Pastoral Letter 03 Nov 2019

My dear readers,

Questions Posed at CPBPC’s Annual Church Camp (10-15 June 2019) – Part 19

Question: Some churches practise the pastor putting his hand on someone's head and pray to heal illness and even that there’s no need to see a doctor. Any Bible verse to prove that it is not right?

Reply: Before commenting on the first issue, it is important to note that biblically all Christian practices must be established from Holy Scriptures before they are to be administered. If a pastor wants to teach that a sick person need not see a doctor because it is good enough that he lays his hand on the sick, the burden of proof is on that pastor to show the biblical support for such a teaching or practice. It is NOT for someone else to prove otherwise. For example, when one is invited to a Christian church, it is understood and to be expected that all things done in that church are supported by Holy Scriptures, either directly or by inference. Therefore, it is the duty of the pastor to prove from Holy Scriptures that it would be a sin to see a doctor and that laying his hand on the sick is effective enough to heal.

The Bible records the laying on of hands in the book of Acts, and perhaps intimates the same in James.

Acts 28:8: “And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.” James 5:14-15: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

In the case of Acts 28:8, this was a descriptive act of Paul’s apostolic ability in healing as well as performing other miracles. The laying on of hands was the Old Testament biblical way of blessing or identifying oneself with the person being laid hands on. For example, whenever a worshipper laid his hand on an offering (eg: a sin offering) before the Lord, he was basically identifying himself with the sin offering. He was also saying that the sin offering was about to die for his sins. This was done in front of the Tabernacle or Temple, i.e. before the LORD. This was symbolic of Christ dying for the sins of the worshipper. In the case of laying on of the hand for healing, it has the idea of pleading to the LORD to heal the sick person. Paul was only the intermediary, for the Lord alone is the Great Physician.

In the case of James 5:14-15, when someone was sick, the LORD says the believers ought to call the elders of the church. The reason is that the elders are supposed to be the most spiritual in the church and therefore their prayers would be more in line with God’s will than others in the church. They prayed for healing and used oil, most likely olive oil. The oil could not heal in itself. It is the Lord who heals. The act of anointing together with prayer was the way of pleading before the Great Physician for healing!

James did not mean that the person who is sick does not pray for his own healing. Prayer is to ask God and to do so correctly and with a righteous heart and motive, which the Elders in the church are supposed to possess. They are supposed to know God's Word better and should thus be able to pray for God’s will to be done more precisely. In today’s context, whenever a believer sees a doctor he must also pray. The medicine is one of the ways the LORD can use to grant healing. But ultimately it is the LORD who remains the believers’ Great Physician and real Healer!

Question: Habakkuk 2:3: "For the vision is yet for an appointed time..." How do we know the "vision" refers to the judgment on Judah rather than the judgment on the Babylonians mentioned in the rest of chapter 2?

Reply: Habakkuk 2:1-4: “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”

The word “vision” is a reference to the Word of God given to Habakkuk when the prophet was awake, in contrast to a “dream” which is also a reference to the Word of God but the recipient was asleep. These words “vision” and “dream” are not used today to mean “future plans” and “dreams at night while sleeping”. In the context of Habakkuk, the beginning of this short book points to Habakkuk’s concerns of injustices in Judah because the poor, widows, and helpless in Judah were violently bullied by the wicked who seemed to get away with it because of their political associations. Habakkuk cried to the LORD for justice. The LORD said He would send the Babylonians but Habakkuk had trouble accepting a more evil Gentile nation punishing a lesser evil chosen nation like Judah. The LORD had to teach Habakkuk that He knew what He was doing and Habakkuk needed to trust Him, for the just shall live by faith. The vision in Habakkuk 2:3 refers to the whole book of Habakkuk. It was primarily about Judah and how she would be punished by the Babylonians. But the Babylonians would in turn be punished by the LORD for the evil they would do to Judah. All who sin will be punished by the LORD, for He is no respecter of persons in judgment.

Therefore the “vision” here refers to both the Jews and the Babylonians in terms of their interactive relationships and how God dealt with both of them, according to His sovereign will and holy justice.

Question: Did the Apostle Paul misquote Habakkuk in Romans, Galatians and Hebrews? Since the meaning is different from the context of Habakkuk.

Reply: Habakkuk 2:4: “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” The context of Habakkuk is that the just shall keep on trusting the LORD even in the most difficult of times like the fall of Jerusalem and the slaughter of the Jews by the Babylonians.

Romans 1:17: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” The context of Apostle Paul in Romans is to set the tone for the whole book of Romans. The main thrust of Romans is that salvation is by grace through faith. It begins in faith, it continues in faith and it must end in faith. Therefore, Paul’s quotation of Habakkuk 2:4 is quite appropriate and accurate. Habakkuk teaches that the just must continue to live by faith all his life regardless of the external circumstances of life.

Galatians 3:11: “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” Galatians was written because salvation by faith was being attacked by false teachers who taught that salvation is by doing Christian works. In the case of the Old Testament context, the Christian works were the Old Testament laws such as circumcision, etc. This was a direct attack on the biblical doctrine of

salvation which is salvation by grace through faith. Again when Paul cited Habakkuk 2:4, there was no contradiction but harmony and accuracy. These false teachers basically taught that salvation was no longer by faith in what Christ did on the cross; whereas the gospel of Christ is clear in that salvation has always been by faith, i.e. trust in what God says according to holy Scriptures.

Hebrews 10:38: “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” In the case of Hebrews, the context is with reference to persecution where some professing believers had drawn back, i.e. recanted their faith in Christ. They were afraid to believe because they did not want to suffer loss for Christ’s sake. They lacked faith and did not trust the Lord. Immediately after Hebrews 10:38, we have the well-known Hebrews 11 which is known as the chapter on the hall of faith, referring to the OT prophets who suffered for their faith in Christ. Again, it was a correct citation of Habakkuk 2:4.

We need to be careful of “wooden literalism”, which is the literal understanding of the Bible whereby the context is collapsed and erroneous conclusions are taught as a result of this faulty hermeneutics.

Question: Why do we not ordain our missionaries?

Reply: Missionaries are servants of God serving in foreign countries and they are no different from servants of God in the resident country. Both these groups can be candidates for ordination once they have been properly evaluated and their personal calling has been carefully ascertained to be true. Then they will be publicly confirmed through the ordination. Their preaching, teaching and pastoral ministries will be part of the criteria for assessment, as well as their lives and relationships with people especially their families (cf. 1 Tim 3:1-7). In the past, mistakes were made because due diligence (according to the biblical criteria given to us by God in the Bible) was not applied. Thus, the lives of these ordained ministers and the lives of their families and congregations were ruined because of it. Above all else, the Name of Christ has been shamed because of their failures and the dereliction of their spiritual duties.

Question: Why was it okay for the reformers to deceive the authorities that they hid Luther? Is not deception wrong, and shouldn’t they have been on the run instead like David?

Reply: It is not okay to deceive or lie at all. Commandment Nine in Exodus 20 (the Ten Commandments) is very clear on that. This commandment teaches that it is always a sin to tell lies. This commandment is also related to the 8^th Commandment. When a person tells lies, especially about others to ruin their good name, he robs them of their good name. Bearing false witness is a very common sin. In some cases, it is criminal especially when one is in the court of law and duty bound to tell the truth. Lying under such circumstances will land one in jail.

But more often than not, many believe that lying is a small sin. That has resulted in the black lies and white lies classifications, so black lies are no good and must be avoided at all costs. Black lies would include lies that hurt others. Examples of black lies: a man lied to cheat someone of an amount of money; a lustful man lied to his girlfriend by promising her that he would marry her in order to get her “into bed”. White lies are defined by the world as good because they don’t hurt but help. For example, a sick uncle has been diagnosed with cancer and his family members believe that he will not be able to take the truth. He asked his family what the doctor said about his condition. Instead of telling him the truth, they tell him that he has severe flu which is the cause of his body aches. This is the hierarchical application of the 9^th Commandment in the world and even in some so-called Christian circles.

Some Christian teachers and pastors have taught that there are justifications to telling a lie in order to save a life. The 9 ^th Commandment is part of the apodictic laws of God whereby they are absolute and not to be disobeyed. There can never be a justification for telling lies. The moment this apodictic law can be “justifiably” broken, then they will not limit it to only the 9 ^th Commandment but will “justifiably” disobey all. Thus, it will mean that there is justification for murder, committing adultery, bowing down to idols, breaking the Sabbath, etc. This leads to the absolutes in the Bible to be done away with and only the casuistic laws are applied which will result in the godless teaching called situational ethics.

First and foremost, saving a person’s life is not the most important thing in the believer’s life. To glorify God is. For example, the Israelites were commanded by God to wipe out everyone in the city of Jericho because the city was accursed (che-rem) by the LORD (cf. Josh 6:17-19). They had to kill everyone because the LORD said so. The sins committed by the people in Jericho demanded such a response from the LORD. Israel was God’s instrument of punishment. Were there infants killed in the city of Jericho? The infants who died in Jericho would have been saved from their sins and be in heaven. Believers must understand death always from the biblical perspective. Sometimes death is not an act of punishment but an act of mercy and a blessing to believers. A case in point is found in 1 Kings 14:13, “And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.”

Examples cited by proponents of situational ethics: The lies of Shiphrah and Puah (Exod 1:15-21); and Rahab’s lies in Joshua 2. They say that God blessed them for telling lies and therefore it must be all right to tell lies. They say that Shiphrah and Puah lied because in the modern world people do not give birth the way it is described in Exodus 1. This kind of totality transfer is one of the biggest mistakes in interpreting the Bible committed by modern Christians. Just because it is not done in today’s modern society does not mean that it was not done in biblical times. The Hebrew women were strong and they gave birth before the midwives arrived. It was a common occurrence. There was no lie at all in Exodus 1. Shiphrah and Puah were blessed by the LORD because they had the courage to defy Pharaoh’s command and obeyed the LORD. The Bible’s commentary for their blessing is stated in Exodus 1:21, “And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.”

Rahab did lie. She was a prostitute who hid the two spies sent by Joshua and lied to the guards who came to arrest and kill the two spies. The question is, “Were they blessed by the LORD for telling lies or for something else?” The answer is found in Hebrews 11:31, “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace .” Rahab was saved because of her faith in Jehovah and not because she lied.

There can never be any justification for lying or for breaking any of the Ten Commandments.

The application of this Commandment is found in Exodus 23. Exodus 23:1-3, “Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment: Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.”

The scope of the application includes private and public witness. At all times the Christian must be honest in all his dealings including spoken and written words. To do otherwise would be unjust and sinful.

Matthew 5:33-37, “Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

In the days of the LORD Jesus, it was common for people to say things with double meaning. They had every intention to lie except when it was an oath made in the name of the LORD. Other than that, they would break their word as long as it benefitted them. The Lord had to deal with this distortion of God’s truth. This passage is not against making vows or oaths absolutely. There are circumstances whereby vows or oaths are made such as upon joining a church, getting married, in national service, in a court room, etc. The thrust of Christ’s teaching in the book of Matthew was to correct the abuse that existed in His days. Believers are not to make oaths to break them later on.

Believers must keep their word always. There is no such thing as: “With important matters, I will keep my word but with less important matters, I will break my word.” The guideline is: “Let your yea be yea and nay be nay. Whatsoever that is more than these cometh of evil.” The evil heart is a heart that lies, with a mouth that speaks with a forked tongue.

The mature Christian is one who can control his tongue; it is not how much he knows of God’s Word. James 3:1-2, “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.”