Monday, May 30, 2022

In Honor of Teck Low

I started this blog in 2015, and then after a few posts I just stopped. Why?

Well, it wasn't for lack of ideas. To the left you can see my Drafts folder. Every month or two I'd get an idea, and then I'd start writing. But then I'd just...stop. 

Why? Well, there were a number of reasons, which I may write about in subsequent posts (or Drafts). But in most cases I just felt that my writing wasn't very good. I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to writing, especially on matters that I think are important. So there will be cases where I spend hours in front of my computer writing deep in thought, only to abandon it because I felt it came off as too trite or too shallow. I figure, no one's going to get anything out of this. And so there it stays in the Drafts folder.

And then I think of men like Teck Low, who recently left us, and who left nothing on the playing field. And I grow ashamed of myself, my laziness, my timidity, and my excuses.

I first got to know Teck when I was a kid. He was about 6-8 years older than me. He came over to the United States from Malaysia. He was in college, I was probably about 13 years old. 




Observing Teck throughout my teenage years, there is one word I would use to describe him. Inexhaustible. I have never known a person who worked more tirelessly for God. 

Preacher Yang on his Facebook page wrote a beautiful eulogy that described on how one night during a huge torrential storm, Teck and his wife Su-Hua drove through the storm to the Elizabeth Church. There, they went up and down the stairs to the basement with buckets of water as the basement flooded until the storm passed.

I grew up in the Elizabeth church and it's only now, 35 years later, that I'm hearing that story. And I'm sure there are hundreds more like it where Teck just gave his all to the Lord because of his devotion and love to the Lord,. But because of his humility and his taking the words of Matthew 6:3 to heart, most of us will likely never hear of them this side of eternity.

My own recollections of Teck's indefatigable spirit dates back 35 years ago. Teck was a fixture on the pulpit during sermons. Why? Because the Elizabeth church was desperate for English speakers to translate sermons. No adult could speak English well--or at least would admit it. And the people who would grow up to become interpreters were still too young. And so new immigrants like Brother Teck would be called to service. Most of them said no, but Teck never said no.

I also remember, in the days before Canva or Google Docs or Microsoft Word or Aldus PageMaker--Teck single-handedly initiated, wrote, typeset, and published a newsletter for the New York District Church (which of course would eventually become the Elizabeth, Queens, Hillsborough, Flushing, and Brooklyn churches). 

He called it Malachi: My Messenger. This was years before anyone even thought about "literary evangelism". And here was Teck creating this entire publication on his own and literally mimeographing dozens of copies of it so that English-speakers in the church would have something--anything--to read. 



Now here's the funny thing, and I don't think he'd mind me saying any of this. Teck's English was...not great.

Now let me walk that back a step. In subsequent years, I came to learn that in Malaysia they use various different dialects of English, ranging from Malaysian English (MyE) to Malaysian Colloquial English ("Manglish"). So in his native Malaysia, Teck's English was likely pretty good. But for a 13 year old kid in New York, Teck's English could be a challenge to understand. Between his trademark staccato delivery and sentences that were often scrambled when compared to American English, I sometimes understood the Chinese speaker better than Teck's English interpretation. 

The same can probably be said for Malachi. Those early newsletters had a number of articles, some spiritual exhortations, some local news. All 100% written by Teck. But the articles weren't going to win any literary awards--again, in fairness to Teck they probably weren't so bad in Malaysian English. But to a 13 year old American kid, a lot of the writing just seemed confusing to me. 

And here's another thing. Teck was tone-deaf. I mean literally, he couldn't carry a tune. But often when you'd hear the congregation sang, they'd all sing in lifeless voices, and you'd hear Teck's off-key voice loud and clear as he enthusiastically sang hymns of praise with vigor.

Here's the funny thing. 

I think Teck knew full well that he wasn't necessarily as gifted as others in these areas. But here's the amazing thing about Teck. He didn't care. All he cared was that he loved the Lord Jesus Christ and that whatever talents the Lord gave him, he would use them. Maybe he wasn't blessed with the Queen's English, or with superb writing skills, or with a beautiful singing voice. But as long as he had a mouth to speak with, a hand to write with, and a voice to sing with, that's all he needed to serve God. Because he also had a heart filled with love. 

I can only imagine the courage it took for him to stand up and put all of himself out there week after week, year after year, in a country where he was a new immigrant and in a church that was predominantly Taiwanese. There are so many workers for God whom God has given these talents who end up burying their talents, due to timidity, self-consciousness, and fear. Not so with Teck. 

And as with the widow's mite, I think of how God looked upon the offering from this kid from Malaysia. I imagine that when God heard Teck's voice on the pulpit, Teck's speaking was more impressive than the most eloquent sermons in the world. I imagine that when God read Teck's writing it was more magnificent than the best literature in the world. And I'm sure that Teck's singing voice was beautiful to God's ears. 

Speaking for myself, growing up there was not a single soul who set me a stronger example of how to serve God and how to be one's authentic self.

As I grew into young adulthood, it always struck me that Teck was always the same old Teck. While others in church, especially those in leadership positions, got into the habit of putting on their "Sabbath face" at church, with Teck you always knew that he was exactly the same person inside and outside. He always had a big grin on his face, and he had a wonderful sense of humor which I always loved. You'd be sitting there and he'd come up to you and ask bizarre things like "what can you do for me?" in his trademark staccato voice and dry delivery. I loved that he could just be silly and quirky like that. He always made me smile.

As I grew older, I could see more examples of Teck's courage. When he married Sister Su-Hua I was still only a kid, but I heard enough "gossip" to know that there were some idiots in the church who didn't approve. I don't know the details (and I don't care to), but I know enough to know that Sister Su-Hua went through some really, really terrible things in her life. But as his love was for the Lord, so was his love for Su-Hua. He was a rock for her, as well as for her son Ken. I still remember the day of their wedding--it wasn't a fancy wedding, but it was so beautiful. And to this day theirs is one of the most enduring marriages I have ever known.



And I think of their beautiful kids, Grace and Grady. If either of you ever read this, all I can say is as someone who lost my mom way too early, I grieve with you. But I promise you that your dad is alive. Alive not only very literally in Paradise, but also alive in your hearts. Our loved ones who were so faithful to the Lord will always be a part of us, and all we can do is run with perseverance the race ahead of us, blessed that we were able to have been touched personally by someone in that great cloud of witnesses.

And when I think of courage, my thoughts, invariably, turn to the situation with Preacher Yang. I know that Teck was a supporter of Preacher Yang, and in fact, he and Su-Hua often hosted Preacher Yang when they came to the United States. As someone who attended and was greatly edified by a few of these, I'll always be grateful for them standing up, knowing that it would put them on the front lines of attack. Which it did.

While most in the church have been instructed to view Preacher Yang as a "false prophet", Teck was one of the few who took the time to take the time to hear and to judge for himself. Rather than blindly accept what the "church leaders" were telling him to think, he instead took the time to hear Preacher Yang's side and come to his own conclusions.

That conclusion, of course, is that the whole uproar between Preacher Yang and the International Assembly of the True Jesus Church was never really about "heresy" or "false teachings". It was always just about a silly, stupid, childish squabble between two preachers which grew completely out of control. Out of control to the point where one of the preachers was publicly accused of and thrown out of the church for supposedly preaching "heresy", a claim that anyone who takes even a few minutes to investigate fairly can see is patently untrue.

I have one thing to say to the church leaders--and I'm not speaking to the church leaders who have been so blinded by jealousy and rage that they have convinced themselves that this is true. They have made their choice, they will not be convinced otherwise, and whatever judgement that will come is awaiting them. 

But the church leaders I am speaking to are the one who clearly saw--and see--the twisting of truth and the injustice and who choose remain quiet so as to not "offend" their fellow humans. To these church leaders I ask: how many faithful servants like Teck Low has your silence cost our church over the last 10 years? How many men and women like him have been silenced--at a time when the church needs their wisdom, their example, and their participation more than ever? When will we get back to a point where we can reason together, discuss differences, and be guided into unity by the Spirit--and not by the real false teachings that are among us?

Maybe I'll write more thoughts about this in a blog post. But I'm here to talk about Teck, and I'll conclude with the parable of the talents.

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Maybe Teck Low didn't get as much gold to start off as others did. But from the gold he was given, he is returning to his Master with bags and bags and bags of gold that are bursting at the seams, through his examples, through his sacrifices, through his wonderful heart, through his beautiful family, and through his faithful service and undying love.

I can see him now in front of the Master. "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness".

May all of us who remain on the earth follow Teck's example of love for the Lord, of service, of courage, and of tirelessness, from this day until whatever day our turn is to be called back home. And may we all learn from Teck, who can today face his Lord with a clear conscious, knowing that he gave his all with what he was given, that he left nothing on the playing field, and that the world was made a better place because of him.



Wednesday, September 14, 2016

A Prayer Request for My Best Friend

Hi again.

First of all, sorry that I promised over a year ago to write regular blog posts. All of my various blogs have run a bit fallow. It's partly because of a certain little girl who's taken over my life and my heart. But admittedly, it's also because it's been tough for me to focus. I have about ten different posts in the Drafts folder, but none of them quite ready for publication. If this is indeed God's calling for me, I'm hoping you can pray that God will help me live up to it.

But there's a much more important prayer request that I have right now. And to set it up, I need to take you back 34 years.

I grew up in the same town since I was born. From the time I was in Kindergarten to 6th grade I always had a very close group of little friends. I can still name them all--Chris, Dan, Mike, Billy, Geoff, and my very best friend David. By the end of 6th grade, I was one of the most popular kids in class. I still remember on the last day of 6th grade the teachers were giving out end of year prizes, and they saved me for last, to the applause of the whole class.

Things changed the next year. All of my childhood friends seemed to go off on their own and join different cliques. My friend David moved to Florida. And suddenly, I found myself very much alone. During lunch, I'd sit at the lunch table by myself. In gym class, I was always the last person chosen. And making it all worse, puberty hit me hard. I broke out in really bad acne. I was painfully shy. I had health problems.

I remember going home in tears on several occasions. My family, and especially mom, was always there for me, but that was little consolidation at the time when I'd spend the entire day alone and trying to not look awkward. But I know that mom prayed for me. In retrospect, I imagine she spent hours and hours on her knees for me.

Call it coincidence, call it a miracle, but that very year a guy named Jack moved into town and into my school. I don't remember exactly how we met, but I know that over time we really hit it off. We had the same quirky sense of humor and quick wit. We both loved to make really, really bad puns. During math class, we'd create rebus-style puzzles to each other (calling them "Uncle Rebus"). We talked about how we'd some day author a book, and over the years it became a running joke that something amusing that happened to us would be yet another chapter.

We also had the same interests. We joined the same clubs, from Olympics of the Mind to Model UN. So we got to know each other pretty well. Suddenly, I found myself surrounded by a whole new group of friends, all of whom had the same slightly geeky vibe about us that was tempered by very quick wits and hilarious senses of humor.

Jack, our friend Sean, and I became inseparable. We'd go to movies together and just clown around. After seeing The Untouchables in the theater, for the next few years any time we came across a staircase we'd recreate the staircase scene. We'd frequent the Colonial Diner and always get the same dish to share--cheese fries. In our senior year of high school we went on a trip to the Soviet Union (back when it was still the Soviet Union).

Jack became quite popular--to the point of having his own radio show and being elected class president. But he never lost his sense of humor, and he never stopped being Sean and my best friend, even though his popularity probably could have catapulted him into all sorts of other social circles at an age and particularly in a school system where that sort of thing really seemed to be important to a lot of people.

College came, and everyone moved away. Jack went to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, while I stayed local in Rutgers. I reverted to being somewhat awkward socially my freshman year. But all through college we kept in touch through letters, back when letter writing was still a thing. I still have all the letters, we'd talk about how we were and of course would insert inside jokes throughout.

Jack moved back to NJ after college, and we reconnected. In addition to everything else in common, we shared a love for the New York Yankees--and this was back in the early 90s when they were still pretty pathetic. We'd go to games together and once we started making some money we started buying the cheapest season ticket package, going to about 10-15 games a year. During the games we evolved some of our old traditions. We'd make awful puns around players' names. When the Yankees would flash people's birthdays on the scoreboard, we'd sing "Happy Birthday" to all of them. When they'd invariably show the "bloopers" videos, we'd provide silly color commentary. Over the years we got to experience some of the greatest Yankees moments together--the 2009 championship, the last day in the old stadium, the All-Star game, Mariano's last game, Roger Clemens's 4000th strikeout, and countless other milestones.

We also started going to Nets games during the Jason Kidd era and got to go to the NBA finals twice. We both also had a huge loyalty to our home state of New Jersey, and refused to follow the team when they defected to Brooklyn.

Jack and I went through our twenties and then through our thirties being single, watching our friends get married off one by one. We soon found that we had something else in common--we were both "nice guys". The kind of "nice guys" that every girl in the world wanted to be friends with, but no girl in the world seemed to want to marry. And so we started another tradition of exchanging "tales of woe". It seemed that throughout my 20s and 30s there wasn't a time when I wouldn't pine for a sister at church in silence, sometimes for years, and then when I finally got the courage to express my feelings (often after they'd built up to a ridiculous level) she'd soundly reject me, often with extreme prejudice. I'd have no one to talk to except for Jack. And same with him, he'd share with me his latest stories of how he'd be so smitten with a girl but it invariably seemed to always end with the girl wanting to be his friend but going with another guy (who was usually a jerk). In so many ways I found comfort in recounting my stories to him and then ending up laughing, at myself and at how pitiful our situations were.

Every year as Christmas rolled around, we made a tradition of spending it together--being Jewish he didn't celebrate it and being a TJC member neither did I, but we started our own Christmas tradition by "not celebrating" it together. Sometimes this mean going to a midnight screening of It's a Wonderful Life (both our favorite movie--to the point where we will rattle off lines from it to each other as a situation warranted--"you speak for yourself, Ms. B", "happy new year to you--in jail!", etc.).

When I turned 40, I met and fell in love with Lisa. We got married and as we did, Jack stood there as my best man.

Last week, I had a Yankee game with Jack. I went and sat in our seats. The game started and he wasn't there. I figured maybe he was delayed. But then the second inning came and went, and then the third. I knew by then that something was catastrophically wrong. In the 12+ years we've been going to games, he rarely missed one, and when he did he'd be sure to tell me weeks in advance so I could arrange a "replacement pal". By the fifth inning I was started to freak out. I texted him, and then emailed him, and then called his cell, and then called his landline. Nothing.

I went home early, no longer really caring about the game. I tried desperately to find his sister or his parents on social media. Finally, I managed to find his sister on LinkedIn. She told me what happened. Two weeks earlier, Jack had been checked into the hospital with sepsis, a life threatening condition where the whole body becomes infected with bacteria and tries to fight it off. Worse, there had been multiple surgeries and complications. Jack was still in the ICU.

I fell into shock. It was just a few weeks earlier that we'd been at a game. He was tired, but he was still joking and laughing with me. I asked if I could visit, and she said yes.

When I got to the hospital, Jack was sedated. His sister had described his condition to me in email, but I wasn't expecting what I saw. I won't go into details, but suffice it to say he was not in great shape. But for a brief moment he woke up and recognized me. He tried to communicate but wasn't able to; he was still so weak from his surgeries and had just come off intubation. I cracked a little joke about what was playing on the TV and he chuckled a little bit, which helped me realize that beneath the suffering he was going through physically, down deep "our Jack" was still there.

But he's not out of the woods yet.

And so if you're reading this, I ask if you can please pray. I know Jack is a stranger to you, but he's my best friend. And he needs a miracle.

In the TJC, we often feel that things like prayer requests should be reserved for church members. But as I think about it, that's not the way it should be. When Jesus Christ was on the earth, he extended his love and compassion to those beyond his followers. When Jesus healed the centurion's son, He did so based on the Centurion's faith, not contingent on whether the son would believe in him. When He healed the paralyzed man, he did so because of the faith of the four who lowered him through the roof.

In the last few days, something else has struck me. We often think that leading someone to Christ means preaching to them about the 10 Basic Beliefs and dragging them to church service. If they stay in church, then they're saved. If they don't, they've rejected the faith.

In the 35 years I've known Jack, I think in high school I mentioned my faith to him a few times. But I'm going to be honest. I could never bring him to church. Why? Because of all the things I mentioned in the first post of this blog. The sermons in church were long-winded lectures that didn't inspire me, and thus I felt they couldn't inspire someone else. Even if he seemed interested, I didn't think he'd be comfortable in a church where 99% of the members are Chinese and 60% of them spoke Chinese. And the church culture had become one where no one seemed to see any of these things as a problem--as long as they kept the same routine up week after week, year after year, they were doing God's business--and anyone who felt that change was needed was just plain faithless.

I imagine that certain people are getting upset as I write this. And to these people I only have two questions for you. First, do YOU have friends or co-workers who are not in the church. And second, if so, why haven't you brought them? Or if you have, why haven't they stayed? Are they really faithless heathen?

I've been praying a bit these last few days, and I realized something. Our calling is not to drag people to church and force them to sit in a pulpit for two hours. Our calling is to be a reflection of Christ. That's how we bring people to Him. If they choose to be baptized in the True Jesus Church as a result, that's great. But if the church is such that they can't bring themselves to join it, at the very least they'll have come to know Christ through you. And who knows if that'll count for something.

And so the question is--are we living our lives among those who haven't accepted Christ in such a way that they will see our good deeds and glorify God?

To my extreme shame, I haven't. I haven't been a reflection of Christ to Jack. In certain situations, such as dealing with unpleasant people at the ballpark or on the train, he's actually been more "Christian" than I've been. And so in addition to my hope and prayer and Jack hangs on and makes it through so he can live a long live and make it through his suffering, there's a part of me that also wants to get a second chance of really being able to be a true reflection of Christ to him.

And so my challenge to you is--how do your friends see you? When they see the good you do--whether in the form of actual charitable deeds or just something as subtle as your attitude in your daily life--do they see Christ in you and as a consequence yearn to have what you have? Or do they just see another human going through life who calls themselves a Christian and having a form of godliness but denying the power that comes through being a true follower of Christ?

I hope it doesn't come to the point where your best friends, inside or outside of church, get to this point before you make this realization.

Thanks for reading, and again, please pray for my friend Jack.

God bless,
Steve














Monday, December 21, 2015

Best Christian-Based Charities to Donate To

Hey everyone,

So, as you probably noticed since my first post I've dedicated a grand total of about three posts to "real" writing outside of the Pr. Yang situation. I had big plans for writing all sort of things, but between a ridiculous fourth quarter work schedule and being a new dad, those plans have sort of "gang agly".

For those of you who did read that serious of posts on Pr. Yang, obviously those were meant for more for people internal to the church. My goal in writing that was to hopefully open some eyes and at least start to make people think very critically about what Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 4:1. In the place of judgment--wickedness was there and in the place of justice--wickedness was there. It just happened that I had lots of time to write all that during my paternity leave, mostly in the hours between 1:00 AM and 6:00 AM :)

Those of us on the outside looking in can't do much anymore--our voices have been pretty effectively and methodically silenced by the church leadership. So it's going to be up to the "rebels" within the church to shake things up (having seen it yesterday, I'm fighting the urge to make a "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" reference at this point :P). So just another reminder to any of you inside the church who read it and are thinking "something's wrong". Not to speak is to speak.

That said, I've seen the outpouring of comments and emails about how so many of you would love to read other kinds of writings and encouragement on this blog, and so with your continued encouragement and prayers I'm going to make sure in 2016 I write some things that hopefully can help you provide food for the journey and a constant reminder that you're not alone. There are shepherds out there who do care for the lost, and seek the young, and heal the injured, and feed the healthy. Let's use the Internet to look for them--and to be them for each other. And as for the worthless shepherds out there, God will deal with them, there's really no need for us to think too much about them anymore.

There's one last thing. Now that the year's coming to a close, one of the things I usually ask myself is where to donate my tithes. As sad as it is to say, I can't bring myself to tithe to my local churehes anymore, at least not right now.

It's not out of spite nor to "teach anyone a lesson", and it's not even all about Pr. Yang's situation. Admittedly, even before that situation arose, I had reservations--it seems that the only times churches called for donations was to buy bigger church buildings. That always rubbed me the wrong way. Yes, when Moses was building the tabernacle and when Solomon was building his temple they called for donations and sacrifices from everyone and all their efforts went into building material and labor. But that was under the old covenant, right? Under the new covenant, people met in each other's houses. Not to say that having service in a church building is inappropriate, but I always thought to myself...are we as churches spending so much time on real estate that we neglect widows and orphans?

But it was the Pr. Yang situation that made me realize that my tithe money was going to support things that were downright contrary to my values. Did you know that when you donate to your local church, a huge chunk (it was about 50% if I recall correctly) doesn't go to your local church but is "taxed" by the IA and GA? The IA and GA of course do some important work (paying ministers' salaries, paying for RE textbooks), but there is some stuff that is downright wasteful (e.g., spending tens of thousands of dollars to fly their board members and their delegates to national and international meetings when a lot of that can easily be done remotely these days).

And worse, I realized that I was subsidizing something downright wrong when delegates to those conferences did nothing but rubber-stamp things that the IA and GA boards have already decided--something I had known for years after having been a participant but something that my eyes were really opened up to after the Pr. Yang situation. Hopefully, if the IA and GA feel a pinch financially, they'll begin to be wiser about how they spend our money.

In any case, here's how I dealt with it. I looked into the best Christian-based charities out there. In the last few years, that's where my donations have gone.

I had two very simple criteria for coming up with these charities.

  • First, they had to have a four-star (top) rating at CharityNavigator.org. This means that there's a good chance that the bulk of your money goes directly to the causes they say they're helping. If I'm told my money is going to feed the hungry, I want to know that it turned into a spoonful of rice into a child's mouth, not a plane ticket for someone to fly around the world.
  • Second, they had to not just be Christian-based, but to acknowledge God and the name of Christ boldly on their Web site. To me this was important because we live in a world where more and more are being "shamed" into denying the name of Christ just as Peter was and for the same reasons--out of fear and terror. The majority of charities out there were started by a Christian in the name of Christ, but have obfuscated or even obliterated Christ's name from their mission. That's not to say you shouldn't still support them, but I wanted to acknowledge those who kept try to their original mission. 

Here are the three charities I found that fit the bill, to whom I try to send donations every year.

World Vision - World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice. Working in nearly 100 countries around the world, we serve all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.

Samaritan's PurseSamaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The organization serves the church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Compassion InternationalIn response to the Great Commission, Compassion International exists as an advocate for children, to release them from their spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enable them to become responsible and fulfilled Christian adults.

There were others like Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity which are great, but just happen to have less than four stars on Charity Navigator--hopefully they're working on that.

I know what some of you are thinking. Can I really "steal" from the tithes I give to the True Jesus Church and give it to some other charity that's run by people who don't have "the Truth"?? Let's put it this way. Say John donates $100 to Samaritan's Purse and that ends up buying clothes for a orphan in a war-torn country who's struggling to stay alive, and say Joe donates $100 to the True Jesus Church and that ends up paying for a fifth of a plane ticket of someone to fly to a World Delegate's Conference. If you were God, with whom would you be more pleased? Who would you shower more blessings on?

Don't take my word for it--put God to the test. Or, just give to both and receive both blessings if you want to cover your bases. :P

One last one a little closer to home. If you've read the postings on Pr. Yang and want to continue to support his ministry, there's another option you can take. The Lily of the Valley Community Outreach is a charity that was started by some of our church members, but has no relation with the church whatsoever. They do a lot of wonderful work in the Dallas area that's unrelated to buying new church buildings or flying their management around the world for meetings, but rather practicing the "true religion" that James talked about in James 1:27. Some of the great work they did in 2015 can be found here. And as a bonus, you can also ask them to earmark part of your donation to support Pr. Yang and his ministry; since the True Jesus Church has stripped him of his salary and his means of traveling to preach the good news of salvation, it's up to us to lift him and his ministry up.

All of these charities (LOTV included) are registered as 501(c)(3) charities, meaning that if you pay income taxes in the United States you can deduct your donation from on your tax return if you itemize donations. So if you're in a 25% tax bracket, for example, and donate $100 to one of these charities, your taxable income does down by $100 (and you probably end up getting back about $25 as a tax refund). People often scoff at me when I bring this up, but the point is, you can turn around and donate that $25 right back to the charity instead of "donating" it to the federal government (which has raised wasting money to an art form). As long as the charity receives your donation before 11:59 PM on 12/31/15, you can write it off in April.

Have a wonderful New Year...






Sunday, September 27, 2015

The True Jesus Church in China - Reviewing the Case Against YM Yang: Epilogue

Admittedly, as I was diving into this whole thing something struck me as odd. Why is it that so many are so opposed to Pr. Yang? Maybe the whole thing did start with a personal affront in a spiritual convocation in Europe many years ago, maybe it didn't. But how did it get to the point where so many people felt so adamant about destroying this man's livelihood and kicking him out of the church? As you've seen, these charges of "heresy" are really tenuous at best and in my opinion sometimes reveal more about the accusers than the accused.

One of the paragraphs early on in Pr. Chin's analysis is very telling, and may shed some light on why so many are so vociferous in seeing YM Yang out of the True Jesus Church. I should preface by saying this is only wild speculation, but it's the closest things to an explanation I can think of right now. Take it with a shaker of salt.

In 2013, between June and July, I was in Adam Road church conducting the China Members’ Fellowship. There was a sister from China who came to visit her relative. I heard that YM was in China attempting to unite the churches not affiliated with the north or the south. I asked this sister if this was true. She said that she knew this but that the Elder that YM seeks to associate with had already gone against the truth, conducting baptism in a dug-out pool. She asked, why does he still want to unite with them? So I thought even a young girl like her understood this .

It's pretty common knowledge that Pr. Yang has been communicating with some of our brothers and sisters in mainland China and there's been talk about him trying to find ways to bridge the gaps that have come between us in the 60+ years where we were separated from each other. And I can completely understand why he felt such a passion for this, as his own father was a member of the church in Nanjing before he went to Taiwan and became one of the church's most respected elders there.

Now I know that a lot of you may not know the full history of our church in China. I'll share what I know here briefly; I can't say this is the definitive story but it's what I've been able to piece together from history and from various accounts.

Our church was established in Beijing in 1917, only a few years after the revolution that ended 2000 years of imperial rule in China which established the Republic of China. Our church flourished and grew rapidly from 1917 to 1949, with churches in cities from Beijing to Nanjing to Shanghai.

But in 1949 a civil war happened in China, with Mao's communist forces defeating the armies of the Republic of China. Many of our church members fled with the Kuomingtang to Taiwan. But others had to stay behind.

The government of the new People's Republic of China moved fast to close the borders. Once that happened no one could come in or out. One of the tenets of this new government was to staunchly defend themselves against foreign influences. Part of that meant that outlawing freedom of religion.

During this time, our church moved underground. In the face of unimaginable hardship they continued to worship God as best as they could. From my understanding, it was the churches in the northern cities of China that bore the brunt of the persecution, most horrifically during the Cultural Revolution that resulted in 1.5 million people in the country being killed and millions of others suffering imprisonment, seizure of property, torture and general humiliation. My understanding is that the churches in the southern cities were largely spared of much of this persecution during this time.

Word has it that at one point the Northern churches faced a situation much like the ones the German churches I alluded to a few posts ago--some of the churches apparently were taken over by leaders who started to impose rules and regulations of man which, if not obeyed, would lead to members getting excommunicated. And through this there were among our members those who, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, kept the faith and became stronger amid persecution and corruption both inside and outside the church.

Between 1972 and today, China started to embrace some free market principles in its economy, and with that came a loosening of government control in certain areas. By the 1980s our church members were once again able to connect with our churches in the mainland. One of those members was Elder John Yang, who visited those he had served God with as a young man after over 40 years of separation.

Today, I hear stories of believers in these Northern regions who, against all odds and all logic, have adhered to the Five Basic Beliefs, who today practice baptism according to the Bible the same way we do, and who continue to receive the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues, signs, and miracles. Their membership which reportedly stands at 1.2 million brothers and sisters is larger than that of all the other True Jesus Churches around the world combined. 

If that's happening, it should be cause for rejoicing, right? But then again, I hear rumblings--including in that very passage that Pr. Chin wrote--that some in the IA and some in the Southern churches look disparagingly upon their brothers and sisters in the North and look upon any talk of "reunification" with disdain, as if finding common ground in our faith were somehow tantamount to lobbying for secular political unification instead of trying to find unity in Christ. 

Again, I'm not close enough to the situation to know any more details than this. I'm sure that if you talk to different people they'll have differing accounts. But if anything I say is even remotely true, I find it profoundly tragic.  

Pr. Yang seemed to be making inroads at reconciliation, carrying on what was started by his father, before he was stripped of his ministry and then stripped of his church membership. And then sure enough, the rumors began to be spread throughout the churches in China to have nothing to do with him as he was a "heretic".

And I cannot help but speculate, was his efforts in China somehow tied to this whole mess we've been talking about in the last 12 posts?

You might wonder why I, a member who was born in the United States and who doesn't even speak Chinese has such strong opinions on this.

Here's why. 

My mother was born in Nanjing in 1925 and grew up a member of the church there. I mentioned in an earlier post her testimony, but it bears repeating here.

As a teenager she went to a boarding school but was at the point of death to the point where her classmates carried her home so she could die there with her family. Elder Isaac Wei, the son of Paul Wei, came to visit. He prayed over her and lay hands on her, and she was healed. Elder Wei said to my mom, every Sabbath day, you should fast to remember the grace that God gave to you. And until the day she died, my mom would wait until 4:00 PM to eat or drink anything, even a cup of water.

My grandmother had a similar story. After Mom was born, my grandmother had a late term miscarriage--a boy. Her health deteriorated to the point where she was dying. But God healed her and she went on to have three more children, my aunt and two uncles.

Grandma was ordained a deaconess of the church in Nanjing, and she was loved very much by the brothers and sisters there. Mom said that our church brothers and sisters protected her; it was years later that I'd learned about the horrors that went on in Nanjing around that time and learned what she must have meant.

The Communists won their civil war against the Nationalists in 1949, and many who had ties to the Nationalists fled the country, including my grandfather and my aunt and uncles. The time then came for my mom, who was in college, to leave too. My grandmother sent her to the train station. And my mom remembered exactly what was to be their last conversation.

"Tell your brothers and your father and your sister--if you miss me, pray. If I miss you, I'll pray."

My grandmother chose to stay in China to continue to take care of the church. And then the Communists sealed the borders. No one could come in, no one could go out. And once that happened, aside from a few letters that were smuggled into and out of China my grandmother never saw nor communicated with my grandfather nor her children ever again. My grandmother passed away in 1967, just as the Cultural Revolution started to get into full swing.

A lot of people come up to me to this day and tell me about how faithful and loving they remember my mom was. Some old-timers who went to the Taichung church in Taiwan tell me that they remember my grandfather as a man of great joy. 

But no one ever talks to me about grandma. What I know about her I know from my mom.

My mom told me the story of the love our church members showed for her after she passed. The government forbade its citizens from burying their dead—all bodies were to be cremated. But in the darkness of the night our church members smuggled her body into a remote area in the woods and buried their beloved deaconess, placing a tiny headstone to mark her final resting place. I can only imagine the planning and the risk that these brothers and sisters went through, especially during that time when even any hint of defiance against the government was met with swift torture, imprisonment, or execution. And this definitely fell into that category.

Years later, when China finally opened its borders to allow travel from the United States, my mom went back for the first time after almost 40 years. This is what grandma's final resting place looked like, untouched after almost 20 years.


And this was the tombstone that our church members had made for her, still standing precisely where they had put it two decades earlier.


I never met my grandma, but she had a huge impact on my life. Whatever blessings I have today, and there are blessings in abundance, I can trace back to her and her faithfulness and love to God.

When mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer at first we went through the usual mourning process as we knew we were going to lose her. But very soon after I could see in my mom's eyes almost an excitement, because she knew that she was going home, and after 54 years of being separated the first to meet her at the gates of heaven would be grandma.

And so you see, when I think of the churches in China, whether the North, the South, or churches that are unaffiliated with either, I don't look down on any of them as somehow being second class citizens or members of a rogue church. These are my brothers and sisters, not just in terms of my ancestry but more importantly in the body of Christ and in the kingdom of God. Even though 66 years of separation may have come upon us, when you consider those among them who have fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith, can anything separate us from the love of Christ that we shared in common 66 years ago before the borders were closed? 

While I don't know the details of Pr. Yang's attempts to reconcile the Northern and Southern churches, I can sense that there's fear and distrust and disdain for his attempts to do so. Frankly, I don't know what's driving it.

I think on a surface level, sure, there are those who are concerned with "the doctrines being corrupted". But to these people I'll repeat something I said a few times now. What is it that you're afraid of? If you truly believe that you have the promised Holy Spirit in you and in your church, and Jesus Christ himself said that when the Spirit of Truth comes he will guide you into all truth, what is it that you're afraid of? Does God need you to protect him? Is your job to guide us into all truth, or is that the Holy Spirit's job? If the 10 Basic Beliefs are truly God's immutable truth, then why are you afraid of letting them stand on their own?

And on a more sublunary level, I have to wonder whether any of the resistance is of a more mundane nature. Are there those who feel that their "positions" or "prestige" will somehow be diminished if we looked upon the Northern churches as long lost brothers and sisters rather than as a deviant sect? I dare not speculate. But in the off chance that this is the case the question is still the same. What are you afraid of? 

I don't doubt that the Holy Spirit is with the churches in the South, as well as the churches of Taiwan, southeast Asia, and the western world.  However, I do not dare say that the Holy Spirit is not also with the churches in the North, whose faith unlike the others have gone through 66 years of testing under fire.

At the very least, I would want to hear their stories, and learn how the Holy Spirit led them during their most desperate times. I would hope that I would be humble enough to learn about their history and to hear what they received from the Lord with an open mind and not instantly brand anything they preach that sounds different than what we preach as "heresy" or "deviant". 

I believe that God would be very happy with the church if all of the True Jesus Churches everywhere could put away any human emotions, any precepts of men, any bigotry, any secular geopolitical biases, and any close-mindedness and come together like children in front of the Lord, asking for his wisdom and guidance on how to reconcile over 66 years of being separated.

Did imperfect teachings infiltrate the North during this time? Did imperfect teachings infiltrate the South during this time? Did imperfect teachings infiltrate the churches in Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and the western world? The answer is, probably yes in all cases.  Like I said, I have no idea what is going on as far as talks of reunifying the churches but I do know one thing—if anyone on any side stubbornly clings to their own opinions without leaving any room for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, these people are doing a monumental disservice to the church and to the kingdom of God.

How much would the heart of God be moved if on the 100th anniversary of the founding of our church less than two years from now if with humility we as one church were to approach Him and ask Him to once again guide us into all Truth and into perfection as one body, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead? 

I want to close with the English translation of something that Pr. Yang posted to Facebook a few weeks ago. I'll preface by saying that Pr. Yang tends to use literary devices like hyperbole, irony, imagery, and metaphor in his writing, so read it with that in mind.

Oh! My brethren of the North!

Living in the southern region, one often hears from pastors of the South that you've deviated from the truth; that your gospel is impure, and that you are no longer the beloved people of God. There are testimonies of you being punished by God because you invented your own versions of the truth. 

Thus, I am afraid to get in touch with you; fearing that I will be contaminated by you and in the process, lose my own salvation.

Like a porcupine facing a threat and bristling all my stiff quills in order to protect myself, I remain defensively prickly lest you lure me into losing my chance at salvation.

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That night, you who belonged to the Northern faction, upon hearing of my entry into the ----- region, traveled many long miles under cover of moonlight, cloaked in starlight, trailing clouds of dust to arrive at the place where you insisted on meeting me. 

Although we had no prior knowledge of each other's existence nor had any contact before this, you were adamant that in Spirit, you just could not believe the baseless rumors about me being bandied about in China.

Your face, though shadowed with deep lines of hard living, still shone with the intense love for God that is long absent from the eyes of the shepherds who pastor to the South. You did not have much time to chat because of the long journey ahead of you to get back home. But once we met, I wished that time could stand still so that I can listen intently to your insights of the many ways to unite the churches of the North and the South, and how to effect changes for the betterment of the church as a whole.

After you departed, I was left to toss and turn in sleeplessness, thrashing in the whirling eddies of TJC histories of the North and South.

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That night, you who did not know me at all, came to -----, a mutual meeting place. Even though we were merely 3 meters apart, you exclaimed loudly, "Little brother!" upon seeing me! Grasping my hands tightly, you declared that we were old neighbors! How could we now be split into the South and the North?! You said your father and my father were colleagues 60+ years ago. Our two families were neighbors in Nanjing, close to the GA headquarters.

After 1989 and the end of the revolution when China was finally open to visitors, my father went back twice to your home and asked to visit his Northern co-workers whom he had lost contact with for 40+ years. They talked about uniting the two factions in the Lord. You implored me to continue my father's heart desire, and to do my utmost to help reunite the Southern and the Northern churches into one loving entity. From that fateful night on, we were lock step together in traversing this vast land from the North to the South; later, you became the first Northern woman preacher to speak from the pulpit of a Southern church, and I was able to conduct a few Sabbath services in your church to the North.

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You, an Elder who wanted badly to withdraw yourself from the governing organization of the Southern branch, sent word to me via mutual friends that if I am to pass by your neighborhood, I must find a way to come and meet you secretly, away from prying eyes. 

After exchanging a few words when we finally met, you stopped and stared at me intently for a long while. Then in a trembling, emotional voice, you turned to the people around us and said, "how is it possible for me to believe that Elder Yang's child is capable of preaching heresy?"

You asked that I keep in contact with you from now on; and from your teary gaze I could sense the ponderous turning of the tides from both sides: a field long laid fallow, welcoming the influx of differing systemic organizations and factions.

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The first time I stepped into a Northern church, I was secretly amazed. The interior was reminiscent of the traditional Chinese hall in style, with a flag of True Jesus Church hung high behind the altar (pulpit), and written banners of the Five Doctrines, Ten Commandments and Twelve Standards adorning the side walls of the chapel. Following the sonorous, booming announcement from the service leader, "In the name of Jesus Christ we begin the service! Men, remove your hats; women, cover your heads!", the congregation did so simply and decorously. In all reverence and silence before the Lord, they begin their daily worship and praise. I too, joined them in prayer, facing the west, and sang songs of grace before meals.

(Image of TJC flag: Five Doctrines, Ten Commandments and Twelve Standards, to be preached to the whole world with the power of the Holy Spirit)

Workers of the Northern faction are fundamentally more praiseworthy compared to the South. They are less prone to find excuses when the Southern faction condemns them of wrongdoings at every turn; especially because they know full well that it was the Southern faction that deviated from the collective decisions with regard to the doctrines and regulations, achieved via the guidance of the Holy Spirit, during of the original national TJC meetings. The elderly members of the Northern churches were baptized in the deluge of the Cultural Revolution, their belief harshly persecuted and tested. In contrast, the Southern members were spared of such hardships. 

At the end of the Cultural Revolution, the church was controlled by foolish men, whose agenda kept it in perpetual darkness for years afterwards. 

Thank God, the Northern members remained loyal to the Lord and refused to bow to the follies of those foolish men in charge, even in the face of being threatened with excommunication one after another or even en masse! Amazingly, those who doled out the excommunications suffered the rapid disintegration of their flock, whereas those who were excommunicated were embraced by the mercy of God. They sought to gather back members who were lost or scattered, and evangelized broadly to all. An extraordinary phenomenon ensued, even to today, the year 2015: those who were excommunicated or ostracized by the church, no matter from the Northern or Southern factions, continued to thrive and attract new believers at a rate far greater than the churches who excommunicated them! These are the Northern churches who firmly believe in the five doctrines, 10 commandments and 12 standards; and who practice the customs of head covering, praying facing the west, and footwashing prior to imminent death. Their membership occupies a majority within all the TJC churches combined, a staggering 1.2 million!

The situation of the present-day TJC can be simply summed up: God has entrusted the rebuilding of a spiritual TJC to those who were excommunicated by the secular TJC!

An excellent demonstration of this scenerio is found in the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the church at Xiushan, Fujian in July of this year. The church board members who organized the anniversary celebration were the same members who were excommunicated en masse by the Council of Elders in Fuqing a mere five year past. 

The two elders who blessed the congregation were ones excommunicated by the Wei clan of the North 10 years ago. The Sacrament of Holy Communion, the consecration, the breaking of the bread and the pouring of the cup, were conducted by a preacher who was excommunicated by the IA as recent as April of this year!

The Northern workers steadfastly refused to be cowed by the threats of hellfire from those in power -- although they themselves suffered alienation from spouses and friends, and riddled by slanderous slurs -- they remained unwavering and true to the cause of the Lord. Ten years later, God turned the humiliation of their excommunication into a glorious symbol of 'non-conformity with the secularized church, and thus remaining untainted'. Holy God, His love, mercy and righteousness are supreme!

It was never observed that any Northern believers who receive the Holy Spirit, did so only after collective, numerous, and protracted prayer sessions. Almost to a man, they speak the spiritual tongues as soon as they were baptized, and many miracles and wonders followed. 

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When the hymn and prayer are done, you gently and reverently untie the kerchief from your head with a practiced hand. I was astonished by your beauty! As lovely as the bride in the Song of Songs, the Beloved of God! 

After the solemn sermon of worship is delivered, you speak to me with forthright sincerity, punctuated by joyous shouts of laughter! How delightfully at ease is your frank and open heart; your guilelessness is a balm to all!

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The separation of these past 10+ years have not severed the loving ties forged in God's family. Although the South may appear to be more clever by comparison, your righteousness surpasses them by far. 

Oh, my brethren of the North! The weighty task of rebuilding the house of God is placed on your shoulders. Come! Let us carry this cross together, for the Lord will be our guide. 

God bless!

As I said, I don't have enough knowledge of the North nor the South nor this history of either to comment about either.

But one thing I do know. If we do have brethren in the North who are faithful to Christ and have kept the faith for over 60 years, and if Pr. Yang were indeed a vessel chosen by God to somehow work towards reconciliation but the recent actions against him somehow thwarted those plans, this would be a tragedy of monumental proportions. I would really fear for those who were behind those actions. And I would pray that it's not too late to undo the damage.

Again, I pray that God may have mercy on us. Something is not right here. But again, I have said my peace and now I leave it up to Him.

Why the IA and the WDC were absolutely wrong - Reviewing the Case Against YM Yang: Part 11

As I promised, here are my thoughts after poring through all of this analysis.

First, as I said in a previous post, I will not cast aspersions on the motives of Pr. Chin in Singapore. I have no doubt that he approached his task with a genuine heart that loves the church. And in the same way, I hope anyone reading this does not doubt that I approach mine with the same.

Here are my thoughts after spending many, many hours on this.

1) Despite the accusations, no one ever suggested that it is unnecessary to receive the promised Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues. I listened to hours of Pr. Yang's classes. Over and over again he stresses that nothing he says in any way, shape, or form states or even implies that it is not necessary for one to pray for dórea, the gift of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues. And yet for whatever reason, those who seek to accuse him of "heresy" return to that accusation over and over again.

2) The core issue, as I see it, is one of semantics. Pr Yang says that when someone is baptized, they become a child of God and the spirit of God is in him or her. Is this a valid point of view?

When someone has their feet washed, we say they have a part with Jesus. There's no controversy there.

When someone takes the Holy Communion, we say that he abides in Jesus and Jesus abides in him. When they eat the flesh and drink the blood, they have life in them. Again, no controversy.

If it's not considered "heresy" to say that Jesus Christ abides in you when you get your feet washed and when you take the Holy Communion, why is it suddenly "heresy" when you say that He abides in you when you get baptized?

When someone is baptized, they belong to Christ and are led by the Spirit of God. They have clothed themselves with Christ. Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. They were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. When they say "Jesus is Lord," it is by the Holy Spirit. They serve in the new way of the Spirit. They have been crucified with Christ and no longer live, but Christ lives in them. They can receive gifts from the Spirit to help the church. When they are insulted because of the name of Christ, the Spirit of glory and of God rests on them.

Scripture says clearly that when we are baptized we are brought from death to life. We were dead in our transgressions and sins but made alive with Christ. What is it exactly that gives life? Isn't it the Spirit?

Is it really "heresy" to take all these verses and conclude that once someone is baptized, the spirit of God can be in him or her?

And if anyone insists the answer is yes, I'd challenge them to look at it from the other side. Are those people bold enough to preach unequivocally that once someone is baptized, the Spirit of God is absolutely NOT with that person unless and until they received the promised Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues?

When the IA gave Pr. Yang an ultimatum that in order for him to keep his job he needed to pledge to "stop preaching heresy", what's the reason that he refused to do so? Was it because he was truly a heretic? Was he, as some say, a tool of Satan? (And if he truly were an unrepentant apostate, wouldn't it have been easier for him to just lie and pretend to accept the pledge? If he were already caught in a pack of lies, what difference would one other lie make?). Or, did he simply refuse because he disagreed with the accusation that any of what he preached was "heresy" in the first place?

I'll be honest, I see truth in both sides, and I see both sides backed up by Scripture. But what I find sad is that instead of coming together in a spirit of unity and love to discuss even trivial differences and to humbly seek God's guidance, what seems to have prevailed is a spirit of mutual destruction.

When Scripture commands us to live in unity, I don't think that means willfully and methodically silencing all voices that don't agree with you through intimidation, subjugation, or political power. I think it means everyone having the humility to discuss these things together in love and peace and then approaching the Lord together as one.

3) While I've said repeatedly that I will not cast aspersions on the motives of Pr. Chin nor even this character "RAWLS" that Pr. Chin makes reference to over and over again, I admittedly find the choices of "evidence" highly questionable.

You'd think that if Pr. Yang were truly a reprobate that you'd be able to download any sermon of his and find clear and repeated evidence of his deceit. But despite the fact that there are hundreds of hours of his sermons freely available to download on the Web, and despite that there were "moles" planted in all of his lectures for the past few years listening to every word he said trying to find something to attack him on, I can't help but notice that the "evidence" consists of only a few minutes of extremely selective audio.

And out of these few minutes, why is the preponderance of this "evidence" focused on what are ultimately unanswerable questions? Will members who did not have access to living water but still performed baptism still be saved? When Jesus comes, if there are little children who never knew how to pray for the Holy Spirit will they still be saved?

These questions simply have no answers. Pr. Yang was giving his personal opinion on them--and in virtually all cases he prefaces his comments by saying exactly that. He says that he's speaking his personal opinion, encourages the members to take it as reference only, and encourages them to do their own search for the truth.

Those who cry out "heresy" should be very careful, because if they insist that Pr. Yang's answers to the questions are absolutely wrong, they're essentially asserting that their own answers to those same questions are absolutely right. But how can they be so sure? And if they're not absolutely sure (and unless they received a direct revelation from God, they aren't), should we be judging them by the their own measure they use to judge others?

I remember I was at one Bible Seminar years ago in Elizabeth when Elder S.T. Hsieh was asked a question: are there dogs in heaven? I remember distinctly the elder saying, yes, he was pretty sure there'd be dogs in heaven. I smiled because there was just something within me that felt there was truth to this statement. Those who don't own dogs may not get it, but if you've ever owned a dog you've probably felt the kind of unconditional love that comes from your dog's heart. And how could heaven not have that kind of love?

But of course there's no verse in the Bible that you can point to that "proves" it. But did the brothers and sisters stand up, point to Elder Hsieh, and shout, "heretic!" and "deviant!"? No. And because this was an elder whom I'd admired and trusted as one was speaking straightforwardly and sincerely from his heart, I took him at his word that his opinion was guided by the Holy Spirit. But of course, you, I, or anyone else won't know the absolute truth until we reach the shores of heaven. The same is true for all these "unanswerable" questions. Should we really be telling ministers and members not to express their personal opinions nor discuss these things? Isn't this putting a limit on the Holy Spirit's power?

4) I found particularly revealing how Pr. Yang's message on visions during baptism was portrayed. I don't know if we were listening to the same message, but what I heard as an excellent message on the very real issue of habitual, dead worship was clearly misrepresented by "RAWLS" as one that depicted Pr. Yang as a horrible person, "repulsed" by those who saw visions and "repulsed" by the visions themselves.

Again, I will stop short of passing judgment, but I ask you to re-read the "evidence" and reflect for yourself, Did this characterization from "RAWLS" sound like the analysis of someone who wanted to do an honest and objective analysis, or did it sound like someone desperately fishing for "evidence" in a witch hunt to paint Pr. Yang in as unfavorable a light as possible, irrespective of the facts? And if the latter, why is the IA repeatedly using this person's opinions as prima facie evidence of Pr. Yang's alleged false teachings? In fact, if this person is so sure of his/her veracity, why is it that he/she feels it necessary to hide behind a false name when the rest of us are using our real names?

5) While I've been tough on the IA, I don't hold Pr. Yang blameless in this whole ordeal. Yes, I do believe that he was treated very unfairly. I believe these charges of "heresy" are at best myopic and at worst a calculated effort by a few people to discredit him.

But regardless, I feel he should have maybe been less defiant in his reactions to those who accused him, regardless of how unjustly or unreasonably he was treated. I would have liked to have seen him display more of the "compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience" that Paul spoke of in Colossians 3:12, not just to those who supported him (which he does) but to those who opposed him as well (which I sometimes fear he does not as much as he could). Yes, it must have been difficult beyond belief to conduct sermons and classes knowing that in every venue there were those who came solely to trap him with his words, but then again, Jesus Christ dealt with that and much worse.

And I perhaps would have liked to see him show a little more wisdom as far as discerning what might be easily misunderstood or twisted by those who may not have reached the level of understanding he did, both in terms of the things he said and the way he said them, understanding that to the "weak" he needs to be "weak" in order to win them over.

But all these are simply personal faults that are completely between him and his God. I absolutely believe that they do not rise to the level of offenses that merit excommunication nor even removing his position as a minister. If every member that offended others were excommunicated we'd have a very small church indeed.

Conclusion

I will conclude this series of posts the same way I started them. I believe that the True Jesus Church was wrong to excommunicate YM Yang. I have cited all the reasons above, and all the "evidence" is there so you can decide for yourself.

I conducted this analysis with as open mind and prayerful heart as I could, and after all that I still found the "evidence" to be dubious. I don't believe what is being characterized as "heresy" and "deviant teachings" is anything but either mere differences in semantics or examples of honest, legitimate questions. And I don't believe that personal foibles in a minister are enough to warrant stripping him of the role of minister, a title that ultimately was not given to him by man but by God.

As for the actions of the IA and the WDC, can I explain how so many brothers and sisters who are leaders of their respective churches around the world could have taken this "evidence" and made the decision they did? No, I can't. Did some in the meeting accept the case against Pr. Yang simply because they did not want to show disrespect to the people who brought the accusations because of their positions? Did some in the meeting not even bother to read this "evidence" because they felt the accusers were "filled with the Holy Spirit" and thus anything they wrote was to be trusted at face value without questioning? Was it that some simply didn't want to "rock the boat", perhaps sensing that something was wrong but telling themselves that "God would take care of it"? Did some feel that just because it was a lengthy document that there had to be at least some merit to it? Or was it a "perfect storm" where all these things happened at once?

I can't speculate any further because I just don't know. But one thing I do know. It wouldn't be the first nor the last example of "groupthink" in a True Jesus Church administrative meeting.

So What Do We Do From Here? 

1) To the ministers of the IA and the GA

I will first address this to each of you as individuals, and then to the group as a whole.

I know many of you personally, if not most of you personally. And I know you well enough to know that you must have been bitterly disappointed to hear that Brother Steve Liu had published a blog like this. While there are some of you who I suspect were enraged to read what I wrote, I think most of you were just saddened. I sense that some of you even prayed for me because of the love of Christ we have shared over the years both in our time together in New Jersey as well as the few years of my service in the IA.

For those of you who know me, you know my faith is not the sort where I will fall in line behind a cult of personality. In fact, as I wrote a few posts ago, my writing of this blog was never about Pr. Yang. At its core it is about an argument that a preacher and an elder had many years ago.

If someone has been baptized into the blood of Jesus Christ and becomes a child of God, if that person does good deeds but has not yet received the baptism of the Holy Spirit will those deeds be remembered by God? 

That's the question that started this whole thing, and that's the question you need to answer. Don't wait for the translation. Don't refer it to the Truth Research Committee. Don't even make lists of all the verses in Scripture that "prove" it one way or another. Tonight in your evening prayer, just ask the Holy Spirit that is within you--what is the answer? Yes or no? Which answer is closer to the gospel of Christ?

I would also ask you to please go back and read every word of the last 10 posts. I know on the pulpit many if not most of you have already been warning your congregations to stay away from blogs like this, which is your right to do. But even if my blog could somehow "brainwash" the more impressionable members of your flock, surely I cannot "brainwash" you. So please, read carefully and decide for yourself--were my words written with a spirit of fairness, accuracy, honesty, a pure heart, and a sincere desire to find out the truth?

If so then ask yourself this. How did we get to the point where we are following the example of the people and the elders and the teachers of the law by producing lines of witnesses who provide testimony against your fellow worker for God that if not is "false witness", is certainly specious at best? How did we get to the point where we are following the example of the rulers, the elders, and the teachers of the law and forbidding our own members from speaking words, regardless of whether these words might be from their own mind or from the Holy Spirit?

I know there are some in the IA and GA who are digging in their heels. They're the ones that did not and will not read one word of anything I wrote but have already warned their congregations that I am a "tool of Satan". They are the ones who quench the Spirit's fire and have gotten so used to protecting and defending the integrity of the International and General Assemblies of the True Jesus Church that they have forgotten that their job was to do that for the gospel of Jesus Christ. To them I have nothing to say except, I am praying for you.

But I know there are others in the IA and GA who did take the time to read this, to pray on it, and to reflect on it. Maybe you agree with what I wrote, maybe you don't. If you feel after reading it that there is no merit to what I wrote, I do still thank you for at least having taken the time to read and consider it and not treating my "prophesies" with "contempt".

But if you read it and the Spirit is telling you that something--anything--that I said raises a red flag, then please do not quench the Spirit's fire. It may be difficult. You may be scolded or censured. You may even lose your reputation, your position, or your livelihood. But as Peter and the apostles said, "We ought to obey God rather than men". The servant who knows the master's will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. You have been entrusted with much, so much will be asked of you.

And now I speak to the IA and GA as a collective group. If you examine the actions of the group over the past few years, do these words accurately describe the group's actions in this matter?

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Or on the flip side, among your ranks, have you witnessed the kind of bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, and slander that Paul describes in that same chapter of Ephesians with regards to this incident? Think of those individuals in your ranks who first raised the idea to punish Pr. Yang. Look beyond their years of service, their titles, and your own personal relationship with them. Look objectively at the things they have done in your name in this incident, from the first accusation to the ultimate vote by the WDC to kick him out of your church. Did their actions really reflect the words above?

That's not a question I can answer nor can anyone else except for you. And if you as a group examine your actions and find yourself wanting, what will you do about it? You can warn your members not to read my blog, or Albert Chen's blog, or anyone else's blog. But the one thing you cannot do is ask your members not to look upon your fruit and upon the deeds that were done in your name. Those are clear for all to see, and if unchecked it's those things that will do far more damage to you, your organization, and our church, far more than any blog post out there.

The thing you need to understand is that people like he and I write what we write because we love you and we love our church. The simplest thing for folks like him and me to do would be to stay silent and watch you destroy yourselves from within. But something, whether our own consciences or the Holy Spirit I'll let you decide, is compelling us to speak. And if it is the latter, you'd do best not to ignore it.

I've heard rumors now that some in the church administration are talking about censuring, denouncing, or even excommunicating anyone who supports or even speaks out on behalf of Pr. Yang, which presumably will include people like me. If this is the way it must be, may the Lord's will be done. But to those who may be contemplating this, please just remember one thing.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? 

As it is, there are many parts, but one body.The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

There are many "lost sheep" out there that have been baptized by the same Spirit as you have and who have been given one Spirit to drink who would welcome returning to a church that was filled with love and life and mercy over judgment. There are many "bruised reeds" out there who would gladly lend their enormous God-given talents to serve the church if they could be convinced that they are ultimately serving the kingdom of God and not a human organization of administrators. There are many souls who ache to come home to a place whose eyes are fixed firmly on Jesus Christ, but don't feel that the church that God entrusted you to lead is that place. Amputate them if you must, but know that with each amputation the body just may be one step closer to death.

On the other hand if you, with a humble, self-reflective heart. welcome them back and nurture them you may be surprised at what this could do for your church.

2) To the members who support YM Yang

While most of the comments left on this blog and around the Web were done in a spirit of love and constructive criticism, I've witnessed that clearly there is a minority who are bitter against the church for their own selfish reasons. They really don't care about the church, they're just taking this incident and piling on in hopes of seeing the church punished or destroyed. To them I have the same words to said to that other group I mentioned above. I am praying for you.

But to the bulk of you who have love the body of Christ and have had your hearts broken and your hopes shattered by what you've witnessed happen to YM Yang, I'll say a few words.

I have the luxury of a few things. I cannot read nor speak Chinese, so I cannot read the vitriol that has been directed towards you for many years on discussion forums, in church literature, from the pulpit and even seeded among your extended families and social circles. I have witnessed for myself how some of you have been personally insulted and attacked in the most vituperous ways by "holy workers" who really should have known better.

Up to now I have had the luxury of not having had my own name thrown around in conjunction with slanderous words like "Satan", "evil", and "excommunication" (although I suspect that will change shortly). But for those of you who have gone through years of this, I cannot imagine the pain you've had to endure.

And I suspect that when you read the last 10 posts, you got angry. And you know what? So did I. Just as our Lord did in the temple, I wanted to just start turning over tables and shouting. How is it that our beautiful house of worship has turned into a place where one cannot worship God except in the most stiflingly rigid of ways?

But in our anger, let's not sin. Don't let unwholesome talk come from your mouth but only what is good for building up. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. And above all, do not become cynical, lose hope or give up. We normally don't think of those last three things as "sins", but that's exactly what they are because when we do those things we deny the power of God, who is a God of justice.

Now is the time for us to practice the words in these verses.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I happen to agree with you that a grave injustice has been done. But now's the time for you to put the words of Christ into practice. If you feel you've been slapped on the right cheek, let yourself be slapped on the left cheek, not in defiance but with the same humility your Savior displayed on the road to Golgotha.

With all due respect, calling yourselves names that imply that only you are correct and everyone who doesn't agree with your viewpoint is like someone who worships Baal--that doesn't help anyone. In Philippians, Paul tells us to let our gentleness be evident to all. In 1 Peter, Peter tells us to speak with gentleness and reverence...so those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

When we exhibit the exact same behavior that we decry in the church leaders we disapprove of, we're not helping our case one bit. On the other hand, let your light shine and along with it will shine the righteousness of your cause.

3) And to the rest of you

You've seen with your own eyes evidence that either corruption or ignorance or both happened in the highest level of the True Jesus Church's administrative system. So what do I suggest you do about it? 

Nothing. 

Yes, that's what I said. I'm not calling for anyone to vote out all your church councils, nor to recruit and vote for certain people during your next NCC elections. I'm not calling for those "lifetime members" of the IA and GA to step down in disgrace. I'm not calling for boycotts, or demonstrations, or petitions, or to withhold your financial contributions or for anything that would otherwise continue down this path of mutual destruction. Those are all human weapons which are useless in a spiritual battle. Those kinds of efforts will come to nothing. 

The first thing I would recommend is that if you're tempted to be shocked or dismayed to find that there is corruption and/or ignorance among your church leaders, don't be. If reading these things has shaken your faith in the church, it means that your focus has always been on the wrong thing. It means you've been putting your faith in man instead of in Jesus Christ. It means you've been conflating the physical organization of the church with the spiritual body of Christ. Learn what the difference between the two is. If there's no other positive result to come out of this, let that lesson be the one thing that does.  

Ministers, elders, and administrators are human beings just like you and me. They can make mistakes, And as with anyone else that makes mistakes, Scripture tells us exactly how to treat them when they do. We can gently correct them. We can pray for them. But the one thing we must absolutely stop doing is this practice of putting them onto a pedestal. As I said in an earlier blog post, find out the line between "respect" and "reverence". They are not to be venerated and they are not to be despised. They are to be respected, not because of their title or their longevity but because of their service for the Lord. And remember, even King David showed respect for Saul as God's anointed even after Saul was filled with evil and tried to kill him. Regardless of whether you feel in this case that it's Pr. Yang or the IA ministers who "stumbled", they both deserve your continued respect as God's anointed. 

As for the situation between the IA, the GA, and YM Yang, while I would have loved to see these posts result in some kind of reconciliation between the IA and Pr. Yang and for both sides to do a little introspection I don't hold any illusions that this is going to happen. Too much damage has been done at this point on both sides, too many bridges burned, too many insults, and too much backdoor vindictiveness in a predominantly Chinese culture where "saving face" always seems to prevail over all else. While our God is powerful enough to move mountains, he also gave human beings free will, and quite frankly I don't see either side here being humble enough to admit their faults and reconcile with the other. I'd love to be proven wrong, of course, but that's just the way I see it. And it breaks my heart.

And my heart is not the only one which is broken. I think of the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think of His prayer in John 17:23 that we may be brought to complete unity. I think of the words He inspired through Paul and Peter in Ephesians 4:3, Colossians 3:14, 1 Peter 3:8, Romans 15:5 that beg us over and over again to attain unity, not through using bullying tactics to silence opponents but through the bond of peace. 

So if you can spare just one more prayer, pray for this situation, that all parties involved can do the impossible, somehow find common ground, and somehow start a healing process. And I don't mean spending 10 seconds in prayer mentioning it to God. If you care for the church, get on your knees and beg God for his mercy with all your heart. Because the very life of your church may depend on it. 

I said it before. If the last 10 posts I wrote are from my human mind, they will come to nothing. I will have wasted a few weeks of my life and a few minutes of your time, but I'll move on with life. But if there's even the slightest chance that anything I wrote was from the Holy Spirit, I urge you to not focus on me and to go back and focus on whatever you read that resonates with you. Pray on it, and ask God what He wants you to do with it.

Specifically, I know there are those of you out there whom the Holy Spirit is burning within to take the next step. I pass the torch to you.

As for me, I've done all I can. I still hope and pray all the time that I can find a church where Christ is truly the head, where the brothers and sisters live together in love and unity. I hope and pray that one day I can bring my wife to a church where she can experience for the first time in her life what genuine Christian love really is, and where I can raise my daughter to know Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. If you've been wondering what my motivation for writing all these posts are, wonder no longer. That's all this is and has ever been about.

May God have mercy on us all.