Quote-31 Mar 2010

The last few weeks have been quite the rollercoaster ride—ups and downs aplenty! I promise that in my next blog post, I will address all the concerns that some of you have raised recently.

We see an example of how Paul’s warning was ignored: Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.” (Acts 27:9-10)

He saw in the Spirit that the journey was in peril, and he shared this with the others, despite their disinterest. No one took notice of him, not yet. The officer who was responsible for the prisoners listened instead to the human experience by the captain and the sailors. The majority of the crew wanted to set sail, for they wanted to get home. The slight wind that was blowing added to the apparently favorable conditions. Yet everything was wrong.

As a prisoner, Paul, the man of God, exerted little influence. Even if he were respected and appreciated among believers, here on board a ship full of prisoners, no one paid much attention to him. But he spoke anyway.

When the storm came, everything was turned upside down. For several weeks they drifted about. The cargo was thrown overboard. The equipment was cast into the sea. The food was rationed. Everyone merely tried to survive. Eventually they lost hope of being saved. And then came the rescue. It did not come from land but from heaven. An angel came to Paul.

God had said that Paul would stand before Caesar, and He kept His word. Paul needed to preach the gospel before Caesar, and therefore, he and all those who were with him were saved. For his sake, everyone was saved!

Suddenly everyone was willing to listen to the one they previously had ignored. Why so? They now listened attentively because they understood Paul was close to God.

Paul humbly reprimanded them for not heeding sooner. Now they followed his every instruction, and everyone came safely to land, although the ship was destroyed. If they initially had listened, even the ship would have been spared.

We need to pay attention to the little voice from the Holy Spirit, to listen to Him promptly and avoid unnecessary loss. We need to listen to the teaching of our pastors and church leaders and follow their instructions carefully. Forgo our stubbornness and self reliance. We lean upon Him for warning, protection and guidance continually in our walk with the Lord.

This article is found in page 1258 of the Leadership Bble. Its a word-for-word 100% copy. Just check the photos of the leadership Bible page 1258 seen here. It is also found on Vol 1 day 61 of KH’s “Renewing your spiritual life in 90 days.” And thhen this megachurch superpastor can claim his boook, “all rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission, with the exception of brief excerpts in magazine reviews”. He can copy others’ work but others cannot copy his. Even the work he has copied from others cannot be copied by another. :))

Pls lahh megachurch superpastor, how can you do this? Having done a Doctor of Theology, I am sure any respectable college will always warn you ahout crediting work not done by you

http://cheatgrace.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=17

Did Kong Hee plagiarise?

Irreligious

University students know the seriousness of it. So do journalists, whose reputation stand on their ability to tell the truth. Even literary writers, whose job is to craft fiction, understand the need to be original.

So I was surprised to learn that large swaths of Kong Hee’s daily devotionals are lifted from other sources — without attribution. This unexpected revelation was brought to light by an anonymous blogger who devoted an entire blog called ‘Cheat Grace’ to exposing Kong Hee’s alleged plagiarism of other authors.

I’ve learnt about this blog a couple of months ago, but as it began to uncover more of Kong Hee’s allegedly plagiarised articles, I began to feel a little disturbed. Underestand that I am not talking about copyright infringement, which is an entirely different issue.

While copyright infringement is illegal under all circumstances, plagiarism is not. But plagiarism is still unethical, which is why academics, journalists, and literary writers treat it seriously. Even as a blogger, I do not want to be caught stealing passages from other writers without giving them a nod.

Plagiarism is simply a breach of integrity. Writers who plagiarise are claiming the work of others as their own. It is a form of thievery and deception.

I am disturbed, therefore, that someone would accuse Kong Hee of plagiarism. But read the blog and its allegations for yourself — which are backed up with solid documentation. The person behind the blog apparently has plenty of time and a deep well to draw motivation from.

The blogger, lets call him Cheat Grace, even muscled in the effort to pour through Kong Hee’s devotional book “Renewing Your Spiritual Life Vol 2″ — which is sold for $14 — to find that it contains the allegedly plagiarised devotionals. Cheat Grace even pointed out that Kong Hee claimed at the back of his book that he is “sharing his insights from the Bible”.

The church has been silent on the matter, perhaps because it hasn’t generated much online attention — yet. Church members seemed to have glossed over it, maybe because it is deemed an insignificant and minor offence. But let me proffer another reason: Since everyone is from the Body of Christ, Christians see no need to be uptight about such regulations. After all, if the truth is preached, does it matter where it came from?

The answer, it turns out, is yes. The problem with this reasoning is that even if the other party doesn’t mind that his article is plagiarised, the plagiariser is still presenting a false image of himself. It is taking a shortcut to create a good impression. It is still deception.

But I’ve realised that plagiarism is quite rampant among some pastors anyway, except that their followers don’t call it plagiarism. Pastors have been known for preaching each other’s sermons as if it is their own. But while some pastors don’t see it as an issue, others do. My personal stand is that even insights preached in sermons should be credited. I do not want to receive praise for a sermon I did not craft.

There appears to be a clash of cultures. On one hand, the principle of intellectual integrity demands that the work of others must be credited. On the other hand, church leaders are lax when it comes to intellectual property. Good things, they’d say, are meant to be shared after all. Or perhaps it was never implicit that sermons must be original.

But for reasons that I’ve mentioned above, I think there should be a sea change in the culture of the church. It is a misguided form of generousity that breeds laziness in sermon preparation. The pastor is in fact killing his own creativity and creating a false impression of himself. It deprives church members of original insights. Intellectual integrity, therefore, should be a prized value in church too.

I don’t think ripping sermons is a problem if 99 percent of pastors are okay with it. Ethics and morality are after all community-based. But as above article shows, some pastors do see it as an issue. And even if every pastor in the world is okay with the practice, the context of delivering a sermon is different from authoring a piece of literary work.

Anyway, now that Cheat Grace has so painstakingly brought the truth into public space, it is time the church reveal its side of the story publicly. Since Kong Hee has published the devotional online and sold them in bookstores, this incident cannot be considered internal anymore. Does City Harvest Church believe that there is nothing wrong with such practices? If the church believes so, then declare it out loud.

But if the church acknowledges the folly of such practices, rectifications can still be made before the situation goes out of hand. My sincere hope is that this slight can be resolved quickly, and everyone can learn a lesson and move on.

I don’t want a private explanation. This time, the larger Christian community needs to know.

In our daily routine we need the Lord to accompany us on our walk through the Bible, and see the Word light up our life and nourish our soul. The daily devotions help to strengthen our faith as they give us a glimpse of all the good things that the Lord has for us. Holy Spirit wants to illuminate our mind to understand how the Word of God will comfort, strengthen and guide us.

Actually we can learn even more from Paul.

Everyone is created by God, and perhaps, in a general way, we can all therefore be called God’s “children.” But according to the Bible, God’s children are those who are saved and born again, not those merely created by God. To mix creation and redemption is to deny our need for Jesus.

There are many people who live in spiritual darkness, away from God, and God wants their eyes to be opened. This is why Jesus commanded Paul to open their eyes so they would repent. The preaching of the full gospel of Jesus opens eyes and leads to repentance.

Acts 26:17-18
I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’

Aline, a border, passes through the world. It is the border between darkness and light, between life and death. Many refute the existence of this border, and even some Christians refuse to consider it. But the border is still there.

Some try to remove this line by arguing theologically that we are all children of God. Such people believe Christians see themselves as superior.

Christians are absolutely not superior, yet Jesus clearly spoke about the difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. Paul was totally clear on this issue, which today is avoided or denied by modern theologians.

God wants all people on earth to hear that Jesus died for them. He wants every person to have the opportunity to repent. He wants to help every person to come out of darkness and into the light.

It is tragic when Christians deny that this line of separation exists, arguing instead that repentance is not necessary or that everyone is a child of God merely because he or she exists. This stance leads people astray instead of leading them into saving truth. This argument taints the light and derail the rescue mission.

There was daily instruction for the disciples and times of fellowship that discouraged isolation, worldliness and loneliness. They regularly celebrated Communion as a joyful meal in the presence of the Lord.

New disciples were taught the importance of daily prayer. In the midst of all this a supernatural flow ensured that, “many signs and wonders were done through the apostles” (Acts 2:43). Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need (Acts 2:44-45).

The sharing of daily devotionals is like sharing of the daily breads. So continuing daily with one accord in the House of God, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:46-47).

Before salvation we fled from God, ashamed, fearful and evasive. Now because of what Jesus has done on the cross, we can come boldly before the throne. We do not come arrogantly, but we come boldly. We can approach with child-like certainty. Children have respect for their fathers and are on a different level than them, yet they feel secure in the relationship, and they can joyfully and confidently spend time with their fathers.

At a workplace the staff respects the boss. However, the boss’ children boldly enter, uninvited, to ask daddy for keys, food or pocket money, unafraid of interrupting and demanding what they need. In a similar way, when we come before the throne of God, our Father puts aside whatever He is doing to respond to our requests. This is because we have been made righteous and have been awarded the same rights as sons.

God loves us. He receives us. He does not hold anythings against us. God is for us. When we come in the name of Jesus, it is as though Jesus Himself comes. We are in Him and He is in us. We are members of His body, branches of His vine. This gives us a wonderful boldness in our fellowship with God, yet we gratefully long to please Him in the rescue mission for mankind.

Jesus says “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32). Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God (1 Corinthians 2:12). In the book of Revelation, God said to John, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. (Revelation 21:6). We should give freely for what we receive freely from God, including His messages. We can share the messages and devotionals together. This is not a problem.

Time and time again, Paul returns to what Jesus had said and showed him. Visions take us beyond needs, limitations and circumstances and enable us to see something totally different. Paul is not problem-centered; he is goal-centered.

Paul is not driven by circumstance; he is led by vision. We see answers where others only see question marks. We see solutions where others only see problems. We see victory where others only see defeat. We see triumph where others only see catastrophe. We can say, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Even when he stood trial, Paul boldly proclaimed his obedience to the heavenly vision. He could have been condemned to many years in prison, yet he showed no trace of self-pity. Every circumstance became a possibility. We must a possibility thinker and a true believer of Jesus Christ. With God all things are possible.

Every attack becomes an opportunity. In every situation the Lord enabled Paul to do what he was called to do—preach the gospel. King Agrippa, before whom Paul stood to testify, thought he was a madman. But Paul did not yield; he persisted in his attempt to save King Agrippa’s soul. He wanted the king and all who heard him to be free like him, except for the chains. Except for the chains! Paul disregarded his chains. They never hindred him from obeying the heavenly vision. Paul knew that God’s Word does not bear any chains. Daily devotionals do not bear any chains too!

See http://cheatgrace.blogspot.com/2010/05/man-of-god-plagiarises-his-devotion.html

Did Kong Hee plagiarise?

Irreligious

University students know the seriousness of it. So do journalists, whose reputation stand on their ability to tell the truth. Even literary writers, whose job is to craft fiction, understand the need to be original.

So I was surprised to learn that large swaths of Kong Hee’s daily devotionals are lifted from other sources — without attribution. This unexpected revelation was brought to light by an anonymous blogger who devoted an entire blog called ‘Cheat Grace’ to exposing Kong Hee’s alleged plagiarism of other authors.

I’ve learnt about this blog a couple of months ago, but as it began to uncover more of Kong Hee’s allegedly plagiarised articles, I began to feel a little disturbed. Underestand that I am not talking about copyright infringement, which is an entirely different issue.

While copyright infringement is illegal under all circumstances, plagiarism is not. But plagiarism is still unethical, which is why academics, journalists, and literary writers treat it seriously. Even as a blogger, I do not want to be caught stealing passages from other writers without giving them a nod.

Plagiarism is simply a breach of integrity. Writers who plagiarise are claiming the work of others as their own. It is a form of thievery and deception.

I am disturbed, therefore, that someone would accuse Kong Hee of plagiarism. But read the blog and its allegations for yourself — which are backed up with solid documentation. The person behind the blog apparently has plenty of time and a deep well to draw motivation from.

The blogger, lets call him Cheat Grace, even muscled in the effort to pour through Kong Hee’s devotional book “Renewing Your Spiritual Life Vol 2″ — which is sold for $14 — to find that it contains the allegedly plagiarised devotionals. Cheat Grace even pointed out that Kong Hee claimed at the back of his book that he is “sharing his insights from the Bible”.

The church has been silent on the matter, perhaps because it hasn’t generated much online attention — yet. Church members seemed to have glossed over it, maybe because it is deemed an insignificant and minor offence. But let me proffer another reason: Since everyone is from the Body of Christ, Christians see no need to be uptight about such regulations. After all, if the truth is preached, does it matter where it came from?

The answer, it turns out, is yes. The problem with this reasoning is that even if the other party doesn’t mind that his article is plagiarised, the plagiariser is still presenting a false image of himself. It is taking a shortcut to create a good impression. It is still deception.

But I’ve realised that plagiarism is quite rampant among some pastors anyway, except that their followers don’t call it plagiarism. Pastors have been known for preaching each other’s sermons as if it is their own. But while some pastors don’t see it as an issue, others do. My personal stand is that even insights preached in sermons should be credited. I do not want to receive praise for a sermon I did not craft.

There appears to be a clash of cultures. On one hand, the principle of intellectual integrity demands that the work of others must be credited. On the other hand, church leaders are lax when it comes to intellectual property. Good things, they’d say, are meant to be shared after all. Or perhaps it was never implicit that sermons must be original.

But for reasons that I’ve mentioned above, I think there should be a sea change in the culture of the church. It is a misguided form of generousity that breeds laziness in sermon preparation. The pastor is in fact killing his own creativity and creating a false impression of himself. It deprives church members of original insights. Intellectual integrity, therefore, should be a prized value in church too.

I don’t think ripping sermons is a problem if 99 percent of pastors are okay with it. Ethics and morality are after all community-based. But as above article shows, some pastors do see it as an issue. And even if every pastor in the world is okay with the practice, the context of delivering a sermon is different from authoring a piece of literary work.

Anyway, now that Cheat Grace has so painstakingly brought the truth into public space, it is time the church reveal its side of the story publicly. Since Kong Hee has published the devotional online and sold them in bookstores, this incident cannot be considered internal anymore. Does City Harvest Church believe that there is nothing wrong with such practices? If the church believes so, then declare it out loud.

But if the church acknowledges the folly of such practices, rectifications can still be made before the situation goes out of hand. My sincere hope is that this slight can be resolved quickly, and everyone can learn a lesson and move on.

I don’t want a private explanation. This time, the larger Christian community needs to know.

Satan ruthlessly tries to rob the Lord’s servants of freedom, but he can never hinder the prayers of the saints. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” and his chains fell off his hands (Acts 12:7). Therefore, the prayers of the church and of different denominations united in one spirit are extremely important and powerful.

We can pray together with one desire to honor and glorify God. We can do it on the Global Day of Prayer. Pray at Max Pavilion (3pm) this Sunday. Then continue praying at Indoor Stadium in the evening (7pm).

There is mighty strength in corporate prayer. Anything can happen when people of the same spirit, with the same mind and the same focus unite in prayer. Jesus promised that our heavenly Father would answer any request when two or more gather to pray in His name. A church in prayer has more power than often is appreciated. A spirit of revelation ensures the right things are prayed for in the right way.

Prayer changes the spiritual atmosphere. Prayer stops the influence of darkness. Prayer causes God’s kingdom to expand, leading to church growth. Prayer breaks down opposition. Prayer opens doors and tears away chains of bondage from demonic strongman. Prayer breaks generational curse. Prayer restores boldness and health. Prayer rescues people from the jaws of hell. Prayer changes the nations for partnership in world missions. Prayer brings practical love and community services to the poor & needy. Prayer touches God’s heart with our wholeheartedness, meekness & humility. Prayer shows our gratitude for His agape love, faithfulness, mercy and grace.

As a result of prayer, angels are activated, and in the case of Peter, he was set free. In Acts 4:23-31 we read about how the disciples prayed with one accord. Unity is critical in prayer. The place of mass agreement is the place of massive power. When the disciples experienced the heaviest persecution, they did not pray for protection but for boldness to preach and for signs and wonders to take place in Jesus’ name.

Where there is prayer, God’s kingdom continually advances. Behind every successful pastor and every expansive work, there is an army of intercessors. Let’s pray up a storm of faith and stir up the inner man in us for breakthroughs and for our leaders. Never break the chain of corporate prayer 365. Revitalise it in July.

As the church continues to be maturing and growing, it must be active in evangelism and missions. Missionary work ensures a clear focus. The gospel will always be in the center, and the salvation of lost souls will always be most important. A church active in missions work receives a spirit of prayer and a spirit of giving. And when the time is ripe, the Holy Spirit raises up missionaries, sent out to bear fruit, with strong spiritual support from the home church. Giving not just resources but also knowledge, as the result of CHC acquiring knowledge in church growth is to give it away for mass revival. Seeing the baton being passed from YFGC to CHC in leading greater growth for whole Asia.

The church at Antioch was highly influential, not only through its missionary efforts, but also regionally. The church at Ephesus was similar. The power of God went out from these “hub churches” like rings on water. The gospel spread to people everywhere and resulted in church growth. Each church needs to respond to specific local needs and to form and develop according to its unique situation. Unity with other churches is possible even though they are vastly different. Each church only needs to be a giving church and be faithful to God’s calling.

Lord, I thank You for raising up an army of intercessors and prayer warriors in this church. Teach us to pray, and help us to participate actively in corporate prayer meetings, guiding us in prayer sessions of great significance at Max Pavilion and Indoor Stadium this Sunday and at Expo Hall 8 next Saturday. It is the kairos moment. Special prayers are heard and the church begins to move powerfully in the Spirit. Every believer seeks His face with great fervency. Holy Ghost touches lives of congregration and foreign delegates for transformation. Let disciples of Jesus be set on fire by the flame of the Spirit. They will move like how king Josiah moved the whole nation toward God. He motivated all the people to follow the Lord and keep His commandments with all their heart and soul (2 Kings 23:3). Impartation spreads the flame for mass revival. In Jesus’ name. Amen.