DAY OF PRAYER AND AFFLICTION

Far Eastern Bible College started its new semester on January 2, 2008 with a Day of Prayer. The Rev Dennis Kwok, pastor of Truth B-P Church, delivered the Lord’s message to the college family. He spoke from 2 Timothy 2:15 and encouraged both faculty and students to be approved workmen of God by (1) cutting a straight path with the Word of Truth, (2) not wandering from the Word of Truth, and (3) leading people back to the Word of Truth. He also announced the launching of the FEBC Alumni Fellowship which is aimed at fostering close ties among graduates.

We welcome the following new full-time students: Kiet Thaven (Cambodia), Lee Gwang Ho (Korea), Gloria Son Lee (USA), Leong Kwok Whye (Singapore), Peter Phoa (Singapore), and Puspa Shakya (Nepal). The “Basic Theology for Everyone” night classes continue to draw many lay students from different churches packing the FEBC Hall to the last seat, and spilling into the dining area. The course on Biblical Hermeneutics on Thursday night taught by Dr Quek Suan Yew has attracted 270, and the study of Job by Dr Das Koshy on Monday night saw 210 attending.

This new semester started on a difficult and painful note. The Pastor and Elders of Life BPC have denied FEBC the use of its sanctuary due to the latter’s belief on the Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP) of the Holy Scriptures. In a January 5th letter to the Rev Dr Timothy Tow, their founding father and FEBC’s principal, they called VPP “a heresy.”

The belief that we have a 100% Perfect Bible in our hands is not a heresy but a truth that is solidly grounded on the Holy Scriptures (Ps 12:6-7, Matt 5:18, 24:35, John 10:35) and understood by the logic of faith (John 20-29, Heb 11:6). We cannot but teach the infallibility and inerrancy of the inspired and preserved original language words of the Hebrew Masoretic Text and Greek Textus Receptus on which the Authorised Version (KJV) is based, and take a separatist stance against textual criticism and the corrupt Westcott-Hort Text underlying the liberal, ecumenical, neo-evangelical versions of the Bible.

Dr Peter Masters of Spurgeon’s Tabernacle considers “the perfect preservation position as an ‘honourable’ one … aimed at safeguarding the Word, and promoting its integrity. Its advocates seek to proclaim and adhere to the Gospel and the historic doctrines of the faith. They seek to preserve an excellent translation of the Bible, and to oppose corrupt W & H based translations. … the position is honourable. It is certainly not base, self-seeking, unfaithful, or heretical in the sense of denying any doctrine of the faith.” In another letter, Dr Masters wrote, “May I say that the ministry of FEBC under Dr Timothy Tow … is a remarkable manifestation of the blessing of God in maintaining inerrancy, fundamentals, evangelism, sound hermeneutics and biblical separation. Your work is magnificent and encouraging in the highest degree.”

On the sole basis of God’s power and promises revealed in His forever infallible and inerrant words, we pray and plead with Life BPC to take a stand with their founding pastor—the Rev Dr Timothy Tow—for a 100% Perfect Bible without any mistake, and not pursue the displacement of FEBC from her birthplace and home at Gilstead Road.

The Rev Hien Nguyen, FEBC alumnus and pastor of Brisbane B-P Church, conveyed his well wishes to the college via email (Jan 2, 08) on the opening day of prayer:

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Peace on Earth but When?

(A sermon by Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo on New Year’s Eve, Watchnight Service, True Life Church)

When Jesus came the first time, the angels announced, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). But in Luke 12:51, Jesus said something quite different, “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay, but rather division.” Is there a contradiction, a mistake in the Bible, in the words of God? If there is a mistake here, then who is right, the angels who delivered God’s message, or Jesus, the Message of God Himself? It goes without saying that we who believe in the perfection of the Holy Scriptures, the 100% inspiration and 100% preservation of the words of God, believe in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His angels—both spoke the truth, and there are no mistakes in those words at all!

So, how do we explain those infallible words of the angels and of Jesus? The answer lies in God’s perfect Word itself. Jesus indeed came to bring peace into the world as the angels announced, but peace will only come when certain conditions are met. What are these conditions?

(1) Peace will only come when we make peace with God.

People in the world today are looking for peace—peace in the world, peace at home, peace at work, peace in church, but they will find it in vain. The reason why there is no peace anywhere on earth is because of sin—we are a sinful people living in a sin-cursed world. That is why we need a Saviour, and that is why Jesus had to come. That is why our Saviour’s name is JESUS for He has come “to save His people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). So, in order to have peace, we need to be reconciled to God, and be born again (John 3:3). Yes, unless we are born again, we will not experience peace in our life, we will not have the peace which passes all understanding which onlyGod can give (Phil 4:7).

The Lord Jesus Christ, the virgin born Son of God, who lived a sinless life was the perfect Sacrifice for our sins. He died for our sins on the cross, shed His precious blood as the Lamb of God, and then on the third day rose from the dead. The penalty of sin has been paid, and atonement has been made once and for all. If we will confess our sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved and have peace with God. “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1).

Now having made peace with God, you will not have peace on earth for this sinful and satanic world hates God. That was why Jesus said He did not come to give peace on earth but division. James 4:4 says, “whosoever … will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” Similarly, anyone who is a friend of God becomes the enemy of the world. The world will hate the faithful and obedient follower of Christ. Did not the Lord Jesus say, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. … Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also” (John 15:18-20)? The Apostle Paul said, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12).

Why is there no peace on earth? Two reasons: evil and error. How can there be peace when the evils of corruption, immorality and terrorism exist? How can there be peace when errors such as liberalism, evolutionism, ecumenism, postmodernism, neo-evangelicalism, charismatism, neofundamentalism, open-theism, neo-deism and all kinds of false ‘ism’s prevail? But did not God promise peace on earth and good will toward men? So when will this peace come? This brings me to my second point:

(2) Peace will only come when the Prince of peace returns

Our beloved pastor—the Rev Timothy Tow—had already sounded the alarm in his Christmas letter: “We are now celebrating the first coming of Christ, His birth. Now the more important factor is about His second coming. The leaders of the world are everywhere talking peace which gives us no sense of urgency. But if Jesus Christ is coming again, there will be wars and rumours of wars and we are more alert to His second coming. It will not be such a peaceful Christmas.”

Only the Lord Jesus Christ—the Prince of peace—can bring true and lasting peace to this world, and He will do that when He comes again. When Jesus returns in all His power and glory, He will judge the nations, and all the nations will kowtow before Him. Under His reign which will last for a thousand years, there will be no wars and no instruments of war. This is prophesied in Isaiah 2:4, “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

Are you looking forward to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? You will not be looking forward to the Lord’s return if your mind and heart are geared towards building up your treasures on earth. And if you are chasing after the mighty dollar, and lusting for the material things of this world, for money and property, fame and fortune, then you will find yourself without peace but full of anxieties and worries, envy and jealousy, selfish ambition and strife (1 Tim 6:9-10).

But the Bible has the secret to joy and peace on earth, to believe in Jesus Christ and grow more and more like Him, yearning for the Kingdom of God to come, and desiring for the treasures of heaven (Matt 6:19-21). May the Lord help us to put Him first in our life this New Year, and to await eagerly and patiently for His return. The signs of the times do tell us that His second coming is very soon.