26 March 2013 by Natasha Kim CM –
Rev. Dennis Balcombe, the great missionary recently preached at City Revival Church about the topic above, in order to inform people about how to avoid the deception of the serpent. Having stayed in China for many years, he’s very familiar with the Chinese culture thus he has a better understanding of the people. This allows him to better relate to them and preach the Word. Interestingly enough he also believes in eating “everything under the sun!” just like the Chinese.
Dennis began his sermon by educating everyone about the Chinese calendar and introduced the twelve different animals in the zodiac. All of the animals are real except maybe the dragon; however, Dennis believes that the dragon is actually a dinosaur. “The dragon in China represents victory, prosperity and the emperor. In fact, the Chinese are called the “seed of the dragon”. It has nothing to do with the devil.” he said.
Worship of men and animals is sin!
Romans 1: 22-24 – 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves
He then proceeded to talk about another zodiac which is the snake, but not before sharing that he loves eating snake! It was undeniable that everyone’s eyes widened a little after that statement. He continued that “Jesus actually praised the snake because the snake is very wise. “Be wise as a serpent but harmless as doves” Jesus mentioned in Bible. A good representation of the snake in the Bible is shown in the Old Testament. The book tells a story of the plague that came to the Jewish people where snakes came out and many people died. When Moses prayed to the Lord asking for help, he was told to take the brazen rod and turn it into a brazen serpent and then lift it up, so that everyone who sees it would be healed. In the end, this shows that the snake is actually not that bad after all because it was used for healing.
Now in the Bible, Jesus is also known as the Lamb of God and the lion. It is important to know that there is another representation of the lion in the Bible and that is the devil. It’s stated in 1 Peter 5: 8 that says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Note that the Bible says “like a roaring lion” which means he is just disguised as one in order to deceive people.
By now you would have an idea that every animal has their own representation in the Bible. Remember that the animals are good but the devil can take their form to deceive us. Dennis also talked about how some people worship animals and even different stars in the constellations. “I never read astrology, I don’t believe in it. I don’t believe the sun or the stars have anything to do with my destiny. My destiny is determined by the choices in my life and by the will of God. If you follow that stuff you need to know that you might be deceived.”
He did share however that people shouldn’t go around destroying items such as vases that have symbols of the dragon or other animals on it thinking that it’s cursed. “It’s just part of culture just like red packets that people give on Chinese New Year.” he said.
Dennis then shared a story of a Christian man in Malaysia who had two expensive vases from the Ming Dynasty. “A preacher from England told this man to get rid of those vases because “they bring in a curse”. The man said, “Maybe I can sell them? because they are worth millions of dollars. I can then give the money to the poor or the missions.” The preacher replied with a, “No way!” and said, “You will curse somebody else, you have to destroy them.” With that Dennis concluded, “Can you realize how ridiculous it is to get off on this nonsense of getting in between peoples valuable cultural things just because of your ignorance?” He was clearly frustrated about the matter.
The Deception of the Serpent
After covering some elements he needed to, he now went into the heart matter. In the New Testament, Paul began a Church and called it the Church of Corinth. As it grew Paul started to hear things that he was very concerned about.
3 Corinthians 11: 3-4 –But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
Dennis shared that the Gospel is very simple, you don’t have to complicate things but you might be deceived in the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ. Did you receive a different Gospel but failed to think that maybe it’s not right? “That was the problem with the Church of Corinth, they just put up with it.” Dennis said. They didn’t voice out even when false apostles and deceitful workers disguised themselves as the apostles of Christ.
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