On Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 9:47 AM, Prunella Pui San Wong wrote:

Dear Dorothy, 

Thank you so much for your thorough answer and your support. There is a Chinese saying: 在家千日好. i missed the time when i am in my own spirit home (ABMC).

On Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 5:35 PM, Dorothy Ko wrote:

Dear Prunella,

It is so good to hear from you. We miss you very much. Wish you were here to experience God's wonderful work at ABMC.  Winston and I want to wish you a Happy New Year fill with God's blessings too.

It is important to find a good Christian community where you can have brothers and sisters who share your burdens and pray for each other and you get your spiritual nourishment. i thought that i found a good church until the below questions pop up. Please continue to pray for me and other brothers sisters in HK. Pray that we will find a church which walks in the true and we can enjoy the fellowship!

I have never heard of your church. Do they have a website? Do they practice speaking in tongue or faith healing? Do they require people who have already baptized to be baptized again? They really asked me to consider to re- baptized. Back then when i joined their church, i was so broken with my relationship issue. They doubt my faith in God and doubt how much i understand about faith, god and sin back then when i got baptized.  Therefore, asked me to think deeply how much i understand the cross/ Jesus. It is wrong to teach that even after a person said the prayer to accept Christ, that person is not saved until he is baptized. Christians should not argue about what form of baptism is more biblical either. 

You have described the teachings on how a person is saved very correctly. According to Romans 10:9 "That if you confess with you mouth, "Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." There is no mention of baptism required. Although we encourage new Christians to get baptized as a testimony to the world that he has proclaimed Jesus is His Lord, it is not a requirement to be saved. He was saved when he prayed to accept Christ. Got it, thanks ~

The assurance of salvation is because of God's promise "you will be saved". There are other Bible verses such as: Mathew 10:32, Acts 16:31. Also, In 1 Corinthians 12:3 "Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed", and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit." It is the Holy Spirit that prompts a person to confess "Jesus is Lord". Therefore, when a person confessed "Jesus is Lord", he has already received the Holy Spirit. Amen !

The initial reception of the Holy Spirit by Jesus followers was recorded in John 20:22 after Jesus was raised from the dead and has accomplished the salvation for us all. He appeared in the room where the disciples were. "And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit". The Holy Spirit convicts our hearts and guides us to understand God's truth and discern God's will. We thank God that many of our college young believers without Christian cultural background experienced tremendous spiritual growth and understanding of the Bible. That is the evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in their heart. That is also why we ask our small group leaders to pray before any action on their part for the Holy Spirit to move the hearts of their friends so that they are willing to come to their groups. The Holy Spirit is more than happy to do it and the friends will show up in time.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit manifest great conversion power among a large crowd or empowered people to perform miracles such as at the Pentecost and sometimes in major revival movements in the history of Christianity. However, I don't think it is up to us to demand such manifestation of the Power of the Holy Spirit. It is up to God to decide when and where He wants the Power of the Holy Spirit to be manifested in such dramatic way. I am copying a link to Campus Crusade for Christ Study Guide on "Filled with the Holy Spirit" for your reference.
 http://www.ccci.org/training-and-growth/classics/transferable-concepts/be-filled-with-the-holy-spirit/09study-guide.htm

I will answer your questions is red after each question.

Please let me know if my answers helped. Definitely helps and very supportive. 

Love in Christ,
Dorothy

PS Do you mind if we post this Q/A in the ABMC website?

Yes, please. May be others will have similar doubts or concerns and your answers base on the bible will help them find the WAY too.  

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Dear Dorothy and Winston

1) what is ""Restoration Movement 復原運動"?

I don't know. Can you send me their website link?

My church name is "Macau International Church of Christ" and they believe in "Restoration Movement 復原運動"

http://www.macauicoc.org/conviction.html

Singapore, Taiwan, Seattle etc

http://www.hongkongcoc.org/our_belief.php

2) is it a pure Christianity church ?

It sounded like they are a pure Christianity church, but perhaps a little too zealous about baptism. If the brothers and sisters there are very strong, not too fanatical about the required manifestation of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and can help you to love the Lord, they are OK. It is OK to differ in minor doctrines such as when does a person receive the Holy spirit as long as the person already received the Holy Spirit. Well, i don't know. is it minor differ if they believe salvation only comes from baptism? I guess perhaps this church felt too many people verbally say they have prayed to accept Christ and took it lightly. So they may be emphasizing that the person must examine themselves during the course of preparing for baptism whether they truly did accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. Yes, it is true that there are too many people who take the 決志禱告 very lightly and even lost their faith afterward. Therefore, i understand their concern. They are trying so hard  to keep strong believers. But if a person truly accepts Christ at the time of his  prayer of confession that Jesus is his Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit is in Him already. The process of preparing a person to baptism will help him to really understand what he is committing to, but does not add to his salvation or more filled by the Holy Spirit.

I do not know enough about what the "Restoration Movement" church do or believe in. From their name, they sound like a church that wants to model after the early church, a church that is alive and have the power of the Holy Spirit  to change people. But I don't know what kind of power they want to see. ABMC wants to model after the early church in building a loving community like the early church through small groups, and teaches the Bible as the basis of our faith. They have small groups too but they do not have fellowship. They also have house church where they will have minster teachs classes to nurture bros and sisters (like sunday school). They practice very strong discipleship - a mature Christian leads another young christian to continue to grow in Christ. Is the minister of this church a charismatic Leader that if he falls, the whole church will fall apart? I don't know, i have to ask. 

4) Do we have 決志禱告 in our bible? YES. Romans 10:9 Any more verses to support?  if no, why is this being practice?

5) In the old days, after jesus dead, disciples received the holy spirit in Pentecost (Act 2). Nowadays, when does a person receive the holy spirit? It is the Holy Spirit that prompts a person to confess "Jesus is Lord". Therefore, when a person confessed "Jesus is Lord", he has already received the Holy Spirit. please advice me with some bible verses too. Mathew 10:32, Acts 16:31, 1 Corinthians 12:3 etc.

Rome 6:3-7 - reborn through baptizm Acts 2: 38- 40 - Peter asked the people to repent and be baptized. 1 Peter 3:20-22, Acts 22:16 etc. Ask her where in the Bible did it say that after Jesus died and resurrected, a person need to be baptized to receive the Holy Spirit. so can we say before christ, people are being saved through faith and after christ, people are being saved by Faith What you wrote is not a clear statement. In the Old Testament time people who failed to follow the laws given by God needed to repent and they could use animals sacrifice to pay for the price of death for sinning against a righteous God. But God so loved the people of the world that sent His son Jesus to incarnate. He willingly died on the cross on our behalf and took away our sins. That is why Jesus declared that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Anyone can accept salvation accomplished and offered free by the grace of Jesus. Everyone should be told and know such immeasurable love of God. No one should refuse the redemption offered by Jesus and be restored to be a member of God's family. and baptize? No, baptism is not required for salvation. Gospel is what God does for you.  In Religion you try to be saved by being better or work harder for your salvation than other. In Gospel you are accepted and you are not better than anyone. In Religion you are worried and need to proof that you are good people. That is why religious people make up many rules and regulations. They demand not only themselves but others to follow. One cannot hope to do good works therefore Jesus owes her/him. We do not need to do good work to become a mini savior of ourselves. We love and do good work because God first love us. In the Gospel we rest on Jesus’ work on the cross. We should not be afraid. We are beloved. We are chosen. We are accepted. (see attached sermon notes by Winston on this subject: Gospel of Mark Sermon Series #6  “耶穌與我＂- 馬可福音講道系列第六講 - 安息日的主) i will listen to Winston sermon. BTW, how can i download other sermons from ABMC?                               

Please give me some advice. thank you so much