How a beautiful message by about genuine faith was twisted into "evidence" of "heresy" - Reviewing the Case Against YM Yang: Part 8

For context behind this posting, please read the first post in this series. 

(B) YM says that if you do not speak in tongues, you can also enter the heavenly kingdom. (2013.05.19. Kaoshiung, Hebrews 02)(94:27-95:45)(mp3.7)

Since I have already made so many errors, let me now give you another error. We say that if you do not speak in tongues, you cannot enter the heavenly kingdom because you don’t have the Holy Spirit. Isn’t this so? Is that really so? Why do I think about this question? Because last month, in the Paris student spiritual convocation, I see 12 year-olds coming forward to pray for the Holy Spirit. I asked them what they wanted to pray for. All of them wanted to pray for the Holy Spirit. I asked them why they wanted to pray for the Holy Spirit for and they all said to enter heaven. I said, you want to enter heaven so early? I told them not to be afraid. You can go to heaven right now! Don’t keep on thinking you do not have the Holy Spirit, you can’t speak in tongues, you cannot go to heaven. I tell you, no matter  when Jesus come…now we are having lessons, and Jesus suddenly comes, you all don’t have the Holy Spirit, all go to hell, and our few teachers go to heaven, I tell you, . We teachers will also not go to heaven. We will tell Jesus that we do not want to go to heaven – how can these lovely children go to hell?... How can we go to heaven by ourselves? So I say, don’t worry, be absolutely assured...''

Analysis:

1. Firstly, since YM knows that this is an error, why does he not change? Why does he not correct himself instead of constantly erring? If he mentioned “error” as an ironical statement, then it clearly shows that he has deviated in the truth we believe in.

2. Secondly, we encourage all believers to pray for the promised Holy Spirit and speak in tongues as this is the guarantee of our heavenly inheritance. YM encourages them to be assured that they can enter heaven without speaking in tongues.

3. Thirdly, his essay dated 14/12/2012, very clearly states that

1) The Holy Spirit lives in a person who has been baptized and is born again.

2) But this person must receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues.

-However, on19/5/2013, in the Paris Spiritual Convocation, he taught the children that they can enter heaven without the speaking in tongues.

4. What he has written in his essay and what he actually teaches are very clearly not in agreement. Isn’t this self-contradictory?

= We can see that he says that when one receives baptism, he has the Holy Spirit.

Praying for the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues is not only grace upon grace but is an absolute necessity. That is the reason why he said that without speaking in tongues, one can enter the heavenly kingdom.

(C) YM says that he does not deny the efficacy of praying for the Holy Spirit, but he doubts its necessity.

I heard Pr. Yang deliver a similar message in New Jersey. As we saw repeatedly with RAWLS's and Pr. Chin's analysis earlier, words can be twisted completely out of context, whether intentionally or unintentionally I will not speculate. And so again I'll copy-and-paste the message I heard in its exact context.

You can ask a child, "what does 'love' mean". He'll have one answer at age 5. And he'll have another answer at age 10. If this kid reaches the age of 60 and recites the same answer as he did at 5, you'll probably look at him and think something's a little odd about him. And so I think always having a rote answer for everything really isn't always appropriate. And yet today we put way too much emphasis on those answers that are "written on the board". Whether you're 5 or 60, you're always expected to give me an answer of an 80 year old at the highest level. And then we all become discouraged. Even if we don't understand the answer, we need to pretend we do.  And so I think it's a shame. If a small child isn't allowed to have a childhood—if at 5 or 10 years old he's forced to act like a 20 year old--I think that'd be a pity. Because at each stage of life, you're supposed to have different and deep experiences.

And so often when I'm in a prayer session I'll ask the kids, "What are you going to ask for when you pray?" They'll respond to me, "I want the Holy Spirit". I then ask them why and they respond, "Because I want to go to heaven." And then I ask them, "Do you really want to go to heaven so early? Are you sure you couldn't get into heaven now?"

So if Jesus were to come now, let's say none of these children would be able to go to heaven. And let's say I ask the parents, "If Jesus were to come now and your children say they can't enter heaven because they didn't have the Holy Spirit. But you parents who have the Holy Spirit could go. Would you still want to go to heaven without them?" I think if that's the case no one would want to go to heaven.

And so I tell the kids it's not like that. I tell them, even if Jesus comes today, you can go to heaven. You don't even understand what the Holy Spirit is, so why do you even ask for it? I tell them I'd rather they just ask God for things they really want. Maybe they want a toy. Or need help with a problem at school. Maybe they want to be a little prettier. Or they'd like the weather to be nice for a trip tomorrow. Little children should ask for little children's things. Don't make it so that every prayer from the age of 5 to the age of 80 is just them asking for the Holy Spirit. That's not needed. Because "they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest". They will always have the best answer at any stage in life.

The Lord just blessed me with a beautiful little daughter. I think about my little girl. She's so helpless. She relies on her mother and me for everything. If she's hungry she depends on us to feed her. If she's dirty she'll stay that way until we change her. Right now you can count her skills set on one hand. She can breathe. She can drink formula. She can belch (with assistance). She can kind of make fists with her hands and kick her feet. She can make a few noises.

Here's what she can't do. She can't kneel down. She can't clasp her hands together. She can't talk. She can't pray. She has three needs at this point in her life—to eat, to be clean, and to sleep. Even if I wanted to, how can I as a parent of a child who's not even two months old teach her to pray for the Holy Spirit? Her mom would think I was insane.

If the Lord Jesus were to come today, where would my little girl go, to heaven or to hell? If we follow the letter of the doctrine of the True Jesus Church according to the analysis above the answer is clear. She would go to hell.

For those of you who believe this 100%, I just have one question to ask of you. When you talked to God and He personally told you His plans for what He was going to do with the babies and infants on the day of judgment, what were the exact words He used when He told you that they would all be condemned because they didn't pray in tongues?

Wait, you didn't have that conversation with God?

Then how can you be so confident of the answer?

And if your answer is to point to God's absolute word in Ephesians 1:13 and 14 that states you must have the promised Holy Spirit to be redeemed, what is your response when I point you to God's absolute word in Romans 2:14 that seems to say that those who don't know the law have a law unto themselves or God's absolute word in James 2:13 that says that mercy triumphs over judgment?

The truth is—we simply don't know what will happen. If on the day of judgment God decides that He's going to hold everyone to the letter of what's written in the Bible, then yes, He does have an absolute right to condemn everyone who is not baptized and who did not receive the promised Holy Spirit to hell. As unjust as that might sound to some, He's God, and who are we to question that decision?

On the other hand, if God decides that despite how we've interpreted Scripture he's going to welcome anyone He wishes into heaven, even those who were not baptized or did not receive the promised Holy Spirit, are we going to be like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son and pout because He did that? Are we going to be like the early laborers in the parable of the workers and whine? Or worse, are we going to be like those Pharisees who still believed that simply because they were children of Abraham, God would welcome only them into heaven with open arms?

While I personally might disagree with some of the specifics of what Pr. Yang preached as far as the age that someone can start praying for the Holy Spirit (like I said, I received the Holy Spirit when I was 10, so at the age of 12 kids should already start to understand what it means to have the Holy Spirit), I absolutely agree with his point that all prayer, whether it's the prayer of a 5 year old or a prayer of a 95 year old, should be genuine, honest, and from the heart.

What should 5-year old who cannot tell his right hand from his left be praying for? Does he really need to be praying for the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Or should he be praying for God to protect him from the monster that he's convinced is hiding under his bed? Or praying for God to comfort her in those moments in the middle of the night where she wakes up to terrifying darkness? Or praying to God to thank Him for providing food and water? Or praying to God to keep mommy and daddy in good health?

I might be wrong, but I think once these children see that God is answering these little prayers, they can move on to prayer for other things. And when they reach the age where they can really comprehend what the Holy Spirit is they can start praying for it honestly, not because some RE teacher force fed some words that they should repeat, but because they genuinely feel the need for the Spirit in their lives.

And so I pose the question. Is it really "heresy" to preach a message that prayers of anyone at any age should be authentic, genuine, and from the heart?

Granted, if I could talk to Pr. Yang I'd probably tell him that he needs to be a little more "politically correct" when he makes statements with apparent certitude that 12 year olds who do not have the Holy Spirit will definitely go to heaven. But for those who are calling this "heresy", let me ask you a question. Using the measure that you used, are you yourself then speaking heresy when you speak with the same apparent certitude that infants who do not have the Holy Spirit WILL definitely go to hell?

Frankly, I think the best answer for both sides is a simple one. "I don't know".