My Theological Musings

A question was asked about incarnation of Christ; I tried to explain how this is different from the filling of the Holy Spirit in us.           Allow me to try to explain to the best — yet as simply as I can — about this very profound theological concept of the incarnation of Christ, so that you will be able to appreciate who this Elohim is whom we worship!           N o man could have ever imagined; y et, when Christ came into the world, all the mysteries in the Tanakh that were hidden from  even  the prophets, was made plain to us.          Let's begin with John 1:1: Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος Translated into English (NASB) :  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.           We see that the  λόγος (translated Word) was already there ...

I was asked by a Christian friend, "Should I be circumcised?"          My answer to him was, "Yes," if you are doing it for some health reasons, BUT "No" if you think this was what God commands you to do in order to be saved or be grafted to vine. Our grafting is not to the Mosaic Law but to Christ who is the vine (John 15:5-6).          It is clear from my study of the Scripture that it is clear that "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God." (1 Corinthians 7:19)         Paul, in speaking to the Corinthians, was speaking in the context of marriage. Had they been Jews themselves, they would have understood God's purpose for marriage, but the Corinthians, many of whom were Gentiles who were worshipping pagan gods, were asking whether they were allowed to get married or they should abstain from it.       ...

A recent discussion I had with a brother-in-Christ pained me that, while people can now turn to the Bible to read freely, some have also started to read a lot of meanings into the scriptures.           As a result, there are a lot of wrong teachings that have created small pockets of believers who are inclined towards a certain teaching; some bordering towards unsubstantiated claims; others drawing conclusions out of a few isolated verses that they claim to support their own teaching on a subject matter. These 'teachers' are also pretty adamant about their position, and once they have a certain following, this is how cults are started.            Let's be upfront about this. I have been promoting the learning of the biblical languages as a key to better exegesis of the Bible but I have never come out with strange ideas that Hebrew or Greek is God's mother tongue! However, there are some who go after the "hidden" meanings be...

I was chatting with a university mate of mine who told me that some of her younger Greek friends in Australia are now unable to speak or understand the Greek language and culture.        While this is not unusual as they have grown up in the big cities in Australia, what a waste it is for them to abandon their mother tongue, when Christians around the world are learning Greek in order to understand the New Testament.        The fact that the New Testament was originally written in the koine Greek means that a lot of the nuances in the original text could be understood when one has acquired some working knowledge of Greek.          Hence, this is my encouragement to our Greek brothers and sisters, who have already assimilated to the local culture. It's time for you to pick up your mother tongue and, and start reading the New Testament in your own language.         Likewise, if you are a Messianic...

A young lecturer for my Biblical Greek class prohibited students from setting up Whatsapp chat groups. No reason was given, but in my opinion, there was every reason why such support group has been helpful to learning the biblical languages. Ignoring the instruction, a few mature students decided and agreed to proceed by setting up a chat group to learn Greek together. We shared the good resources. That was, in fact, how I was introduced to a series of online lectures by Dr Mark Schuler, a lecturer of Biblical Greek at Concordia University. Most of us followed through his online series and found Dr Schuler's videos to be a very good source of teaching. It is systematic and we were able to follow. On this point, allow me to put some thoughts together about who we are: mature students . This is especially important to lecturers who have never worked in the marketplace. Put it crudely, they just parachuted into the seminary positions after their graduation. Because of that, ...

  I have been asked a number of questions why I am promoting Messianic Congregations, celebration of Jewish new moons, Gematria, eating of kosher food and the blowing of the shofar.  My reply to them is a simple, "No!" I do not condone anyone who wants to go back to the influence of the Judaisers. But, as long as they exalt Jesus as the Messiah, and believe in Him as their personal Saviour, they are still one of us. There are also positive things that one can learn from even the Jewish rabbi themselves, which is their reverence for God and His Holy Scriptures. Although we know that the Jewish rabbis do not believe in Jesus as their Messiah, we connect with them to understand more of the Jewish cultures, in order for us to gain better insights into God's Word in the Old Testament. The bottom line is: Do not believe anything and everything you hear. If anything, we have to take things with a pinch of salt and always check everything against the Scriptures to see i...

29 March 2020 It was just in December 2019 that I wrote on my blog urging seminaries to go on the digital platform to reach a wider audience, especially countries where training of lay leaders is still very lacking or where it is too expensive to set up a seminary. This was just three months ago and I sensed the deep resistance. However, God in His wonderful ways lifted up this resistance with His one little finger what I could not do through my clarion call. He sent the COVID-19 outbreak to force all of us to go online. In short, digital. Would we still let go of this platform after the Movement Control Order (MCO) is lifted, or would we make this part of a permanent hybrid platform for both churches and seminaries? In short, we have the physical seminary or church; at the same time, the classes and services are broadcast online. Are we ready for this new way of doing church and seminary? This is a question that I would like us to think about seriously. When things go...

       Martin Luther                                                                      Johann Gutenberg Martin Luther had the content, but Gutenberg had the means to bring the Reformation across Europe far and wide. God was behind both men. The 'Gutenberg printing press' of our modern day is the Internet and the various platforms (such as this blog) that we can use to reach "Judea, Samaria and the remotest part of the world." It was Johann Gutenberg's printing press that differentiated Luther's reformation movement from the earlier reformers. My first experience with e-classes was when I paid a hefty amount to join Israel Institute of Biblical Studies to do Biblical Hebrew Level A. Now that I am two-thirds my way through the programme, I know how Webex is so useful to deliver...

What a wonderful testimony indeed when these three men obeyed the First Commandment given by Adonai Ex. 20:3 לֹא יִהְיֶה־לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים עַל־פָּנָיַ You shall have no other gods before Me

Our God has His fingerprints in every nation that reminds people of Himself.   It was a simple structure like this that I saw. To me, it looked like three gallows. I whispered to my missionary friend, Walt White as we were walking in one of the villages in Bangladesh to visit one of his friends. "What is this? Doesn't it look like Calvary? The pillar in the middle is taller than two other pillars one on each side?" Walt, who was a missionary in Bangladesh, told me, "This is the Syahid Minar." The story continues. The Syahid Minar is till today the monument to remind the people of Bangladesh about the Benggali Language Movement. Bangladesh used to be known as East Pakistan. When the Government of Pakistan decided to declare Urdu as their national language, the Benggalis living in East Pakistan were angry because their language was neglected. This was how the Benggali Language Movement kickstarted around 1952. The prime minister of Pakistan...