Wednesday, April 28, 2021

UPDATED--To professing Christians: Be of the same mind with the brethren who "earnestly contend for the faith" (Jude 3)

Update: Present-day church leaders preach God's Word but detrimentally fail to warn the brethren of the dangerous teachings and teachers lurking in the church. I am one with those who bring up the issue. The following article is just a few of the many examples when church leaders choose to keep quiet about the topic and fall short of exercising their accountability in protecting the flock. 

Yah, who I mention in this article, is an author whose associations include some of the editorial team members of the Philippine Christian Bookstore, which carries the titles of Zondervan, the publisher of books by Rob Bell (Love Wins), John MacArthur (The MacArthur Bible Commentary), Brian McLaren (A New Kind of Christianity), Eugene Peterson (The Message, a mystic Bible translation), Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life), the late Ravi Zacharias (Seeing Jesus from the East, among those pulled by HarperCollins because of confirmed sexual misconduct along with rape allegations against him), and other false teachers of this time. 

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Few days ago, I received an e-mail from Yah, a long-time acquaintance. The message was brief so I replied briefly as well, sharing a bit of my present circumstance which includes the passing away of my dad whom I dearly miss. Yah ended her message with sharing a link to the preaching of her pastor husband, Pastor Anthony John O. Munar, at their church in Batangas, the Jesus Our Abundant Life Church. I listened to the preaching entitled, "Be of the same mind with one another," while cooking lunch and thought I'd leave a short brotherly (or sisterly) comment, which reads in Filipino:

Magandang araw po sa inyo diyan sa Batangas, Pastor. Pinakinggan ko po itong preaching niyo habang ako’y nagluluto ng ulam. Ako man po ay dating miyembro na umalis sa mga iglesiya ko noon, ayon po sa Roma 16:17-18. Mangyari po ang liderato na ng mga iglesiya na aking dinaluhan ang silang nangunguna sa pagpapalaganap at pagsasagawa ng mga katuruan na salungat sa Salita ng Diyos. Sumulat po ako ng maikling aklat patungkol po dito: “Among the emergent churches in the Philippines and the reasons I left them” https://tinyurl.com/h6yuuc7f. Natagalan lang po ang pagrebisa ko ng aklat na ito dala ng mga kaganapan sa aking buhay. Pero may mga aklat na rin po patungkol sa mapanganib na mga katuruan at tagapagturo sa panahon po natin ngayon. Isa na po riyan ang aklat ni Ray Yungen, “A time of departing: How ancient mystical practices are uniting Christians with the world's religions” https://tinyurl.com/casaxxnm. Maging kaisa rin po nawa kayo, Pastor, sa pagbibigay ng babala sa kapatiran, laban sa mga katuruan at mga tagapagturo na salungat sa Salita ng Diyos.

(Good day to you all there in Batangas, Pastor. I listened to your preaching while cooking our meal. I too was a member who left my previous church, following Romans 16:17-18. Unfortunately, the leaders of the churches I attended initiated and disseminated certain teachings contrary to the Word of God. I wrote a small book about it: "Among the emergent churches in the Philippines and the reasons I left them” https://tinyurl.com/h6yuuc7f. The revision of the book has been protracted due to my circumstances. But a number of books to warn the brethren against dangerous teachings and teachers have been released. Ray Yungen's book is just one of them: "A time of departing: How ancient mystical practices are uniting Christians with the world's religions” https://tinyurl.com/casaxxnm. Pastor, may you be one of those warning the brethren against teachings and teachers contrary to the Word of God.)

I later edited my comment post to include the URLs of my book and that of Ray Yungen's. But it was then that I noticed my comment below the YouTube video disappeared.

Reminding the flock to follow God's commands is crucial at this time. May that not be a selective effort though, as handlers and teachers of God's Word choose to leave other relevant issues untouched at the pulpit. Indeed, I pray that my acquaintance and her pastor husband be of the same mind with the brethren who earnestly contend for the faith.

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. (Jude, verse 3)



 

Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No,' 'No'...