Christian Apologetics

On my way back from the literature journey in the first week of this month on a train, I had been considering upgrading my qualification in my service. I had just then been fighting the theological battle of defending the truth the Lord has blessed His recovery with. Then, I wrote a mail to a brother concerning two matters:

Dear Brother K____,

Two matters I want to fellowship with you:

Learning Greek 

I feel the need to learn Greek again though I have already gone through the course six times, I still feel I have not really learned enough. If you would allow me to join the online course again, I want to listen to your lecture and go through the course as much as possible. Please let me know.

Researching on Christian Apologetics

These days I have a burden to pursue an online or part time research on "Christian Apologetics" to learn to dialogue with Christian leaders and theologians in India, to defend the truths the Lord has recovered through brother Nee and Lee of which we are introducing, distributing, and propagating, and to critique the notions surrounding denominational Christian beliefs and practices. 

I believe some saints are already doing it, if so, I can learn from them. To this extent, I am considering to join some good theological online or part time course, even to have a reputed theological standing while defending the truths.

I have been learning to write for about ten years now. Till date I have written 987 articles/posts and blogged them as "My Good Land" based on my personal experience and enjoyment of the Lord through the ministry of the word. I want to improve my writing skill to that of a scholarly standard.

These are my personal feelings only, I feel good to fellowship with you as a brother, personally, and as a serving one in the literature service, officially.

I also feel these learnings will help me in my service. 

Please let me know how you feel about these. 

I just poured out to a brother what was boiling in my heart then. Later, I received a reply from him, and what impressed me was what he wrote concerning the second matter of Christian apologetics. 

As to your other question concerning Christian apologetics, my one question is this: Can you say definitely that your burden is from the Lord? I would strongly advise you not to touch this realm without His commission.

I was glad that a brother seriously considered the matter in fellowship and replied accordingly. Though I did not reply back as I felt that I need not prove to anyone that the burden I had is truly from the Lord. In fact, I wrote the mail because the Lord burdened me. To me, anything from the Lord or anything of the Lord, it will manifest in its own time by itself. I would be a fool to try to prove that my burden is from the Lord. Time will manifest.

As far as Christian apologetics is concerned, I have been indirectly and informally involved since 2003 when the Lord led me into the church life in His recovery. I have been attacked since then, and psychologically persecuted by some fellow Christians who hardly read anything of the ministry. Their "theological" attacks have been so untheological and unprofessional as most of them are based on hearsays or partial understanding of the ministry with an intent of misaiming. In all my literature journey to different parts of India, I have been "fighting" and functioning as a Christian apologetic, though without a formal theological degree. By the way, the Lord graced me to visit all the states of India from 2006-2018. And all these years have been that of researching on Christian apologetics. 

I do believe in time, the Lord would perfect me in this matter according to His words: 

In meekness correcting those who oppose, if perhaps God may give them repentance unto the full knowledge of the truth, 2 Timohty 2:25

Holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching of the apostles, that he may be able both to exhort by the healthy teaching and to convict those who oppose. Titus 1:9     

The will of the Lord be done! Amen! 

Office Fellowship: Diligent

The Lord has entrusted me with a responsibility of fellowshipping with the literature serving ones. I have never felt that I am worthy to be able to oversee the services of the serving ones. Now, I have no choice. I have to be faithful to the responsibility the Lord has assigned to me. Therefore, I gladly accept this charge, trusting in God's grace to be a faithful and prudent steward.

Of late I had received a couple of emails from three serving ones concerning their situation and the way they serve in the office in Chennai. When I first saw the mail it pricked my heart. I was convicted that things were not right and that I am responsible to step and sort out the problem. Yet, I was fully aware that without the Lord's anointing I could not do this. As I have been feeling, I never deem myself to be able to oversee the serving ones especially when things are not going right, and when they have problems among themselves. I had no choice, but to step in.

After much prayer and consideration before the Lord. I wrote an email to all the office staff, calling for a time of fellowship. 

Romans 12:7a

Or service, let us be faithful in that service; 

Dear Brothers in Chennai Office,

In the light of the recent feeling concerning our service and coming to the office on time, it is not a good testimony that we are not honoring the fellowship we had the last time. All serving ones in Chennai office agreed in mutuality to come at 10 AM, which usually was 9:30 AM, as we are very considerate about your family and personal situation. It really is not the outward time schedule, but it is the person that is always the problem. If we are sincere in our service to God, let us exercise to be faithful. 

Considering this, let us fellowship on 8th April 2019, Monday at 10 AM as per the set office time. Please be at the office and we will fellowship on timing and other related items.

Much grace to us all. 

In Him, 

Palmei 

On the 8th morning, I asked all the serving ones in Chennai to pursue a message on DILIGENT Chapter Five, The Character of the Lord's Worker by Watchman Nee. Few points, excerpt from the book.

What is diligence? It is the opposite of slothfulness. It is not shirking from responsibility. A diligent person does not try to reduce his work to nothing. On the contrary, he tries to create work out of nothing. In the Lord's service, it is quite possible for us to take a day or two of rest if we do not look for work. We should not be those who stand around idly waiting for something to turn up. If we work only when work turns up, we are not diligent persons. A diligent person is never idle; he is always looking for things to do. He is always pondering, praying, contemplating, and considering before God as to what he should do. Unless he exercises himself this way, he can find himself with nothing to do. If we only act "according to the book," we may soon find that there is not much of a book left. We should expect to find much work in our service to God. We should discover many needs. We have to pray much to the Lord and look to Him all the time. We should open our eyes, and as soon as we find something that needs to be done, we should do it. After we finish a job, we should wait on the Lord and look to Him again. And as soon as we find more to do, we should tackle it. Following this, we should seek God's will again, and take on yet another task. This is what it means to serve God. The Lord said, "My Father is working until now, and I also am working" (John 5:17). We must never change this verse to read, "My Father is resting until now, and I also am resting." Laziness is not our way; our way should be, "My Father is working until now, and I also am working.

A diligent person always waits on God. As soon as he is free, he goes to the Lord and looks for things to do. He is always seeking an opportunity to work.

The word in Greek for diligence is spoude or spoudazo. It is also translated as zeal, earnestness, eager, and haste (Rom. 12:8, 11; 2 Cor. 7:11-12; 8:7-8, 16; Heb. 4:11; 6:11; 2 Pet. 1:5, 10; 3:14; Gal. 2:10; 2 Tim. 2:15; 4:9, 21; Titus 3:12; Jude 3; 1 Thes. 2:17; Eph. 4:3; 2 Pet. 1:15; Mark 6:25; Luke 1:39).

Second Peter 1:5-7 says, "Adding all diligence, supply bountifully in your faith virtue; and in virtue, knowledge; and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control, endurance; and in endurance, godliness; and in godliness, brotherly love; and in brotherly love, love." This is diligence. Peter used the phrase and in six times. This shows that a diligent man always adds to what he has; he is not content with what he has. We should cultivate this character. We should always add to what we have and never stop. There must always be the "adding...and in." We must push ourselves all the time. This is the only way to see results.

Everyone who knows God and who is useful in His hand is diligent.

After pursuing, I asked each one of them to share from the book. Through their sharing, they confessed and got the answers to the questions concerning themselves and their service. I was especially glad that the brothers opened up and confessed, even asked forgiveness for the mistakes they have done. I simply have to echo what has already been read and understood from the ministry. Issues concerned were addressed and the servings had a new beginning. 

Having convened such a meeting of the full-time serving ones in the literature service, I should myself learn from all of them, and learn to be diligent indeed.

Lord, make me a faithful and prudent slave. Lord, may I experience You as my faithfulness and fruitfulness in my service.

Live Online Program

A brother from Taiwan visited us for a day and invited us to his weekly live Bible study program. He used to serve with us here in the church in Gurugram a few years ago but has moved back to Taiwan to serve in the training center. He is one of the brothers whom I respect as a one who is solidly constituted with the truths and a very good pattern for saints to follow. It was indeed a blessing to meet and fellowship with him again, in fact, much more blessing to participate in his live talk show.

The live internet talk show over Skype was telecasted live on Facebook. We began with an introduction on "Incredible India!" After briefing the audience with the nation India with her unity in diversity, we also testified of the Lord's move in relation to the ministry of the age. The history of the Lord's move in India was presented until the present time with what the Lord has been doing all these years. We also mentioned how one of the international trainings would be conducted in India on the thirtieth year of the Lord's move in India.

We also briefed on the literature service, how it began in 1995 and what the Lord has been doing since then. A special presentation on the translation of the New Testament Recovery Version into six Indian languages and the seventh one to begin soon was also done.

As the program went on, queries from audiences were handled simultaneously. The first query was on "the ten golden years" of India. To me, the golden years are the years of the Lord's marvelous move through the gospel preaching, propagation in different cities, and the spread of the ministry of the word. In these golden years, the Lord has saved and gained many seekers, and raised up many local churches; till date, 180+ churches taking and standing on the ground of oneness.

The second query was on how we shepherded the new ones and seeking ones. We did this through the introduction of the ministry books. Some good books we used are, The Economy of God, The Basic Revelation in the Holy Scriptures, The Glorious Church, The Normal Christian Church Life, The Orthodoxy of the Church, and A Genuine Ground of Oneness. We also used Shepherding Materials, 6 volumes with 96 lessons. We also gave testimonies of how the Lord recovered and raised up local churches through the seekers reading The Economy of God, and The Orthodoxy of the Church.

The third query was on matters needed to be taken care of by those who would come to India for the propagation of the ministry. On the practical side, there is a need for language skill especially that of English to minister the word of God to people. There is also a need for much prayer, burden from the Lord, and being anointed of the Spirit for the preaching of the gospel to the people of India. We also gave testimonies of many brothers and sisters who had come to India for propagation in the past, and how they could lead many people to salvation, including baptism, despite their minimal language skill. The Lord truly anointed their burdens and led many to salvation.

Finally, we also concluded with a testimony of the practice of the God-ordained way and the church life in our locality, Gurugram. And on a lighter note, conclude the talk show with a request for prayer for India and an introduction to famous Indian tea.

I have no idea how many have watched this show, but I do believe the Lord has arranged this for the benefit of the saints whom the Lord has burdened for India. May the Lord bless all the audience and burden them for His move in India. 

God bless India!

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.