The Jesus Temple, Vadodara

Writings from the Jesus Temple

What you see are thoughts and views from the Jesus Temple, the home based family church based in Vadodara, Gujarat, India.

These writings are meant to enable you and me grow in the Word and Wisdom of God. Many of them are for free public viewing. Some which concern ‘against-the-norm-but Bible-based’ content are ‘Protected’ and only for disciples of Jesus Christ who appreciate and speak the truth in love.

For those who wish to view the ‘Protected’ content, email me your name, pastor’s (or spiritual elder’s) name and geographical location. Or if I already know you just say so. I will send you the password.

I welcome comments. I respect two way communication. Feel free to share with mutual respect and decency. Blessings.

IJ Thomas
Facilitator
Jesus Temple

Oneness, Jesus Only and Others…

There are groups of people who call themselves Jesus Only, Oneness and many other names that basically refer to a belief system called Oneness Penetcostalism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneness_Pentecostalism). The basic premise of this belief system is that God is One Person who plays different roles of a Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This belief goes against the Biblical truth that God is a a Union of Three Persons who choose to call themselves as Father, Son Jesus and Holy Spirit. This does not mean that there are three gods. This means that there are three persons in perfect Union referred to as God.

The purpose of this article is to analyse what the Word of God states who God is, and to help people who believe in Oneness Pentecostalism to allow the Bible to interpret itself. This I know will relieve many from the needless pressures  and challenges of life that come from having a wrong belief of who God is.

The word God is a collective noun in English. The Oxford Dictionary states that “Collective nouns are nouns which stand for a group or collection of people or things”.   What this simply means is that the word God is like the word family. Just like a family should comprise of more than one individual, so God as revealed in the Bible is a One Union of three persons. Let’s see some Scriptures on this topic.

1. The Three Persons of God revealed at the baptism of Jesus.

“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:  And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. (Mat 3:16-17)

Here we see Jesus as one Person of God in the water, the Holy Spirit another Person of God descending like a dove, and a voice from heaven saying ‘This is my beloved Son, in who I am well pleased”. If Oneness theology is to believed that there is only Person in the family of God, who then is in the water, who is descending on whom, and who is speaking from heaven calling whom “beloved Son” in the above mentioned verses?

2. Who does Jesus pray to in the Bible?

“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” (Luke 11:1 -2)

Here again we see Jesus praying. So who was He praying to? If Oneness Theology is correct then Jesus is praying to Jesus. Or as they may say, one Person of the Godhead is praying to the same Person of the Godhead. But that is ridiculous. Here we see Jesus on earth, praying to the Father in Heaven. Many more verses attest to this:

“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Mat 26:39 ).
“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee” (John 17:1).

If this does not means there are more than one person who comprise God what does?

3. Jesus the Advocate between who and whom?

Let’s consider this Bible verse: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).

An advocate is a person who represents one person in the presence of another. So if Jesus is the advocate for mankind in sin, who is He advocating before. In a court of law, we see a Judge, an Accused, and an Advocate mediating between the two. Taking the above mentioned verse as our basis, Jesus the Advocate is representing man before whom? The Father God who was the authority who had the right to punish sin. Here again we see the two persons referred in God, the Father and Jesus.

Many verses will be added to the above list in due time. But my request to all Oneness Pentecostalism believers is to consider this:

- Your belief system is not Bible based? So why cling to what false prophets have preached?
- Also check the fruit of what Oneness Penetcostalism has borne. From what I have seen of this system, I see every Oneness group has had a split, or believers are dealing with issues of sickness and disease which have seemingly have no reason except the fruit of a wrong belief system.

I write this in tough love. A wrong image of God is called idolatry and this is the Biblical sin that Oneness groups encourage. Its my desire that people from the Oneness system grow and glow in the truth of God’s Person like never before. But that will mean a simple Bible Study and a willingness to accept the truth. Rejoice, the Truth will make you free.

Aall izzz well? Not really

Should I bite the bullet? Or should I let sleeping dogs lie? I close my eyes, and I think about them. Aamir Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena and Karishma Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapur, Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif… names that tickle the public ear and jingle cash registers. Role-models who trigger  lust or wow. And yet, people in need of  help.

Take for instance Aamir, Sanjay Dutt and Saif  - married long, with children, and now in relationships that have broken their homes. Shahid, Salman, Priyanka, Kareena, … public figures, messing with alcohol, sex outside marriage and clothing designed to lust. And what about the many drug and alcohol laced junkets that trail these movers and shakers? These are a role model for what? Nothing but a lifestyle that is destroying them and those who attach their affections on them.

The standard retort, that I have no say in their private lives does not stand. The Emperor needs to know if he has no clothes. Bollywood, your moral standards are corrupt and corrupting. You need help. For values based on truth and love, I plead with you get off a lifestyle that glorifies sin.

So why do I care to interfere? First, I do care for the lives of our public figures. If I see a man drowning, I jump to save. Divorce, alcoholism and wild living are Band Aids covering hurt souls. Hurt people, hurt people. The lifestyle that Bolly, and the various other -woods,  indulge and portray on/off screen has caused numerous heartbreaks, unwanted pregnancies, murders and lust related crimes. How do I know? Just look around. Who provides the role models for popular attitudes? What does the average teen/teen-out fantasy on? What excites that young lady’s fashion consciousness?

That Hollywood has left a mass of destruction is proven. Bollywood is following. While you can’t blame the crime to something seen on a white screen, you cannot also negate the fact that what you see affects your actions. Which is why you have Censor Certificates. Why should certain movies be restricted? Because what you see has an impact on your actions.

Personally, I have taken steps to protect myself and my family from the filth emanating from these …woods. But I cannot but help notice the plight of many who have not. Which is why I write.

I do not wish to come across as someone ‘holier-than-thou’. I know one thing, from the best to the worst, every human being has sinned and come short of God’s standards of holiness. I would be the first to state that I have slipped from this standard. But I am not one to live in self-denial of this truth. I do not make my sin laden lifestyle a fashion statement. Worse, I would not encourage such a lifestyle in others. Which is where our Woodies err. It is to this glorifying and encouragement of sin that I object.

I hope this stirs people who appreciate these stars to go beyond adulation and face reality. There is more to life than fantasizing over ‘Alcohol Breath Priyanka’ or ‘Cigarette Shahrukh Khan’. I hope they get the message and clean up their act. For their sake and their families sake to begin with. That could be the first step to saying “Aall izzz well!”

PS: www.dove.org is an alternative. Our present Bollywood crop does not make it there though. If you are in Vadodara, contact www.jesustemple.org for an excellent library of family friendly, yet fun entertainment.

Attacked by An Anti-Virus!

I am a ‘why-pay-when-it’s-free’ kinda guy and a ‘trial’ Norton 360 anti-virus came my way. Free download, register your debit card and voila, one month of free trial. And then the cat-and-mouse game began.

First was the way, Norton snuck the option to opt out of the free trial. It would take only the persistent, computer savvy, geek to come to the place where you could opt out of their antivirus, or be billed for a year’s supply of Norton 360. I opted out of their 1 year program and said, “Whew!”

Things worked fine. Then those red light countdowns began saying “Trial subscription ends in 5 days… 4 days…” and finally “1 Day”. On expiry, I chose to remove Norton to install the next available freeware by clicking “Uninstall”. Which was fine, till things started going wrong. The Anti-Virus attacked me!

First my Internet connection was hit. The computer refused to connect to the Net, though the modem worked fine. I thought it was a virus that entered the moment,  Norton left. Chastened I went and bought an anti-virus (for the first time in my life). Welcome Kaspersky (which I liked from another freebie experience). To my wonder, I discovered that Norton was ‘Uninstall-ed’, but had not yet truly gone.

Kaspersky complained that Norton needed to be removed so that it could come in. I checked the suggested “Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs” again and Norton was truly ‘uninstall-ed’. Kaspersky was kind to suggest that, in such a case, Norton was gracious to have an “Norton Removal Tool“. Relieved and thankful for the kindness of Norton, I downloaded the tool (using my dial-up connection that worked for some strange reason).

I was glad for the download, despite the  looooong wait. Till I was fooled. The tool was corrupt. I thought maybe its the virus. The persistent me cycled to the nearest Internet Cafe. Downloaded the official Norton Removal Tool on their computer. And found that it was corrupt there too. Huh? Was it Norton? Or just me?

Finally I was led to Dave Taylor.

So after 5 hours and 10 “Restarts” (yes, that’s what the Dave Taylor technique needs!) and a last step that Dave did not suggest (I changed the last ‘refusing-to-be-deleted-Norton-folder’ name to ‘Mermer”) I could finally let Norton out, and Kaspersky in!

It was a good time to ponder on one geek’s recommendation to my Mom – don’t install any antivirus, they are a source of manifold problems. Works fine for her since she does not deal with so many thumb/pen drives as I do. Also a time to suspect, if corporates mess up with people’s time and peace, just to push products.

The biggest thing to wish is would anti-viruses be necessary, if there were enough people loving God and neighbors as themselves? Would someone like this care to write a Virus code? Or a messy anti-Virus code? Till that time, any takers for my spare 2-users-left-Kaspersky, 1 year subscription?

The Separation of Church and Children

What’s your take? Is it scriptural for children to be separated from the adult congregation? How would you consider your answer in light of these scriptures?

- Matthew 18:1-6

“At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus , saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me”.

- 2 Samuel 12:19-23 about the incident when David’s first born from Bathsheba died, to which David responded by saying, “I shall go to him”. Children before the age of reason are considered worthy of heaven.

- Or even Luke 18:15: “And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”

In most congregations, children are separated from the ‘adult’ congregation into age denominated ‘children’s church’, ‘Sunday School’ or some other ‘exciting’ term to denote a less important sphere of service to the Lord. (If you balk at the “less important” statement, analyse this: where does the most energy, attention, finances and good looks, church-treasures, so to say, get spent during the typical Sunday church service? If you are an exception to the norm write to me, I’d like to learn from you.)

Is it possible for a Sunday service to include every member of the family at the same time? What is the rational of breaking the family unit to worship the Lord of the family? Who has greater power, Mr. Pulpit preaching to a 10,000 ‘adult’ congregation or a 6 month old who can send that whole apparatus into a more memorable distraction? To protect the pin-drop-silence, is it okay to pack off the ‘bored-5 year-old’, ’short-attention-span 2 year-old’ or ‘I-don’t care-teenager’ to same-age classes which are proven to be ‘not-a-great-way-to-learn’ centres? Did Jesus do that?

If not, is there a better way? There better be one, since statistically, many ‘church kids’ stay away from church when adult.

Comments in a Biblical and Spirit led basis welcome.