Ekerk’s Stephan Joubert on How To Peel a Banana

In one of his recent articles on his blog Ekerk Stephan Joubert wrote the following little gem of  wisdom .

See English translation below:

ARE THERE MANY WAYS TO LOVE GOD AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AND TO REACH YOUR GOAL?

I’ve heard many a couple who love and cherish one another very dearly nicknaming one another “piesang.” In English the word “banana” as an expression of love and endearment doesn’t go down so very well but in Afrikaans it seems to be more acceptable. And now, Stephan Joubert from the blog Ekerk, the global spiritual entrepreneur par excellence, has managed to give a banana, and consequently the presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, more oomph and greater impetus in his little story about a banana.

Ekerk’s Stephan Joubert from the blog Ekerk says (English translation),

Somewhere in South America Juan’s mother taught him from childhood how to peel a banana. She told him to begin where the stem of the fruit was attached to the cluster. Then he went to study in the USA where he noticed that the Americans did not know how to peel a banana. They begin peeling it on the opposite side of the stem. One day while Juan was trying to teach someone how to peel a banana correctly, the person said to him: “You know, it doesn’t matter that much how you peel a banana. All that matters is that you get to the fruit.” Juan said this wise remark changed his life. He realized their was more than one way to reach your goal. Some people get so involved in the detail that they miss their final objective The same happens on the journey of faith. People focus on methods, procedures and church practices but forget that the purpose of faith is to be bright lights for Christ. You and I were called to love Him and other people and there is more than one way of doing it. The very fact that we are doing it is what counts to God. (Emphasis added).

Indeed, we are called to love God with all our mind, soul and strength and our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). Nonetheless, is there more than one way to love God and our neighbors and is there more than one way to reach our goal in this life? I have deliberately bolded “this life” to remind you that Ekerk’s Stephan Joubert is more concerned about this life here on earth than the afterlife. His great endeavor to help usher in the Kingdom of God on earth here and now is ample proof of this. In his Mosaic Congress presentation called “Being a Radical Pilgrim and prophet” held at Mosaiek Kerk (Mosaic Church) on 4 and 5 September 2009, he said the following:-

The other day at a Bible school I did at a church in Pretoria, I asked the people to play a little game with me. And the game was about, let’s for a moment, say to ourselves, we only have the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. What would our spirituality look like?

And it was like a shocking game for us all, because you wont find in the book of Proverbs anything about the cult, cultus (sic). There is no temple. There is no religious personnel. There is no holy times or holy foods or holy stuff. There is only one life and it is the real life.

There is only this life where I live and God is immediately in this life or not. And it is the wise person, and not the fool, who will be able to see where God is and where God is going. It is a way of life. It is not in propositions. Secondly, you don’t find the will of God like many people who lived their lives in other stories.

In the book of Proverbs you won’t find anything about prophecies, dreams, revelations, getting like some people say in church, getting scripture. You know this thing? “I just got Scripture.” Another lady, I have told this story, another lady the other day said to me: “You know, I stand on Scripture.” I said: “Ma’am, that is great. Get off and read it. It is better.”

What does the Bible say about those who truncate the Bible to suit their agendas? I can assure you it is not a little game.

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:19).

In his book “Jesus, ‘n Radikale Sprong” (Jesus, A Radical Leap”) on page 150 he wrote:-

One correction: Terms like “the real world” and a “religious world” never existed then. Jesus never made a distinction between “us” and “them,” or between the world of the church and the lost world out there. The separation between holy and profane is an artificial creation of the later church with all their cathedrals, cloisters, titles, holy days and limitless perimeters between church and world. Listen carefully, Jesus never instituted it and neither did He approve of it or promote it.

What does God say?

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:17-18).

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. (Revelation 18:4-5)

As you can see, Stephan Joubert‘s goal in this life is not to help lost sinners to reach God’s goal for them, which is to save them and ultimately grant them entrance, via his Door (Jesus Christ), into his glorious Kingdom of Heaven. His goal is to teach people how not to feel guilty when they mix the profane (unholy) and the holy and how not to make a distinction between the saved and the unsaved (believers and unbelievers).

When Rob Bell completely went of track in his book “Love Wins” and tried his level best to prove that all of humanity’s destination is heaven and not hell, Ekerk’s Stephan Joubert defended his buddy whom he says “preaches the unadulterated Gospel whenever he opens his mouth” as follows:-

The conversation about heaven and hell gained momentum a couple of months ago, especially in the USA, when the well-known preacher, writer and video maker,  . . ., Rob Bell, wrote a book entitled “Love Wins.”

The book wasn’t even published yet when the fat was already in the fire and sparked a conversation about whether he was a universalist, meaning that he believes in the salvation of all mankind after death.

Now, interestingly enough, I think when I read the book, it has more to do with life on this side than with life on the other side. But it is evident that in America and perhaps also in South Africa peoples’ correct way of thinking is measured by what they believe about the other side and not so much about how they live and how they follow God on this side.

May I remind Ekerk’s Stephan Joubert that Jesus, whom he claims to follow, placed an exceptionally high priority on the other side, i.e. His personal abode in heaven. Not only did He die on a cursed tree to make it possible for all mankind to escape the jaws of hell and to be with Him in heaven for all eternity; He also expressed a profound desire for all his true followers to be with Him in heaven when He said: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:1-3). It is His heart’s desire that His true disciples be with Him where He is. Indeed, His entire mission in heaven at the right hand of God is to prepare a place for His true followers in heaven.

As you can see, Jesus is far more concerned about peoples’ destination and His ultimate goal for them, i.e. to be in heaven with Him, than their own measly little goals in this life.

Let us continue with Ekerk’s Stephan Jouberts way of peeling a banana. Stephan, the illustrious Bible scholar who studied the ancient languages (Hebrew and Greek) at university, should know that there is only one way to love God and our neighbors according to his sovereign will. In fact, there is only  one way to reach your goal in the spiritual sense of the word. The apostle Paul illumines this goal in Philippians 3 when he said:

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14).

Ekerk’s Stephan Joubert  should know that in Greek there are six different words to describe different kinds of love:

• Agape, a Godly love/love for everyone, even your worst enemies
• Eros, or sexual passion.
• Philia, or deep friendship.
• Ludus, or playful love.
• Pragma, or longstanding love.
• Philautia, or love of the self.

Of all the above expressions of love, there is only one that secures one’s goal/destination and that is the “agapao” love (“agape” – Godly love). Bear in mind that when the Bible uses the word “agapao” it is primarily used in conjunction with “goal” or “destination.”

For God so loved [agapao] the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish [in hell], but have everlasting life [in heaven]. (John 3:16).

You cannot possibly exchange “agapao” with any of the other above-mentioned words the Bible uses to express different kinds of love. None of these can secure your final destination. Therefore, Stephan’s assumption that there is more than one way to love people may be true but what he conveniently forgets is that there is only one kind of love sinners need to respond to in faith in order to safeguard their final goal/destination in heaven. God loves (agpao) all humanity but only those who respond in in faith to his love have safeguarded their destination (goal) in heaven. It’s as simple as that.

Adversely, unbelievers cannot express the “agapao” love because they do not have the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit lives in believers only. (Romans 8:9). It follows that unbelievers who remain adamant to repent and believe the gospel and are void of God’s Spirit will ultimately reach their final goal/destination which is the Lake of Fire.

It is very irresponsible to suggest that there are more ways to reach your goal, unless, of course, your goal is to become rich and famous, or to invent something new that may benefit mankind or to find a cure for cancer or aids. Nevertheless, I don’t think Ekerk’s Stephan Joubert had these things in mind when he said there are more ways than one to reach your goal,  because he brings faith, which has a spiritual dimension, into the picture. He defines faith as follows, “the purpose of faith is to be bright lights for Christ.”

Having seen that Ekerk’s Stephan Joubert’s way of peeling a banana to reach the fruit bears witness to his ill-fated affiliation with false teachers like Rob Bell, he cannot possibly say that “the purpose of faith is to be bright lights for Christ.” In fact, anyone who distorts God’s Gospel – which he and his buddies at Mosaiek Kerk in Fairland, Johannesburg have been doing for decades – cannot, I repeat, CANNOT, show forth Christ’s light.

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:20)

ARE THERE MANY WAYS TO PEEL A BANANA? HOW MONKEYS HAVE TAUGHT HUMANS HOW TO PEEL A BANANA

I would like to dedicate this video to Ekerk’s Stephan Joubert and all those great Emergent Church scholars out there who believe there are many ways to love God and your neighbor and to reach your goal.

As you can see,Ekerk’s Stephan Joubert there are only two ways you can peel a banana – a right way and a wrong way. There is no way you can claim to peel a banana in many ways and use it as an example to prove that you can love God and people in many ways, let alone reach your goal in many divergent ways. The beauty of peeling a banana correctly is that God uses monkeys to teach professors like you who have studied the original ancient languages at university how to peel a banana correctly.

²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

²⁷But God chose what is foolish [monkeys] in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak [monkeys] in the world to shame the strong;

²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world [monkeys], even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,

²⁹so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:25-29)

Your rebellious, persistent, hard-hearten, defiant, stubborn way of peeling bananas the wrong way has always prevented you from going to monkeys to learn how to peel bananas correctly and subsequently how to use it as an example to present the Gospel. Allow me to tell you how not to use the peeling of a banana to present the Gospel. When you peel it from the stem down in stead of from the opposite side toward the stem, you will always bruise the fruit. In the very same way, when you misrepresent God and his Gospel the way you have been doing for the last few decades, you will always bruise the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

How on earth are you going to teach your church members and the many visitors, who are going to convene at Mosaiek Kerk on 11 June 2015 for your “We, The Church and The World” Comm-UNITY gathering, to live with the creative tension between the spirituality of the two opposing worlds when you do not know how to peel a banana correctly? Or, how are you going to solve the Church-puzzle Christians sit with at the moment when you refuse to consult and listen to the monkeys who know how to peel a banana correctly. I am no prophet but I predict that the only profitable thing that will come form the Comm-UNITY gathering at Mosaiek Kerk on 11^th June 2015 is the VBO points each church pastor of a known congregation will be awarded for attending the meeting.

Here are the sages of our modern-day-church who are going to teach our pastors how to peel a banana at Mosaiek Church‘s Comm-UNITY convention on 11^th June 2015.

Johan Geyser doing his Eastern Mystic Thing in Church

Rudolf Botha of the Dialoog Gemeente in Pretoria

Tom Smith of “Rhythm of Life.”