Word Study: Biblical Text and Explanatory Note

As I have been doing word study on "Sonship"  and "Organic Salvation," the brother with whom the study is being done warned me of adding to the word of God as the word "organic" is found nowhere in the Bible. Besides, he mentioned about "academic rigour" to study and critically analyse facts, theories, and interpretations. This messages from him gave me the opportunity to clarify with the view of studying the word of God sincerely. It was like a shot in my arm. I considered before the Lord in prayer, and as I was led to reply, I felt the anointing of the Lord for the point by point rebuttal of the false alarm of being extra biblical. My response to him is below. 

Thank you, brother for your responses again.

I really appreciate your testimonial on critical analysis of facts, theories, and interpretation. Here, in our case, is the study of the word. Let us do this, for all the "common" beliefs and practices of Christianity and find out from the light of the word of God how biblical all theses "common" practices are. For example, "Christmas, Ester Sunday, Good Friday, Denominational Churches with their names and hierarchies, Mother's Day, Father's Day, church election, ...." We will do it case by case, word by word, and find out how biblical they are. But for now, let us dwell on the point in discussion. 

May we pray like Paul prayed:

Ephesians 1:17-18

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, The eyes of your heart having been enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

Differentiate Between Biblical Text and Explanatory Note

HUIOTHESIA, the Greek word of our study, is the actual text of the Bible where careful "critical analysis" is needed on its translation as "adoption". This affects the understanding of the truth as there are enough Bible verses describing sonship, and not adoption. I have mentioned them in my previous messages. You may critically analyse the use of the word "sonship" and prove it biblically if "adoption" is better, with Bible verses to support the use of the word "adoption."

By the way, let's do this not as debating, but to sincerely study the word of God. 

Whereas the word "organic" is NOT a biblical text that is added to the Bible, it is only an explanatory word, perhaps, the appropriate English word to explain the aspect of salvation. Please note, this word "organic" is not added to the Bible, it is only used in our explanation of the process of sonship. Kindly refer to the Bible verses and explanatory notes I wrote in the subject titled "Sonship, An Organic Process." Therefore, there is no addition to the word of God and your quotation of Deuteronomy 4:2 is out of context.

Let's critically analyse the usage of the phrase in this verse, "not add to the word." Here, God is commanding not to add to the commandments He has already given. 

Deuteronomy 4:2You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I am commanding you.

When the children of Israel returned back to Jerusalem from their seventy long years of captivity in Babylon and rebuilded the city, the commandments of God were read to the people. 

Nehemiah 8:1And all the people gathered as one man in the open area that was before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which Jehovah had commanded to Israel. 

In the reading of the  commandments, interpretation and helping the people in understanding the commandments were done. 

Nehemiah 8:5And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people (for he was above all the people); and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Also Jeshua and Bani and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites helped the people understand the law; and the people stood in their place.

Nehemiah 8:8And they read in the book, in the law of God, interpreting and giving the sense, so that they understood the reading.

Ezra, and the group of people mentioned in Nehemiah 8:7, read the commandments, interpreting and giving sense so that they understood the reading. This is not an addition to the word of God, it is an explanation. 

Similarly, when the word "organic" is used to describe the aspect of God’s complete salvation, "organic salvation", there is no addition to the word of God. Nowhere in the Bible have we added this word. It is just an explanatory note.

In fact, this is similar to many Bible teachers and preachers preaching at length based on a couple of verses to explain what the Bible verses meant to the congregation. It would not be wise to stop a preacher in the middle of his sermon, "Please do not add to the word of God!" Well, we all know, he is explaining the word of God! You and I also do preached sometimes based on Bible verses, but preached many explanatory words which are not in the Bible. Therefore, there is no addition to the text of the Bible in the use of the word "organic" as in "organic salvation" to describe the life aspect of God's complete salvation.

There is a book that explains with all relevant Bible verses the organic aspect of God’s complete salvation, Secret of God's Organic Salvation "The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit" by Witness Lee

My sincere request, as you mentioned about "academic rigour," please do not comment prematurely before first reading, studying, understanding, and critically analysing the aforementioned book. It is available for online reading at www.ministrybooks.org

Brother M_____, thank you so much for your time. I am glad I have a brother like you with whom I can seriously and critically analyse the word of God. As we do this, let us also pray, pray for one another, and if possible, even pray together.

Please let me know when you are available for direct talk and prayer over the phone. Hope we can meet face to face one day again and fellowship.

Much grace to us all. Thank you, brother.

Brotherly Fellowship: Visakhapatnam

After the coworkers gathering in Jagdalpur, our brother took us to his home in Visakhapatnam. It was also our burden and prayer to spend time with him in fellowship. As we came to visit him and his family, I felt like, the Lord sent us as his serving ones to shepherd our brother.

One whole morning till lunch time, we prayed, pray-read, and pursued message five of the Crystallization-study of Numbers, God’s Desire for All His People To Be Today’s Nazarite. As we pursued the truths and pray-read point by point, the Lord touched all of us, especially our brother, for he confessed and prayed for forgiveness in areas he was convicted of.

We also pursued the book, The Vision of the Age. One evening we read through the first chapter, Vision in God’s Economy, and fellowshipped on the the vision of the age with examples in the Bible, from the church history, and our testimonies. The next day morning, the pursuing continued the whole morning with him and me alone as another brother had to visit his family in a village nearby. We pursued together, The Vision of a Serving One and The Present Vision and Practice in the Lord’s Recovery. We then fellowshipped on how to go further in our pursuit of the truth. I encouraged him to spend his time wisely with the strong burden for his constitution with the truths of the Bible and be a proper person first. I even gave a suggestion to spend his whole morning purely on spending time with the Lord in pursuing morning revival, reading Bible, studying the truth, and prayer, till lunch time, after which he can go out for gospel preaching and shepherding. I also encouraged him to visit the local churches nearby and possibly join some of the national and international training. 

Therefore, my burden this time was released. I trust the Lord’s grace and our brother would be fully recovered back to the fold. May He shepherd our dear brother fully into the ministry of the age for the fulfillment of His eternal economy.

Christian Fellowship: Jagdalpur

At the invitation of a brother we came to this city, Jagdalpur. This brother used to be with us in His recovery till 2003 and learned the basic truths and practices. But due to circumstances, as he said, he had to leave. The Lord has called him to labor in Jagdalpur among the people of Chattisgarh and Odisha. Though he had his own ministry, since few years ago, he called up now and then for fellowship. In fact, he had visited us in the church in Gurugram twice, he was also visited by a brother from Singapore, and a couple from Finland recently. 

Since 2003 till date, he has established over 106 local assemblies which he called "Christian Fellowship Church." he has 70 coworkers laboring with him, shepherding over 6000 believers spread all over Chattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. It was in their monthly coworkers meeting that we were invited to attend.

Though we all stayed together in the same hotel room, we did not specifically decide what to minister, but we prayed together for the Lord's speaking. As the meeting began, the Lord's speaking through three of us in two sessions became very clear. 

The burden released in the first session was, as a serving ones of God we must learn the spiritual lessons of dealing with Satan, the flesh, and the world. Our brother spoke from the life of Elisha in 2 Kings 2:1-14 with an emphasis on the spiritual significances of Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and Jordan, and the double portion of the spirit of Elijah, the spirit of power for the ministry. We echoed from the three signs of the called ones in Exodus 4:1-9. The burden was the same, the dealing needed of the Lord's serving ones.

The burden released in the second session was the need to be faithful in our service, serving according to the vision of the age, with examples drawn from Noah of the Old Testament and Paul of the New Testament. Negative examples were also presented, from the failures of Demas, Barnabas, Apollo, James, and the mixture of Judaism in the church in Jerusalem. Some did not see the vision nor serve according to the vision and were nowhere now as they eventually left the ministry, but we must be the faithful serving ones to bring the Lord Jesus back to fullfil God's eternal economy.

The Lord was sovereign in leading us to speak what we have spoken. At the end of the meeting, we thanked and praised the Lord for His sovereignty. It was quite clear, the Lord really wanted to recover our brother and the group of coworkers with him for His move. We have done all that we could in cooperating with the Lord's move, now we leave the rest to God to further lead us in the way He deems best. We are coworkers of the Lord in His vineyard.

May the Lord gain His heart's desire among all the serving ones who co-works with our brother. 

The Ministry of the Word Literature Journey: Jagdalpur

In this city of Jagdalpur, we came to meet a brother who has his ministry spread all over the suburban area. We were warmly received by one of his coworkers and were well taken care until he came to meet with us. It was last Saturday when we, along with the local brother, went to meet different Christian leaders and pastors.

As we began to meet the Christian leaders, everyone we met happened to be the key leaders of their Christian group. Some of them are national leaders based in the city while others are leader within the state of Chattisgarh. It was so timely that we could meet and introduce the ministry of the word to them. Each one of them received the ministry books and none of them had any question on the truth we presented using the ministry books. In fact, everyone we met appreciated the ministry books and some commented that it was their first time to hear such biblical truths expounded from the Bible.

Besides, the following Lord's day, in a Christian meet we have introduced and distributed a full Rhema set in Hindi to all the coworkers of a brother who invited us to the city to attend their monthly meeting.

When all these ministry books would be read, the level of Christian life and testimony among the believers would be uplifted. Perhaps, even through these books, the Lord would recover a good number of Christian groups for His testimony.

While in the city we were also invited to minister the word in four local assemblies at different times. A brother and I went to two each and ministered the word. The assemblies I attended were filled with sisters and few brothers. Many of them are local believers who simply loves the Lord. Observing their love towards the Lord, I was burdened to share on helping them to be established in their Christian faith, encouraging them to have a solid prayer life, read the word of God daily, call upon the Lord's name, and be faithful to the Lord in all these spiritual exercises. I believe one day, there will be a rich harvest of the brothers' labor in this area for the Lord's testimony. 

After all our works were done, in the afternoon, we had a sightseeing visit to the largest waterfall in India, Chitrakoot waterfalls: Niagara falls of India, in Bastar, west of Jagdalpur. It was indeed a beautiful sight to behold; nature exhibiting the beauty of God's creation. 

May the Lord bless the distribution of the ministry of the word in Jagdalpur and gain His heart's desire for His testimony.

Village Visit: Sindhibhata

Deep in the jungle of Odisha bordering with Chattisgarh, about two hours drive from the city, a brother and his wife took us for a meeting in a village named, Sindhibhata. Simple villagers from a low caste background, but through the labor of some brothers, almost the entire village became Christians. As we arrived this village we were welcomed by the main brother who oversee the Lord's work in the entire village.

As the meeting began, believers came one by one, and filled the entire campus seated on the matted ground. The elder brothers took their seats on the side where chairs were arranged for them. Simple villagers, sang with all their hearts, and enjoyed the praise and worship.

When time for message came, the elders welcomed us in stage, garlanded with flowers garland as a sign of respect and welcome. We had no idea what the Lord would speak through us, we simply believed in the Lord’s instant speaking, trusting simply that it will be given to us what to speak when it was time to speak. 

The Lord did give us the word. A brother spoke first, and gave three points to receive spiritual blessing who is God Himself: to call upon the Lord's name, to confess their sins, and to love the Lord. Then I followed, echoed whatever my brother had spoken, and added two more points on reading the word of God and praying daily. The fellowship was a complete message, God as the spiritual blessing, and the way to receive the blessing. The elders and leading brothers testified that the message was what they need and very timely.

May the Lord bless His children in this remote village. 

The Ministry of the Word Literature Journey: Cuttack - Bhubaneswar

This twin city welcomed us to a brother's home who made arrangement for our meeting with Christian leaders. Leader by leader, we met and introduced the ministry books. Each one of them appreciated the ministry books; they either purchased or placed order for the books. Our burden was to make the ministry books available to all Christians. As we met the Christian leaders, some of them showed their interest to translate the ministry books into Oriya. Three brothers fellowshipped with us to give them books for translation. Moreover, there was also a great need for the ministry books to be made available into Oriya. After we finished our work, a BSI guest house called "The Bible House" was arranged for our night stay. The Lord have been shepherding us all this while.

After our burden was released in Cuttack, we moved on to Bhubaneswar and met some Christian leaders. In this capital city, the Lord burdened us to meet two families to fellowship with. 

A brother who was burdened for Bhubaneswar resigned from the Christian organization he worked with before, then came to this city to start serving the Lord. Last year he called me, as his friend whom I met in Ranchi last year gave my number to him. Since then, I also wanted to meet him. Finally, the Lord brought us together. 

The Lord burdened us to introduce "The Orthodoxy of the Church" and ministered at length on what the church is according to the Bible. The brother and his wife received our fellowship and responded that they were convicted by the truth. Hope that they will read the ministry books and stand for the Lord's testimony one day.

The brother who received us at the Airport was the one who took us around as we came to this capital city. He also took us to his joint family, three brothers living together with their wives and children. As most of them, except one, have not yet been baptised, we shared the gospel, led them to call on the Lord's name, and explained the significances of baptism. The three families were simple and did not have much of religious background. Before we left, the brother told us that he would study the word daily using The New Testament, Recovery Version. He also said that he would seriously pray and consider his baptism along with his whole joint family. He even said that he would invite me to baptise them when they all are ready. Well, this is human words, but our trust is in the Lord. If the Lord so will, the Lord will bring us again for the baptism of the entire family, and even for the raising up of the Lord's testimony in Bhubaneswar.

Our burden was released and we left for the next city. May the Lord continue to operate in the families we have met and fellowshipped with and raise up His testimony soon. 

The Ministry of the Word Literature Journey: Balasore

Few months ago as I was praying and considering to visit Odisha for the introduction and distribution of the ministry of the word, a brother called me and introduce me to a brother in Balasore. On calling him, he immediately invited me to visit him, and I took that as a "Macedonia" call. After a few more days of prayer, I brought it to fellowship with some brothers, and then I decided to visit this city.

A brother and I flew to Bhubaneswar, the capital city last week. One brother came to receive us at the Airport. As he introduced himself, I felt the leading to preach the gospel and showed him from the Bible, God's plan, Christ's redemption, and then his need for baptism as a believer, as he is a born Catholic and not yet baptised. The Lord indeed spoke to him and a few days later he told me he and his whole family would be baptised soon. May the Lord save the whole family.

In Balasore, a brother who invited me happens to be a big businessman living as a joint family with his brother and sister; all of them are in business. He invited the leading Pastors and Christian leaders of the city to come and meet with us. We introduced the ministry books to all of them.

The following day, the elder brother of the brother who invited us drove us to the nearby villages and towns for the distribution of the ministry books. 

We were also led to the camp site of Brother Graham Steward Staines who was burnt alive in his vehicle with his two sons on the night of January 22, 1999. Out of such a sacrifice and martyrdom the Lord saved many local people in Odisha. Now, many villages, towns, and cities of Odisha have been evangelised! I felt blessed to be able to visit and learn of such burden and sacrifice from an Australian missionary.

One night, we had a family gather of the brother who invited us. The entire family, three joint family, came together for fellowship. We shared a simply gospel on "Who is Jesus?" and ministered to them the need for prayer, Bible reading, and calling upon the Lord's name. We all enjoyed calling upon the Lord's name. We also encouraged them to start a regular family prayer at least once a week. These joint family is the base for the Lord's move in this city. Perhaps, one day, the Lord will gain the entire family and raise up His testimony in Balasore.

Chhattisgarh, shepherd these seeking ones and raise up Your testimony!