What God Sees As Blessing - A Closer Look at the Rechabites

If you delight in the LORD and want Him to delight in you - or if you’re simply a prudent believer who wants to position yourself (and your offspring) for blessing - you’ll want to pay attention to the Rechabites.

Jeremiah 35:18–19 (NKJV) And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

‘Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you, therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
“Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever.” ’ ”

At first read, this passage raises questions:

Who are the Rechabites?

Why are they refusing wine?

And why does God drop such a sweeping blessing on them?

⸻

Who They Were

Judges 1:16

Now the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the City of Palms with the children of Judah into the Wilderness of Judah… and they went and dwelt among the people.

Through Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenites attached themselves to Israel early on. Later, they gave rise to the house of Rechab.

1 Chronicles 2:55 (NKJV)

…These were the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.

And Jonadab? We meet him here:

2 Kings 10:15–17 (NKJV)

Now when he departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab, coming to meet him; and he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart right, as my heart is toward your heart?”

And Jehonadab answered, “It is.”

Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. Then he said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” So they had him ride in his chariot. And when he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to Elijah.

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Jonadab first shows up riding with Jehu.

“Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord,” Jehu says... and Jonadab climbs in. He might (just might) have been merely a bystander. But he was definitely there for the purge of Baal worship that followed. And whether he raised his hand or simply stood there, the blood still splattered the same.

Jonadab didn’t just see people die.

He participated.

He was in the chariot.

He smelled it, felt the weight of it, saw the faces.

That changes you at a level words can’t reach. And once you know (really know) how thin it all is, you can’t un-know it. Every city looks different. Every temple. Every feast. The illusions are cut through.

And he said:

"My sons will not trust in this.”

No Wine? Makes Total Sense

Everyone reads “no wine” as ascetic denial or religious peculiarity. But from a tactical survival perspective, it’s operational security.

It’s:

• Never compromised

• Never slow to respond

• Never vulnerable to ambush because you’re drunk at a feast

• Never making stupid decisions because your judgment is impaired

Living light? Same logic. When you might need to move now, you can’t be attached to possessions.

No vineyard means no reason to defend a fixed position. No house means no structure to get trapped in.

Nomadism isn’t poverty - it’s tactical mobility. It’s refusing to give enemies a fixed target. It’s maintaining readiness.

Jonadab saw a powerful kingdom fall in an afternoon. His rules weren’t religious wayang; they were a survivalist’s manual for his descendants.

“Don’t settle. Don’t get drunk. Stay mobile. Stay alert.

Because I’ve seen what happens when you don’t.”

Jonadab wasn’t paranoid or primitive. He was realistic in a way we’ve forgotten how to be. His nomadism wasn’t rejecting civilization from ignorance, it was rejecting it from knowledge. From having seen through it. This is trauma-informed wisdom: someone who knows, and teaches his children to live accordingly.

And he said again:

“My sons will not trust in this.”

For generations, their tents and their choices quietly repeated that vow:

We will not trust in this.

The Blessing: God’s Take

“Jonadab son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever.”

That’s dynasty language, almost identical to God’s promise to David.

Notice what goes unsaid:

• Continuity across generations: not one act of faith, but loyalty that lasts.

• Covenant resonance: they kept their father’s word; God keeps His.

• Presence over possessions: no land, wealth, or ease. The gift is access - descendants who stand before God.

From a modern lens, that barely sounds like blessing. Who cares if my great-great-grandchildren are faithful if I’m stuck living in tents with no wine? But biblically, that is the highest good:

legacy in God’s presence.

God, renew my mind to value what You esteem as blessing.

God’s Angle: “I Like Their Style”

God isn’t canonizing their lifestyle. If He wanted everyone to live like survivalists, He’d have said so. What He admires is their posture: their seriousness, their refusal to assimilate, their grit in carrying alertness for generations. And He blesses that.

Meanwhile, Judah can’t even keep the most basic covenant commitments to the God who rescued them from Egypt? The Rechabites put them to shame.

It’s as if God says:

“Look at them.
Loyal to a human forefather who taught them alertness.
Meanwhile, you sleep as if safety were your birthright.
What does that say?”

Behind that is a truth about blessing: God measures it in covenant loyalty and generational faithfulness, not in comfort or self-actualization. In every collapsing age, God keeps a remnant that still remembers what the world forgets.

The Rechabites weren’t perfect. But God looked at them and said:

“I like their style.”

And that was enough.

My Turn

We moderns live under an illusion the Rechabites would have recognized instantly: we think our comfort is permanent. Our homes, our systems, our “normal”? We treat them like bedrock.

But I’ve lived long enough, and seen the veneer peel back often enough, to know what Jonadab knew: everything can change in an afternoon.

The skills that matter aren’t just spiritual disciplines - they’re readiness, mobility, and the refusal to be lulled into false security. The Rechabites stayed alert for centuries. Can we stay alert for one generation?

God didn’t bless them for being comfortable. He blessed them for being awake.

May He find us the same.

Reverse Rapture - Part 3 - The Insider Itch

Reverse Rapture Part 1

Reverse Rapture Part 2 

I am frustrated. So deeply frustrated.

Sixteen years ago I wrote about grief when a pastor I respected turned his back on Christ for Judaism. Today? The grief has hardened into something else entirely.

A Pastor Fell

Back then, the One New Man movement hit Singapore with obviously noble intentions: teaching about Jewish roots of faith. But people got drunk on “insider” knowledge. Suddenly they weren’t learning; they were standing apart, superior to the rest of the Body who didn’t get their special understanding.

It was never about Hebrew songs or shofars. It was about the itch, that hunger for secret knowledge, for feeling closer to God than the ordinary believers around you.

That same itch fuels today’s reverse rapture nonsense. And here’s what makes me want to scream: we have zero excuse for falling for this garbage anymore.

In my university days, working a few hours at McDonald’s could buy you a copy of the Bible in your own language. Go back fifty years and you couldn’t even take that for granted. What believers could only dream of a lifetime ago, we carry in our pockets: endless translations, free of charge, on devices more powerful than supercomputers. Greek and Hebrew interlinears with full search capability. You want to know how “logos” and “rhema” are actually used in the New Testament instead of parroting some preacher’s made-up distinction? Five minutes of research. You can even argue with AI to test your theological ideas against objective logic that doesn’t care about your feelings.

Given all that, people really should not be falling for amateur-hour false prophecy. But they are. Why?

Because the itch isn’t about information. It’s about status. 

And sometimes that drive for status is powered and energized by trauma. I know a sister who got abused by her boyfriend, abandoned by her church, and instead of doing the hard work of healing, she went shopping for a cause that would make her feel important again. The vaccine wars became her altar. Refuse the jab, join the remnant, judge everyone else as compromised.

I get why medical institutions lost credibility. My father ended up in ICU after one dose, and watching the gaslighting that followed was infuriating. But turning health decisions into salvation tests isn’t discernment. It’s lazy theology disguised as spiritual warfare.

The tools are right there. The resources are free. The excuses are running out.

So what do we do? The same things we should have been doing all along, but with less patience for excuses:

1. Use the tools. Stop outsourcing your brain to YouTube prophets. You have access to better biblical resources than any generation in history. Use them. Start by reading your Bible and grow from there.

2. Test everything. Does your “special knowledge” make you more loving or just more judgmental? If it’s the latter, stop and check where you left the straight paths. 1 Corinthians 8:1 is still in the Bible, the last I checked... 

3. Stop coddling spiritual laziness. Yes, care for the wounded, but don’t enable their refusal to think. Compassion doesn’t mean accepting garbage theology.

4. Build churches that actually disciple people. If your congregation can’t tell the difference between Scripture and conspiracy theories, that’s a leadership failure. And for God’s sake, when someone reports abuse, investigate it properly. Don’t be the kind of church that forces God to work around your negligence.

5. Call out the grifters. These false prophets aren’t innocent mistakes. They’re businesses exploiting vulnerable people. Treat them accordingly. That's why i actually wade through this frustration to write all this stuff. 

The pattern I wrote about in 2009 is still here: people wanting to feel superior through “special knowledge.” The difference now is we have no excuse for not recognizing it.

The reverse rapture isn’t a prophetic event. It’s a spiritual tantrum. It’s people floating away on balloons of superiority because doing the actual work of discipleship is harder than joining a club that tells you you’re already special.

If you’re tempted by the insider itch, if you find yourself looking down on other believers because they don’t share your particular obsession, here’s my advice: Get over yourself. Read your Bible. Join a church. Learn to carry your pain without turning it into a weapon against the Body of Christ.

Because the moment you start believing you’re part of some special remnant that’s smarter than everyone else, you’ve already been raptured... right out of the humility that makes faith possible in the first place.

Reverse Rapture - Part 2: Who Falls For This Stuff?

Reverse Rapture Part 1

After writing about that whole “reverse rapture” prophecy, with all its specific, verifiable claims that we can check against reality on September 24, this one question keeps bugging me:

What makes people fall for this stuff? Over and over again?

You’d think that by now, after enough failed rapture dates and “God told me about Bitcoin” prophecies, Christians would develop better discernment. But every few months, someone with a YouTube channel releases another “word,” and just like clockwork, it spreads through church WhatsApp groups like wildfire.

I so wish it was just stupidity or lack of Bible knowledge. There’s a whole ecosystem that creates this vulnerability. Lemme give you a quick introduction to the types of people you'd meet there.

The Shortcut Seeker

I meet these Christians all the time. They want prophecy, fire tunnels, soaking sessions... anything except the slow work of sitting with Scripture. They’ll chase the latest “deep revelation” but won’t work through a basic Pauline argument in Romans.

They want spiritual six-packs without doing the reps. But there’s no shortcut to what only time and deliberate, dedicated surrender can build.

The Disillusioned Drifter

These break my heart. They’ve been burnt by church (sometimes legitimately). They saw hypocrisy, bad leadership, maybe even abuse. But instead of healing through the Word, prayer and humbly seeking out healthy fellowship, they ran from church entirely.

Now they don’t trust traditional church, but they’ll trust Telegram groups full of “anointed intel” with no accountability, no test, no grounding. In American-ese, they rejected one kind of Kool-Aid and started drinking another.

The Chronically Undiscipled

Let’s be direct: many of our churches failed these people. They can quote Philippians 4:13, but they’ve never been taught how to handle Scripture properly. If their pastors had substance, they might have wondered if they'd lose attendance from the services by feeding the people anything more substantial than sermon-ites for christian-lites. Oftentimes, fearing that they would lose their congregation to the latest fashionable church, the pastors dilute and dumb down the meat of the Scriptures. End result? A flock who are fundamentally children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of  men. (Ephesians 4:14)

So when someone says to them “God showed me Ezekiel 40 is about cryptocurrency,” they genuinely can’t tell if it’s false teaching or just revelation they’re too immature to understand yet. They’re not gullible because they’re stupid. They’re gullible because they’re starving. And sometimes they don't even know it...

The End-Times Entrepreneur

This type fascinates me. They love prophetic charts, geopolitical decoding, Nephilim timelines, AND they also believe God wants to make them rich through end-times investments. They don’t want discipleship. They want to front-run the apocalypse and call it obedience. That's fine if they keep to their own circles, among people with their kind of appetite for risk. It isn't that fine if they drag in the church janitor and the small scale English Tutor and lose their money in some fancy investment scheme that collapses just before the returns were supposed to be paid out. 

The Hungry and Overlooked

These are the ones who really get to me. They’re not trying to manipulate anyone. They’re just lonely, powerless, spiritually malnourished. Nobody ever discipled them properly or taught them how to test prophecy. When someone finally tells them they’re part of a chosen remnant about to receive wealth and purpose, they believe it. Because they desperately need to. They’re not chasing prophets. They’re chasing hope.

They are often the sort who are quiet at church, who might turn up for events a few times and realize no one notices if they were there or not, then quietly fade back into the woodwork. They don't fit into our preconceived image of the successful churchgoer, those who have the best faith, the right doctrine, the pithiest sayings of "humble" yet confident faith. God sees them as important, but do the rest of us at church show them how God sees them?

Why This Matters

False prophecy spreads in an ecosystem of shallow teaching and deep spiritual hunger. Behind every ridiculous YouTube prophet is a crowd of Christians who never got the tools to distinguish truth from garbage. We can’t just cringe, roll our eyes and move on. If we want people to stop falling for this stuff, we need to address the conditions that make them vulnerable in the first place.

So, yes - first go read your Bible. Really read it. Not for quotes or proof-texts, but to let it train you. There’s no substitute for that slow, sometimes boring work of learning to hear God’s actual voice. Then open your eyes at church and see if you recognize amongst your churchmates any of the above groups I brought up above. Or the next time God lays on your heart someone you haven't seen in church for a while, you might want to send them a text and just see if they are doing ok. 

Because sometimes the best defence against false prophecy isn't just good doctrine, it's a church community that actually sees and cares for its people. This is how we stop having to ask this question again in six months... 

Reverse Rapture: Part 3 

Reverse Rapture - Go Read Your Bible

 Around Mid-July, I got this message via Whatsapp

Just wish to drop you a message as that we are the generation that will see Christ return, and I believe you heard about the great wealth transfer that is about to happen for God’s chosen ones. 

I want to bless you with this opportunity, I am not sure if you know about cryptocurrencies investment and etc.

There are a few God anointed coin eg. XRP, XLM, Shiba Inu and of course Bitcoin. Please read about them all if you are not sure. In singapore you can download the Coinbase app for Apple App Store. From Coinbase app then you can purchase and keep those crypto. 

This great harvest time or wealth transfer is meant to fund the coming great harvest of souls (the final call) before Rapture. 

I will share a few of those YouTube channels that I followed, those prophets sharing about it all. 

Lastly, watch September as there will be a 24 hours event of the Great and Terrible Day, is also called “reverse rapture”, God is going to remove the evil ppls on this earth and few big events would happen (I believe), I meant catastrophic events.

(JJ: Needless to say, the idea of a reverse rapture caught my attention.)

The September event according to Bo Polny is around Rosh Hasnanah 22-24 September. Or more exact on the 24/9.

--

So I replied

We’re definitely in strange times. I do believe God is moving, and I also believe we need to test everything, hold on to what is good, and not be swept by every wind. I’m always cautious with anything that links prophecy to profit. i saw too many people from my church burned over the past decade or so. ☹️

i really appreciate your heart in reaching out, and I pray you continue to walk closely with the Lord. we keep in contact, ok?

(Yes, my capitalisation is erratic. These days I just type my replies on screen as I move around. Sitting at my laptop to type is a luxury)

-- Further messages I received

We are at the reset time for great wealth harvest and great soul harvest time. The 4 July 2025 marked the beginning of the 7 years of blessings (for God’s chosen ones) and the world will be into more chaos at the same time before the 7 years of tribulation (2032-2033?).

There is this one day (24 hours) event that will take place this Summer (I think around 22-24 September Rosh Hashanah), this event (worldwide 911 as if), our Creator is about to remove those evil  ones from this world, it is called “reverse rapture - not for us but the evil ones.

I kept mentioning the September event, because this will be felt by everyone on earth on that day, people will know that is God’s move. 

We will be busy and must equip ourselves to be readily answering anyone that approaches us 💪

-- 

It's the beginning of August right now, so I'm going to go on the record and say I don't believe there will be a reverse rapture. Simply put, something as big as that is not going to be omitted from the Scriptures, or hidden under ambiguity behind passages we already know to mean something else. So I take my stand now, publicly, here. 

And if it does happen on 24 Sept, it actually doesn't change my main point, which I will get to in a moment. First let me put here in this blog core details of the claims about the reverse rapture. If you like, you can skip ahead to my TLDR

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A MESSAGE FROM GOD – JULY 25, 2025

So what’s going on?  What’s going on?  You should pay particular attention to the markets at this time.  The wealth transfer is starting, and the markets are going to move well.  Watch them and see.

Israel is going to announce a new energy source.  Wait and see.

So what time is it on the clock?  WE are seconds out from the Great and Terrible Day.  There will be signs as WE approach, but it will come suddenly as a thief in the night and there will be no stopping The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.  The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord will start with a shock and it will continue for a 24-hour period.  24 hours to the second.

Man cannot stop the Great and Terrible Day.  I AM bringing the Great and Terrible Day to cleanse MY Earth of all of the evil ones.  They are not of ME.  They will never choose ME and will shake their fist in defiance as they go to their eternal damnation.  All of you know these evil ones.  Some are famous and some not so famous and some everyday people among you.

The evil ones are not the lost that will be found.  The lost are the wayward Christians and those that have not made a choice yet about MY Precious Beautiful Son Jesus.  The lost will be found and many will come home to ME and MY Son on that fateful day.  The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.

The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord will start like any other day.  But MY Angel of Death will be moving throughout MY Whole Earth.  Millions will be gone and MY Son’s Scriptures of the wheat and the tares being separated will be fulfilled.  It will be in an instant.  Some will witness.  One will be gone – two in the bed and then one will be gone.  Two in the field and then one will be gone.  Gone.  Gone.  Vanished. 

People will search and search and they will be never to be found.  I call this MY Reverse Rapture.  MY Reverse Rapture is reversed because it is not the Rapture of the Church of MY Dear Son.  That is for later.  Not quite yet.  WE will get to that but before WE do, I must rid the world of the evil ones who have polluted MY Beautiful People with all of their evil.

So fear not the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.  For MY Saints and MY Lost Wandering Children, the Great and Terrible Day will be a great day!  A day to celebrate and remember.  As the evil is extinguished from MY Earth, MY Glory will begin to pour in.  The evil cannot stand MY Glory.  They will be running and hiding and then they will be gone.

This will be a one day 24-hour event that will be global.  All on the planet will experience MY Great and Terrible Day.  MY Saints and Lost will live through it, and many will see the evil vanquish.  It will be captured on video and the media will begin to show it as it is happening in real time across the globe.  For some, a pocketful, repentance will come from them right before they could have been snatched away.  Fear will overtake many, but you, MY Dear Children are to fear not.  Fear not this Great Day and fear not this Terrible Day.

Fear not MY Church, MY Saints, MY Believers.  The Great and Terrible Day will usher in the greatest harvest of souls into MY Dear Son’s Kingdom.  MY Son Jesus, the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords.  He paid the price with His Life for each of you to have life more abundantly, to the full and your cup overflowing.

This Great Day will bring prodigals home, set addicts free, free the lost and set many of MY Little Ones that have survived free from their demonic, evil captors.  Some will need homes, and many will make their way back to their home and family who waits and hopes for them.

This Great Day will bring the lost to flood MY Churches, MY Online Ministries and to you, MY Saints.  They will call you because they know you are MINE, and they always have known who to call if they need ME.

So be ready MY Saints as the harvest is ready and the workers are few and it is time to bring in the Great Harvest of Souls.  Be ready MY Saints to walk in love when lost loved ones call and show up scared and afraid, needing help and guidance to meet MY Son.  Forgive quickly their wrongs and hold no grudge.  Be like MY Son and have HIS Compassion in your heart.

Be ready to love and to show them the way to MY Dear Son and to HIS Cross.  There is always room at the table, and WE love OUR Lost.  We love the downcast, the homeless, the addicts, the alternative lifestyles and those in sin.

WE love one and all and WE welcome them all.  Help them and meet them where they are.  Take the calls, answer the phone, go pick them up and show them OUR Love.  Ask US to direct you and give you the Words.  MY Holy Spirit can give you and speak through you.  Just walk in love and they will want who you have – MY Jesus, MY Son – the Love of your Life!

The Great and Terrible Day will change everything in MY World.  Governments, politics, media, movies, your family, your life, and your finances.

MY World will never be the same as I AM changing everything in one single day.  I only need one day as I AM the Great I AM.  There is no one like ME and there never will be.

I only need one day.  Just take a look at MY Book.  MY Love Book.  The Greatest Book ever written.  MY Precious Holy Spirit gave it to you through men who were obedient and faithful and gave their time and wrote it down.  They are honored these Saints and you can meet them in heaven.  But that will be later as now it is time for MY Glory from heaven.

The defeat to the enemy will be a mortal blow.  It will take time for him to regroup but regroup he shall.  Fear not the evil one, the forever loser.  He will not defeat ME.  MY Glory shall come and shall fill MY Earth.

MY Glory will fill homes and churches and stores.  MY Glory will fill MY Saints like never before.  MY Glory shall change sinners into Saints.  Men will be falling on their knees and crying out to ME when they stand up, they will be all brand new.  Washed and cleaned in MY Son’s Blood.  Clean and spot-free.

So rejoice MY Saints as this is good news.  We are seconds away from the Great Fateful Day.  Rejoice you have been told as I do nothing without telling MY Anointed, the Prophets.  MY Prophets rose up as I anointed them to tell you, to warn you and for you to look up.

So rejoice and sing and remember to pray.  Thank ME each day and soon you will see MY Great Move in all of history.

The mountains will sing and the valleys will bloom.  MY Glory is coming.  MY Lost will be found.  The evil will be gone and you are MY In Crowd.

I love you always,

Adonai

--

Another message, supposed to be a letter on the 27 July 2025 

So what about the Russia Gate?  How does everything tie together?  Soon you will know, and the arrests will be on.

You thought last week was exciting.  Wait and see this week.  You better get a big bucket of popcorn and some extra butter.  Things are just cranking up and it is going to be very exciting.  So buckle up buttercup.

For those of you still carrying around your rapture rug, go put it in the closet for a bit.  Yes, MY Son Jesus is coming!  He is coming for you!  His Beautiful Bride, but ME and MY Son do not want any to be left behind, as it is not quite time yet.  Oh yes, there will be people left in the tribulation who will receive MY Son after the rapture.  They will know the truth will set them free.  MY Bible is clear that there will be martyrs and a few that make it to the end of the tribulation period.  WE will help them and them to the end.

But right now is not Rapture Time.  Many of you thought HE was already coming and made some preparations for unsaved, loved ones.  WE love your hope, your expectation and your excitement.  You will be highly blessed and rewarded for all from the big to the small for writing rapture letters, stockpiling Bibles and praying for the lost.

Many of the lost will very soon receive MY Son Jesus, My Beautiful Son Jesus, on Reverse Rapture Day.  The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord. So hold tight MY Loves.  You will see the lost be found and you are going to be amazed.

You will be amazed and in awe and wonder.  Amazed at what I do, how I do it, and when and that it is a one day.  A 24-hour event.  There will be no day in history like MY Reverse Rapture.  It will happen once.  Just one day – you can count on ME.  I guarantee it.

The world will soon know that I AM the Great I AM and there is no one like ME.  MY Earth cannot tolerate the sin of evil men and women and the trouble, chaos and confusion that the Nephilim, the evil ones, have brought to MY Good Earth.  They will be gone, and I will heal and cleanse MY Earth.  When they are gone, do not remember them and do not celebrate them.  There will be no funerals for them as they will not be here for that.  No body – no funeral.  So don’t have any celebrations of Life for the evil that will be removed from MY Good Earth.  Do not!

Your mission, MY Saints, is MY Lost, who have come home to ME and MY Son Jesus.  Your mission as their wandering around in fear and trembling – needing comfort and understanding as to what has happened, the reasons for it and that it will not happen again.

You will not need to stockpile or get a solar generator for MY Great and Terrible Day.  You all have all that you need for that day.  You are to be in prayer and love on the lost.  Love on all and meet them where they are. Don’t try to explain the whole Bible to them on Day 1.  Start with John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish”.  Start right there with I love them, I gave MY Son for them and all they must do is believe.  And teach them of Our Love and Our Love especially for them.  And teach them to love.  Just start there.

The Greatest is Love.  I AM Love and Love never fails and I will never fail them or you.  So you, MY Child, be prepared to walk in love with each one that I send to you to lead and guide to MY Son.

There will be much confusion, chaos, and destruction on this Great and Terrible Day. There will be days of darkness for some in power, intel and the like.  But fear not I will take care of all of you MY Loves and any loss will be simple and easy and quickly restored.

You see, MY Children, all of this must be done to set the stage for the final harvest of souls.  The Reverse Rapture will bring many to US on that day, but for others it may take a few extra moments.  Time.  So you plant the seeds, and you will reap the harvest of souls that I have predestined for you.

MY, In Crowd, you will be great fishers of men. Do not doubt even in your life that you might not think you will make a difference in MY Son’s Kingdom.  Oh yes, I handpicked you to be where you are and I will orchestrate your steps to be a Great Builder of MY Son’s Precious Kingdom.

What I need for you is a willing heart.  It is a choice to be a harvester of souls.  A fisher of men.  Come to ME and ask ME to anoint you fresh to be a Great Harvester in MY End Time Harvest.

But child, always remember that I gave you freewill and harvesting for MY Son is a choice.  I always have backup, and no one will go to hell if you don’t step up.  That is a lie from the evil one from the pit of hell.

I AM a loving Father, and I love My Children so much that I have many plans for each person that will to receive MY Son.  So no guilt here, MY Child, as I want you to know to be a harvester is always a choice.  Choose wisely MY Child as the rewards will be great.

So back to the beginning.  I AM using man to bring justice to the wrongs committed by the evil, corrupt demonic.  And I AM going to finish the job with MY Reverse Rapture.  It is sooner than you think.  Look up, your redemption draws neigh, and you shall see it, live through it and talk about it all the days of your life.

So all of this excitement that Obama, Killary, Comey, Brennan and more will be chargds with crimes against the USA is leading up to the big day.  There are many in their gang who are not of the evil ones and those will be spared MY Wrath on the Great and Terrible Day.  Yes, this will be a demonstration of MY Wrath on the earth and when it is done, you will never see this again and for some of MY Prophets, they will have completed their mission.

Back to the evil gang that have committed treason, some will be gone on the Great and Terrible Day and some will repent.  Some will remain and still not make their choice for ME and MY Son.  But that is MY Business and yours is to shepherd and guide the Lost that I send your way.

MY Glory shall fill MY Earth and the fullness thereof.  You will love MY Glory and experience ME, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in deeper, more intimate ways.  It will be a time in your life when you see all of MY Promises fulfilled in your life.  Your job is to simply believe.  Believe, MY Child, in MY Son.  Believe MY Child that I always have the plan.  Trust and depend on MY Precious Holy Spirit and WE will direct and order your steps all the days of your life.  Just simply believe.

A word of wisdom for you as you ponder the Great Day.  Do not complicate MY Son or HIS Gospel.  I AM the Great I AM, and I created all and know all and could easily make MY Kingdom harder than any math formula.  But I did not, because I love you.  I have made all in MY Kingdome simple and easy.  So simple even little children receive MY Son, and they just believe.  So keep everything simple for the new believers.  Teach them of Jesus and OUR Love and then you go from there.

Many have lost their Kingdom Harvest by making it too hard and difficult to meet MY Dear Son.

So enough today.  This very hot sunny day.  MY Girl’s hand is getting tired, and it is almost time for her church.  Rest some and pray to ME some.  Love always and rejoice.  The new dawn is upon you, and you will rejoice.

I love you today, tomorrow and forever.

Adonai

--

TLDR - Those messages make the following specific, verifiable claims

1. The “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord” will occur in a single, global 24-hour window

• Quote: “It will come suddenly as a thief in the night… The Great and Terrible Day… will continue for a 24-hour period. 24 hours to the second.”

• Verifiable: A global event with exact timing can be checked via news, global records, and timing.

2. Millions will vanish from the Earth in that 24-hour period

• Quote: “Millions will be gone… It will be in an instant… One will be gone – two in the bed and then one will be gone.”

• Verifiable: Such mass disappearances would be immediately reported worldwide.

3. This is called a “Reverse Rapture” - different from the Church Rapture

• Quote: “I call this MY Reverse Rapture… it is not the Rapture of the Church of MY Dear Son. That is for later.”

• Verifiable Distinction: This positions it as a new prophetic claim, not traditional rapture theology.

4. The event will be captured on video and aired globally in real time

• Quote: “It will be captured on video and the media will begin to show it as it is happening in real time across the globe.”

• Verifiable: If real, this would dominate global media. It will be verifiable by footage, headlines, and broadcasts.

5. Israel will announce a new energy source

• Quote: “Israel is going to announce a new energy source. Wait and see.”

• Verifiable: Israeli government or science news channels would record such an announcement.

6. Markets will shift significantly as part of a wealth transfer

• Quote: “The wealth transfer is starting, and the markets are going to move well. Watch them and see.”

• Verifiable (but Vague): Can be tracked via financial indices, but needs clearer definition of “wealth transfer.”

7. The evil will be visibly and instantly removed

• Quote: “The evil… will be gone… in an instant.”

• Implication: The world will experience immediate and dramatic removal of specific “evil people” (some “famous, some not”).

• Verifiable: If, on that day, notable public figures or “evil ones” vanish en masse, it can be tracked and confirmed.

8. The day will trigger mass repentance and a flood into churches and ministries

• Quote: “This Great Day will bring the lost to flood MY Churches, MY Online Ministries and to you, MY Saints.”

• Verifiable: A mass spiritual revival in 24 hours would be widely documented.

I put all this out here for accountability. If we do not see all 8 of these claims come to pass, we see false prophecy. I expect fully people to start saying "maybe God meant 24 Sept 2026?" Funny how divine, unshakeable timelines always seem to come wiith an annual extension option, yah? 

Ok, enough of the kid gloves. God says exactly what he means. It's false prophets who want to keep fleecing the flock that will make specific time claims first and make excuses later after their prophecies are proven false. 

But there is more to the picture. And that is the important part to me - what makes some people more vulnerable to being taken in by false teachers, false prophets and false prophecies? A lack of serious, rigourous feeding in God's Word over the years. So, I attempted to bypass the distraction (reverse rapture) and go straight to the real issue. 

The following is the message I sent in reply, shared here unedited, because this is the type of clarity we need more often these days. 

--

these days i meet an ex church mate regularly to plan curriculum for his tuition centre. one day he told me he goes to a particular prayer meeting wednesday nights, where he stays for hours for the pastor to pray for him. he spoke of deep encounters with the presence of God, and the inner healing and release he experienced each time.

did i say “that’s great!” or ask for the time and place so i could go too?

nope. i asked, “tell me, what is your time in the Bible like these days?”

“hear me out, jj…” and he proceeded to talk about praying in tongues on bus trips, listening to sermon audios and all that. he knew very well what was missing, deficient, very badly neglected in his life, and took quite a while to admit it. all i did was ask the question and give him time to face up to the answer.

now that i know your heart for God is rising and awakening, and you see movement and transition in the spirit realm, my question to you is even weightier.

How is your time in the Word of God, the plain undiluted Scripture, without any other voices, just you and the Bible directly?

because when the clock is ticking and the heat is turning up, your thriving and growth requires that you be feeding yourself the Word of God daily. and that the voices you listen to do the same.

we think we know what it means to set our hearts and minds on things above, on the heavenlies, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. but do we?

i discovered this test to see if we delight in God’s Word and in God himself: would you ever sit down and read ezekiel 40–48 — the temple measurements, the gates, the chambers, the offerings — not because you fully understand it, or it makes you feel something, but just only because God put it there?

because he cares about it. for me, if some teacher, pastor, ‘prophet’ finds ezekiel 40–48 boring, i won’t trust what they say about the book of revelations, much less the end times transfer.

Do the people you follow and listen to obsess over God that much?

we can’t tell just from whatever they put out online or in text messages. the things of the Spirit are to be spiritually discerned, spiritually received, and spiritually weighed. we can’t do that accurately unless we ourselves obsess over God and immerse ourselves in the Bible seriously. as seriously as we deem the times coming upon us.

so i’m not saying “follow me.” i am not Christ. i don’t even dare say “follow me as i follow Christ.”

i’m saying to you what i remind myself: the unshakable kingdom we hunger for is built upon the unshakable Word of God.

only there can we build an anchor strong enough to withstand the shaking.

only there can we discern, truly discern, who in the Body is anchored deep enough in the Word to speak into our lives.

“the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

if we follow those who are secretly carnal (whether they preach fire or whisper peace) they will lead us astray.

so let’s seek the Lord in truth.

let His Word be our judge.

let it refine our souls.

⸻

so, to round up this message from my heart, i’ll ask you again the question that makes people uncomfortable with me:

How is your time in the Word of God? plain, undiluted Scripture, just you and the Bible, with no other voices in the room?

--

I know, I did an entire blog post for her. Wanna guess her reply? 

--

🤦‍♀️ Ezekiel 40 to 48 shows God’s final plan for restoration — not just of a temple, but of His entire relationship with His people, their land, worship, and leadership. 

I see that it is about to happen soon (the relationship has to restore). Before rapture all these has to happen. The book of Song of Songs is the best description of all, emphasizes on thr permanence, passion and power of true love between our Creator and His children.

-- 

1. Notice that she totally evaded my simple and direct question? That tells me the true state of her Bible time loud and clear. 

2. Notice also how Ezekiel 40-48 is reduced to a less-than-AI-generated summary that i would expect from the church elder who inspired my blog posts

https://jvworship.blogspot.com/2010/08/teachers-of-pet-topics.html

and 

https://jvworship.blogspot.com/2011/08/giving-to-poor.html 

Some people think being able to parrot a summation of the key ideas of a passage is the same as feeding on it. It isn't. That's as wise as watching a few driving tutorials on Youtube and thinking you're road-ready. 

Go read your Bible. Really read it. Not for quotes, not for prooftexts, not to circle back to whatever you think you already know. But to let the Word of God train you. People use all kinds of spiritual-looking workarounds (like prayer meetings, online sermons, chasing "prophets") just to avoid the actual work of digging into the Scriptures and proving to the Holy Spirit you WANT His truth. 

Some people think they are so clever when they can reduce or somehow divert Scripture passages or topics back to their favourite pet topics. For example, you explain to them about a passage on the nuances of God's guidance and they twist it into something vague and feel-good, like the love of God. Such twisting may be clever. It may impress those without a love or the knowledge of the Scriptures. But it is fruitless for both the speaker and those who hear. 

That bears repeating: can the Holy Spirit tell from your actions that you actually WANT the lessons of the Scriptures? Or will he find you chasing the 'prophets' and teachers and thinking that puts you on par with the remnant who still work through their way through the Bible book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse?

May the Lord grant mercy to us in these last days. Because some of us are still reading. Still repenting. Still carefully tuning our discernment. And still refusing to be seduced by spiritual shortcuts.

Junjie

Reverse Rapture Part 2

Reverse Rapture Part 3

Taking Someone's Position (4)

To take someone's position, you need to be specifically called by God, willing to do the lowly tasks and able to serve without resources or rewards. And if you think all that is tough, the next one is often the final stumbling block, one obstacle that many cannot clear.

Betrayal

1) Betrayal by leaders

You can say that David's journey to the throne was marked by betrayal. He was first betrayed by first by Saul, the one he looked up to, whom he saw as his mentor, as a father figure.

It began with the Saul looking at David with suspicion:

1 Samuel 18:9 (NKJV) - Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on.

... and then he eventually became David's enemy.

1 Samuel 18:29 (NKJV) - ... then Saul was even more afraid of David. Thus Saul was David’s enemy continually.

Saul first tried to have David killed by the hand of the Philistines (1 Samuel 18:25), then tried to kill him directly (1 Samuel 19:11). And throughout it all, David kept his heart towards Saul pure.

1 Samuel 24:10-11 (NKJV) - Behold, this day your eyes have seen that the LORD had given you today into my hand in the cave, and some said to kill you, but my eye had pity on you; and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’S anointed.’ Now, my father, see! Indeed, see the edge of your robe in my hand! 

2) Betrayal by those he helped

The next major betrayal David faced was from the people of Keilah. As stated in the last blog post, David had enough problems of his own with Saul seeking to kill him. And yet at the same time, God instructed him to save the people of Keilah from Philistines

1 Samuel 23:1-5 (NIV) - When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” he inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?”

The LORD answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”

Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.” So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah.

 

After David saved them, it is entirely reasonable to expect some degree of gratitude in return. The Philistines were looting their threshing floors, in other words, destroying their food supplies. David saved them from dying agonizingly from starvation. And yet at the first hint of trouble from Saul, God warned David that the people of Keilah would betray him. So David fled again.

Simply put, helping others is no guarantee they will not betray you immediately after...

3) Betrayal by your own team

1 Samuel 30:3-6 (NASB) - When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. Now David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

The backstory - David and his men were allotted the city of Ziklag as their refuge. They left their wives and families there, and finally had some peace of mind to carry out their own military campaigns. Imagine how devastated they were when they came back to discover that their home was destroyed, their possessions seized and their families were captured.

And in the midst of that, David's men spoke of stoning him. If you were raised in a society that eschews violence, you need to realize that violent people do not threaten violence unless they truly mean it. For David's men to speak of stoning him meant that David himself was in genuine danger. Never mind the battling the Amalakites, could he even save himself from his own embittered soldiers in the first place?

There are two main takeaways from the betrayals on his way to the throne

A) Betrayal is one of the job hazards of leadership.

If you are a leader like Saul; suspicious, treacherous, selfish and manipulative, you are just setting yourself up to be betrayed. Then when you meet someone like David, who bends over backward to not betray you, you know that is a miracle from God, one you entirely do NOT deserve.

Isaiah 33:1 (ESV) - Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.

But even if you have tried your best to live your life right, it is very likely you will be betrayed. Ask anyone who has already been in leadership. Maybe you're the guy patiently helping the woman of your dreams wean off her dysfunctional boyfriend, and all of a sudden she gangs up with that boyfriend against you. Or maybe you're the employee tirelessly going the extra mile for your boss, only to discover that the colleague you trusted has badmouthed you to the boss and the boss actually believes him. David was betrayed by his mentor; you could have been betrayed by your apprentice, someone you taught your trade secrets to who then left to set up a rival business and poach your customers.

You can say that if you are not ready to face betrayal on your way to the throne, you aren't ready to face betrayal when you are sitting there!

B) You need to know when to win people over.

Betrayal is not the trickiest part; the trickiest part is knowing when to stand your ground in spite of the betrayal and win people over. 

Notice David's reaction to the third betrayal. He did not flee as he did with Saul and the Keilahites. The Scripture implied that David, after hearing from the Lord, set out to win his men over to himself and rallied them to the task of rescuing their families. Anyone who has ever been betrayed before know that it is much easier to either flee or to stay and fight. To stay and win people over is a much higher, a much more difficult route. It makes you vulnerable to people who have already chosen to betray you before. One of the most difficult and dangerous things to do.

I personally suspect that was the reason why this incident was the turning point in David's journey. We are already used to David enjoying military victory wherever he went, because he obeyed God's leading in this area. But this encounter yielded different results. This battle allowed them to capture sheep and cattle (1 Samuel 30:20) and this time, he actually distributed the spoils of the battle among the various cities and regions of Israel he and his men would roam in. Was this turning point because David stayed behind to win over his men? Or because he was fulfilling the God-given assignment that Saul failed at, war on the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:2-3)?

Whatever the reason, David's experiences in dealing with betrayal before he became king helped him deal with betrayal after he ascended the throne. As soul-crushing as the rebellion of Absalom was (2 Samuel 15), David was still able to win back his nation. And even though it was soon followed by Sheba's rebellion, David did not give up in despair looking at how fractured the nation had become but continued to take the necessary steps to regain the throne to discharge his responsibilities as king. If he could not win back to himself his original team back in the ruins of Ziklag, of course he was certainly not ready to win back his nation after the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba, true?

Faithful in little...

Conclusion

I started this series of blog posts with only a vague outline of the topics and very little sense of the details. I meant it as a mere intellectual investigation into David's journey to replacing Saul as king, interesting but with little application to most of our lives, because most of us would not be ordained by God to take such an unique path. And now at this, my last post in this series, I realize the best summation is expressed by my old friend, Kenneth Koh. He said we talk glibly of being king and priest (Revelations 1:6), yet have little idea of what it means to be prepared by God to take a throne. "So you wanna be king, huh?" How many of us are willing to stay the course if we already knew in advance what price was required of us?

More importantly, if you see in my series of blog posts enough parallels to your current life and struggles, stay the course. Keep praying, keep feeding your soul with the Scriptures and stay faithful to the tasks at hand. Our God is gracious and compassionate toward us. May his grace and comfort be your strength when facing a difficult season of your journey!

Buy Time and Use Time Wisely

I haven't been putting up teaching posts, because I have been really busy and tired out with work. Also, I wanted to do posts only if I could spend as much time and effort on them as I did in my earlier posts. That was unrealistic, to say the least. So, just to break the drought of posts, here is a simple one to get things going again. Hopefully...

2 Chronicles 17:3-5 (ESV) - The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand.

Jehoshaphat had just ascended the throne. He decided in his heart to not follow the example of his father Asa, who rejected the LORD in the later part of his reign, but instead to seek the LORD fully. The LORD established the kingdom in his hand. Simply put, his devotion to the LORD gave him a good head start, a position of strength over his kingdom.

2 Chronicles 17:7-10 (ESV) - In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and with these Levites, the priests Elishama and Jehoram. And they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the Lord with them. They went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat.

Jehoshaphat used that time to teach the people the Word of God. He made the deliberate effort to raise national Scripture literacy levels. To him, it was not enough that his heart was in the right place, he wanted his people to be educated in the ways of the LORD and how to please him.

Notice the result - because he sought to teach the Law of the LORD, the usual foreign enemies made no war against Jehoshapat. Of course, this was only a temporary reprieve; we know from the Scriptures that war eventually came against Judah later. But the point is this: the teaching of the Law bought him time even more time of peace, and allowed him to accumulate resources and prepare for war.

2 Chronicles 17:12-13 (ESV) - And Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater. He built in Judah fortresses and store cities, and he had large supplies in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem.

Lessons for us
1) Start Well - set your heart upon the LORD. This is the essential foundation for everything else. It will bring us a basic level of success and prosperity.

2) Feed on the Word of God - many people get complacent. "Ever since I believed in Jesus, my sickness went away and I got a promotion at work". That's absolutely wonderful, but don't stop there. This is the time to renew your mind and feed your spirit man on the Scriptures, so that you become stronger still.

Hard truth - what helped you clear the easier trials and tests of faith is NOT going to be enough to clear you through what will come later. You need to continually grow in the LORD, to establish yourself more firmly in the faith. And a huge, huge part of that depends on the time you spend feeding yourself the Word of God. Use the time of peace to prepare yourself for the trials that will come, for they will come.

3) Plan for Trouble - Part of preparing for trouble is of course spending time in the Scriptures. By now I am convicted that every believer needs to regularly read though the entire Bible every few years at least, to ensure that they have some hope of remembering the next Bible verse they need. I have been reading through the Bible once a year every year since 2016, and given the trials I face that is just a bare minimum.

Another part of planning for trouble is being practical - save up money, don't splurge it unnecessarily Invest your money in what strengthens you (Jehoshaphat building fortresses and investing in troops) and build up supplies (Jehoshaphat building store cities). Build up your health, reduce your intake of unhealthy food, eat healthier food and get some proper exercise regularly.
You don't want to face the trials of life broke and sick!

Conclusion

I hate seeing believers get caught offguard when they are hit by the trials of life. What I often see is that they had a time of peace before that, but they failed to use that time well to prepare for trials. Don't let that happen to you, OK?

 

Flesh vs The Spirit

Boasting and Persuasion

Boasting in the Flesh

The older I get, the less keen I am to boast in the flesh. That, sadly, leads to a disconnect with people who don't hear well from the Spirit, but are much more familiar with their flesh. (I am using flesh, carnality and related terms here as a contrast to living by the Spirit)

Apostle Paul had a problem with the carnal Corinthians. He found that just using the Word of God and showing the works of God were not convincing enough to them, so he felt driven to pen these words.

2 Corinthians 11:21-29 (NKJV) - But in whatever anyone is bold—I speak foolishly—I am bold also.

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

The key idea of Paul here: "I speak foolishly" and "I speak as a fool". In other words, Paul feels it is stupid that he even needs to bring up this topic, and that he feels embarrassed to have to appeal to his experiences rather than the Word of God and the works of God.

2 Corinthians 12:5-6 (NKJV) - Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.

The problem with boasting in the flesh is that it can cause misunderstandings. The carnal people speak to each other carnally, and they know what is meant. When the spiritual use carnal boasting, the carnal can easily misunderstand the words.

Let me give you an example.

When I first started playing drums for worship, it was at a mega-church. In other words, you know they had people to spare, they had standards and expectations from their musicians, and it meant that for me to play drums there at the age of 20, I was not a total incompetent.

But if I were to talk of it, "I first started playing drums for worship at 20 years old, at a mega-church", there will be people to take it to mean I am really skilled or knowledgeable at drums. Nope, I wasn't. It's just that I was not totally incompetent. But I still had a lot to learn then, and I admit to my shame, I was quite arrogant and unteachable at that time. So I didn't learn as much as I could have.

That is why I'd rather not talk about that season. If I wanted to make a point about how drums were to be used in church, I would rather use logic, reason, Scripture (if applicable) and let my own ability speak for itself, if I was worth listening to or not. Look at my music, especially my playing, to see if you should give weight to my opinions on serving via music.

But if someone less skilled than the 13 year-olds I taught drums to when I was 15 would say that when it comes to drums in church, I really don't get it (but he in his incompetence does), and if there are church leaders who would even give consideration to his words (to think he has a point when arguing against something I thought was common sense), that is when boasting in the flesh becomes necessary. I could understand that guy's arrogance, I mean, I was young and arrogant before too (except that I had more skills to back it up of course). But I could not understand if church leaders ever needed me to boast of my experience from the days I am now quite embarrassed about.

2 Corinthians 12:11-12 (NKJV) - I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.

I am no apostle; signs and wonders for me measured in how seldom my boys are late for school even though I am the one in charge of getting them ready for school in the morning. In church I have a cushy ministry; I play music and get to call it serving the church, the people of God. Things cannot get much easier for me, so I don't get to boast of epic works of service. But in what I do know, I would say I know well, and I let those whom I have served decide for themselves if what I say is true.

In other words, the sphere to which I have been appointed includes church music, especially in the churches I serve in.

2 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV) - We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you.

Persuading by the Spirit

Now outside of that, when it comes to other aspects of the believer's life, I would rather use the Scriptures as my authority. When dealing with an unpleasant situation, if the word of God has given clear enough guidelines, that is pretty much all there is to it. I don't know everything in the Bible as well as I'd like, so if there are Scripture passages or principles I missed, do tell me. But if I didn't miss anything but expressed the clear and complete teaching of the Bible on a particular question, the word of God should just settle it immediately.

There are enough rules and guidelines in the Bible on how to live life. God knows how many churches would be fine if the members were taught to follow Matthew 18 in dealing with conflicts. The book of Proverbs contains enough wisdom to keep us from marrying narcissistic sociopaths by mistake. The Psalms transmit the essence of worship and prayer in ways that conferences and seminars are woefully inadequate to.

It's sad that for many of my fellow Charismatics who call themselves Spirit-filled believers, they seem to think they have a Catholic-like dispensation, an exemption from the parts of the Bible they don't like. The believers I know from traditional churches are much more serious about obeying the Word, and if they disagree with me on something they have Scripture-based arguments that I can respect, even if I don't agree with them.

The carnal are good at coming up with excuses. "You don't understand", "You don't know what it's like", "You have never been through what I have been through". *shrug Show me from the Scriptures since when those are valid reasons for nullifying the Word of God.

Don't Get Me Wrong

I don't obey ALL of the Bible either. I don't do everything I know from the Scriptures I ought to do. And because of that, I know I am NOT entitled to all the benefits of obedience. It is as simple as that. Any area of my life I do not obey the Scriptures in, is an area I cannot complain to God about when things go wrong or if I have no rest in my spirit.

And that is what I say to my fellow siblings-in-Christ. Obey the Scriptures, the best you can. Don't make excuses for not obeying, and later expect God to lavish on you the benefits of obedience anyway. Let me not have to boast in my flesh to tell you the Word of God will prevail. Let me not have to tell you stories of all the nasty lessons I learned from life because I was too stubborn to learn from God's Word directly.

And if God brings mentors into your path, for God's sake listen to them. Don't talk to them about how well you heard from God before, and that is why you don't need to obey the Scriptures immediately, now. A God-sent mentor can drastically level you up in your wisdom and following the ways of God. Empty your cup, be humble, let the Word of God through your mentor prune you further that you may bear much fruit.

John 15:2-3 (NKJV) - Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you



More blog posts coming up, God willing. :)

Michael Card - Biblical Imagination Series Review

One thing about me - I am an independent learner when it comes to the Bible. I don't go about chasing after the latest, greatest, flavour-of-the-month when it comes to Bible teachers. Why would I do that when I can just stay at home and read the Bible by myself? Of course there are other people who say the same thing, but not that many of them actually read the Bible. I do. I spend extended periods of time in the Scriptures and enjoy it.

But Michael Card has gotten me all excited about his Biblical Imagination Series!

The timing was interesting - I was going through the Gospel of John as part of my Bible reading plan this year and this time through I felt that I wasn't quite getting it. The Gospel of John wasn't quite sinking into me as much as usual. And just about that time I found out that Sought After Music was bringing in Michael Card to teach on the Gospel of John, I just KNEW I had to be there.

And I certainly was not disappointed.

To humour those of us who knew him more for his songwriting than for his teaching, he began by singing three of his songs, including his classic El Shaddai.


Putting it simply, he was singing in Hebrew way before it was considered cool!

Then he went into his prologue, giving us a broad overview of Jesus as presented in the Gospels, pointing out details that make each Gospel account unique. For example, the Gospel of John only spoke about Jesus' emotions four times, while the Gospel of Mark had fifteen adjectives for Jesus' emotions. And Mr Card used this example to drive home his point - we not only have to listen to what the Gospels say, we also have to listen out for what they do NOT say.

Especially for the Gospel of John, what he does not say is very important to note. 92% of the Gospel of John does not occur in the other Gospels. Because yesterday's session was only the first part, Mr Card did not yet delve much into the Gospel of John yet. He did, however, point out that John was a preacher, who by the time he wrote the Gospel account would have had 50 years of preaching experience. He would therefore know through experience when we listeners would need help and would insert parenthetical statements to explain his point further.

For example:

John 7:2-5 (NASB) - Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” For not even His brothers were believing in Him. (emphasis mine)

I am not going to go into more detail here, because there is no way I can do Mr Card's material and presentation justice. But I urge you, strongly urge you, to attend his teaching yourself. He teaches in a way that is possible only for people who have spent huge amounts of time and effort digging into the details of the Gospels, the historical context of the events and the nuances of the Biblical languages.

So turn up. Mr Card still has one more session on tonight (9th November 2016), 7.30 pm, at Bible House, 7 Armenian Street, 5th Level. Entry is at $40 for the session, and you'll have to hurry because the seating is limited. I'll certainly be there for tonight's session. Hope to see you there!

From Father to Son

A short time back, I found an old CD of an audio recording of Bible verses I did for Jess. In those days Jess was just an infant, and I wanted him to hear over and over again the Word of God. So I just got down to it, did a few simple home-made recordings and kept having that CD played when I wasn't around to read the Bible to him.

Well, Jess grew and I started spending more time with him to read to him. And other things came along, and I misplaced my final copy of those recordings. But I finally found my last CD, put the tracks on my phone, started listening to it every day ever since, and found that it built MY faith too!

So here is one of the tracks, From Father to Son. It's a short (less than 7 minutes) recording of selected verses from Proverbs. You can just download it as a gift from here.

Yup, it's a gift. You don't have to buy my e-book, make a special donation, refer customers to me or whatever. Just go to this page and download it. And let your Christian friends know of it too, so they can get it and be blessed as well. It's especially great for parents with sons that they want to raise as godly children, but I sincerely believe anyone will be blessed if they get it and keep listening to it everyday for a couple of weeks.

Remember, it's a home-made recording. And when I say home-made, I really mean home-made. The sound quality isn't going to be fantastic, the music isn't going to inspiring, my voice isn't going to be EQ-ed properly and all that. But it blessed Jessiah and I, so I share it with you also.

If it blesses you too, do let me know. Leave a comment or something like that on this blog page. Thanks!

Bass and Bible Study

(Personal Blog Post)

An unexpected day off. Good, I need the rest as well as some time to chew on what's been happening…

Playing for Sunday service was interesting. The music director took the bass (usually he's on one of the other instruments). You see, there are two sorts of people who play bass, those who really understand harmony and those who don't. Those who don't will play the bass notes they are supposed to, just like what's on the CD or what's written on the chord chart. Those who do may actually change the chords of the song on the fly to better fit the energy of the moment.

That's what the director did on Sunday. For example, one of the songs had a simple F – Bb – C – F progression that came out for both the verses and the chorus. And we knew the worship leader was going to camp on this song quite a bit. So the director did a pedal point thing, playing an F note on the bass throughout the changes, making them:

F – Bb/F – C/F – F

What this does is that it creates a lot of musical tension. People subconsciously expect the bass note to change with the chords, and when the bass note doesn't it creates a sense of building up. If you do something like that, you can actually go back to the original bass line later on in the song (maybe the last chorus, for example) and that would give the song a huge burst of energy.

If you want to be a bassist who can control the music in this fashion, you need to really know the notes of the chords. Like how a C major chord is made up of C, E and G, how a C minor chord is C, Eb and G and all that. You will also need to have a good sense of chord progressions, when a melody line allows for more than one possible set of chords to be used, so you can decide when to change the chords for a better musical effect.

Finally, you need musicians who will keep out of your way. There's no point on the bassist keeping to the F note in the changes, for example, if the pianist will still continue playing the F, Bb and C notes in the lower registers of the piano. That way, you end up with a muddy sound in the bass part of the sound mix. Bad…

If you are a pianist or guitarist in a band with this kind of bassist, you need to listen carefully to the bass at all times to recognize when the bassist is changing the notes. When that happens, keep yourself out of the way! One of the best bassists I know personally once told me that he enjoys having me on the keyboard, not just because of my piano skills, but also because I keep out of his way. Many other keyboardists he plays with don't care, they just happily clutter up the sound trying to play along with the bassist (and messing things up)…

By the way, that bassist was the buddy who helped me to record my Youtube vid on auditioning church pianists . When I talked about keeping out of the way of the bassist, he was giving me two thumbs up from behind the camera. It was only that day, after the video recording, that I found out how other keyboardists bugged him so much!

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Another thing: it's nearing the end of the year now. I started doing inductive Bible study on the books of the New Testament this year. The goal was to cover one book each month, so I am supposed to be done with Colossians by now. But because I got massively distracted a few times this year, I am only up to Ephesians.

Yeah, I set Bible study goals for myself and FAIL too, just like many other believers!

Since I am expecting a bit more free time this December, I'll be able to catch up on the books I need to work on to get myself back on schedule and ready for next year. The key point, however is this: even though I didn't meet up with my own expectations and achieve my own goal for Bible study this year, I still got a lot more Bible study done than I would have if I did not decide to do it.

Yes, I could have still kept on cruising with the way things were last year. I was already spending a lot of time in God's Word even without the inductive study, so I wasn't too shabby. But because I set the goal this year and kept at it most of the time, I put myself in a place where God could reveal to me more and more of himself through his Word. And that's always good!

So if you have been setting goals for yourself and failing, or starting on New Year's Resolutions and quitting them by February, don't lose heart! All you need to do is to make sure that you go further, do more and last longer than the last time you tried. That's called progress, isn't it?