True Religion and False Religion. This will be our topic for three days this week (Nov. 18-20) when the Ratanakiri Pastors Institute reconvenes for the first time in over two years! Given the long and disheartening hiatus, and especially given the subject matter before us, we feel a special excitement and sense of urgency as we prepare.
One of the Apostle John’s primary purposes in writing 1, 2, 3 John was to help the early churches as they encountered false teachers and their teaching. I’ve shared with you before about our own little battle with false teachers who have sought to infiltrate the church in Pum Tmai village, and this is only one of hundreds of other instances throughout the country. So our goal when we meet this week is to work through 1 John together, seeking to understand the tests by which we must evaluate teachers and their teachings. Then we have to do the dirty work of examining the major cults that have invaded Cambodia, exposing them to the light of Christ and the teaching which his original apostles have left us. Will you please pray with us?
1. First praise God that we have received approval to meet as an entire group! This was no small matter.
2. Please pray that this class would be instrumental in fortifying the churches of Ratanakiri province against the onslaught of false teaching. Specifically, I am pleading with God that a generation of churches there would be immunized against the deadly teaching which these cults bring. Pray for these church leaders to understand the issues and to take up the sword in order to defend their sheep against the wolves. It only makes sense that the Evil One is particularly displeased with our attempt to shine the light of Scripture directly onto his schemes. May this session of the pastors school be a gut punch to him and his minions, laying them low for years to come.
3. Please pray for our students as they come in from the villages throughout the province—safety and health (particularly no COVID outbreaks), both for them and their families at home.
4. Pray for Stung Treng province too. Two future church leaders from our province will be coming with me to study. May the church in Stung Treng (particularly the embryonic Lao church) receive some of the blessing we hope to enjoy in Ratanakiri this week.