The Law Of Sowing And Reaping II

7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Galatians 6:7 (NIV)

This is a revision on one of the basic Bible principles. I am sure the above verse is quite familiar even among those who attend religious churches. This is where the phase “you reap what you sow” comes from.

However, most people use it in a negative way. All you have to do is to approach a Christian who attend any religious church and ask on the meaning of this verse. You will get a very negative answer. In case some may wonder how to classify any church as religious, I have a very simple way. Find out whether that church will ever be accused of preaching prosperity gospel. If the answer is “no” then it is definitely religious.

In this article, I am going to look into the Law Of Sowing And Reaping again as shown in the above verse. The writer began with warning his audience on not to be deceived. This implies that the recipients were deceived. There must be theologians in the church who spread the heresy that the Law Of Sowing And Reaping doesn’t work. The writer wrote in to expose such lie.

He went on to say that God cannot be mocked. This means the denial of the Law Of Sowing And Reaping is a mockery to God. So, if there are any well-intentioned Christians who tell you this law will never work, they are in reality mocking God.

Next, the writer affirmed on the law itself: A man reaps what he sows.

This is what I call the Law Of Sowing And Reaping. I am going to show you more details on this law and how to use it to get anything you want.

It must be put to work.
It is essential to believe that this law exists and always works. It is a natural law like the law of gravity. The Law Of Sowing And Reaping has the power to give us anything we want. It can give us abundant riches, good health, long life, successful career and any other good things God wants us to have. Believing in it is the first step we need to do.

However, believing along cannot make us rich. We need to put it to work by sowing something. If you do not sow, you will never reap the harvest. This is where works meet faith. This is what “faith without works is dead” really means. Start sowing.

Ask yourself what type of harvest do you want to reap. The sow the same type of seed.

The seeds must grow in the right environment.
Any farmer who knows his trade can tell us that we must create the right environment for the seed to grow in order to reap a huge harvest. In this regard, there are 2 issues that we must keep in mind in order for our seeds to grow until they can produce harvest – faith and tithe.

Apart from sowing, we need to water the seeds sown with faith. We need to think and talk positive.

1. Think and talk riches, not poverty.
2. Think and talk health, not sickness.
3. Think and talk success, not failure.

In other words, we need to exercise full control over our thoughts and speech. There may be many things out there that we cannot directly control. However that does not include what we choose to think and speak. God has given the complete control over our minds and tongues for a reason. The reason is our thoughts and confessions can create the world we want.

If you think and talk negative, you will live in a negative world. However, if you think and talk positive, you will live in a positive world. This is the system God has created. Our role is to take advantage of it to make our seeds grown into a huge harvest.

The other way to create the right environment is through tithing.

10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty.
12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.
Malachi 3:10-12 (NIV)

I have written a separate article on this topic at
(https://cheee.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/open-the-floodgates-of-heaven/)

We can sow ourselves out of every trouble.
The Bible has examples of people sowing their way out of their troubles. In 1 Kings 17, God sent Elijah to help a poor widow in famine. (https://cheee.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/a-rich-widow-in-a-poor-country/)

Elijah only did one thing. He told the widow to make some bread for him with her last handful of flour and a little oil at the bottom of the jar. He got her to sow her last food and she obeyed. As a result, she received an endless supply of flour and olive oil until the end of famine. She did not have to starve anymore. She had an abundance of food in the midst of famine.

Do you understand why this woman only received flour and oil? She only sowed these 2 items. Why did she not receive any gold? She did not sow any gold. Does this mean she did not get rich? This woman had a unlimited supply of flour and oil during famine. In a famine, any food like flour and oil can fetch very high prices. She could easily use her flour and oil to buy over all her neighbours’ land and become a real estate or a farming tycoon.

The message of this story is we can sow our way out of every trouble. If you have a money problem, sow the little money you have. If you don’t have a single cent, you can sow you prayer time or offer services to the people around you. You will receive a harvest of a lot of money coming your way. If you are sick, you can sow health. Help others to get healthy and you will receive a harvest of health.

Conclusion.
The Law Of Sowing And Reaping was created by God to help us to get anything we want. Our role is to put it to work.

Sanctified By The Truth

17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:17 (NIV)

The above is a part of Jesus’ prayers for believers before he faced the Cross. We can also say that this is his wish for all Christians. Jesus wished for all believers to be sanctified but the truth. What does it mean? If you have been attended religious churches, you would have been misled into thinking the word “sanctify” as some sort of ritual. The truth is, it is not. To sanctify is simply to improve, up-grade or become better. Jesus prayed for us Christians to improve ourselves in the truth.

What then is the truth? The second part of the verse says God’s word is the truth. The Bible (which is God’s word) is truth. Please note that Jesus did not say the world we can see around us is the truth. He said God’s word is truth. Why is that so? What happens around the world do not always conform with what the Bible says. Our role as believers is to believe and act as though the Bible is true even if the world around us tells us the opposite. This is called faith.

When I first started this blog, I was so naïve that I thought I could convince the religious Christians that the Gospel of Jesus Christ includes the blessing of material wealth and physical health by quoting Bible verses to them. Now, I know it was a futile attempt. No matter how many Bible verses they can read, they can only think of the following:
1. Isolated verses that imply God loves poverty and sickness after some creative interpretations.
2. The existence of Christians who are currently poor and sick.

In other words, those religious Christians who have been poisoned by the lies of theology can only see the negative events as truth and not the Bible. In their minds, as long as one Christian is sick or poor, then God’s promises of health and wealth are no longer valid. They will proceed to help to save God’s face by changing the meanings of the Bible to fit their negative views such as, sometimes it is the will of God to make believers poor and sick to show them his love.

I dare you to test this out yourself. Try to quote Bible verses that promise health or wealth to Christians who attend religious churches. I can tell how they will respond. They will either give you different meanings to the verses you have quoted or they will say, “Yes, but.” And followed by examples of Christians who are poor and sick both in the Bible and the real world.

I put up the above to show that most Christians have stopped believing Bible as the truth. In their minds, the world is the truth and meanings of the Bible must be changed to conform to the world around them. They are no longer sanctified with the truth. Not only that, they are quick to persecute us (Christians who are sanctified with the truth) with labels like “prosperity gospel” as though we have believed in a different gospel.

The real issue here is what is your choice? What is the source of your truth? The world around you, or the Bible? If you choose the world as your source of truth, your life can never be stable, let alone be prosperous. The economy can go up and down. Rich and powerful banks and insurance company can go bankrupt. Plagues had happened and may continue to happen. Terrorists can bomb anywhere and at anytime. How are you going to live in such an unreliable world?

I truly sympathize with people like that. As for me, I refuse to be in their situation. I choose to believe in the Word of God. I choose to be sanctified with the truth that is found in the Bible. I am convinced that the greatest will of my God is for me to prosper and be in health as my soul prospers.

I can see myself having a lot of money and live like a king even in the worst economy. I can see myself living in great health even in the worst plague. My desire is to prosper in every area in my life and I will achieve them because I know who is on my side. I believe I will triumph over every trouble and cast every mountain that stands in my way to the sea because I am sanctified with the truth in God’s Word.

In the above paragraph, I refer only to myself because I can only decide for myself. I cannot decide for you. You have to decide for yourself. Are you willing to be sanctified with the truth in God’s Word?

Lamp To My Feet And Light For My Path.

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

The above verse tells us both the function and the limitation of the Word of God. You can find verses of similar message throughout the Bible. It basically tells us that God created the Scriptures to serve us like lamps producing light for us to see our path. The term “light” refers specifically to understanding and insight on the things around us. Without light, we will be at the mercy of superstitions from the theologians.

History is full of examples on how theologians oppress the public by taking advantage of their ignorance. Wherever disasters like earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions and plagues happened, the theologians will always say there were the judgement of God for our sins. So, in order to avoid more sufferings, we will have to obey the theologians and give them all the money they demand. This is how theologians not only survived but they thrived as parasites to this day.

Thank God for his light. The Bible tells us the truth about God. All our sins (past, present and future) had been judged and punished in the body of Jesus at the Cross of Calvary. Since, then our sins cannot be judged anymore. This tells us that the earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions and plagues can never be the judgement of God.

Not only that, the release of the Bible has resulted in the birth of modern science. Science has also confirmed the truth of the Bible that those disasters have nothing to do with the judgement of God. However, this does not stop some crackpots in prophesying the judgement of God each time a disaster happen. The real joke is, there are still many Christians who choose to believe in such heresy.

Through the Bible, which is the Word of God, we Christians are set free from the lies of theology. We have known the truth and truth has set us free. We are no longer under the bondage of theology. Through the light of God, we can enjoy the freedom to think what we want to think and receive everything we desire including the politically incorrect stuff like health and wealth. Health and wealth may be dirty words to the theologian but not to us Christians who know the truth. As a Christian, it is my desire to have a lot of money, good health, happy family, successful career and anything else I want without the need to ask for anyone’s permission. This is true freedom.

However, the above verse also exposes a limitation of the Bible. The Bible is only a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. It cannot make our feet to walk that path. We have to do it ourselves. This can be a good news or bad news depending on what type of person you are.

If you are the type of person who hates making decision and live like an individual, this is bad news for you. God will never turn you into a mindless drone to make you walk the path. You have to decide to walk on it or nothing will happen to you. In this situation, you will have to be determined to reject that drone mindset and start behaving like an independent individual. Independent individuals think their own thoughts, make their own decisions, take their own actions and receive their own harvests.

However, I suspect most of us are already independent individuals. This is good news because God has no intention to remove our individuality. The Word of God functions like only a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. It tells us what is ahead of us if we are to take the path. Our role is to decide to take or not to take it. Whatever our decisions are, we will bear the full responsibility to the consequences, both good or bad.

This is what Christian life is all about. This is also what freedom is all about. God does not want us to be mindless drones. He wants us to be independent individuals who make good decisions that will bring prosperity in every area of our lives. The Bible is the light to help us in achieving our prosperity.

Wonderful Law

18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
Psalm 119:18 (NIV)

The above verse describes one of the common desires of believers. I can identify with it myself. However, if I am just to show this verse and stop here, many people will get the wrong meaning. After all, we are living in a theology-infested world. Those who have been infected with the disease called theology will always read the Bible with the most negative attitude. I can understand because I was one of them.

The truth is, the above verse has nothing to do with theology. This verse is the prayer of a believer. Who do I know this is a believer? Read the verse again. The writer asked God to open his eyes in order for him to see the wonderful things in his law. This is the mentality of a scientist. Scientists love to understand how things work and think God’s thoughts.

Theologians are the opposite. If the writer was a theologian, his prayer will be, “Take away my individuality and thinking ability so that I can be a mindless drone who will obey all your laws without question.”

Since the above prayers are not found in the above verse or any other part of the Bible, we can confidently be assured that the Bible has nothing to do with theology.

Now that we have established the truth on this matter, we can proceed with the true meaning of the above verse based on the foundation of science and engineering. The writer’s intention was simple. He wanted to have the ability to understand God’s law. He refused to obey the law like the mindless theologians. He wanted to know the reasons on why God set those laws and their implications.

The fact that God is willing to record this prayer must mean that God wants all believers to have the same attitude. It is the will of God for us to have inquisitive minds. God wants us to use our brains to think and understand things. He does not want to obey him like zombies despite the fact that this is what the theologians have been promoting.

Our roles as believers are not just about reading the Bible and obeying everything in it. We have the right to question everything in it and use its contents for our prosperity. In fact, this is what I do now. I do not read the Bible out of obedience of religious ritual. I read the Bible with the intention of understanding God’s law so that I can use it for my prosperity. I suspect the writer of this verse had the same intention. How do I know? Let me give you a clue.

“wonderful things in your law”

The writer considered God’s law to have wonderful things. If you ask a theologian, he will tell you that the “wonderful things” here can mean God doing perverted things to you like giving you thorns in the flesh to show you his sufficient grace. Thank God, the writer was not a theologian. He thought like a scientist. Therefore the phase “wonderful things” must mean what it says, wonderful things.

So, it must be the writer’s intention to use the law to bring wonderful things to his life like a lot of money, good health, long life, successful career, wonderful family and other good stuff. In today’s context, the writer will be accused of preaching the “prosperity gospel”. It seems that even God is proud of it.

The lesson for us here is, we should not be ashamed of the Gospel. The Bible is filled with wonderful things. God wants us to read it so that we can have live prosperously in every area of our lives. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Submission To The Authorities

1 Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.
Romans 13:1 (NLT)

In this article, I will look a topic, which many Christians are aware of but rarely take seriously. What does it suppose to mean? We shall study in detail.

The first part of the verse refers specifically on our submission to governing authorities. In short, it refers to governments. Please note that it does not say we should submit only to “Christian” governments. This verse was written when the writer was living in an empire ruled by non-Christians. This is relevant to the world we live in today because today there is no such thing as “Christian Governments” anymore. We can have Christians serving as presidents, prime ministers, ministers, lawmakers and civil servants but we do not have any “Christian Government”.

What can you expect from a government that is not Christian? They do not obey the rules of the Bible. God still expects us to submit to them.

In this article, I am going to analyze this issue into different subtopics with emphasis in Singapore system. In case some may wonder why would I choose Singapore, the answer is I live there. So, I know more about Singapore that other places.

Election
Submission to the government does not mean we must always vote for the same group. As citizens, we are free to vote for whoever we want. However, we must respect the results. The group that won the election is the authority placed by God even if they are not the ones you voted for.

Taxes
This is quite straightforward. Unless you are living in a country that does not collect tax, you have to pay tax. Being Christians do not exempt us from taxes. God expects us to pay tax and report our income truthfully despite the risk of having to pay more tax. We are not to resort to evade our tax obligations through illegal means.

However, this does not mean we cannot try to reduce our tax burdens through legal means. Governments usually offer tax reductions or breaks under specific conditions. We can choose to take advantage of them.

In short, pay your tax. If you want to pay lesser, do it legally.

Homosexuality
This issue was used to be very hot in Singapore. A few months ago, we have a group of women from a church ganging up to take over a secular NGO on the charge that this NGO had been promoting homosexual lifestyles. The deeds of these women had caused an outrage throughout Singapore and disgrace to all the Christians here. Many Christians like myself had spoken up to condemn their evil act. I thank God that these women were defeated.

The above is an example on how Christians can go out of line to impose their church teachings and doctrines to the country. Please note that in Singapore, Christians only make up to about 15% of the population. We can all understand that 15% do not have the right to impose their doctrines to the rest of 85%.

As Christians, we are aware that the Bible says homosexuality is a sin. At the same time, we should also realize that the Bible is not the law of the country. There is no secular system that says it is wrong to be a homosexual. In other words, Christians have no right to force others to accept our definition of right and wrong.

If there are churches out there that say God wants them to prevent this country from getting more tolerant to the homosexuals, I suggest these churches to remind their “God” that Christians only make up to 15% of the population and our legal system does not come from the Bible.

Being submissive to the government means acknowledging the fact that the government is not obligated to obey God.

Evangelism
Evangelism is an obligation for Christians according to the Second Layer Gospel. Many churches manipulate their members with guilt in order to get them to evangelize. I am familiar with their dirty tricks. I am glad God has set me free from them.

Having said that, there is nothing wrong with Christians doing evangelism but it must be done legally. Evangelism must not be done through immoral means. In Singapore, there is no law against evangelism. However, we also value our religious harmony. People of various religions and belief systems have been living peacefully for generations in this country. We even have Jews and Arabs here living peacefully.

So, the last thing we want is to have religious riots due to some idiotic Christians spreading their “good news” by insulting others’ religions. We have a case where a Christian couple was charged for posting tracts that insult Islam and said Catholics are not Christians. When they testified in court they even had the audacity to say they were doing their Christian duty. They even tried to use Christians’ tolerance to the movie “Da Vinci Code” as their license to insult others. As a Christian, I find their attitude to be sickening. I am glad the judge decided to punish them severely as a warning to other irresponsible Christians.

Submission to the government includes preserving religious harmony. The simplest guide is to do to others what you want others to do to you. Do you want others to insult your God? Do you want others to disqualify you from being a Christian? If you don’t, extend the same courtesy to others. God wants us to live in peace with our neighbors regardless of their religious affiliation.

It is never the will of God to start a religious riot.

Abortions
Many Christians will agree that abortion is killing unborn children. It is therefore wrong. If you ask me, I can also say the same. However, the situation can be very different for women who are facing difficulties like being victims of rape. Abortions were also performed to save the mother’s life. So, I will not be quick to condemn those who had chosen this option.

In Singapore, the law allows abortions under strict conditions out of mercy to women like rape victims. Some Christians groups have voice their disagreement to this policy but they are wise in not starting a holy crusade against it. Otherwise, they will be punished severely.

So, is this policy right or wrong? In my opinion, this is the best a secular government can do. A blanket ban on abortion is never a solution. As a society consists of imperfect people, we have to contend with practicality even if it involve some abortions.

By the way, whatever our policy in abortion, it has nothing to do with earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, plagues, terrorism or any form of disasters. I mention this because many irresponsible Christians had used abortions as the reason for disasters. Each time a disaster happens, there will be some idiots declaring that it is God’s judgement on the nation due to the abortion policy. It takes real idiots to believe in them.

Stem cell research.
This is another rallying point for the crusaders. The problem here is, the research uses fertilized human egg cells and kill them afterwards. If you define a fertilized egg as a human being then stem cell research is basically murder. Is that so?

Let me show you the scientific truth in this matter. Stem cell research does uses fertilized human egg cells but the researchers do not make those cells. Those cells come from the process of “fertilization”, a medical process to create pregnancy to women who could not get pregnant naturally. The by-product is the creation of redundant fertilized egg cells that will be destroyed.

Stem cell researchers simply “borrowed” these cells for research. The end result or the destiny of these cells does not change. If you want to call them humans, then the truth is these humans were bound to die with or without stem cell research. They will either going to be killed by the nurse in the fertilization process or by the lab assistant in the stem cell laboratory.

In short, banning stem cell research will not result in lesser killings. Therefore, stem cell research can hardly qualifies as a sin. I am glad that the Singapore Government has the common sense to continue with it despite the protest of some scientifically-challenged Christians.

At the same time, stem cell research is also unrelated to earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, plagues, terrorism or any form of disasters.

Conclusion.
The above is not exhaustive. Regardless of whether we are Christians, we still live in this world and share this world with billions others. The era of Christians Governments are over. We live in world where governments are not Christians and therefore not obligated to obey what the Bible says.

The simplest guide is do to others what you want others to do to you. This is the truth we must always remember.

Royal Priesthood

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)

The above verse describes the position of Christians in the eyes of God. How does God see us as Christians? If you are dumb enough to ask a theologian, you will get the impression that God sees Christians to be like mindless drones.

According to the theologians, Christians are not supposed to have our own thoughts and desires. Our role as Christians is to obey everything God says (through the theologians of course) without question. So, if God (through the theologians) says sickness is good for us then we must believe that sickness is good for us. If God (through the theologians) says poverty is good for us then we must believe that poverty is good for us. In short, there is no limit on how perverse God can get. He can sink to any level of perversion. That is the “God” according to theology.

Yet, the Bible tells us a different God. The above passage that God values us very highly. 1 Peter 2:9 begins with the truth that we believers are a chosen people. Chosen for what? The subsequent part describes us as a royal priesthood. Let us look deeper into this phrase.

The phase “royal priesthood” has 2 components:
1. Royalty
2. Priesthood.

The first component tells us that we are kings. We have royal status. As believers, we are entitled to the power and prosperity like the kings of the past. This is another proof that God wants us Christians to be powerful and rich. I am sure if the theologians were there at the time this verse was written, they must have accused Apostle Peter a prosperity preacher. However, it appears that Peter and his colleagues were not really bothered of being accused as prosperity preachers. They were only interested in preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is a good example for us Christians. God has made it clear in the Bible that all Christians are supposed to be rich and powerful. This truth must be very dangerous to Satan that he created theologians to poison the minds of Christians to reject it. As a result, true Christians are being persecuted throughout the world for our faith. If you happen to be one of them, you have to decide on whose side are you on, God or the Theologian.

If you want to be on God’s side, then you must be bold to believe in the truth including truths that are not politically correct like health and wealth. You will face persecution from the theologians but you must always remember that God who is in you is greater than the Theologian who is in this world. We are called to battle but you are also destined to win. As long as we hold on to our faith and never give up, we will win. Our victory is certain.

However, if you are afraid of persecutions, then you will have to surrender to the Theologian. You can still believe in what the Bible says as long as those things cannot be proven objectively. Try to focus on things like joy, peace, treasure in heaven and other stuff that cannot be proven objectively. Don’t you dare to tell people that you believe God for anything that can be proven objectively like health and wealth. If you do, you will face condemnation, insults and other form of persecutions.

The second component is priesthood. A priest is the middleman between God and the people. In the Old Testament, the Israelites had priest to pray on their behalf. The public could not have direct access to God. That was why they had priest to pass their message to God.

This situation had changed after Jesus had died at the Cross, the position of priest was made obsolete. Since all Christians have receive royal priesthood, why do we need the services of any specialist priests? However, there are still churches that have the position of “priest” in their payroll. Why is that so? The answer is they have blasphemed against Jesus and what he had done at the Cross. Those churches’ acts of appointing some people as “priests” despite knowing that all Christians are called to royal priesthood is clear act of rebellion against God. Therefore, it is wise to stay away from churches that have “priests” in them.

The truth is, if you are a believer you are a priest. You have direct access to God at any time and place. There is nothing wrong with asking others to pray for you but you must always remember that no one can have better access to God than you. God is no respecter of persons. If some other Christians can get what they prayed for so can you.

God is not interested in the identity, race, skin color, culture, citizenship, education level or profession of the person who is praying. He is only interested in the faith of the person who is praying. As long as you believe you will receive whatever you ask when you pray, you will certainly get whatever you have asked in your prayer. In the eyes of God, we are the royal priesthood. So, get rid of all other “priests”. They are counterfeits.

Next, believers are described as a holy nation and people belonging to God. This is the foundation we stand on. A nation is a group of people. When a nation is holy, it has a clear and unblocked channel to receive all the blessings of God. This nation is prosperous in every area (including areas that can be proven objectively like health and wealth.) I am sure you will agree with me that this is a good thing.

Next, as the people belonging to God, we have someone to rely on when things go wrong. Since we belong to God, everything we have must also belong to him too both good and bad. Our poverty is his poverty. Our prosperity is his prosperity. Our sickness is his sickness. Our health is his health.

In case there are still people who are not convinced that God wants us to have health and wealth, ask yourself this question. Is God such a pervert that he wants to be sick and poor? If God is not a pervert, he must desire to be rich and healthy. Therefore, he must want all his people to be the same.

The last part of the verse tells us the reason why God gave us the above benefits. He wants us to declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. In short, God expects us to be the living proof of his goodness.

So, when we live by faith and suffer persecution, we are not just doing it for our health and wealth. The lifestyle of health and wealth is also meant to be the testimony to draw people to God. I call this lifestyle evangelism. As opposed to “words evangelism” which are just words, in lifestyle evangelism we show clearly how great our God is based on the lifestyles we live.

This is the will of God for believers. Welcome to the royal priesthood.