A Tyrant (Part 2)

“The proponents from the realm of the False Prophet lack in their emphasis on the subjective aspect (Redemption Applied) of the Gospel of the grace of God. These include those who are in the Arminian churches, the pseudo Reformed churches and the Dispensational churches. They lack in 2 senses. One, in that they do not dwell upon it. Their pastors and preachers do not preach on it. While admittedly they preach on the objective aspect, they neglect to touch on the subjective aspect sufficiently. Secondly, they lack in that they have not experienced it. They have not been justified themselves. Justification is a rare experience. Even among the best, the most sanctified company, the people who are justified are very few. ‘For many are called, but few are chosen’ (Matthew 22:14).”

In this opening statement, Elijah establishes the intention of his ensuing exhortation. “Many are called, but few are chosen: so, are you one of the many or the few?”, he asks ‘the best, the most sanctified company’ who are gathered at the prayer meeting. He has already whittled down the number of the elect considerably by dismissing those within the surrounding Protestant churches as unsaved. Arminians are out. Dispensationalists (including Fundamentalists) are out. Pseudo-Reformed are out (by which he means the majority of the Reformed churches in the locality). The commentator does not endorse the heresies of Arminianism or Dispensationalism – neither those who label themselves as ‘reformed’ whilst mutilating the teachings and practices of those they claim to honour. But the Good Shepherd knows His sheep and it is not for man to presume to know who the Lord has been pleased to justify. The glaring inconsistency is that Elijah traces his own justification to a period in time long before he left the Arminian, pseudo Reformed and Dispensational churches!

“And that’s why for many of us our mentality is not changed. Why is it that we are afraid to wait? It is simple; we [he means ‘ye’] are not justified as yet! In a way, I also feel afraid that God may not save ye all in the end. It may be true. For I felt that when a person is justified, his whole mentality is changed! He then loves spiritual things. He feels that the world is so corrupted and defiled and everything that is really and truly good comes from God. Why spend time in the world? Come home straight to the house of God! That is the mentality of the justified person. But if we think – oh dear, I have so little time, I’ll come to church a little bit later – it is very likely it is because you’re not justified! For a justified person has a transformed life – that’s why it is so experimental! The world holds no more attraction to the affections of the justified but he cares so much about what God thinks of him. If your concept and thinking is like that, then you are probably justified. Justification changes the nature of your inward heart, renews you entirely – all your desires change radically. You seek for the things of God and have a delight to meditate upon the Word of God, to seek for the welfare of God’s people, to sit and talk about the Word of God; and you especially delight to hear preaching. Why? Because you have the inclinations of the justified.”

Taken in isolation, there are some worthy comments here. Elijah builds up the picture of a truly regenerate person. It is a description of ‘Great-Grace’. But the context is important. The ‘house of God’ he’s referring to is in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Many of those present at this meeting actually live and work in Singapore, an entirely different country! Peninsula Malaysia and Singapore are separated by a very busy border crossing. It can take one, two, even three hours for some of these brethren to travel one leg of their journey. The majority of wives and mothers in The Westminster Tradition have been encouraged by Elijah Chacko to enter full or part-time employment. Singapore is a busy, cosmopolitan city. Energy levels are at low ebb by the day’s end and the brethren are keen to get home to spend a little time with their family or attend to other pressing needs. Many barely see their children. Family worship is a rarity in families whose members pass like ships in the night and who do not even sit together in public worship. It is in such a context that Elijah judges that those who do not desire to come straightway to ‘the house of God’ are very likely not justified! Neither are the meetings convened by mutual consent, but Elijah frequently and unilaterally announces meetings at the last minute. They can occur at any time: day or night. Those who receive a summons are expected to drop everything and go. Woe unto those who are late or absent themselves! Elijah sees himself as Moses and the rest as the children of Israel. As when the cloud was taken from off the tabernacle the children of Israel took their journey, so Elijah perceives it to be in his ministry. If any murmur, it is their unbelief. ‘Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer (1 Cor 10:10),’ is his attitude. But this analogy is clearly nonsense! Moses did not decide when the Israelites should journey and when they should pitch camp. This was the sovereign prerogative of God! Moses was merely a servant in Christ’s house. Whereas, in The Westminster Tradition, Elijah decides when the people should travel and when they should not. The meetings are convened wherever he happens to be: for as the ‘anointed servant of God’, where he is, there is the Spirit of God.

Otherwise, you may just be a freak. For you may go to church for many reasons: you may say I like the people there because the people are very kind; I can trust the people in the church because they are trustworthy; my husband is going so I better go along otherwise he’ll divorce me; my parents are going so I go, otherwise they won’t give me allowance. But if you go to church because Christ is the altogether Lovely One, the Desire of all nations, and the Very Desire of your heart, and because there is nothing wiser than the philosophy of God, this is indeed wisdom! But some of us are not honest enough. Our mentality of ‘I still really love the world’ is not changed though we come to church. And still you would not let go the things of the world. You crave for the temporal, transient things, which are subject to decay and obsolescence; secretly you want to go shopping. You go to every shopping mall in every place. You shop all the time. I have shops below my apartment blocks. Some of you visit these shops 10 times in a week though there are only 7 days in a week – you virtually live in the shops! For 18 years I’ve not visited the shops below my house.

Elijah lists some ulterior motives people might have for attending church in The Westminster Tradition. One of them is startling: “My husband is going so I better go along otherwise he’ll divorce me.” This was not a slip of the tongue, but is a reality for some. They know that if they withdraw from Elijah’s ministry, they will very likely be facing divorce. How contrary to 1 Cor 7:12-13! Next, Elijah accuses his hearers of having a secret love for shopping. He may well be right. Covetousness is not far from all of us. Apparently not for Elijah. “You shop all the time,” he says. “I’ve not visited the shops below my house for 18 years.” But there are some simple reasons for this: (1) The shops below high-rise apartment block 173 are grocery shops. They are not exotic shopping malls. Elijah does not need to visit them: he’s waited upon hand and foot. He has only to speak and his wishes will be performed. I remember an occasion in Tripura when Elijah wanted an orange. Oranges, Zephaniah explained, were not in season and the shops would only be selling local produce. But Elijah would have an orange and promptly scrambled a carful of missionaries to scour the city for the elusive fruit. (2) Those who make frequent trips to the shops below Elijah’s house are those who labour to prepare meals for the Block 173 community! They’re often going at Elijah’s own bidding! But has Elijah really no interest in shopping? Anyone with a modicum of honesty will acknowledge that he loves to visit shopping malls. He says it’s because he’s a stroke victim and such premises have level floors and air conditioning. But he doesn’t just take his exercise there: he wanders slowly about perusing the shelves and seldom comes home empty-handed. It is a hardship and an irritation for Elijah to be in a city which is not provisioned with 24hr indoor shopping centres. He will often head out in the dead of night, disregarding the fact that his companions very likely wish to sleep. What it not be better for both body and soul to walk as a child of the day and enjoy the glorious creation of God by making use of the parks and gardens which are so often to be found? Would that not set a better example to those he accuses of secretly wanting to shop? Click here and here to view two pictures of Elijah’s personal en-suite washroom in America. All the items shown are purchased for his exclusive use. Is this the washroom of a man who lives simply and has no time for shopping?

Why? I have no time! I can’t take my eyes off the Word of God! You ask, ‘Why pastor, why torture yourself?’ I am not torturing myself! I am in the ethereal realm. It’s a changed mindset! I once delighted in scoring goals on the soccer pitch. But now I delight in the Word of God. The only problem is my human infirmities; they limit the scope of my spiritual enjoyment! [How so?] But we have to be like the blessed man in Psalm 1, which is sung to the strain of Hatikva. We’ll be singing that this Sabbath! I want to come out from the ungodly, from among those who scoff at the Word of God; the ungodly, the sinners and the scorners, even if they are my nearest kinsmen, I am not at home with them at all; I am repulsed by them; I want to come out from the world and I want to delight in the Word of God. Not because I want to be prosperous and to attain something. But because I naturally love these spiritual things! That is caused by God justifying you and the grace of God coming into you. For the people that come to God are the elect of God; because they have grace sovereignly dispensed of God!

Now, I would be very unfair to allege that Elijah does not spend considerable time meditating upon the Word of God. But to say he has no time to do anything else is a gross exaggeration. Though his health does not permit him to score goals on the soccer pitch, he watches plenty of other people do it from the comfort of his sofa. So much so, that whilst in New Jersey (15th July AD 2018), Elijah convened sabbath worship significantly earlier than usual so that he wouldn’t miss the World Cup Final between France and Croatia (midday, local time). Elijah makes very plain that he is the blessed man of Psalm 1; he is the one who has every mark of the justified. He separates himself from his ungodly brethren (see also next section). It’s reminiscent of the man who stood and prayed with himself, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican… for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted (Luke 18:11, 14b).”

Either you are a Pharaoh, or a Jacob, or an Abraham. Are you a Pharaoh? For a moment you have a respite from the battle against sin and unbelief. But then you go back to your sin, like the dog going back to its vomit and like the sow to the sty! ‘Don’t take me away from the world,’ you complain! ‘I am a friend of this world!’ In reality you are a friend of the wily serpent that causes you to dilly dally in the world, away from the Word of God; the god of this world (Satan) induces you to crave and covet for the things of this world – you say I rather have my ‘fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick’ (Numbers 11:5b). Some say that Satan is not real. Tell that to some people in this world who are possessed, the devil will laugh in your face. People who say that God is not real, let them first say Satan is not real. You go to the pagan temple, you see the dilated eyes of the temple medium. You see the way he talks – it’s obviously not a human talking. You treacherous bastards! In your unbelief, you say this is epilepsy. I say, ‘God, let these treacherous unbelievers have it, let the beings of Satan’s cohort enter them!’ Many more people are having these so called neurological problems nowadays. Are they psychotic? Is it paranormal? These are Satanic attacks. But a lot of us are in doldrums because we are defiled! You bastards, you love the world and let it defile you! You don’t want to wait upon God to be delivered and cleansed. Your behaviour is very erratic and eccentric. Even the vehicles could be affected by you – every time you drive the vehicle, something happens and you cause irreparable damage. The evil spirits are still flushed upon your bloody face and yet some of you act as though the evil spirits could be rid off easily. You must wait upon God. Unless the sovereign God be pleased to dispense His grace sovereignly, you cannot be delivered. Yet why should He do that to you? Why should God cause you to wait? You are His enemy, you despise Him and you are at enmity with Him!

Though names are not specifically mentioned, some of these comments are highly personal. Those gathered know who is being rebuked and why. There is the ‘treacherous bastard’ who questioned Elijah’s demonology; the person who incensed Elijah by crashing one of the vehicles; the person who ‘has evil spirits flushed upon their bloody face’. Everybody knows where Elijah’s anger is directed. Perhaps he has just cause for righteous anger. Certainly we need to take heed to warnings of history (1 Cor 10:6,11). But while the brethren are meekly receiving the lash of his tongue, he drip-feeds a distinction again and again: I am the Abraham, the justified, the blessed; ye are the Pharaohs, the unbelieving, the bastards. I am the Moses; ye are the Israelites. Without me, ye cannot be saved.

See what Moses says in Deuteronomy 29:4, ‘Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.’ That is the point. You’ve heard and seen all these trove of spiritual tokens and evidences but your heart is still not changed. Neither do your eyes want to see it. Your spiritual faculties are not working because they are virtually dead. You think of what Isaiah says – they have eyes, but wax gross, and their hearts and ears are like that. If they have an ear, a heart, then they will believe and will be saved. Remember Isaiah 6:9-10? This is the same indictment that Moses had said in Deuteronomy 29:4! That is what Paul said towards the end of his ministry to the Jews in Acts 28:24-27. Paul is quoting Isaiah, but he gives a slant to what is happening and why people are rejecting the Gospel of Christ! Given the fact that Paul is a very ingenious man, having a colossal mind coupled with the great power of God accompanying him, yet people reject his message. Why is that so? Because these people don’t want to see, don’t want to perceive, like Moses said in Deuteronomy 29:4!

Having sat thus far in Moses’ seat, Elijah now invests himself with Paul’s garb. A repeated theme in his New Testament expositions is that he is the Paul of our times, having the illumination of the Spirit of God (and a colossal mind). His admirers like to say of him, “Poke him anywhere, and Paul will flow out!” Yet Paul was not addressing Christians, but unbelieving Jews when he quoted Isaiah 6:9-10. What, are those at the prayer meeting now likened to those who openly rejected the testimony of Moses and the prophets concerning Christ?

You see some of us come here and are very sleepy. This is the place where you are mostly likely to be quickened and revived and yet you are slumbering. Why? Because instead of waiting upon God, they are coveting for earthly things. They spend their time in obsession, surfeiting, vanity, prostituting, turning the glory of God into shame. That is why the spirit of sleepiness prevails in them. Not that the rest of us are justified, but there is some readiness to hear, some keenness. To wait is to seek God for salvation, to give Him no rest and no peace until He justifies us (Isaiah 62:1). We have to be tenacious! ‘O God, please don’t let me go!’ like the importunate woman in the parable of our Lord. The just storm the gates of heaven! Indeed to say waiting is active is a gross understatement. You must take the kingdom of God by violence! There must be this utter urgency. That is practically what is needed. If you go back again to Deuteronomy and consider what God is trying to tell us, ‘And He said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing for you: because it is your life: and through this day ye shall prolong your days in your land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it’ (Deuteronomy 32:46-47). Because it is your life, indeed it is also your eternity! It is your life and eternal life! Basically, if you are to really enjoy the blessed land, Canaan, you need your appetites and desires changed! Without effectual grace, you can’t enjoy Canaan. Even on earth below!

Elijah’s exhortation to be importunate in spiritual matters is well said. Oh that God might give us faith to storm the gate of heaven and tenaciously lay hold of God in prayer! But there is an unhealthy paradox in Elijah’s ministry. Though he weekly hammers his flock with the law of God, persuading them of their unregeneracy… and though he exhorts them as frequently to storm the gates of heaven, earnestly to seek salvation, yet they are stuck in a rut. Unlike John Bunyan and many other Puritans who could recount their spiritual progress (John Bunyan’s own Pilgrim’s Progress is described in his book ‘Grace Abounding to The Chief of Sinners’), life in Elijah’s ministry is like a game of snakes and ladders in which Elijah controls the snakes. If a man should believe himself to be making spiritual progress and growing in grace, Elijah will jealously strike at his heels and send him back to the start. This very sermon is drawn from the book of Deuteronomy, in which Moses addressed that generation who were on the cusp of entering the Promised Land. That’s too close for Elijah, so he berates his hearers with the example of the reprobate Pharaoh and sends them skittling down a snake, utterly punctured and convinced that they haven’t even left Egypt! Here is the awful, crippling paradox. Elijah purports to champion experimental religion, yet his followers haven’t the faintest idea where they are in their spiritual sojourn! Certainly, none would dare to assert that they were in the estate of grace: that blessed estate is reserved for Elijah Chacko. As he said of himself, “justification is a rare experience.” The only others who are confidently assumed to be justified are those who are dead! Those who die remaining faithful to Elijah Chacko are considered to be amongst the elect.

When I was young, I really enjoyed life outside, the creature comforts and indulgences; I was madly in love with this world. I really thought that nobody could enjoy it better. I thought it was finger licking good. But when I tasted the grace of God, I said the world is nothing compared to the things of God! Thank God in these apostate days, there are things still available to us – the means of grace – thank God we still have the Word of God in our hands. Some people find it hard to even buy one King James Version. The brethren from China came and looked at the range of KJV Bibles we have but some could hardly afford to purchase them! At least we have the Bible, available to us in the darkest of all days. The Dark Ages is dark enough but this is darker. This is the worst time in the history of the world. The devil is let loose for a season and he is taking his last fling at the works of God! What does this mean? He is going berserk, he’s on a rampage. He’s fuming mad. He is ravenous to capture your soul and destroy it! You say, ‘Don’t touch my children. My children are not like the rest!’ Yet all your bloody children are the worst! Why? Because they are all not justified and you declare they are better than other children! They don’t wait. They are neither justified nor are they waiting for justification. How could they wait if they are too engrossed with the things of this world? You say, ‘I have already received my pay, let me go shopping. I love shopping! Shopping is the cure for all my ailments!’ Instead of waiting upon God, seeking Him, attending the means of grace diligently, instead of trembling and fearing God, you go out to the ambience where you could breathe in the corruption of this world! You love the scent of Satan! You can’t change a leopard’s spots or the skin of an Ethiopian. Try to change yourself, ha! These people can’t see, cannot perceive, their hearts wax gross and they remain unchanged. It’s like bloody Pharaoh! Did he learn at all?? An avalanche of judgments came upon him! Eventually his son also died! But he still never learnt. Did he? Would you ever learn? That’s what the Bible is trying to tell you! You remain as you were, hardened, impenitent, unchanged as in Deuteronomy 29:4 ‘Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.’ That’s you! That’s your identity card! That’s the real picture of you! Deuteronomy 29:4. Until this day He has not given it to you! Who? Jehovah God has not given it to you! Whose fault is it? The Bible writes as if it is Jehovah’s fault – ‘He has not’. Yes, He has not! But did you ask for it? Did you seek diligently? Did you find for it frantically? Are you like the importunate woman, blind Bartimeus, Zacchaeus, the Syrophenician woman? Let your conscience answer. Are you like them? That’s why I was very angry with you all just now. You’ve to be urgent and desperate. Disaster is at hand! A spiritual flood as in the days of Noah is about to break out! Sound out the alarm! Send ripples and reverberations! One word is enough! Yet even when you say a thousand words these people don’t know what you’re talking to them about. I felt that Jehovah hath not given them. We need faculties to see, hear and perceive. Only God could restore our spiritual faculties! But unto this day He has not given them to ye! Why?? Because you have never really implored God. You have never really pleaded with God. Your heart is adamant!

Elijah’s words are furious enough in print, but in the flesh they are devastating. Put yourself in the shoes of those who have followed Elijah for decades. You have known seasons when God has been pleased to draw nigh; you’ve had spiritual breakthroughs as well as set-backs; you have shed tears at the place of prayer and besought God earnestly for forgiveness. How are you to receive the verdict of the man who you regard as virtually inspired, when he sets at nought your entire Christian walk and dismisses you as one who has never left the City of Destruction? Such a man is no shepherd, but a tyrant. This is not at all the spirit of Deuteronomy 29, in which Moses equally encourages and warns them: ‘Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do (v9).’ He does not deny but recounts their spiritual sojourn. He does not accuse them of turning away from the LORD their God, but says ‘Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God… (v18a).’

No matter how much you get, you’re so unhappy, so miserable. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 28:47. ‘Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things.’ What you have today is the abundance of all things. But your joyfulness doesn’t correspond to it. Do you see a thankful people here today? Nay, you see a very silent, impertinent, grumpy people here today. It seems to me that the only person with some buoyancy, cheer and gusto is Baca Chia. As for the rest of you, when you stood up, you were like lampposts. There is no joy on your countenance. The only persons I see with some measure of gladness in their hearts are Baca and her daughter Leah Chua. Leah is back after a long lapse! ‘Oh I’m home finally’ – I reckon that’s what she could be saying. But the rest of you may be sighing that we have to come to the means of grace for so many times this week. Then I see a sister there (pastor imitates the posture of one leaning against her chair, with an exhausted look on her face) – ‘Pastor, how many days have you deprived me of my sleep? I’ve been serving Caesar and polishing his backside until it waxed shiny.’ From morning 7am to evening 5pm, you bear the brunt of the heat and serve Caesar. You earn your wages with the oozing of your sweat; having money, you have honey. The motto of my life is that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. But yours is, ‘Man shall live by bread alone.’ This is why you work so hard from morning to night. In the end, what for? To die? Then you work so hard virtually to buy a casket! You boast, ‘This is my state-of-the-art casket!’ Afterwards I will sleep in it. I work and work and work and burn myself out, work my socks off, and at the end of my life – when I am altogether spent…so that finally, I have a casket that is haute couture. Bloody idiot, when you die, the worms will eat you up!

Here again: the voice of a tyrant! Here is a man who drives the womenfolk out of their houses and directs them to seek after filthy mammon (rather than being ‘keepers at home’ as Paul directs in Titus 2:5). He looks upon one who is exhausted, sleep deprived, discouraged and faltering, overcome by the torrent of invective which has just come her way. He mocks her from his high throne: ‘the motto of my life is that man shall not live by bread alone… but yours is, Man shall live by bread alone.’ She never said such things. Is this the voice of Christ, who invites such to ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light (Matt 11:28-30)?’ Brethren, I implore you to take Christ’s yoke, for He is meek and lowly in heart. It is not Jesus Christ who binds heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lays them on your shoulders; but he himself will not move them with one of his fingers. But all his works he does to be seen of men!

All of you – why do you love the world so much, why is it that you don’t want to wait upon God? The world will cheat you, yet you refuse to trust God, and you say you have to get insurance policy – ‘I trust myself, I trust my heart.’ You are afraid of being retrenched; you are afraid of failing your exams; you are afraid of your promotional exercises; you are afraid of the amount of bonuses you get!

One of the reason they are afraid of such things is that they know from bitter experience that the moment they fail in something, it will be publicly used against them and cited as a judgment of God.

‘If I fail, I get kicked out.’ Relax brother! Relax sister! Go and enjoy the Word of God! ‘Oh, I have a heap of homework. O, I have a deadline!’ This is the problem unfortunately with all the children of this generation. They have lots of things to enjoy on one hand, and on the other hand they have piles of homework and assignments and deadlines. I feel sad for the youth of this generation especially when they are in secondary 4 and pre-university – it’s traumatic. It’s becoming more torturous. I can sympathize with them. Sometimes I wonder if I sympathize too much, whether they could be justified at all? What’s the point if you gain the whole world but lose your soul? Why gain the WHOLE world but lose your soul?? Oh man, what do you bring when you are in the casket? My good friend Ho Soo Kam died at the age of 66. Today is his funeral, the wake is held at the premises of a funeral company. Mr Ho Soo Kam asked me to consider the King James Version issue. I promised him I would. He told me, ‘I trust you. You don’t have a herd mentality. You are the person who will find out the truth no matter how much it may cost you.’ I had previously ministered to him till tears came out of his eyes. He knew I might be leaving to separate myself from the Dispensational church I was in and he told me to consider this issue. I told him I would, don’t worry. I told him to be careful of John Metcalfe, a hyper Calvinist and after a few months he went to expose Metcalfe. I said goodbye and we never met again. Every time we went there to minister to his congregation, his members sobbed after I had preached. He died at 66. Any connection? 66 books in the Bible; he was one who loved the Word of God! I also love the Word of God. Am I going to die at 66? Or would I die at 70? 70 is a good number, 7×10! Moses died when he was 120 years old. But it doesn’t matter when you die – what really matters is you are justified before you die.

This whole section about Mr Ho Soo Kam is as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. For while Elijah boasts of himself, his trustworthiness, his preaching ability etc, charity is distinctly lacking. For ‘charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things (1 Cor 13:4-7).’ The whole sermon should be subject to this test.

You must learn to wait. You must be engaged and preoccupied with the means of grace! It is only those who love the means of grace that could possibly be justified.

The reader must understand that Elijah believes preaching to be the chief means of grace. And he believes himself to be the anointed preacher. Therefore, when he speaks of ‘those who love the means of grace’, he means those who love to come and hear him preach. He wants people who will present themselves time and again to his darts and arrows, and after they lie broken and bleeding, to thank him for his labour. To be preoccupied with the means of grace is to be preoccupied with Elijah Chacko. For in essence, he is the means of grace.

You must hate the world. Confess to God, ‘God, I still love the world! Whenever an opportunity is given, I look forward to go back to the world! You ask me to read the Bible every day, it’s like prison to me!’ If you love the Word of God, prison is heaven to you as it was for Paul and Silas. The prison house became the ambience of worship. Examine yourself. The proof is in the pudding. If you love the world, that means you are still not justified. But if you love the things of God, it could possibly mean that you are justified. Could you will yourself to love the things of God? Unless God gives you grace, most of you will continue to love the world. Almost all of ye love the world very much. You forsake your own mercies if you don’t acknowledge that. That is the problem with you. You do not want to admit your own disposition! There are barely a few who love God supremely enough to despise the world. You must despise the world, the things of this world, if you are to truly love God. That is what the Spirit of God is directing us, for instance, in Psalm 119:33-40, ‘Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken Thou me in Thy way’ (v36,37). The psalmist could experimentally say that ‘Great peace have they which love Thy law: and nothing shall offend them.’ (Psalm 119:165) But when you say it, it sounds hollow! With the exception of Baca and some of the brethren, the rest of you come with a dull and unthankful heart. Many of you are reluctant to open your mouth at the place of public thanksgiving. Unlike Abigail Loh – ‘if pastor allows me, I will pour out my soul!’ Though she can’t speak English well. She doesn’t want to just utter one or two sentences like these children. She wants to utter a lot! She doesn’t have much money, but she comes down from Kuala Lumpur every week to John Bunyan House. It’s relatively expensive for her but she wants to be here! ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.’ (Matthew 5:3,4).

It is undeniable that even in such a withering spiritual climate, there are some who hazard to speak and give glory to God. The majority inevitably close up. They have learned from hard experience that silence is the safest option. They have numbed their senses because they know no other way to deal with such a tyrant.

Sometimes, I try to be friendly with my dogs – I observe that when Amen (pastor’s golden retriever) eats, he does not want anyone to disturb him. And all of you are like that.

Elijah said it: his disciples are like his dogs. Sometimes he tries to be friendly with his dogs. Not today.

Just now I saw you eating nasi (special rice) bryani; barely two hours later, I see the same people gulping down their burger. The Bible says that in the last days we are overcharged with surfeiting. I see that God’s people are like that: eating all the time! But when it comes to spiritual things, they have absolutely nothing to say. I implored them to give glory to God but there was a deafening silence!.. Was this an exhortation on Justification By Faith or on Deuteronomy? Deuteronomy is from the heart of God, and hence from the heart of Moses, the servant of God. We are in the midst of the 21st century. We are Laodiceans – not just Laodiceans, but Singaporean Laodiceans (the worst kind). You awake early at 5.30am to go and serve Caesar and come back at 6pm to give the scraps of your tiredness and weariness to Christ and you say you love Christ. It’s not convincing enough! Christ would be hurt by your streak of hypocrisy. Wherefore I don’t see the contentment and happiness in your lives. When Gad Dahal comes to church, I see that he is all smiles. He is extremely pleased to be here at all! But I don’t see you smiling. The way you come in to the midst of the holy gathering is like you are coming into prison. That is an honest description of your approach towards the things of God! The point is you have not been justified yet! Don’t talk about the mechanics of the doctrines. It is better if you’re justified first. Then will I teach you. I will stop here. I hope what I say makes sense to you. Why do I speak like an angry man? The issue of my stroke? Why am I always angry? Because of your treachery, your secret love for the world, you serve the god of this world so passionately! Because you are so reluctant to come out from the world! Is not the Song of Moses about the apostasy of the people of God? Go ahead, tell me why I am angry? Simeon Chia says if I don’t preach like this, I’m weird. He expects me to scold him. If I don’t scold him, he says there is something amiss. Only then would he be entirely ministered! Thank God for that! We’re crazy people, aren’t we? It is okay to be crazy to the world. God forbid we should be crazy in the sight of God! I rather play the fool for Christ’s sake!”

Excerpts of pastor’s extempore exhortation concerning the pastoral, practical and applicatory problems pertaining to the doctrine of Justification By Faith, at the public prayer meeting held at John Bunyan House; pastor had also recently expounded on the book of Deuteronomy and hence made frequent references to Moses’ final book! Johor Bahru, 6 March 2015 AD.

Having now read the entire ‘exhortation’, consider who is ultimately glorified? Where, in all this discourse is Christ Jesus to be found? His Name is hardly mentioned (see below). Elijah has uttered many high and lofty things about himself. He has set himself to humiliate and ridicule the rest, sparing at most four individuals whom he is pleased with. His preaching is most unlike that of Paul, who said, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake (2 Cor 4:5).” Elijah sidesteps this by placing himself between man and God. He says, “Deuteronomy is from the heart of God, and hence from the heart of Moses, the servant of God.” In saying this he is implying that what is from his heart is from God’s heart, because he is the servant of God. I am persuaded that above all the miscellaneous commentary, this is ultimately the most serious matter. For one who exalts himself in the church and steals the glory due to Christ, is an antichrist and a usurper. He is no servant of God: most certainly not ‘the anointed of God’.