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.