When the Passions for the Harvest Dislodge the Hunger for God

Passion for the harvest without the hunger for the Lord of the harvest can have disastrous consequences; personally and collectively.  Many mission movements were birthed out of the hunger for God.   But the passion for mission eventually dislodged the hunger for God in these movements creating manmade/controlled/driven organizations and structures that valued political loyalty and financial security more than the foundation of the word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  The missionary era of the 19^th Century gave birth to a church still struggling to free itself from the shackles of spiritual colonialism.  The church growth movements of the 20^th century gave birth to a market driven spirituality of the mega-churches currently reeling under the quest for humanism and sensual pleasure promised by the prosperity preachers of success.

First Advent Sunday: Divine Interruptions Luke 1:5-25

Orthodox Disturbance: The State of Nepali Church at Present

Ever since Nathan, one of the precious friends we were able to meet while ministering in Korea, made the transition into Orthodox Church, my wife and I have been studying orthodoxy; have watched every available documentary in the internet about Mt. Athos, Meteora and the desert monks of the Coptic tradition.  The common thing that marks these monastic communities is their quest for purity from the evil that is within each of us.  Holy mountains of Athos, the roof top monasteries of Meteora, and the desert caves of saint Macarious have witnessed for centuries the tenacity of human spirit in overcoming unimaginable hardships and suffering of all kinds for the purpose of attaining purity, holiness, serenity and blessed union with Christ. 

Seasons and Rhythms of Life

There is time for everything, and life has a way of finding its own rhythm. God who created the time allows the seasons of life to play out His divine plan in a person's life. Just as he allows the time to take its own course of action in fulfilling his divine plans, he even allows the finite human beings to choose the course of action during the allotted time in this life. The nature of human beings is such that because we have this choice, we want to set our own clock, fix our own course of action and decide our own season without giving heed to the one who controls all. Because of this choice, life becomes a struggle when we give too much importance to the finite human will. A human being is free but not all powerful, s/he can only choose how s/he reacts to the seasons and rhythms of life, but s/he cannot change them. S/He can either choose to rejoice at the beauty of the fall season or be resentful of the falling leaves; s/he can either choose to dance with the rhythms of life or refuse to buzz, but s/he can change neither the season nor the rhythm of life. What happens outside of a person is not in one's control, but to some extent a person is in control of what happens inside of him/her.

Unity in Diversity Overcomes Adversity (1 Cor. 12:12-31)

Amazing power of the simple gospel

Real Story behind this dramatic narration.....

End of Human Pride

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Instant Success Attracts Imminent Fall

In developing nations, the prosperity gospel is attracting the preachers like a magnet.  I can only speak from the Indian sub-continental experience (though other parts of the world are not immune to it) where it has become a fashion for the upcoming and young preachers to preach instant success in such a way as if they want to outdo the “American Dream”.  Their sermons and social media interactions are filled with quotations and references from the Mega-Church Moguls and the Televangelist Tycoons; for them, the biblical texts become useful only for the footnotes.  Becoming rich and famous at any cost appears to be their ultimate goal in life; ministry provides them a noble mantle to hide their beguiling image.

रातोपाटी सेतोपाटी

रातोपाटी देखी सेतोपाटी र अन्य अनलाईन वा छापिएका पत्रिकाहरूमा बेलाबखत नेपालमा आर्थिक प्रलोभन देखाएर इसाईहरूले गैर-इसाईलाई धर्म परिवर्तन गराएको आरोपपुर्ण लेखहरू प्रकाशित हुन्छन्।  हुनत ती लेखहरू आफैमा (लेखकहरू) इसाई धर्मप्रति  अज्ञानता र पुर्वाग्रहका चरम उदाहरण हुन्।  तरैपनि यस्ता लेखहरू प्रकाशित हुनुमा इसाई नेत्रित्वको पनि भुमिका छ; पैसाको कारण कसैले पनि नेपालमा इसाई धर्म अपनाएको नहुनसक्छ तर निर्दोष र इमान्दार नेपालीले येशू ख्रीष्टलाई आफ्नो जीवनको मुक्तिदाता र गुरू बनाउने निर्णयको फाईदा कतिपय धुर्त इसाई अगुवाहरूले उठाएका छन्।

त्यसकारण, सम्पुर्ण नेपाली इसाईहरूलाई यस्ता लेखकहरूको अज्ञानता र पुर्वाग्रहको शिकार बनाउनुको सट्टा यी भ्रष्ट इसाई अगुवाहरूको गतिविधिहरूलाई प्रकाशमा ल्याउनसके असल पत्रकारीता र नेपाली इसाईत्वको विकास हुनेथियो।

नेपाली ख्रीष्टियन मिडियाका कम्जोर पक्षहरू

जसरी नेपालमा पास्टरको इज्जत छैन त्यसरीनै नेपाली सञ्चारकर्मिको वा माध्यमहरुको इज्जतमा पनि ह्रास आइसकेको जस्तो देखिन्छ। नेपालमा पास्टरहरुको इज्जत नहुनुमा अधिकांस पास्टरहरूकै दोष हो भन्दा खासै फरक नपर्ला।  परमेश्‍वरको बोलाहट र आफ्नो दक्षताको ख्यालै नगरी जसकसैले पनि रातारात नयाँ मण्डलीको सुरुवात गरेर मण्डलीलाई जिविकोपार्जनको माध्यम बनाउने प्रविर्तिले गर्दा नेपालमा पास्टरीय मर्यदामा दागलागे जस्तै नेपाली ख्रीष्टियन सञ्चार माध्यम र पत्रकार मित्रहरूको अवस्थापनि त्यस्तै देखिन्छ। 

बाँकि पढ्नको लागि क्लिक गर्नुहोस

Your Mind is a Vital Part of Your Spiritual Makeup

Albert Einstein said, “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination”.  Indeed, knowledge can be had, but it is the imagination that brings new ideas into existence resulting in new inventions.  Even Christian spiritual maturity depends on the transformation of the mind; failure to transform one’s mind means living as a carnal Christian.  For Paul, the mind set on the things of the flesh is death but the mind set on the things of the Spirit is life and joy (Romans 8). 

Learning from others' mistakes

Whether You Are A Thinking Person!

As a normal human being with a thinking brain inside your head, you may have ideological, philosophical, theological, methodological, and so on and so forth differences of opinions; you can attack and criticize the discourse you don't agree with.  Occasionally, you may be tempted to address the person behind the discourse.  But if the person behind the discourse becomes your primary target of attack and criticism, you have failed to demonstrate that you have the thinking capacity.

Are we afraid of positive thinking?

Whether we like it or not, there is tremendous power in positive mental attitude.  If we honestly examine the successful people in the world, religious or nonreligious, they all share one common trait; the positive mental attitude.  The forerunners of modern day positive mental attitude; people like Napoleon Hill, Vincent Peale, William Clement Stone, Robert Schuller and the likes have unequivocally attributed their inspiration for PMA to the teachings found in the Bible.  An American psychologist and philosopher of 19/20^th century, William James, said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes”.[1]  True to his discovery, the uncountable volumes of self-help books have come into existence from writers, philosophers and thinkers who recognized the power of human brain.  Equal numbers of people have helped themselves by applying the principles found in these books and teachings.

Pabitra Atmako Baptisma

Losing some to gain all

1 Corinthians 6:1-11
August 4, 2013

How to make your Pastor an effective preacher?

As I was reading through a pastor's blog, I came across one of his entries on effective preaching.  This pastor cites an unknown writer who gives an amazing plan to make his/her pastor an effective preacher....Please pay attention to this suggestion, especially if you are in the preaching domain......

Glamorous or Glorious Christians?

1 Corinthians 48-21

Not Judgmental but Faithful

July 7, 2013

Living Temple

Lessons from the pursuit of PhD - Part 2

Just as the graduation ceremony died down, and my wife and son were finished with taking pictures, questions began to flood my mind.  Was it worth the struggles and suffering I put my family through all these years?  Did this degree really change me in anyway?  Would I be different with or without it?  What have I really learned from this?  So on and so forth.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 Eternal Consequences

More than merely human (1 Cor. 3:1-9)

Knowledge that liberates

God is after your money, Right?

On June 12, 2013, Ravi Zacharias was speaking at RZIM's Summer Institute in the US and I was watching his live stream in Daejeon, Korea.  Ravi shared about how God weaves the threads of our lives to create a grand design for his glory.  From his own life experience, he gave the following story of how God works in ways that we can hardly understand;

Jerusalem in 3D

Power of God or the Pride of Man?

Lessons From a Peasant Family

A landless peasant couple decided to abandon their hard life in the countryside.  They moved to a small town where they rented a small shed on a piece of property next to a wealthy man's house.  It was a rundown shed but with little work, they were able to make their home.  They even made a small patio to enjoy the sun and the air.  They were woodcutters, and the only trade they knew was to fetch firewood from a nearest forest and sell it in the market.  Most people of that town used firewood for fuel; this provided the couple a stable means for their livelihood.

Authentic Self-Estimation - 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Daejeon Onnuri English Ministry: The Cross: power and wisdom of God. Contentment

Daejeon Onnuri English Ministry: The Cross: power and wisdom of God. Contentment: Lessons from a Peasant family A landless peasant couple decided to abandon their hard life in the countryside.  They moved to a small ...

Stop Worrying and Start Living

From How to stop worrying

By Dale Carnegie

Overcoming worry can bring a great change into our life. The following is a true story of Earl P. Haney of Manchester, Massachusetts, who on November 17, 1948 told it to Dale Carnegie.  Haney overcame an incurable disease because he chose to enjoy life instead of worrying about death.

Paul's Plea for Christian Unity - 1 Cor. 1:10-17

Where is your Cross? Luke 14:25-27

When Church Fails You

Being in the pastoral ministry for sometimes now, I and my wife have known and seen many potentially wonderful people walk out of the church, shutting the door behind them forever. Memories of these individuals, though as old as a quarter of a century, still remain fresh in our minds and at times wonder and wish that there was something we could have done better to avoid their departure from the church. Yes, in hindsight, we could have done something different. But then, we were young and inexperienced pioneering pastors struggling to raise a new church to stand on its feet. Like Paul to the Thessalonians and Corinthians, we never wanted to be a burden to the church and thus worked hard on many odd jobs, not only to provide for our family but also for the needs of the church such as paying rent and other utilities so that we could also present them the example of sacrificial service in God's kingdom. As indigenous church planters in a heathen society without any missions or supporters behind; it was a staggering task. But by choice, we took up the challenge of becoming bi-vocational pastors. Because of the bi-vocational nature of our ministry, we could not give as much time as we wished to the needs of many of the believers; yet the call of God for the pastoral ministry was so clear and we could not convince ourselves to abandon the church when we faced many difficult situations. The difficulties arising from the lack of finances, ill health and persecution were not as challenging as arising from a disgruntled church member. Whenever a church member demonstrated the traits of disgruntle, as inexperienced as we were, we would spend more time with such members, try to pray more, try to reason with and always hoped for a miracle that someday he/she would understand the grace of God in Christ Jesus. More often than not, we failed to convince such members to appreciate the grace of God; concepts like forgiveness, consideration, understanding, love and sacrifice failed to make sense. In our failures to minister to them, often we questioned our own intelligence thinking whether we are delusional in attempting to Pastor a people that does not contribute anything toward our welfare. Instead of the church taking care of our material needs, we had to work hard to meet the needs of the church and yet these members would manage to find reasons to complain and murmur about one thing or the other in the church. By serving the church freely, we thought the church members would see the kind of sacrifices we were making, the kind of unconditional love we demonstrated toward them by bringing them to Christ, being there with them in times of happiness and sorrow, and teaching them to become the kind of people God wants them to be. The Bible says that the one who labors for the gospel must eat from the gospel and the pastors and teachers of God's word are to be paid better. But we were doing it all freely and yet these church members always managed to find something wrong either with the church or with the leadership and decided to walk away from it. We hardly forget these members who have walked out of the church; a great sense of loss from all sides remains in our psyche. By God's grace, a few years ago, we were able to handover the leadership of this church to our fellow pastor, knowing that the church is now self-reliant, able to feed its shepherd and is birthing many new churches. 

Nearly four years ago, after we moved to Korea, we took over the leadership of our current International Church, and of course the church is not able to pay us the required pastoral salary and thus our bi-vocational nature of ministry continues. Just like in the past, it is our desire that some of our members would see the kind of commitment it requires to be a follower of Christ from our example. If we are followers of Christ, then, we are called to serve and not to be served; we are called to give than to receive. Our contract with the church is limited to our Sunday preaching and we can say "Why bother for Bible studies, counseling, visitation and so forth; just go for Sunday sermon because that is all the church requires of us". But no, we are called by God to minister regardless of whether we are paid for it or not. We are to lay down our lives for the cause of the kingdom of God and his people. When we see a fellow believer encouraged, a backslidden returned, a sinner saved as a result of our ministry; this becomes our greatest reward in this world. And, in fact, we are grateful to the Lord for the growth of our International Church and the commitment of many volunteers. We are grateful for our worship team, serving team, ushers and Sunday school teachers. All of them are doing what they do freely and for the cause of the kingdom of God. Many of them invest their own money, time and talents into what they do. Some of them have been doing it cheerfully for many many years. It is wonderful to see that from a handful of members, today we are numbering into many scores who join us every Sunday for worship and fellowship.

But along with the growth comes the challenge of practicing our Christianity. We have people from many nations, cultures and languages. There is going to be confusion, miscommunication and misunderstanding. With such diversity, an international church can have the greatest potential for either healing or hurting one another. Our spirituality is going to be tested severely. If we don't take our personal discipleship very seriously, we are going to find so many reasons to complain and murmur about our church, about our leaders, and about any and everything. If we allow our feelings to dictate our decision making process, its going to steal our joy and peace that God has freely given to us. It's going to rob us of the love of God that he poured in our hearts. And if we don't take preventative actions, we may eventually either walk away from the church or make others to leave the church altogether. 

Therefore, brothers and sisters, as a fellow believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I urge you to fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Listen to his words and consider the price of discipleship he has laid out for us to pay. Let us pick up our cross daily and let us ask God to pour out divine love in our hearts, let us ask God to give us the joy of the Holy Spirit, let us ask God to give us the peace that surpasses all our understanding. Let us ask God to give us patience, kindness, and goodness so that we can tolerate members who are difficult to deal with; love the unlovable. Let us ask God to give us faithfulness, meekness and self-control so that we continue to grow in the knowledge of God in bearing the fruit of the Spirit. 

We live in a broken world among the broken people and the church is also comprised of broken members. Although we hope for the church to behave better, let us not walk way from it just because some members demonstrate their brokenness. The church is still the body of Christ and as members of his body; let us do our part in healing and restoring even when people keep hurting us.

Apart from me you can do nothing - John 15:5

Cheerful or Painful Sermon?

Last Sunday after the sermon, a member of our church made a remark about my preaching that is still stuck to my mind; I wish to forget it but it does not go.  It has made me to be more fearful in how I preach.  Don't get me wrong, I am a human being and I like to hear something good rather than bad.  But at times an honest response is better than a good and pleasing one; the remark that is stuck to my mind was an honest one.

Being in the pastoral ministry from the teenage years, with a few improvements in some areas, preaching a sermon on every Sunday is still a fearful challenge.  This fearful challenge arises from the twofold realization of having the word from the Lord and then faithfully delivering it to his people; a timely word of the Lord to the hungry people of God, with all its ramifications and relevance, is a delicious delicacy in any given age and culture.  How I wish that the Lord would speak through me to each and every member who sits under my voice; he/she would return from that place edified, revived and filled with strength to live in this fallen world with faith and courage!  Such desire as a preacher always weighs heavily upon me, at times to a breaking point.  Even as I climb the steps towards the Pulpit, I keep breathing a silent prayer even though, for reasons unknown to me as of yet, I feel not so comfortable to pray publicly before I begin my sermon.    

But there is one thing I have overcome as a preacher; a visit to restroom before climbing up to the Pulpit.  For about until five years into the full time preaching ministry, the fear of public speaking would grip me so tight that I wished to be raptured just before the presider would call me to the Pulpit.  Since the wish to be raptured never came true, my stomach would give up!  The situation would be more compounded when invited to speak in a new place.  In such a scenario, my first priority used to be to locate the restroom and then calculate the timing for me to take the Pulpit.  Considering the living conditions in rural Nepal and India, finding a restroom in close proximity of the church itself used to be a lifesaver!  Once the location of the restroom is secured and you are seated inside the worship hall, the struggle proceeded to the next level.  Worship services in these places don't have the printed bulletins and the program sheets with the calculated precision of the allocated time; if they had, it would have given my stomach the luxury of telling me when to plan my trip to the restroom.  But you could never tell as how many songs, hymns and testimonies would be incorporated in the worship before your name is called.  The worship leader would have full freedom to do or say anything or even preach a whole sermon based upon the hymns just sung or about to be sung; all depended on how he/she felt led by the Holy Spirit.  And you add to that the supernatural manifestations; someone would either be filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to speak in tongues and prophesy or be filled with demonic spirits and roll on the floor, scream and cry.  In either case, the service would go one until the calm is restored or the demonic spirits have been exorcised.   The day I would not have to preach, I would be perfectly at home in a service like that; in fact, I would add to what seems to be a chaotic style of worship to a naturalist.  But the day I am supposed to preach, everything would change for me; I would be focusing on the worship leader and interpreting his/her moves and planning my trip to the restroom before my name is called.  Failing to visit the restroom would ruin the first 5 to 10 minutes of my sermon and I would make a fool of myself.

But it has now been over 15 years without the regular panic attacks of the fear of public speaking (there are occasions it returns).  The Lord has been gracious to take away that fear from me, but the fear that I have now is even greater than that.  It is the fear of failing to minister each and everyone who comes to the church seeking the word of the Lord.  I have heard/read great preachers say "you do your best and leave the rest to God".  It is a comforting thought.  But as a minister who is called upon to speak God's word to God's people, I wish that every single individual who comes to Church would return home knowing that one has heard God speak to.

Having such a prayer in my heart, the remark on Sunday compelled me to hear God before I speak and speak before people without fear.  The zest of the remark went like this "I used to attend an X church but the reason I came to this church is because the pastor in X church always preaches 'Cheerful' sermons but you preach 'Painful' sermons.  Even though I like cheerful sermons and your sermons hurt me, but life in this world is painful and your sermons provide me the inspiration to face the painful world with faith and courage".  The idea that sermons can be painful and yet provide the needed inspiration to face the painful world; I take it to be a great compliment for me!

 

The world is indeed painful.  There is evil in every side; suffering and life have become twin pillars of our existence in this fallen world.  That is why Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world".  Life giving message to a hurting world needs to be communicated through the channels that have the experience of what it is to suffer and overcome the suffering in this world.  It is possible that the "cheerful" sermons are born out of the comfortable life-style of the preachers; lack of experience of suffering in life makes us either a merry-go-round preachers or stiff-naked legalist devoid of love; attributing the lack of suffering in life as a reward for their religiosity; "if everyone would do what we did, there will be no suffering in life".  But the person who has travelled the road of suffering and experienced the shepherding hand of God through the valley of shadow of death will know the both spectrums of life; there is trouble in the world but the one who shepherds us has overcome this world and therefore we can overcome with him.  On the other hand, unless the preacher experienced the victorious hand of God in the suffering, there is also the danger of remaining in the painful state of mind and think that this world is not a place to hope for anything good.  Indeed, the good shepherd wants us to have life abundance in this world, and with Paul we ought to be able to say "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"!

So, I prefer a 'painful' sermon that gives me the inspiration to overcome the painful world than hear a "cheerful" sermon that sets me up for disappointments and discouragements in the real world. 

This world is so broken that self-help and 'cheerful' sermons can only take us to some extent, but to make life worth living in this world, we will need the power of God revealed in the gospel.  "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe"!  Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life".  If I have Christ, I have the power of resurrection and life even in this painful world and because he lives, I shall also live and live victoriously!   Therefore, whether the sermon is cheerful or painful, the most important thing is to have Christ in it!  

Easter Sunday - Hope Beyond the Grave

Bread Providing Nature of God

Deceitfulness of Riches

Do you want to be great in God's kingdom?

Living for God's Pleasure

Lessons from the Pursuit of PhD

Picture with the President

A desire for learning was installed in me when my elementary school promoted me to 3^rd grade from the 1^st without attending the 2^nd.  But life was not always a smooth sailing like that; through many ups and downs, I have finally come to the end of my formal schooling.  As the reality of my final graduation sinks in, I have begun to see how this journey for PhD has finally taught me lessons that should have been learnt many many years ago.  Three things stand out in my pursuit of PhD; they are 1) Theological Clarity, 2) Academic Affection, and 3) Character Refinement.

1.  Theological Clarity: My Christian beginning was complicated.  Before meeting any Christians and reading the Bible myself, a small gospel booklet had convinced me to follow Christ.  Eventually I came in contact with a Christian group that was strongly influenced by the Baptist cessationism.  My water baptism took place in India, in a church associated with Church of North India, an Episcopalian body.  While fellowshipping with the Baptistic church after my baptism in India, God rocked my Christian world.  In one fateful day, I attended a worship service in a different church in Dhangadi; the speaker that day was from Sri Lanka, Dr. David Balasingh.  He talked about being baptized in the Holy Spirit, the subject that I had been constantly struggling ever since I took water baptism.  I had asked my Baptistic friends as when one should be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  They had no clear answers.  But this preacher was so convinced that unless you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, you cannot be effective witness of the Lord.  After the service, I tried to ask him more about this subject through his interpreter Basant Prakash Bhaikaji (Shrestha).  But there was not much said, all Dr. Balasingh said was, "if you want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, go and read book of Acts chapters 2, 4, 8, 10, and 19."  I wrote those references at the back of my Bible and went back.  Throughout the week I had forgotten about what he told me, but on Friday night, as I began to prepare for the Saturday service, I remembered what he had said on the preceding Saturday in that little church by the river, across from the Muslim cemetery, through his interpreter.  At about 10:30 PM, I picked up my Bible, read until chapter 8 and didn't find anything special.  By the time I began chapter 10, I was feeling sleepy; closing the Bible, I started to pray in my rented room.  I remember saying to God "God, I don't know anything about this thing called baptism in the Holy Spirit, but if there is anything that you have for me and I haven't received it, please give me.  I want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit."  No sooner I had finished such a prayer, something amazing happened, my hands went up, my voice rose and I continued to pray the same thing but in a bolder and louder voice.  Unaware of the time I spent in prayer, I found myself fallen on bed, lying on my back, hands lifted up and speaking in a kind of language I had never heard.  At times I would feel as if my body was being lifted, at times I would feel as if my vocal cord was so enlarged that I could not close it any more to stop me from speaking.  A great sense of joy flooded my heart and I disturbed the whole neighborhood; dogs barking and people knocking on my door and windows.  To make the matter worse, the pastor of the Baptist church that I was belonging to was there (I had no idea that it had been hours since I disturbed the neighbors).  Following that experience, the Baptist church gave me two options; either to recant my experience and stop speaking in tongues or be excommunicated.  They asked one of their most senior ministers to counsel me.  I remember this brother willing to hold my feet in urging me to stop speaking in tongues.  He convinced me that it was from the devil and I was being deceived.  Knowing his theological and ministerial credential, I was worried if I had been truly deceived or was being possessed by an evil spirit.  So to appease these brothers, I decided to stop speaking in tongues in front of them.  I remember biting my tongues while worshiping God with them.  I knew I was not possessed by an evil Spirit, I knew the experience I had was so amazing; it was a life-transforming experience.  But I didn’t want to be excommunicated; I needed to belong to this Christian group.  Unfortunately, I could not hide my experience and eventually I was expelled from that church.  Once out of the Baptist church, I decided to attend the church where I heard Dr. Balasingh speak first.  This fellowship belonged to Assemblies of God denomination; one of the prominent Pentecostal denominations.  Through this fellowship, I was recommended to attend Southern Asia Bible College from where I completed my four years Bachelor of Theology.  Returning to Nepal, I decided not to join the Assemblies of God but to remain as an indigenous minister of the gospel without any former affiliation.  Later, got the opportunity to study in a Presbyterian seminary for my M.Div.  Experience in this seminary convinced me for the need to be ordained as a minister and decided to receive the ordination under the Presbyterian Church.  In this seminary, I understood the value of theological reflection instead of depending on my theological sentiment.  Up until that time, my theological worldview was shaped by my experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit.  I found reading the book of Acts so comforting and inspiring.  But when I read the other portion of the New Testament, I did not feel the same kind of affinity with my experience of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  To make the matters worse, Cessationist interpretation of the book of Acts became a formidable hurdle for me to overcome.  Even the Pentecostal sympathizers like James Dunn and others have left no stone unturned to debunk the Pentecostal interpretation of the book of Acts and their doctrine of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  As I turned to my Pentecostal cousins to see if they could help me stand up against this onslaught of Evangelical opposition to my experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, I chose Gordon Fee, who is by bar the most prolific Pentecostal theologian of our time.  To my dismay, I found Fee to have accepted James Dunn's position when it comes to receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit after conversion.  Even those Pentecostals who claim to have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit have concluded that the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit subsequent to conversion cannot be sustained from any other New Testament books apart from the book of Acts.  So, it appeared to me that Pentecostals are willing to divide the New Testament understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in two parts; Luke standing for the baptism in the Holy Spirit subsequent to conversion while Paul and the rest opposing Luke's view by claiming that one receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit in conversion.  Such a division I cannot comprehend; Holy Spirit cannot be saying two contradictory things at the same time.  Either Luke is right or Paul is right; or we have not understood both of their understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit.  With such a dilemma at hand, I have to make up my mind as where I stand in this debate.  Should I stand with Luke or Paul?  I decided that I should not choose between one and the other; I want to see what Paul had to say about my experience.  With Luke I had no quarrels, but it was Paul who appeared to be contradicting what I experienced.  But when I looked at Paul's experience I have found my peace of mind; I have found my theological conviction and that is; there is no disagreement between Paul and Luke.  But to come to this conclusion is not an easy task.  The traditional understanding of justification and regeneration had to be looked at from a new angle; an angle that is prone to come under severe attack.  In the protestant and catholic traditions, salvation is attributed to the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is believed to be the one who brings a person to faith in Christ.  In these traditions it is believed that the Holy Spirit comes in the hearts of the sinners before Christ comes in.  But by looking at Pauline letters, we found that salvation takes place when one hears the gospel.  The gospel proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit has the power to create faith in the hearts of the listeners.  Just as in the beginning God created everything by his word, now the new life is also created by the word of the gospel.  When a sinner hears the gospel with the intention of receiving it; the gospel recreates faith in the human heart and a new human spirit created.  At the point of regeneration, a human spirit is created; it is not the Holy Spirit coming and living in the sinner as it is thought in the evangelical theology.  The Holy Spirit comes to the sinner only after the sinner has been recreated by the power of the gospel.  In all of Pauline discussion of salvation it is faith in the gospel that saves a sinner and not the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is not the agent of creation; God in Christ through the gospel creates new life in human heart and then imparts the Holy Spirit as his presence.  Even John and Peter agree with Paul that the new birth is the result of God's word.  Once the new creation comes into existence by the power of the gospel, then God comes to dwell in that creation through the coming of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is not the life creating agent, but the life-sustaining agent.  If this is the case, then I can fully rest assure my struggle of reconciling my experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit with Paul.  Paul was a man who himself went through this experience.  Writing a PhD thesis from Pauline writing has given me a theological clarity which I had struggled for so many years.  But this is not the end of my struggle of course, it is just the beginning.  I will have to work hard to see how Pauline understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit provides me the basis for my understanding of the baptism in the Holy Spirit subsequent to conversion.  I no longer have to be afraid of Paul, rather, in Paul, I see my own experience.   In the next posts, I will list the other two lesions; 

1. Academic Affection
2. Character Refinement

Living for God's Pleasure

Living for God's Pleasure (English+Korean)

"The Blood of the Martyrs is the Seed of Prosperity"

Aside the American involvement in Korean War, a few people in the world knew about South Korea.  Even the industrial revolution of 70s and 80s failed to introduce "South" Korea to the rest of the world because almost all exported merchandise was marked "Made in Korea", implying that there was only one Korea, the communist Korea.  Probably the dictatorial governments in both the nations for a long period of time made it difficult to separate one from the other.  A prominent Korean missiologist, Dr. Jun Ho Jin, often used to joke with us in our seminary days about the place of South Korea in the world.  In the early 1990s, he was invited to minister in Eastern Europe; his host came to receive him with a Hyundai car.  Excited to see a brand from his country, Dr. Jun excitedly complimented "You have a nice car!"  With great pleasure and excitement, the host replied, "Yes, Sir, the North Korean cars are great!  Do you know they have a car building company called Hyundai?" 

My own revelation of South Korea came only after the 88 Seoul Olympics.  Until then, I had the similar assumption that all the merchandise marked "Made in Korea" came from North because South was just a breakaway part waiting to be united with the rest.

Same thing can be said about the church in Korea; especially the presence of numerous mega-churches in South Korea clouds our vision of reality in such a way that we think anything from Korea is super spiritual because people like David Younggi Cho are born there--because a one time poor nation became an industrial miracle in a short span of 20 years.  Surely God was blessing the Korean people with material blessings in response to their spiritual hunger and the price they paid for believing in Jesus Christ.  The breakneck speed of industrial development under the strong dictatorial rule of President Park Chung Hee was so spiritualized that it was considered to be God's reward for the Christians' spiritual excellence and prayer.  The Tertullian proverb "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church" was almost replaced in Korean psyche as "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of economic progress".  During that economic boom, millions of Koreans joined the church and in no time Korea became the second largest missionary sending nation in the world. 

Unfortunately after the Asian economic crisis the growth of the church went in the reverse gear; the protestant church has since experienced a steady decline and if the trend does not change, in 20 to 30 years, these mega-churches might look like the senior citizen's asylums.  In the mission fronts; Korea still has about 20 thousand missionaries around the world, but compared to their numbers, the positive impact is yet to be felt in many of these nations where they work.  Rather a disturbing fact concerning the relational difficulties with the native Christians continues to follow the Korean missionaries; particularly in the developing nations.  Interestingly, the Catholics on the other hand are doing very well; they have experienced steady growth after the economic crisis and the non-Christian Korean population is rather willing to give them the benefit of doubt.  Missionary like Father Lee Tae Seok who gave his heart for Sudan is revered by the Catholics and non-Catholic Koreans alike. 

The decline of Protestant church at home and the relatively spineless impact of Korean missionaries abroad signal to a symptomatic problem within the protestant communities.  And the crux of the matter might have to be with the Tertullian proverb.  "The blood of the martyrs" is surely the seed of the church; it cannot be the seed of economic development.  But in my estimation, the protestant church in Korea, subconsciously, has made a fatal mistake by believing that the economic progress was somehow God's reward for their spirituality.  The Christian martyrs who gave their lives in this nation stood to lift up the Cross of Christ and taught their fellow believers to carry the cross daily.  However, though the Korean landscape today is filled with the high-rise church steeples and crosses, if a martyr from the 19^th or 20^th century had to visit, he/she would be terribly disappointed to see them far removed from the everyday life of Korean Christians; in fact the currency has replaced the cross.  Churches have become like gigantic corporations and companies who only care about the number of people and amount of money collected on Sundays.  Fulfilling the founding/Senior Pastor's dream of becoming a mega-pastor by either expanding his mission work/television network/books or a building project becomes the primary objective of the local church's existence.  In a church like this, so many innocent Christians are used, abused and abandoned after their usefulness is exhausted and no wonder the church is declining; survival of these mega-churches is now depending on the death of the smaller churches.  There is a marketing strategy of self-help gospel preached from these mega-pulpits as bait by demonstrating how the senior pastor has succeeded by applying those principles.  The lure of the currency of comfort more than the cross of Christ attracts these members from the smaller churches.  Every month, hundreds of smaller churches are shutting their door for Sunday worship because the bigger church in the city functions like a modern mall. 

I am afraid that the Cross of Christ has ceased to be the moral and the spiritual compass for the Korean Christianity; the cross has been safely kept on top of the church building so that Christians don't have to carry it daily.  In the mission field; thousands of missionaries fly out of Korea every year with great ambitions but very few last in the mission field more than three years.  Those who remain in the mission field find their heart become increasingly negative towards the very people they thought were gong to offer their lives for.  The hierarchical and class mentality becomes their biggest obstacle in respecting the local people who are poorer and lower compared to the missionaries; Korean tradition, culture and language tell that you cannot respect a person who appears to be lower than you.  To make the matter more complicated, Korea's economic development becomes the starting point in sharing the gospel; and this raises the false hope in the hearts of the impoverished seekers.  Eventually through various ways, the local people hope in the missionary to meet their material needs rather than trusting God for their salvation from sin.  But for the number and success oriented missionary, it does not matter how the local people understand the gospel so long as they come and he has some good report to send back to his donors.  Thus, the protestant church in Korea and its missionaries are still trying to convince the world that the "blood of the martyrs is the seed of economic development". 

Nevertheless, the blood of the martyrs will not go in vain.  Even though the cross of Christ is now relegated to the roof tops, it will stand tall and continue to pierce the Korean hearts so that they will experience the true life in Christ; so that the church won't have to stop growing when some economic crises comes upon.  Every time I drive through the countryside and come across an empty village church with its cross on top, my heart simply breaks in knowing that at one time there were men and women, boys and girls, who made that ground holy by their steadfast faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by their willingness to carry their cross even to the point of being martyred for their faith.  There is so much holy blood of the saints spilled in this land and God will not allow the god of materialism silence that seed which Tertullian talked about.  I believe a new generation of Korean saints carrying the cross of Christ will rise up to dislodge the currency driven mega-churches and pastors.  I believe a new generations of Father Lee Tae Seok will rise up to re-define the Korean missions instead of allowing the donation hunting missionaries destroy Korea's image of a nation where so much holy blood had been spilled for the cross of Christ.  May be the Cross of Christ is left on the roof top for the time being, but even there, it will stand tall and God will draw his people to himself!

Nepali videocast

जीवनमा आशिष् र श्रापको रहस्य (भिडियो सन्देस)

Why Should We Pray?

No Margin for Error

विनाविस्वास परमेश्‍वरलाई रिझाउन असम्भव छ

Eureka! Have you got what you are looking for?

In every culture, we all remember as little kids playing "hide and seek".  Being able to locate the hidden member brought a sense of wonder and immense pleasure to the heart of the seeker, and the game continued without getting tired of doing it all over again.  As a father, I used to play this game with my son from the time he was a toddler; every time he found me under the blanket or behind the door, he would laugh his heart out; I could see a great sense of joy in finding what he was looking for.  I wish life was as simple as like that toddler finding his half hidden father behind the door or under the blanket so that, as often as possible, we would throw our hands up in the air and laugh our hearts out with a sense of accomplishment in finding what we were looking for.  The game of "seeking" continues in the adult life; even though we often do not know what or who we are looking for.  Some of us spend a life-time of seeking and still remain empty-handed, disappointed but unwilling to end the game, knowing that there lies an elusive object of our search in which we peg our hopes of finding happiness and final accomplishment. 

When I first read the New Testament, the first verse that stuck to my mind was Matthew 7:7 in which Jesus says "seek and ye shall find".  I was 17 and nearly all my conscious life up until that time, I had spent in seeking something.  I remember seeking it in the Hindu Holy books, in the temples, in the holy places in India, and in the starry night sky of my remote part of Nepal where you could count the stars; they felt so close and so real as if a voice from them would bring me the answer to my deepest longing - who am I, where have I come from, why am I here, and what is my end?  These were not philosophical questions of a person who had become weary of life; these were existential questions of a boy who never knew his parents until the age of 11; these were questions ingrained in my psyche from the day I became conscious of my existence.  But by 17, I had decided to end my quest; I was ready to end the game, but something kept me alive, a something that Tolstoy also did not know as why he did not end his life;

I was happy, yet I hid away a cord to avoid being tempted to hang myself by it to one of the pegs between the cupboards of my study where I undressed alone every evening, and ceased carrying a gun because it offered too easy a way of getting rid of life.  I knew not what I wanted, I was afraid of life; I shrank from it, and yet there was something I hoped for from life. 

At the age of 18, Tolstoy became skeptical of everything he learnt as a Christian. In his Confession he says; “Every time I tried to display my innermost desires-a wish to be morally good-I was met with contempt and scorn, and as soon as I gave in to base desires I was praised and encouraged.” Tolstoy gave in to all kinds of immoral life.  The more immoral and filthy he became, the more people around him gave him the company and praised him.  Such an irrational praise of an immoral person finally got to him and began to suspect the very kind of life he was living; he found his soul within himself protesting the kind of company he was in and the kind of life he was living.  This inner quest for truth and meaning hunted him so much that he began to envy the peasants whose lives were filled with all kinds of hardships and sorrows but they lived life without fear; to them, life was not wearisome whereas the rich and famous found no meaning in life.  For the peasants, when time came for them to leave this world, they would do it with tranquility and an assurance of surety that Tolstoy could not comprehend.  Eventually, he discovered the reason for such a tranquil life of the peasants compared to the strife ridden life of the counts and noblemen; the difference was, the peasants had faith in God whereas the rich and the famous believed in themselves or in their wealth and power.  That was the turning point for this man whose last audible words are believed to be "To seek, always to seek".  Ever since he came to his senses, biblically speaking, he lived his life with the quest of seeking the "Kingdom of God within".  His view of God and Bible were not accepted by the church; and duly got excommunicated, but he was a man who spent his life searching this God without whom he said, it is not possible for human to live.  In the Kingdom of God is Within You, he says;

Let a man only understand his life as Christianity teaches him to understand it, let him understand, that is, that his life belongs to not to him--not to his own individuality, nor to his family, nor to the state--but to him who has sent him into the world, and let him once understand that he must therefore fulfill not the law of his own individuality, nor his family, nor of the state, but the infinite law of him from whom he has come; and he will not only feel himself absolutely free from every human power, but will even cease to regard such power as at all able to hamper anyone.

After seeking power and passion throughout the better part of his life; Tolstoy finally found what he was looking for.  At the age of 82, he renounced the material life and the strife ridden family behind and went on a quest for solitude so that he would be united with the one he had finally found.  And in so a fitting way, after two months of leaving home, his earthly journey came to an end in a rural railway station. 

When I first read Matthew 7:7, again it ignited in me a desire to seek that which I didn't know, and coming to the gospel of Luke 15, I began to see a different Jesus; a Jesus who was seeking me all along the way.  Finding me was his greatest joy that he would call the angels in heaven to join him in celebration!  Such a revelation of Jesus brought me to tears and finally to my knees; he made his way into my barren heart, filled me with his love and compassion so deep that all my questing came to a grinding halt.  Like a little toddler, I laughed alone in the jungle where I had gone to surrender my life to Christ; like Archimedes running out of the bath tub naked into the streets of Syracuse, I wanted to jump in the streets of Dhangadi shouting "Eureka", but decided to keep it all in my heart and chose to talk to the trees about my new found life in Christ.  After several months of excitement, I finally mustered my faith to tell about this Jesus to my co-teachers and students of the school where I was teaching and rightly was expelled from that school for doing that.  Losing that job was no big deal, this was one of the greatest discoveries of my life and I had to tell it to as many as I could!   Only after I found him did I know that all along I was looking for him and him alone because nothing else could have satisfied me so fully and so completely.  It is now almost 30 years and the excitement has only increased; nothing excites me more than telling to People who Jesus is and what he can do for them.

Looking at people's life today, I see in their faces a similar kind of quest.  They hide their quest behind humor, knowledge, wealth, fame, power and pure absurdities; but the inner quest goes on.  Like Tolstoy, they think that having power and fulfilling their passions would somehow bring fulfillment but they find, as he found, that this only makes them emptier.  In the most lonesome moment of life, there is no one or nothing on which they can lean and like many, including Tolstoy, they would be tempted to look for the rope or a gun; and some manage to do it anyway.  But for those of us who have managed to survive, we can testify from experience and revelation that there is no hope apart from Christ.   Therefore, as the prophet Isaiah said, "Seek him while he may be found"; it is my desire that the reader would turn to Jesus and find what life really is.  There may come a time when it will be impossible to seek him and thereby forfeit this amazing life. But so long as you are alive, it is time to seek him if you have not found.

However, seeking does not come to an end in a different sense; in the sense in which Tolstoy went to seek at the age of 82; not because he had not found but because he had found the one he was looking for.  This is the kind of seeking Jesus meant in Matthew 6:33; it’s a seeking in which we discover what life in Christ is really like; it is the kind of life that is absolutely free; free from the control of any power or the properties of this world; "You will know the truth and truth will set you free"!

Why and What Should We Pray For?

A Choice with no margin for Error (27/01/13)

A Christian with Un-Confessed Sin??

Can a Christian ever claim that he/she has no sin?  Or the better question would be; can a born again Christian in right mind sin and not repent?  The answer appears to  be obvious; a Christian can not claim to be sinless in or by himself/herself and neither can a genuine Christian remain unrepentant in case of moral failures.  A born again believer, if falls in sin (moral, ethical or religious), will stand before God with a broken and contrite spirit, pleading the blood of Christ that was shed for the remission of sins once and for all.  In fact, When a a believer realizes that he/she has violated God's commandment of love, will look to the heavens and thank God for sending Jesus Christ as the substitutionary atoning sacrifice on his/her behalf so that the wrath of God could be averted in the events of such failures.  Therefore, a genuine Christian will not live in a state of un-confessed sins even for a moment.

But the problem arises when we read 1 John 1:8-9 where John implies that there is such a possibility of a Christian not confessing sin.  There is no doubt John was writing to the Christians and in his writing, he supposes this possibility.  He says; 

^"8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us."

The conditional clause "if we claim, if we confess" implies the existence of the opposite "if we don't claim, if we don't confess".  John thinks that Christians can deny sin and make themselves liars by refusing to confess the existing sin.  The question then arises; what kind of Christian is John thinking about when he writes this passage?  How can a genuine Christian not confess one's sin?

The answer lies in the kind of sin John is talking about.  In 1:5-7 John says;

"⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."  

The un-confessed sin has to do with walking in darkness.  It seems that a Christian can claim to be walking in the light while still being in darkness.  There appears to be some kind of deception or the believer's inability to distinguish between darkness and light.  How could this be?  John answers this by connecting "confessing sin" and "having fellowship with one another".  In both cases, the result is the forgiveness of sins and truthfulness.   So, if we are walking in the light, we will confess our sins and remain in fellowship with fellow believers.  But if we walk in the darkness, then, we will not confess our sins and will not be in fellowship with one another.  Then, the next question is, what is walking in the darkness?  John answers this in 2:9-11;

^"9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.¹⁰ Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. ¹¹ But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them."

Now we can see what walking in darkness means; it is as if walking with eyes closed.  A blind person cannot differentiate between the light and the darkness.  There seems to be the possibility of blind Christians refusing to confess sin and live in immorality while claiming the opposite.  According to John, the cause of such a blindness is hatred towards fellow human beings.  Especially the hatred of fellow believers in the church.  Once a Christian entertains hatred in the heart, he or she loses the ability to see the light; which means, loses the ability to confess one's sins and live in fellowship with fellow believers.  It is in this state that we hear about great preachers living in immorality and still pretending as if everything is all right; if the root of their immorality is traced, it will inevitably lead to a broken relationship from where the slide in immorality began.

Such a believer not only loses the fellowship with others, if not dealt in time and manner, he/she also loses fellowship with God "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (4:8); receives no rest in the heart, no confidence before God and thus no answers for the prayers (3:19-24).  In fact, a Christian with hatred in the heart has the possibility of losing life "Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him" (3:15).

Now, hate may be a strong word for many Christians; many will think that they don't hate anyone.  But hate can begin with a small resentment, a small dislike, a small disagreement.  These things if not dealt in time, will gradually climb the ladder of hatred and blind the believer in such a way that he/she may never be able to see the sin of hating someone.  Hatred also may have a legitimate beginning; one may be an innocent victim of the other people's actions.  One may have suffered with no fault of own.  Whether it begins with a small dislike or a tragic offence committed against, hatred has such a blinding effect that even when we stand before God, we think we are "RIGHT" to feel that way.  We think it is the fault of the Other person and not ours.  It becomes like the plank in our eyes (Matt.7:5) while blaming the other for the offense committed.  We refuse to confess either to God or to the one who we hate.  When a Christian falls victim to such a blindness, his or her life generally deteriorates.  Prayers are not answered, health fails and relationship continue to go sour; joy of life flies out of the window.  Christian life becomes a miserable journey.

On the other hand, John tells us that if we confess our sin and walk in the light we have fellowship with one another and we live in the truth; we know God, we have clear conscience, we have confidence before God, and our prayers are answered because we forgive those who offend us and pray for those who persecute us instead of hating them.  We are dead to what people do to us but alive to what God does to us.

That is why John has taken a great pain to remind us of this danger and he asks us to fulfill the commandment of love instead of being blind and live in sin.  In 3:21-24 John says;

^"21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²² and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ²⁴ The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."

In order to live a forgiven life before God and a harmonious life with fellow brothers and sisters in this world, John reminds us two commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ himself;  1) believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 6:29), and 2) love one another (John 15:12).  If we obey these two commandments, there is very less chance of a believer committing sin and if in case one does commit sin, there is no possibility of remaining in sin without confessing it.  If this is accepted with whole heart, we become the temple of God; God dwells in us "greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world" (4:4); God hears our prayers and our heart's desires are fulfilled; life becomes a joyful journey!

Let us therefore, confess our sins of pride and hate and be healed and helped in our life here on earth.  Let us walk in the light as he is in light!!

Never Ending Adventure

It has taken me a long time to put fingers to the keyboard for this blog in a personal way.  Xanga was my companion for the early years of my blogging experience but for some reason, I fell out of love with Xanga and along with that, other things in life caught up with me and the regular writing flew out of the window.

Now, I am coming towards a place in life where I can afford to spend some time before the computer and allow my heart to reach out to those I love and also to those who I may never know in this life.

Life is an adventure and it never ceases to surprise me.  Each passing year leaves behind so many memories and treasures to cherish while the new year stands in a distance smiling mischievously; asking me to come and find out what my father in heaven has lovingly prepared for my arrival.  Something wonderful lies beyond the horizon and it is my joy to pursue the course that will eventually make my adventure a blessed accomplishment and a reservoir of strength and vitality for the remainder of the journey.

I am so grateful to the father in heaven who has blessed me with so many friends and a platform from which I can reach out to many more.  There are many of my countrymen and women who are laboring in foreign lands as immigrants and migrant workers; and Internet provides me the medium to speak to them the words of hope and comfort.  I am grateful for the response I have received for the Nepali and English Video blogs.  I am excited to see what this new year brings in my life, family and ministry!

When God's Kingdom is Your Priority, You become God's Priority