Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew

Questions from Calvary Pandan Church Camp 2014 (part 3)

1. Why do we make a person go through BBK before baptism, when the conditions for baptism in the Bible (Matthew 3) are simply repentance and confession of sins?
The Bible teaches that a person ought to be baptized the moment he accepts Christ as Lord and Saviour. However, many of us do not have the biblical knowledge of the Israelites who came to know Christ. These Israelites had the knowledge of the Old Testament. Many of us have heathen backgrounds. The understanding of the gospel message and all the other related doctrines is very important for the believer. We live in a world of great deception today. After the believer accepts Christ as Lord and Saviour, he must also be taught the whole counsel of God. The Great commission teaches this. Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV), "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." [Emphasis added] The place to learn and to serve is the local church. Therefore other doctrines must be highlighted when a person is baptized.

In addition, the church has added another significance to baptism. The sacrament of baptism is also the official step a person must take to become a member of the local church. As a member, he can take up positions of leadership to impact the lives of other believers through his service in the church. Therefore, he has to know certain basic Bible doctrines that the local church teaches, as well as understand the significance of the oath that he will be asked to make before God and the congregation of God at the time of his water baptism. If he is not of one mind and heart in the understanding of God's Truth, disunity can occur which will destroy the church. Members can become future spiritual leaders looking after the souls of men, women and children who are redeemed by the blood of Christ. They need to be responsible leaders. The present leaders must do their due diligence to ensure that all members are well looked after spiritually. The Basic Bible Knowledge class is one of the best ways to ensure that all who become members of the church are on the same page when it comes to understanding the key important doctrines of the Bible.

2. Why are baptism and transfer of membership done together (i.e. can a person undergo baptism by/in a certain Church but not take up membership in that church?)
This was a dilemma that the early founders of the B-P movement of Singapore had to wrestle with. The issues were carefully considered and a most responsible and biblical decision was made. The options were as follows:-
A) Baptism is separate from membership – If this is adopted, then there will be three kinds of people in the church: visitors or worshippers who like to attend the church but find it difficult to become members because of personal reasons; members who are baptized; and non-members who are baptized by the church. This creates the problem of spiritual well-being over those who are baptized in the church. The Great Commission of Christ says that they are to be taught the whole counsel of God. If they are not members, they can come and go as they like and the leaders have no spiritual jurisdiction over their lives especially when some of them become wayward and need to be chastised. This option is not acceptable.

B) Baptism and membership are bound together as one – This seems to be the best option as it fulfils the Great Commission of mutual accountability. This is also clean and neat as far as membership is concerned. There are the worshippers or visitors and then there are the members who are baptized in the church. When they become members, they are asked to take the oath which, among others things, includes the declaration that they have accepted Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour, and a promise to keep the unity of the church and to come under the spiritual care and discipline of the leaders whom God has appointed to look after His people in the church. This creates trust and transparency. It also protects the unity within the church membership for the work of God and the spiritual well-being of all.
Unity is not to be created by the church or by any man. Unity is in Christ and is to be guarded by all believers. There must be mutual accountability among believers to guard against the sin of pride. The Bible makes the importance of guarding the unity in every local church very clear in Ephesians 4:1-6 (KJV), "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

3. Why are BBK classes taught before baptism and not after?
BBK stands for Basic Bible Knowledge. It is not an advanced Bible Knowledge class. There is no end to the study of God's Word. It is important that a person is baptized and becomes a member of the local church with his eyes open. The reason is that he is held accountable to God and by the leaders of the church to care for and pray for the church. The doctrines taught in the BBK classes are the very basic and essential doctrines that the leaders of the church feel are needful for members to accomplish peace, unity and spiritual well-being within the church.

After the person becomes a member he is expected to continue to grow spiritually within the church by attending fellowship groups, Bible Study groups, Adult Bible Classes, etc. This he must do for the rest of his life in the church. The growth in the knowledge of God's Word is indispensible for effective and godly service.

4. With regard to the doctrine of laying of hands, are there any other types apart from:
· Laying of hands on the sick
· Ordination
· Imputation of sins
· Laying of hands of the Holy Ghost
The Bible teaches the laying of hands on the sick in Acts 28:8 (KJV), "And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him." The Bible also teaches the laying of hands for ordination as found in 1 Timothy 5:22 (KJV), "Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure." The teaching on the laying of hands for the imputation of sins is found throughout the book of Leviticus. This is just one example of many similar verses that teaches this: Leviticus 4:15 (KJV), "And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD."

However, there is no such doctrine as the "laying of hands of the Holy Ghost." This is not biblical. The Holy Ghost does not lay hands on anybody.

Other than the above teachings on the laying of hands, I do not recall any more teachings in the Bible for the church.

5. Thank God that CPBPC places a lot of importance on Bible Study. Will the BOE consider increasing the emphasis on evangelism too? Perhaps devoting one month every year to evangelistic activities such as:
· Worship service and SGH messages on the Great Commission
· Mobilize members to make extra effort to reach out to loved ones and friends
· Tract-writing "contest"
· Missions week, etc
Bible Study is the foundation of all things in the believer's life. He cannot pray properly or love correctly without God's Word in him. This is also true of evangelism. Without the Word of God in him he cannot evangelise biblically and in a manner that is pleasing to God.
Evangelism is important in every believer's life. Everywhere he goes he should be evangelising in one way or another. There is no way evangelism can be over emphasized. The theme of SGH is about salvation most of the time. This present series of messages on the "I am" of Christ is evangelistic. We need to be careful not to give the impression that evangelism is an activity in itself and outside of these "evangelistic activities" we are not evangelising. This dichotomy within the believer's life must be avoided at all cost. We do not segregate evangelism from the day to day life of the believer as if evangelism is a separate part of his life. He does not stop evangelising when he stops giving tracts or does not invite someone to a gospel meeting. Evangelism is a lifelong endeavour. Living a life of holiness is what evangelism is about. It is more than just sharing the gospel.

A tract-writing contest is a good idea but may not be a biblical idea. Furthermore, not everyone can write a tract. Turning this into a "contest" is not a biblical concept as it promotes wrong motives for writing. If someone is burdened by God to write a tract, he should just write it.
Missions week is a western concept rather than a biblical one.

In evangelism, bringing a friend or loved one to church is the most effective way to lead them to Christ. The unbeliever knows you and should see the transformation in your life as you share the gospel. Giving out tracts is only one of many ways to reach out for Christ.

6. Since the B-P Synod was dissolved, many like-minded B-P churches that continue to uphold the distinctives of the B-P movement seem to be drifting apart. At most, the pastors occasionally preach at one another’s worship services and fellowships. May I suggest that we consider organizing events and activities that will enable these churches to come together regularly to edify one another in the Lord, e.g. a yearly Bible seminar?
It is true that since the B-P Synod was dissolved in 1988, every B-P Church in Singapore has gone her own way. Sadly, some are heading in the wrong direction but thank God for the few that are still following the old path of remaining faithful in the defence of the perfect Word of God and maintaining the doctrine of biblical separation. When the synod was in existence, the closeness was not actually present. If there was closeness, then the synod would not have died they way it did and any differences within the synod would have been resolved to the glory of God. That being said, it is not wrong to be close and co-operative when B-P churches are of the same biblical mind in the cause of Christ.

It is hard to tell whether the like-minded B-P churches are drifting apart or not because the leadership among these churches are still on good terms. However it is a good suggestion to have some common activities to garner some level of closeness and having a yearly Bible seminar is one of the ways. This can be explored further and it needs the co-operation of all the like-minded churches for this to work. Please pray for this.

7. When we recite the Lord's Prayer, why do we use "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us", instead of "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" as in Matthew 6:12?
The reason is that languages evolve and the English language is no exception. Today, the word "debt" has the idea of owing someone money rather than committing a sin against someone. When it was used in the time of the KJV translators, it had the idea of "fault." Since the Lord used "trespasses" to emphasize the importance of forgiveness immediately after the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 and the fact that the word "trespass" has not changed then and now, we use "trespasses" instead of "debts." Matthew 6:14-15 (KJV), "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Furthermore, when we recite the Lord's Prayer we do not say that we are quoting the prayer of Christ in Matthew 6.

8. I agree that the congregation should fund their own local church’s needs. However,
· Should we ask a "friendly" church for help?
· How do you define "friendly" church - same denomination, same need?
· Can we receive help from a Charismatic church? Baptist church?
· What happens if Calvary received help from other organisations in the past unknowingly? Should we return the money?
There is nothing wrong with asking a "friendly" church for help, especially when it comes to doing spiritual work together. Friendly churches would include churches of like-minded faith in terms of major doctrines. We had invited Baptists such as Rev Dan Ebert III, who started the Hilltop ministry in the Philippines, as well as Dr John Whitcomb of the Grace Brethren Churches in America to speak at our church and FEBC. They were careful and respectful of our B-P distinctive and they avoided transgressing upon any of our doctrines that differ from theirs. Both of them were men of ethics.

We do not want to request help from Charismatic churches because the entire Charismatic movement is not of God. This is one of the movements used by Satan to bring into fruition the end time one world church of the Antichrist. Whatever had been accepted unknowingly will not be held against the church. It was not done deliberately and wilfully.

9. If Christians find that their church is decaying spiritually, should they leave the church or should they persist and help to build the church?
This question is too general to be answered definitively. A lot depends on the reasons for the spiritual decay and also the person who is deliberating whether he ought to leave or remain to help. Is the person a leader in the church? If he is a leader in the church, the help he can render to fix the problems of the church is the better choice and therefore he ought to remain. This is only possible if the problem is not a doctrinal issue. He cannot do much if the leaders in the church have already stated clearly that the church believes in a particular teaching that is against the teaching of Scriptures, such as the Bible has mistakes. If the person has little or no influence within the church, there is not much he can do. It might be better for his spiritual well-being to go somewhere else where he can grow spiritually.

10.What is wrong with projecting songs (even hymns) on the screen? Is it an over-statement to say that all CCM are worldly and wrong?
There is nothing wrong with projecting songs and hymns onto a screen during worship. Calvary Pandan has done it before. However, it must not be done all the time to the exclusion of using the hymnals. Singing from hymnals seems to be better for concentration and helps the congregation to sing better with all the syllables of the words carefully spaced out for proper pronunciation and when holding a note.
It is not an overstatement to say that all CCM, i.e. Contemporary Christian Music, are wrong. The reason is that CCM is not a reference to a period of time but a culture that came into being during the 20th Century. This is a culture based upon modernistic and liberal teachings of the Bible. It is a culture that is against the conservative understanding of the Bible and against God. CCM did not exist in the past until the invention of radio, gramophone, cassette tapes, television, CD and DVD, etc. These were 20th century inventions. By then the spiritual climate of Christianity decayed so badly that the music and the theology of songs were dominated by the Charismatic movement (born 1906), neo-evangelical movement (born 1948) and the ecumenical movement (born 1948). This is the root of CCM. The influence of church worship declined rapidly when modern technology and music begin to control worship. We are living in the period where the fruits of CCM is pandemic and has become the norm for 21st century worship!

Let us maintain and defend reverential worship which is God honouring worship in these last days.

11.You mentioned that the local church is more important than our own families. But the local church is made up of families & godly witness begins within the family. Thus I believe the family should come before the local church.
The local church is the organism that God has chosen to replace the nation of Israel as His witness on earth. It is true in a way that the local church is made up of families but not all families are members of the local church. It is also true that godly witness begins within the family but the godly witness of a family does not replace the witness of the church. Like in the Old Testament times when the nation of Israel had a godly family witness but a bad king, God considered the witness of Israel to be bad. Conversely, a godly nation does not mean that every family or individual in the nation is born again or godly. Likewise, a godly local church does not mean that all the church families are godly. It also does not mean that there is no godly family inside a bad and ungodly local church, especially when the church just turned bad. However, with the passage of time all the godly families in that local church that has just turned bad will leave and then there will not be any godly families inside that local church.

The family is not as important as the local church because the local church is that witness through which the family grows in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. The local church is made up of individuals rather than families because not all families are members of the church as stated above. Guard the church well and you will be guarding your family well. When the local church is spiritually healthy and strong in the Lord and you leave behind for your family such a church, then your family will be well in the Lord. The church is THE PLACE on earth where believers congregate to worship, study God's Word, have Christian fellowship and all things biblical and spiritual. God has chosen the local church to be God's witnesses on this earth and because of this revelation the local church is more important than one's blood family.