contemporary songs, we were saved by God's grace. where he leads us, i don't know. but i guess, God truely spoke to me in the past, and if i am to find scripture to back even those experiences up, its time to start looking. while the one world may be headed to destruction. the one church.. reunification? i don't know all that, do i want to? the weight of the world? mebbe for now it's between God and me.
yeah I found god
and he was absolutely just like me
he opened my mouth, looked down my throat
told me I was thirsty
he said, I been, I been, I been
been in this water all my life
never took the time to breathe, breathe
whatcha doin' in this darkness baby?
when you know that love will set you free
will you stay in the sea forever?
drownin' there for all eternity
whatcha doin' in this darkness baby?
livin' down where the sun don't shine
come on out into the light of love
don't spend another day
livin' in the sea
livin' in the sea
"where fishes go" - LiVE
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