The Characteristics of Apostleship

 The characteristics of full apostleship—the apostleship of the Twelve and Paul—were as follows:

1. The apostles have been chosen, called, and sent forth by Christ himself. They have received their commission directly from him (John 6:70; 13:18; 15:16, 19; Gal. 1:6).
2. They are qualified for their tasks by Jesus, and have been ear-and-eye witnesses of his words and deeds; specifically, they are the witnesses of his resurrection (Acts 1:8, 21, 22; 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:8; Gal. 1:12; Eph. 3:2–8; 1 John 1:1–3). Note: though Acts 1:21, 22 does not apply to Paul, the other passages do apply to him. Paul too had seen the Lord!
3. They have been endowed in a special measure with the Holy Spirit, and it is this Holy Spirit who leads them into all the truth (Matt. 10:20; John 14:26; 15:26; 16:7–14; 20:22; 1 Cor. 2:10–13; 7:40; 1 Thess. 4:8).
4. God blesses their work, confirming its value by means of signs and miracles, and giving them much fruit upon their labors (Matt. 10:1, 8; Acts 2:43; 3:2; 5:12–16; Rom. 15:18, 19; 1 Cor. 9:2; 2 Cor. 12:12; Gal. 2:8).
5. Their office is not restricted to a local church, neither does it extend over a short period of time; on the contrary, it is for the entire church and for life (Acts 26:16–18; 2 Tim. 4:7, 8).

- Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. “Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans"

How safe is the Pfizer vaccine and how was it done so quickly?

The article was originally posted on Malaysiakini, with subscription-based to the full access. I have taken some points that I concern most.

Who or what are Pfizer and BioNTech - Pfizer is an American pharmaceutical giant and BioNTech is a German biotechnology company. The duo collaborated to develop a Covid-19 vaccine that uses messenger RNA (mRNA or messenger ribonucleic acid). In November last year, they announced that their vaccine candidate had 95 percent efficacy in a Phase III trial and subsequently published their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine. Officially, the vaccine is known as 'BNT162b2'.

How does the vaccine work - The basis of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is its mRNA. Simply put, many vaccines introduce a virus into the system to generate antibodies but this vaccine contains genetic instructions which make the body mount an immune response without the introduction of the virus.

How is this vaccine administered - By injection of one dose to the upper arm, followed by a second dose 21 days later.

How safe is the vaccine - This is out of 43,252 participants enrolled in the trial, about half who were assigned to receive the vaccine while the other half received the dummy treatment. Milder reactions typical for a working vaccine are more common, since they are designed to provoke an immune response. These include fatigue, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain and fever. Such reactions are more common among younger people, especially after the second dose. In most cases, these reactions dissipated in a couple of days. Following the vaccine rollout in the UK and the US, however, there had been reports that some vaccine recipients also suffered severe allergic reactions. For the record, VAERS is a publicly accessible database where US patients and clinicians can report adverse events that occur after vaccination.

Malaysia's National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) has a similar system in place and publishes annual reports on the complaints it receives. The government also plans to use the MySejahtera app to collect reports on adverse reactions suspected to be linked to Covid-19 vaccines.

How effective is this vaccine? - The Pfizer-BioNTech clinical trial reported an efficacy rate of 52 percent after the first dose and 95 percent after the second dose. The benefits begin to become apparent about 14 days after the first dose.

How was it developed so quickly?

This boils down to reduced red tape, increased funding, and an ample supply volunteers signing up for vaccine trials. All these factors come together to ensure researchers can spend more time working and less time waiting.

Health systems specialist Dr Khor SK explained that much of the 10-year timeline for developing a typical vaccine is spent waiting for funding to come through and waiting for various committees to meet and grant the necessary approvals, rather than conducting research.

In contrast, governments and philanthropies have channelled more money into Covid-19 vaccine research than any other branch of science in 2020. Scientists were also able to build on previous research on vaccines and older coronaviruses, and there was a much greater degree of data sharing and competition to create the Covid-19 vaccine than other vaccines.

In addition, researchers at Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca were each able to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers for their respective clinical trials. Khor said such large numbers usually take two to five years to recruit, but finding volunteers in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic was much easier. “This vaccine is a triumph of science. After NPRA approvals, we should be confident in its safety.

 Why are children excluded from receiving the Covid-19 vaccine - The current crop of Covid-19 vaccines have yet to be tested on children under the age of 12, or in some cases, the tests are still ongoing and have yet to yield any results. In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, for example, the youngest participants are 16 years old. The government aims to vaccinate at least 70 percent of Malaysia’s population to achieve herd immunity against Covid-19.

 Is it compulsory - No. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said Covid-19 vaccination will be voluntary. The vaccines will be made available for free to any Malaysian who wants it. Khairy Jamaluddin said the government is also considering whether to provide free vaccination for migrant workers, to help achieve the herd immunity target. 

Who will get the vaccines first - Khairy, who co-chairs the committee, said frontliners such as Health Ministry staff, police, armed forces, Immigration Department personnel and others will be among the first. Older folk and those with chronic diseases will also sit higher on the priority list as they are more susceptible to the worst effects of Covid-19 including a higher mortality rate. Those interested in the vaccine will be able to register their interest through the MySejahtera app and also use the app to monitor any side effects that may arise.

This instalment of KiniGuide was compiled by FAISAL ASYRAF.
URL: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/558083

Seven Habits of Godly Life

Definition: 
A godly life - No longer seeking satisfaction through a sinful lifestyle, but now surrendered to God and His will for our life

Seven Habits:
1. A life of prayer (1:35-37)

 - connected & sensitive to God

2. Trust or Faith (Psalm 103:19, Proverbs 3:5-6) 

- build intimacy relationship with Him

3. Meditation on the Word of God (Psalm 63:6-8, 119:133)  

- keep us fresh, alert

4. Obey God (Deut 27:10) 

- obedience

5. Dependence upon the Holy Spirit (Eph 5:18, 4:30) 

- the Holy Spirit indwelling in you will empower you, give you courage

6. Giving to God and to others (Luke 6:38) 

- never in lack of anything

7. Forgiving other people (Eph 4:26-27. 30-32)

Conclusion:
Surrender. God will transform our life because He loves us.

Decision Making

from online source

Salvation is A Rescue Mission

Salvation is a comprehensive idea covering the process of God calling a person to a reconciling relationship, leading to repentance, forgiveness, new birth, and a life of following and learning from Jesus. This includes participating in his values and his mission. The culmination of this good life is stepping into the eternal state of an active life with him.
 
Salvation is the plot of history; it is a rescue mission. Salvation is God’s action, his project, and it includes the entire creation. The world’s alternative is to put the world right by good deeds and so to leave God out. To the secular mind, for God to conduct himself in the way he sees fit, even though great human minds cannot fathom it or agree with it, is scandalous. Many think of God as a megalomaniac because he violates their modern sensibilities (Isaiah 55:8-9; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25). But what it takes to turn around the world, save it, and rescue its people is a strong stomach and an absolute commitment. Salvation requires bloodshed. Can we agree then not to trivialize salvation by reducing it to whether a person is safe and secure in the arms of Christ based on a prayer or religious ritual prescribed by the priestly class?
 

 - Bill Hull & Brandon Cook, 

The Cost of Cheap Grace: Reclaiming the Value of Discipleship, 2020.

 

Understanding of 'Salvation by Grace Alone'

Like most clichés, “salvation by grace alone” isn’t wrong. Complicated ideas are often distilled into shorthand phrases to make them easier to access. Over time, however, such shorthand phrases can come to mean something much different from what their authors meant when they crafted them.
 
The following is what we consider the contemporary understanding of “salvation by grace alone.”
 
Salvation. A person is saved from their sins. Their sins are forgiven, and as a result, they gain admission to heaven. Salvation is thus a singular event focused exclusively on forgiveness of sin, partitioned off from any requirement for behavioral change.
 
By grace. Grace is a derivative of God’s mercy, and the greatest portion of it comes to us at our “point of salvation.” This often is called the moment you were “saved” or received new life, forgiveness, new birth—the big moment when you became a child of God. Grace is something you cannot seek or earn; you only receive it. The human’s relationship to grace is a passive one: God is the one who distributes it as he wills.
 
Alone. Alone contrasts grace with human effort. Life in Christ is separate from human action: There is nothing you can do to earn it, there is nothing you can do to lose it, and there is nothing you can do to supplement it. There is something powerful and right about each of these elements. They are profoundly true: All people need to be saved, salvation can only come about by God’s grace, and we are completely unable to achieve salvation on our own.
 

 - Bill Hull & Brandon Cook, 

The Cost of Cheap Grace: Reclaiming the Value of Discipleship, 2020.

 

'Salvation by Grace Alone' is A Cliché

“SALVATION BY GRACE ALONE.” It’s a modern theological cliché—by definition, “a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.” This cliché has become the way you establish your bona fide evangelical credentials. It is meant to bolster a doctrine that emerged from the Reformation, that salvation has nothing to do with behavior. The phrase has provided a secure hiding place for millions, somewhere they could rest from the obvious labor the gospel requires. The divorcing of grace from behavior is responsible for the church relieving itself of the moral burden to live better and be better than the general population. Dietrich Bonhoeffer applied his stinging rebuke of this development in his 1937 manual for ministers, The Cost of Discipleship.

 Cheap grace means justification of sin but not of the sinner. . . . The church that teaches this doctrine of grace thereby confers such grace upon itself. The world finds in this church a cheap cover-up for its sins.

There are actually Christians who proudly proclaim that they are no better behaved than people of other religions or no religions at all. If this is the gospel—that you are saved, you get your sins forgiven, and you gain entrance into heaven but that your morality, behavior, and the collective contribution of the church will not improve life on earth—why would anyone be interested? Any honest person with moral integrity would be repulsed by such an idea. Skeptics would (rightly) say, “Christians go to heaven regardless of life and conduct, but non-Christians go to hell forever, even if they live better and contribute more to society.” Even flawed humans reserve life sentences for only the most heinous crimes.
 
So we can conclude that “salvation by grace alone” is a cliché: It clearly reveals a lack of thought.
 
“Salvation by grace alone” protects the option to live as a partial Christian—to take advantage of religious goods and services, the assurance of heaven, the immediate and unconditional availability of forgiveness. You can come and go as you please, live a selfish life, be critical of the church and its leadership but not help solve the problem—and still get Communion.
 

- Bill Hull & Brandon Cook, 

The Cost of Cheap Grace: Reclaiming the Value of Discipleship, 2020.