I've constantly heard a lot of jealous western musicians "wanna-be" criticizing Asian child musicians for knowing only the technicality of playing musics and not the feeling.
My conclusion is that you've gotta master both. At least someone has mastered one of both while the other could master none but fantasy.
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They are good at wasting people's precious time with superficial "products" which they claim God's work.
Nonetheless, a reformed Christian should never take evangelizing lightly. Just because the name of something good has been corrupted by others, doesn't mean it is bad.
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It is without a doubt that what many Reformers lack today is the motivation of evangelizing, nevertheless, the Evangelists lack proper doctrine in theological pursue.
It is a sign that we must not rely on ourselves in God's work. The Reformers need "Holy" bravery, while the Evangelists need "Holy" patience.
Sometimes, when a Reformer joins the Evangelic congregation, he will be greatly disturbed by the lack of proper theological discernment exhibited by the Evangelists. Quantify over Quality, simply admitting non-believers into the circle of believers, handicapping the ability to judge within believers, mixing the definition of servitude and support, etc. just to name a few examples.
Does he fight for the Truth? Could silence be the cure?
I believe the Truth must still be uncovered. However, one thing must be kept in mind, and that is "Soli Deo Gloria", to God only be the Glory. He must keep his frequent devotion with God, pray, as well as seek after the Kingdom of God. Only then, can he view the solution of the matters from God's will. He must also know his stand in the church, the level of authority that is given him by God, not by man, and certainly not by his own imagination.
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I have observed that many Chinese preachers who have been influenced by the West have taken the Gospel very lightly. Treating the Truth as some kind of fantasy. Putting Jesus Christ on Sale.
A whore is someone who give that which meant to be holy to others to be made unclean before God, to be trampled upon. Turning a priceless value into something less than a penny's worth.
When the so called "Christians" turn the Gospel into something that needs to beg others to take, turning the church, the fellowship into a membership club that needs its members desperately by begging its members to stay, then however great they may look on the surface, their impatient-turned ignorance have blinded their own pride with their man-made glory which they assumed its God's. Therefore, God's glory never fails; however, I cannot say for certain for their salvation. For they think as long as they do "work", they can be at least the "non-victorious" Christians. Yet, they failed to heed the fact that seeking God's favor as perfectly as possible with the grace of God is the cure to their "non-victorious" state. Hence, they keep approving sins as long as they could add "it's wrong, repent" at the end, then it would be fine. They have failed to see the difference between the limited imperfect flaw of our human language and the Holy Spirit of Truth.
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The modern day churches, influenced by the Western culture, do not like to exhibit one individual's potential, hence, trying very hard to distribute all works to all church members as evenly as possible, showing that everyone's involved in God's work.
Consequently, they treat God's given talents with a communism attitude. America is a country supposedly against communism, yet this seems to grow like a seed on its very foundation. If the Christians in this nation are not careful, soon, America will have nothing but a Christian title, like Rome.
I believe, this flaw is tied to the misconception of "Thou shalt not judge". Which I have previously testified against.
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I recalled while I was in Arkansas, a friend of mine, Mr. Timothy Caldwell (then boyfriend of Stephanie Woodson whom he married later), who's a seminary student, once opened his school report and praised God for discovering his "A" grade in the Math course he took. I was a bit disturbed by it until now.
If it had been English Literature, I wouldn't find it so strange. If he had really done well in Math, he should have known how he did long before he opened his report, and thanked God for the opportunity in understanding mathematics. That was the time when I realized that many students like to take classes of certain professors that are easy for them to score an "A". They think I'm insane, but actually they are the ones who have been insane for a long time.
When the Holy Spirit works, we always are aware of it. For He is the Spirit of Truth. If there's something that can be credited to the devil, then it is best credited to the devil. Let true Glory be unto God. God doesn't need supporters.
It is as if other than getting married, there's nothing else better to do in life. As I have said before, the Evangelical Movement today sometimes do more harm than good. Of course, I say this for their judgment, not to make God's great commission a failure. For God's victory is ensured.
For the sake of quantity, they have followed the flow of the culture, the flow of emotions and the flow of anthropocentric theology. If they follow not, they would hypocritically claim that they are not being judgmental. For they think that "almost" all are saved or sometimes, they hope in their hearts for others to be condemned while forgetting to correct their mouths. Consequently, they fall into a contradiction which is meant to be a paradox. Not willing to heed rebuke of any sort as long as the rebuke is directed at them personally and individually, their mouths say no to evil but their hearts are drunken with vanity. Hoping for salvation by superficial works while claiming that they know what faith and salvation are.
Therefore, they could have very well played the role of Satan, an obstacle for others' salvation while they thought they did just the opposite.
How sad it is, that they value families over the Kingdom of God.
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I realized lately I have been having trouble controlling my time. Not able to be punctual at meetings and work, mostly due to making too many vain promises: It appears that I love to make promises but not keep them when the time comes, not that I like to break promises but I tend to devalue the promises I make during the last minute when all other things have been pushed to as well. And of course subsequently, procrastination: A habit that appears to be too hard for me to defeat
Nonetheless, it doesn't mean that I should give up. I must fight this. I remember there was a film "Clockwise" which I watched very very long time ago that might attribute to my unpunctual behavior, yet it does not take all the blame, for I am also one to be easily obsessed with things.
Remedy:
1. To realize that in order to be punctual, I have to accept the fact that I have to be earlier than promised. Perhaps the problem is "how early", then a good motto I should follow is "It's better to be early than to be on time".
2. To Value my time. Sometimes, convenience is better to be sacrificed for the sake of time. For example, everytime after church worship, I have to rush things, so I could fit into the schedules those whom I'm taking a ride home from, the alternative was that I walk to the train station myself. This had been one reason I did not want to be deacon and was planning to leave this church. If I decided to walk, then I have enough time to do my task responsibly and efficiently as the newly apppointed "librarian" of my church whose library needs serious reformation. But then, I'm sure many will feel that I am being too stressful and not let me walk myself. Now, if that is the case, if they truly willing to spare their time waiting to give me a ride home after I've finished my work organizing the library and other things I felt the church has constantly lacking after worship, then I'll gladly comply. However, I must be sensitive enough to tell of their true intention, that their intention is not out of pitty. For taking a train has always been better than getting a ride in a car: I have time to read and rest without interruptions. It is only to places where public transportations cannot reach that presents an issue. But for the better of our church, for my responsibility as a deacon, for the Glory of God shining forth from this church, I'm willing to sacrifice this. I am actually saving time this way, or rather, I won't be wasting time this way.
3. Truly apologize for being late, and show that I will never repeat it again.
4. Don't forget quantity. Sometimes I value quality so much that I use it as an excuse to deny the credibility of quantity, while still believing that quality is greater than quantity for quality is the source of GOOD quantity. If I deny quantity, I create a paradox I cannot solve.
5. Acknowledge that there are some promises I cannot make, otherwise people will not only take advantage of it, they will also devalue it. While it may be enjoying to reject promises, I must also be aware that this is perhaps the hardest point to keep. For if I initiate a habit of ignoring all favors and promise-making, I will definitely fall into selfishness, being a hypocrite acting as if I always keep my promises while faking the integrity of the few promises I make, making the promises truly vain indeed.
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Understanding the doctrine of salvation doesn't make one saved in eternity. Having no desire to abandon sinful behaviors such as hatred against people, lust, deceit, greed, etc., will void oneself of salvation regardless of the number of times he shouted "Lord, Lord".[@more@]
Am I to say that America is hopeless...Not at all.
However, the Americans are better off dealing with the small tasks of the world such as provide money, talking partners, etc. While leaving the greater tasks such as teaching a firm doctrine for churches according to the Word of God, cultural mandate, etc. to the rest of the world, which are apparently doing a better job. If the Americans steal these opportunities from other nations, then they must learn to give credits back to the proper owners which have already recognized God's sovereignty before the Americans could point it out hypocritically.
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