Believe Right!

A  popular pastor in my country recently took a significant step away from his previous religious teachings. He announced that paying tithes is not a requirement for making it to heaven, a sharp contrast to his earlier sermons where he had preached that those who do not give tithes will not enter heaven. Now, I’m not against tithing. My home church is in faraway Singapore, and tithes and offerings make it possible for millions of people, including myself, to hear the truth about Jesus through its TV broadcasts. Think about it—it’s your house, so why wouldn’t you want to contribute to its upkeep? That is, unless we no longer view the church as our home, but rather as a place to conduct “trade-by-barter” transactions with God, which is sadly how many people,  both those who give tithes and those who don’t,  view it. Like Saul after something like scales fell from his eyes and he both literally and metaphorically saw  God’s Grace ( Ananias  means God’s Grace), I be...

  For believers in Christ: You are  in  Christ Jesus. How much closer to God can you be when God has made you one with Himself in Christ Jesus? As believers in Christ, we are members of His body— I like to see myself as a platelet or some other blood component in Christ: what more can a red blood cell or spleen do in order to become closer to the body to which it already belongs? He Himself says " I will never leave you nor forsake you."  He is always there for us. But we tend to lose the  SENSE  of His presence when we listen to teachings that put up barriers (e.g. fasting or whatever works man thinks he can do in his own strength) to receiving God's Mercy and Grace in time of need. Understand that receiving " Mercy " entails escaping the punishment that one truly deserves. And " Grace " is undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. Any whiff of man's works (such as fasting for 5 minutes or 70 days to “purify” or better position ourselves to receive ...