Coronavirus COVID-19

Coronavirus, is an end-time pestilence, according to the teaching of the Bible. According to WHO, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. The world may interpret it differently, but the word of God is plain and clear. For those who know God and His words, this pandemic creating havoc globally in every field of human life and threatening human sustenance and existence is no surprise at all. The Lord has spoken this 2000 years ago already.

And there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. Luke 21:11  

Perhaps, this is the first time the world has awakened to a massive threat by an invisible virus that mutates itself exponentially and spreads rapidly through the human chain. Countries like China, Spain, Italy, USA, Iran, and many more are facing the brunt of this tiny virus. Now, the heat is on in India too. 

In fact, today India has woken up to a nationwide curfew named "Janta Curfew" by the honorable Prime Minister as a trial measure for future action in case of emergency. A good number of states and cities have been locked down beginning from today to stop or at least to limit the spread of this virus.

The word of God is so real and comforting,. Though the world panics, the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His words are so strengthening at this juncture. I would not be careless in exposing myself to this spread, but I will rather pay close heed to all the safety advisory given by the government. I must abide by the law of the land and I must not put my trust in God to a trial. The Lord indeed commanded not to tempt Him. Yet at the same time, the Holy Spirt, the Comforter, is very real within me. The Lord knows my fate and my faith too. Therefore, the peace of Christ has been preserving me and my family all this while. To this extend, in fellowship with the brothers I am coordinating with in the church responsibility, we did make necessary changes in the practical church life. Though we pay heed to the saftety instructions, we still do not succumb to the enemy's tactic of clamping down our church life. Our church-life still goes on, via online techology.

Over a week ago the Lord has spoken to me concerning this pandemic. He revealed the promise in Psalm 91 in times like this. Halleluijah!

Psalms of Promises on the 12th of March 2020

91:3 For He will deliver You from the snare of the fowler, from the deadly pestilence.

91:5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day, or of the pestilence that walks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.

91:10  No evil will befall You, nor will any plague come near Your tent.

91:11  For He will give His angels charge concerning You to keep You in all Your ways.

This global pandemic is also a litmus test for faith in Christ and our practice of the church-life. especially when the government imposed public gathering for health's sake. therfore, there is a thin line between standing for the truth and also abiding by the law of the land.

The word of God has been our guiding light these days. No matter what, still we must not abandon our coming together.

Not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:25  

Yet we should also be subject to authority.

Let every person be subject to the authorities over him, for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are ordained by God. So then he who resists the authority opposes God’s ordination, and those who oppose will receive judgment to themselves. Romans 13:1-2 

Therefore, we do not abandon our coming together yet we also submit to the authority. In this way, our Christian life and church life has not been stopped, rather it intensifies all the more using the latest technology we have at our disposal today. 

We still pray for the Lord to stop and limit the spread of this pestilence. At the same time we also pray that the purpose of allowing this virus to be also fulfilled in leading and showing people to know the true and living God Jesus Christ and also strengthen the faith of the believers.

John 4:42 And they said to the woman, It is no longer because of your speaking that we believe, for we ourselves have heard and know that this One is truly the Savior of the world.
 1 John 4:14   And we have beheld and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.

Save the world, Lord Jesus!

Righteousness

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before Your face. Psalms 89:14  Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34  

Righteousness is one of the divine attributes of God. The foundation of God's throne is righteousness. As the righteous One who redeemed us in His righteousness, I, as a redeemed one also need to live out the righteousness of God in my living.

 

For all the official works, I have been doing my best to make all things righteous, legal and proper. Especially, in my official function, I must ensure that whatever decision I make, is according to the righteousness fitting to a believer. Therefore, whenever I buy computers for official purposes, I make sure that all legal software was purchased along with it. Though I have to pay much more, still my conscience tells me to do so. 

There is some very expensive software that can be gotten at a very cheap price from a local vendor. The trend in India is, many simply got a "cracked" version installed in their systems. I do confess that I did this in the past. But since the Lord touched me in this matter, I decided not to entertain any easy-cheap-improper software. 

Now all the computers that have been purchased under my responsibility are all conforming to the righteousness deemed of a believer. Though I needed to shell out a higher price for doing this, still it is worth doing it, for conscience's sake at least. For the Bible translation service, we purchased very expensive software, legal licenses for all translators. Similarly for the typesetting and other editing software. Recently I was reminded of one particular software which is very very expensive. I used the trial version to finish designing Calendar 2020. Then I needed the software for other official works. The value of this software is similar to buying one new two-wheeler vehicle. This software could have been gotten only as cheap as rupees five hundred only, but I have to spend more than a hundred times to buy the legal license. Because of the high price I did struggle for quite some time. But the more I considered it, the more I became clear that I needed to pay the price to make this right. Therefore, I got the license and installed it in my system, with much peace.

In this way, so far, Windows 10, MS Office, BibleWorks, InDesign, CorelDraw etc., were all purchased at a high price. This is one lesson in the matter of righteousness. I am glad, the Lord has been gracing me to be able to maintain the decorum and sanctity of the official responsibility He has mercifully assigned me to.

May the righteousness of Christ be my righteosuness. I have no righteousness of my own. I simply take Christ as my righteousness.

Lesson on Gospel Preaching

Two weeks ago, after the prayer meeting of the church on Saturday afternoon, I decided to take a brother along with me to shepherd a brother who is very new in the Lord. I decided to use the gospel preaching time to shepherd a brother. And I had my preference of a brother to coordinate with. Though outwardly everything seemed to be fine, I did not follow the proper leading of the Lord through the leading of the spirit in the fellowship of the Body.

As we went to meet the new brother, first of all, we violated the proper practice of shepherding by being late to meet him. That itself killed the mood of shepherding. Secondly, we should have been preaching the gospel instead as the church has scheduled that time for gospel preaching. Thirdly, we did not exercise our spirit that we ended up speaking human words with human opinion. The result was obvious. There was no life supply and the new brother could not enjoy the shepherding, leave alone the enjoyment of the word. Everything seemed to turn upside down. I learned a very important spiritual lesson.

These mistakes from our side also exposed the true condition of the new ones we were shepherding. His faith itself was not very solid and stable. I could see his real condition in hi faith and I could also see what a shortage I have in my shepherding. His act definitely was condemnable as he compared and equalized Jesus Christ with other gods, and even questioned our authenticity. He has been at best misled or at worst poisoned by the right-wing philosophy concerning Christ. That was a big eye-opener for me. Oh, how much prayer I need to pray for him and his growth in life, and how much shepherding need to be rendered to him in a timely manner. What a lesson for me! 

Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful spiritual lesson on shepherding and gospel preaching!

Seeing the Vision

Proverbs 29:18a  Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; 

Seeing the vision of the age is of utmost importance to follow the Lord and stay in the church life for the building up of the Body of Christ. Without such a vision, people may come to the church life in the Lord's recovery but such people will not last long. For them, it is just another Christian group. They must have like certain truths or certain saints or certain practices, but unless they see the vision of the age, the vision of the Body of Christ, the vision of God's economy, they may not stay long. Only the vision of God's economy can preserve us in the church life. 

Save for this vision, any person, matter, or thing can easily distract people from leaving the church life. Without the vision, they will compare the saints and the church life with other Christian groups on many aspects, and based on their analysis they will decide on which one is better for them, even for spirituality's sake. I have witnessed a few cases like this int he past, and I am still witnessing today. 

Believes who do not see the vision of the body will not last long in the church life. Due to their lack of vision, they will exercise their mind and even become biased in their openness to the saints and to the truths. By the Lord's mercy, I have been grace to see the vision of the age in 2003 after much prayer and study of the word. Once the vision is clear, there is nowhere else to go. 

John 6:67-69 Jesus therefore said to the twelve, Do you also want to go away? Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.

Besides, once the vision is clear to a person, he or she will be very open to the ones who saw the vision. Till then, there will be a doubt on the teachings, practices, and the saints themselves. This matter is of utmost importance. To see this vision, the Lord only has to open the spiritual eyes of the people. It may come by teaching or revelation or vision, but it must be from the Lord. O how I pray that my fellow believers in Christ would all see the vision of God's economy revealed int he Bible especially through the epistles of Paul. This vision pertains to Christ and the church.

Concluding...

Acts 16:9, 10 And a vision appeared to Paul during the night: A certain man, a Macedonian, was standing and entreating him and saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us. And when he had seen the vision, we immediately endeavored to go forth into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to announce the gospel to them.

The leading of the Lord needs a discernment. As we fellowshipped around these verses, I was very deeply impressed by the depth of the word of God. An elderly and spiritual brother helped us to dissect the word of God and discern what the will of the Lord is. 

In this case, a vision appeared to Paul, "he had seen the vision" yet the word says, "we immediately endeavored to go forth." The transition from "he" to "we" confirms that though Paul had seent the vision individually, he must have brought into fellowship with the brothers. Perhaps, there was a thorough fellowship and prayer concerning the vision. And then they finally concluded in one accord. 

What Paul had seen individually was concluded corporately by the brothers including Paul. Therefore, through fellowship, they concluded what the Lord wanted them to do. This is a marvelous principle in the New Testament concerning discerning the will of God.

This interpretation of the word is supported by the following verses.        

1 Corinthians 14:14,15  For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing also with the mind.

In our spirit is the discernment of the will of God, and in our soul, especially in the renewed mind is the interpretation of the discernment in the spirit. The spirit of the believers is where the Spirit of God dwells. There, is the leading of the Lord in the spirit by the Spirit. This needs to be interpreted with the renewed mind. Therefore, the renewed mind concluded what the will of the Lord is. Praise the Lord such a fellowship on the word such as this.

This a lesson all the believers must learn in considering the word of God and concluding it. It involves the seeing spirit and the understanding renewed mind. Then follows, the obedient body that follows the Lord's leading. 

Jehovah Remembers

Last Lord's day, a group of brothers came together to pray-read, pray, and fellowship with a visiting elder brother from abroad whose fellowship every time he visited has been very enlightening and life supplying. It was an honor and a blessing to "sit under his feet" and learn many lessons of life. The verses we pray-read seemed non-pray-readable, but as we actually pray-read the Lord's light shown on me and I was very supplied. 

Zechariah 1:1In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Jehovah came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

First of all, there is the coming of the word of God. For any spiritual progress there must first be the coming of the word of God, the speaking of God, which is His exposing, enlightening, and leading. In fact, our coming together also brought in the word of God through the fellowship. What a blessing! 

The one to whom the word of God came was Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. The names of these three persons are very significant spiritually in meaning. Zechariah means, Jehovah remembers; Bechariah means Jehovah blesses, and Iddo means at the appointed time. Putting all the names together, the word of God to me is, at the appointed time the Lord remembers and blesses. 

Now is the appointed time. All the happenings today proves all the more that the time appointed by the Lord has come. This time is for His blessing upon His chosen people. He remembers His people, therefore, He works in the environment to bless. 

No matter what the situation of His children may be, He comes to bless. Though they may be in their low situation standing among the myrtle trees, Jehovah remembers and comes to bless. Hallelujah! 

Zechariah 1:7-8On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of Jehovah came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying, I saw during the night, and behold, a man was riding upon a red horse; and He was standing among the myrtle trees that were in the bottoms; and behind Him there were red, reddish-brown, and white horses.

A note on myrtle from the Holy Bible, Recovery Version 

These myrtle trees signify the humiliated yet precious people of Israel in their captivity. The redeeming Christ, as a man and as the Angel of Jehovah, the embodiment of the Triune God, was sent by God to be with the humiliated people of Israel in their captivity. Christ’s standing among the myrtle trees that were in the bottoms means that He remained strongly among the captured Israel in the lowest part of the valley in their humiliation. As the One on the red horse, Christ, the redeeming One, was Israel’s patron, ready to do anything for them swiftly in order to care for them in their captivity. Christ maintained Israel in their captivity that He might eventually be born into humanity through Israel to accomplish God’s eternal economy. 

Our real situation was not only low, but even sinful. Therefore, the Lord came to redeem us first. Still, we were not fully pure for the Lord, so He further deals with us until we are fully made clean, pure, and complete. In His remembrance of us, He also redeems and transforms us from being red to reddish-brown to white. As such we are being recovered back fully to Him to be His people for His purpose in the earth.  

A note on red from the Holy Bible, Recovery Version 

The horses of three different colors indicate that Christ’s redemption (the red horse) leads the repentant Israel (the reddish-brown horses) to be justified and accepted by God swiftly (the white horses). This vision of the horses portrays the situation of Israel in their captivity. In the eyes of God, Christ the Redeemer was with them taking the lead, and they, God’s redeemed people, were following Him. Because they were God’s redeemed people, they appear at first sight as red horses. But because they were not pure, they are signified also by the reddish-brown horses (the color reddish-brown indicating a mixture). They need to contact God and to be dealt with by Him in order to gain God and be justified by Him and thus become those signified by the white horses. Once they repent, they will swiftly be accepted by God and justified by Him.

Then, Jehovah stretches forth His hands and recovers us to be His dwelling place, His house and His city. And He overflows His blessing all over gain. What a recovery, what a blessing!

Zechariah 1:16-17Therefore thus says Jehovah, I return to Jerusalem with compassions; My house will be built in it, declares Jehovah of hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem. Cry out again, saying, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, My cities will again overflow with good, and Jehovah will again comfort Zion and will again choose Jerusalem.

This is the Lord's speaking to us and to me particularly. At the appointed time, Jehovah remembers and Jehovah blesses! Hallelujah! 

Concerning Step Mom

My dad had been calling me to clarify on the stand he should take based on the biblical truth concerning his marriage to my step-mom. The fact of the matter is, he was married to my step-mom thirteen years before he was baptized. In the church-life, shepherding has been carried out in a way of life with the application of the truth in time. Objective truths should be applied subjectively in life by the leading of the Holy Spirit at the right time. Though I myself had this doubt of a brother have two wives I did not get a clear answer until recently when I prayed over the matter, searched the scriptures, studied the ministry, and also fellowshipped with the brothers.

Now, through the scriptures, through the interpretation of the scripture with the ministry, and in fellowship, the Lord made things clear to me. Since my dad's second marriage was before his salvation, now that he is saved, everything of the past should have been forgiven and forgotten; whatever sins, big or small. In relation to the restitution of the past sins, if the sins involved a person, especially in marriage, it cannot be restituted. Whereas material things can be restituted and must be restituted. So there is no need to let the second wife go back as she has already been married and even bore a grown-up son already. My dad has to bear the responsibility of taking care of them both. The only concern as per the scripture is, he may not be officially appointed as an elder in the church. Nevertheless, he must function as all members of the Body should function for the building up. The matter is clear, and I have fellowshipped with the brothers concerned and also with my family members including my dad. Praise the Lord, this doubt that has been in mind for years, even decades, has finally be clarified! Praise the Lord for the ministry of the word!

This conviction has come after years of enjoying the Lord as a result of the growth in life. With the Lord's speaking through His Word, the matter has been cleared. My burden now is to shepherd my step-mon and step-brother also into the enjoyment of Christ in the church-life. And also to help other saints especially the leading brothers to be clear concerning this matter.

Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 2) Vol. 25: Collection of Newsletters (1) by Watchman NeeThe church cannot help a polygamous brother by doing anything more than forgiving him. When the Lord said that He loved mercy and abhorred sacrifices, He was referring to this matter. If the believers sinned in the matter of polygamy before they were saved, the Lord does not pursue the matter. Because no matter what the sin, whatever was committed before our regeneration is under the blood. Of course, the sin of polygamy is under the blood.

The question that has arisen in the church is whether the concubine he had should be driven out of the house. The Bible gives us some very clear light regarding this matter. Paul told Timothy, "The overseer [the elder] then must be...the husband of one wife...deacons must similarly be..." (1 Tim. 3:2, 8). So we know that among the believers at that time, there were those who were the husband of two wives. For this reason, Paul said that only the husbands of one wife could be elders and deacons. The reason the apostle said this word was to show that if a man had two wives, he could still be a believer, but he could not bear any responsibility in the church.

Furthermore, the sin of polygamy is different from other sins. There are two kinds of sin. One kind of sin can be restituted, the other cannot. The sin of polygamy cannot be restituted. For example, stolen items can be returned to their owner. But if you have married someone's daughter, you cannot return her. Therefore, if you want to send this woman away, you are telling her to be an adulteress. So it would be better if the husband bowed down under God's government and bore this responsibility.

In the Old Testament, David married Bathsheba. God did not tell David to separate from Bathsheba. Furthermore, she bore Solomon. Our Lord Jesus came out of her. Exodus 21:7-11 speaks of the position of a concubine. In this passage, the other wife refers to the proper wife, the maidservant is a concubine. The position God gives the concubine is that her food, her clothing, and her duty of marriage shall not be diminished.