Hellbound

There are two key criteria that a person must fulfil in order to be considered a serious member of The Westminster Tradition.

 1. They must confess with their mouth and believe in their heart that they are NOT saved.

 2. They must believe that Elijah Chacko is God’s anointed servant, sent in these very last days to prepare their hearts for Christ.

The order is important. If a person were to believe that they are already born again, Elijah’s ministry would be somewhat of an irrelevance. For we know that ‘they, whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally, nor finally, fall away from the state of grace: but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved‘ (WCOF 1646 Ch7, Sec1. See Phil 1:6; 2 Pet 1:10; John 10:28; 1 John 3:9; 1 Pet 1:5). I grant that there are a very few outside Elijah’s ministry whom he accords the honour of being amongst the redeemed. They are referred to as being among the ‘7000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal’ (1 Kings 19:18) and are usually left unmolested. But in all my years within The Westminster Tradition, I never heard Elijah even imply that anyone has entered his ministry already justified. It is a very easy matter to prove this, as it can be done directly from The Jerusalem Times. These quotations relate to those who have been a long time in his ministry:

• ‘Pastor said that he knows all of us would go to hell if we die tonight. That scares me.‘ (Leah Chua, The Jerusalem Times, 17th Feb AD 2011).

• ‘… it is the contents and spirit of thy alarming preaching that brought trembling to me. When I first read it, I put an immediate pause to all my activities and considered and reflected on the actual state and disposition of my soul. My presumption is shaken and I am made to swallow the bitter reality that I am likely not justified as yet. The thrust of the sword went deeper when thou exposed me to be also neither seeking nor waiting for my Genesis 15:6. How fearful it was when the words of Paul came to me that ‘having preached to others, I myself be a castaway.’ What a damned fool I am that while traversing land and sea to proselytise souls, I have yet to experience saving grace in my own life.’ (Zephaniah Soh, missionary pastor; The Jerusalem Times, 23rd March AD 2015).

• ‘That night, pastor said according to his perception and God’s standard, he hardly see anyone among us who manifests the marks of saving grace. It is frightening that after being in the house of God for so long a time yet I am not assured of my spiritual disposition; it really caused me to consider my spiritual state again. I thank God for the fear of God brought to me; it cast my light-heartedness off and made me serious. Thank God for Psalm 32. The primary sense of the blessed man is the person who is justified. Though we may not be like the blessed man (who is justified), yet thank God pastor brought out the secondary sense of its application—the seeking sinner who looks forward to be delivered. This is what I should look for though I am not yet justified.‘ (Abiel Patacsil, pastor from Philippines; The Jerusalem Times, 14th September AD 2013).

• ‘…pastor said he could identify with the prophet Jeremiah… We can also be identified with the people of those days who rejected Jeremiah… we could identify with the sins of the Jews of those days. They hardened their hearts, rejected his message and revolted against Jeremiah… What was their end? ‘The harvest is past; the summer is ended, and we are not saved’ (Jeremiah 8:20). Very few of us will be saved; perhaps every one of us may still not be saved! This is a frightening thought.‘ (Rhoda Soh, The Jerusalem Times, 5th September AD 2010).

 

• ‘From Colossians, God continued to expose our strongholds and show us that we needed a complete renewal of our mind. Without a renewed mind, we retain our old man, going back to our cultural, traditional, liberal and institutional mindsets, which is the complete antithesis of Christ who created us. We are unable to be winsome for Christ as we are not yet justified.’  (Extract from synopsis of Year-end Bible Conference AD 2018).

• ‘If you love the world, that means you are still not justified… almost all of ye love the world very much.‘ (Elijah Chacko, The Jerusalem Times, 17th March AD 2015).

• ‘When I read the thanksgivings of the brethren, almost every one suggested that they are not saved and these are the ones who are spiritual. I remembered asking Joel Chia, ‘You are a pastor but you still feel you are not saved. For anyone who believes in the Gospel, there should be assurance. Where is the assurance of salvation? Is there any one saved and with assurance under pastor’s ministry?’ He said there are a few brethren who are saved and with assurance…’ (Olive Pee, The Jerusalem Times, 23rd January AD 2013).

• ‘I am still a child of the bondwoman and have the spirit of the Antichrist and False Prophet within me… Pray God have mercy upon me and each of us to save us.‘ (Naomi Chua, The Jerusalem Times, 25th December AD 2017).

Since everybody lives out their lives in Elijah’s ministry believing that they are probably not saved, one might question why utter despair does not set in. In practice, if a person dies in good standing within The Westminster Tradition, this is taken as a surrogate for their having died in Christ. Even then, until Elijah Chacko has signed off on the obituary, some will not be sure whether they are to weep or rejoice over their dead. Obituaries are of course a safe medium in which to make such a pronouncement – it’s impossible to categorically state that the person did not repent before their last breath. I have observed that within The Westminster Tradition, frenzied eleventh hour ministrations are more the rule than the exception. Sometimes a deathbed blink, a tear, or a rise in heart rate are interpreted as tokens of spiritual quickening, perhaps even evidence of regeneration. Sometimes, when even the deathbed vigils seem to have failed, Elijah has slackened the criteria and concluded that this or that soul could have been saved because providence appeared to smile upon their funeral proceedings. I have more than once been shocked that a person who in life was treated as far from salvation has, in death, been most confidently regarded as one in glory. But when did this happen and why is it that in a ministry in which the over-riding question is, “have I yet been justified?” (or, “have I reached by Gen 15:6?”) none are able to trace the moment of regeneration in their own lives? Ultimately, provided they didn’t depart from his ministry, Elijah is usually happy to vouch for them post-humously.

It is a rare occasion in which Elijah has given his verdict in advance of death. One such individual was Hannah Bandhari. An excerpt from Elijah’s baptismal assessment is given below:

“Hannah Bhandari, trusting in God… came to Malaysia on 9th of September AD 2009 (09/09/09 AD) and now she returns back to Nepal exactly 2 years later on the 9th of September AD 2011 (09/09/11 AD) with Christ Yeshua enthroned in her life having expelled abroad all her doubts, confusion and fears. And now she has ‘put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision; Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all’ (Colossians 3:10, 11). This is the blessedness of Hannah Bhandari who pressed home the covenantal blessings she had enjoyed by virtue of her husband‟s faith to higher grounds. The Bhandaris will now sense a whiff of nostalgia on every 9th of September (09/09) when the whole world is haunted by 9/11. The bliss of the redeemed in the midst of the darkest apostasy! HalleluJah!” 

Within a few years, Hannah was excommunicated from the church and was declared by Elijah Chacko to be a ‘witch’. As time has gone by, Elijah has become increasingly strict, not wishing to repeat his mistakes. People are not encouraged to entertain the idea that they might be saved. Too many have ‘fallen away’ from his ministry for them to rest in such a hope. People within The Westminster Tradition are held in crippling fear, unwilling to properly examine themselves whether they be in the faith. It has become a pointless exercise since it’s taboo to conclude in the affirmative. It’s easier to delegate that responsibility to another. The statement ‘pastor said that he knows all of us would go to hell if we die tonight‘ is weed-killer to a sapling faith. It induces spiritual paralysis, not a “Pilgrim’s Progress”. Though many within The Westminster Tradition reach the dark river of death, none can vividly recall gazing at the cross. They are confounded, not knowing whether they have been delivered from their burden or not. I mention Pilgrim’s Progress because Elijah Chacko claims strong affiliation to John Bunyan’s Gospel. But though the latter wrote an excellent treatise on ‘The Strait Gate’ (also titled ‘The Great Difficulty Of Going To Heaven‘), he also believed that a Christian must have his burden of sin removed early. True: it didn’t happen at the wicket gate, but neither did it happen at the end of Christian’s pilgrimage. The filthy rags of his own self-righteousness must be exchanged for fine linen; a mark must be set in his forehead and he must receive a roll with a seal upon it. We read about this in his allegory:

‘Now I saw in my dream, that the highway up which Christian was to go, was fenced on either side with a wall, and that wall is called Salvation. Up this way therefore did burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back. He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending, and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do, till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more. 

Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, “He hath given me rest, by His sorrow; and life, by His death.” Then he stood still a while, to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him, that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks. Now as he stood looking and weeping, behold three shining ones came to him, and saluted him, with “Peace be to thee”…’

That the Roll in John Bunyan’s allegory represents assurance of salvation cannot be doubted:

‘Now by this time he was come to the arbour again, where for a while he sat down and wept, but at last (as Christian would have it) looking sorrowfully down under the settle, there he espied his Roll; the which he with trembling and haste catch’d up, and put it into his bosom. But who can tell how joyful this man was, when he had gotten his Roll again! For this Roll was the assurance of his life and acceptance at the desired Haven.’

Elijah, under the guise of saving people from counterfeit certificates, confiscates all such rolls indiscriminately. I need hardly remind my reader of the sad end of Ignorance, who upon reaching the Celestial City, was asked by the men that looked over the top of the Gate for his certificate. “So he fumbled in his bosom for one, and found none.“

Should we not feel anger at one who has shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, not suffering them that are entering to go in (Matt 23:13)? He is a Giant Despair, who walks up and down in his fields and catches pilgrims trespassing in his grounds. He drives them before him, and puts them into his Castle, into a very dark Dungeon, nasty and stinking to their spirits. Here they lay, far from friends and acquaintance. He goes down into the dungeon to them; and there, first falls to rating of them as if they were dogs, although they never gave him never a word of distaste; then he falls upon them, and beats them fearfully… this done, he withdraws and leaves them to spend the time in nothing but sighs and bitter lamentations [calling this ‘the role of the law’]. Some within The Westminster Tradition have felt that the grave is more easy for them than this dungeon. Our Giant is very careful, lest his prisoners have pick-locks about them.

But oh that his prisoners might remember the Key called Promise:

‘Now a little before it was day, good Christian, as one half amazed, brake out in this passionate speech, “What a fool,” quoth he, “am I thus to lie in a stinking Dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a Key in my bosom, called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any Lock in Doubting Castle.”’

To conclude the 10 Question series therefore, ask whether there are any within The Westminster Tradition who make a public and consistent profession of salvation. Accept no subterfuge. A faltering assurance is not indicative of strong faith. Those within The Westminster Tradition believe themselves to be given by the LORD to Elijah for signs and for wonders in Israel (Is 8:18). A church consisting only of those who are still dead in sin isn’t a very compelling sign! It’s not very wonderful either (except in the negative sense of the word). Ask the person to trace their own Pilgrim’s Progress. Many of Elijah’s representatives will have been long within The Westminster Tradition and will have prided themselves that above all other groups they practise ‘experimental religion’ (i.e. can tell you about the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives). They will probably have been re-baptised and re-named. They may be office-bearers. They may have been communicants at the Lord’s Supper for decades. So let them trace their Pilgrim’s Progress. But don’t suffer them to omit the single most important thing: the cross of Jesus Christ.