Monday, May 19, 2008

"Safeguard Against Antichrists"

For your information, the blogger also known as "vincit omnia veritas", whom we here at Jeremiah Blues believe to be associated with the Illuminati Brotherhood due to his almost moronic enthusiasm in supporting the evil organizations called the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), his display of the R-Complex admiration for hierarchy and cold (inhuman) logic, and his mental-handling of the mind-controlled drone, the often mentioned Daniel Chew of "watchmen" and "reformanda" (apa binatang tu?) fame, was a previous member of Gethsemane Bible-Presbyterian Church, Singapore.

The pastor of Gethsemane BPC is Rev (Dr) Prabhudas Koshy (see how important it is to highlight the "Dr" part in the honorific?). If you must know, Rev (Dr) Koshy is also the lecturer of Biblical Studies and Hebrew at the Far Eastern Bible College, Singapore and the editor of the Bible Witness magazine. During my time with the BPC in Singapore and Malaysia (circa 2005-2007), I have not had the opportunity to meet up with Rev (Dr) Koshy and hence, I do not know the man personally. I am rather well-acquainted with his beliefs as expounded in his many articles published in "The Burning Bush" (FEBC) as well as "Bible Witness". [La Tey heard Rev (Dr) Koshy preached previously and, to put it mildly, he wasn't much impressed by the man!] The blogger named "vincit omnia veritas" parted company with his former pastor over the latter's dispensational position in theology/eschatology - chiefly with regards to Rev (Dr) Koshy's emphasis on the rebuilding of the Temple (based on the final chapters of Ezekiel) during the Millennium Reign of our Lord. I too have my questions on this and find it hard to accept Rev (Dr) Koshy's insistence on an extreme literalism in his interpretation of Ezekiel's visions (especially his insistence on the continuation of animal-sacrifices even within the Millennium Temple!!!). Now, those chapters in Ezekiel are among the most difficult passages in the Old Testamant and I do not pretend to have the expertise and/or learning to challenge Rev (Dr) Koshy's interpretation although I disagree with his conclusions because I do not think that they are in line with the whole of Biblical Theology (unless one is a Dispensationalist in the first place). On this particular point of contention, "vincit omnia veritas" may be a lot more correct compared to his former pastor.

Having said that, however, the real point of this blog entry is not on dispensationalism or eschatology. It is on the fact that the BPC as a system, a denomination is endlessly churning out dissensions and schisms. In recent years, Rev (Dr) Koshy was caught in the middle of the infamous VPP-Debate that split the fundamentalist factions of the BPC in Singapore and Malaysia into two. On one side are the pro-VPP folks who hold to the belief that the underlying texts behind the translation of the 1611 Authorised King James Version of the Bible are the exact 100% texts containing every jot-and-tittle as written down by the holy men who were moved by the Spirit. On the other side of the argument are the folks who (wisely) chose to refrain from such an extreme position - preferring to define their belief in the God who "providentially preserved" His Words in the majority of manuscripts and copies ("apographs") of the original ("autographs"). Rev (Dr) Koshy decided to side with the former more-extreme position that claims to be able to correctly identify the underlying texts behind the 1611 KJV as the perfect text exactly as God inspired it. Those who disagreed, who were original part of the teaching faculty of FEBC, resigned from their positions. In short, the present FEBC teaching board is made up of pro-VPP folks such as Rev (Dr) Koshy himself and led by the chief perpetrators of the VPP Doctrine on the face of the earth today, Rev (Dr) Jeffrey Khoo and Rev (Dr) Quek Suan Yew.

I have written at length on this issue of VPP previously and it is not my place to discuss this further in this entry [a sampling of a pro-VPP article written against a non-VPP person can be found here, if you're still interested]. The sole purpose of this entry is to prove one point and one point alone: The Bible-Presbyterian Church (at least in its local Singaporean-Malaysian manifestation as founded and led by the patriachal Tow Clan) is obsessed with correctness, obsessed with their own monopoly of truth, obsessed with proving other people wrong and obsessed with seeing doctrinal correctness as the chief test of a person's sanctification.

This is self-evident from a quick sampling of the titles of sermons preached. The above picture is taken from the web-site of Gethsemane BPC announcing the sermon that was preached two days ago by Rev (Dr) Koshy himself - "Safeguard Against Antichrists". As can be expected, it is another polemical display with a smattering of quotes from Jude, 1 John, 1 Timothy 4:1, and other related Bible texts to "prove" that we are, indeed, in the Last Days and that times are getting worse because evil men (like Benny Hinn, Kenneth Hagin, Rick Warren, non-VPP folks, Karl Barth, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Billy Graham, any of the last 30 popes, etc.) are walking around as "antichrists" because their teachings differ from that of the BPC, who is the final bulwark for truth on the face of the earth. This is the kind of system... errr... church, that produces doctrinal-policemen like "vincit omnia veritas"; a person obsessed with correctness in thinking (read: conformity to a narrow system) as the measure for morality while totally missing the point on what is truly good and/or evil in the world today.

From his own admission, "vincit omnia veritas" was giving talks on Creationism Vs. Evolutionism even in his younger days in the BPC [refer to this post]. At a time when a young person should be taught character-building, leadership skills, "how to win people and influence friends" (LOL), etc. this particular church successfully developed him into a fellow watchman, a fellow temple-police out to battle the evil "-isms" of the world. He was indoctrinated in the ways and beliefs of this cult of correctness. The consequences of such an upbringing in such a church system is dire indeed as can be seen in his behaviour online towards other people who disagree with him. It is made worse when he goes out and "disciples" someone else to follow after him, namely, the pea-brained B.Sc.(Hons) boy with the ego of an elephant, Mr. Daniel Chew.

While personal responsibility for one's actions is something not to be denied, something needs to be said concerning the evil systems that create perpetrators of such religious bigotry and hypocrisy. I lay the blame at the doors of the Bible-Presbyterian Church (in its Singaporean manifestation and its offshoots in other countries).

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