John Markum

Author: johnmarkum

In Memoriam: Arihant Kanwal

Posted on by johnmarkum

In the first two months of 2025, our church has had to say goodbye to three people. And while each loss has been difficult in its own respective ways, nothing is harder than losing a child. 7-year-old, Ari Kanwal was the center of much prayer, tears, anointing, and pleading to God for deliverance from a terrible disease. Despite a full year of our sincerest prayers, and the best medical decisions his family knew how to make, we had to all say goodbye to him at his memorial on January 11 at our church, Life Valley Community Church of San Jose. Below is a eulogy I wrote for him, with the help of Ari’s mother Chavi. For those who knew him, may God continue to heal our hearts as we carry his memory with us…

In Memoriam: Arihant Kanwal

Arihant Kanwal (“Ari”) was born November 16, 2017 in Mumbai, India, and passed from this life December 27, 2024 in San Francisco, CA. While he was only with us for 7 short years, that time will leave a lasting impact on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. Born as a twin, Ari spent his life alongside his brother, Rudy. While Rudy took to sleeping in his crib early, Ari would often stay up with mom, laying in her lap as she worked at her computer. These precious moments are one of many examples of the love Ari had for his mother, and he would cuddle her until he could fall asleep.

Ari found academic education exciting and engaging. He became focused, and grounded through learning. He thrived on creativity and academic excellence. He was very structured and meticulous – anything he worked on had to be a very organized, specific way. He enjoyed the praise of teachers, parents, and others for exceling in school. He loved solving large puzzles, building incredible Lego structures, and of course… all things Mario! When Ari went to a chess class for the very first time, he managed to grasp the concepts and intricate movements and strategic patterns of the game within an hour.

As a boy, Ari was very sensitive to conflict or tension. He seemed to be more self-aware than many other kids his age, picking up on emotional stress, even among the adults in his life. And this seemed to make Ari even more sweet, sensitive, and kind at heart. He was affectionate, giving hugs and high-fives, and was always mom’s cuddle-buddy. And, like mom, he loved Bollywood music.

It was Ari and his brother Rudy who brought their mom to church. Meeting Pastor Pat Boyd on our church campus, they came to a Candlelight service, Christmas Eve, 2021. And would later get deeper connected to the church family between Easter of 2022 and the following July. Ari loved the Scriptures, especially the Psalms, learning Bible stories, participating in children’s ministry, Sports Camps, and so much more. He came to know the story of the Gospel, and had believed on Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. We would often get “Connect Cards” from him where he would fill out his own information, and would write out “I love Jesus!” by himself.

Sadly, everything began to change just over a year ago, when, on Christmas Day 2023, we found out that Ari had a serious disease that was threatening his little life. And although many of the medical expertise suggested that Ari might have only a few short months, Ari fought bravely, and stayed with us for another full year. During that final year, so many from the church, school, and medical community rallied around Ari and his family, celebrating milestones, cheering on his strength, and making the best memories we could while hoping and desperately praying for a miracle. Even as the disease progressed, Ari was a gentle and kind boy. At his birthday party at school, even while he was losing much of his vision and mobility, he wanted to personally hand out the gift bags to his friends and classmates, thanking them for their love and kindness toward him on his birthday. He remained a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive young man.

His last year he got to see Legoland, take beach trips, lake trips, camping, and more – making memories with those who loved him. Among the many high points we will carry with us from Ari was when he chose to get baptized this past September 2024. Demonstrating publicly that he knew Who he had believed in. We will forever be grateful for those memories, and so many others.

While we are grieved to say goodbye to him, the world is a better place because we had Ari for the time that we did. Only Heaven knows what his sharp mind and kind heart could have accomplished, had this terrible disease not taken him from us. And yet, our confidence is in the potential that still remains with us, as we honor his memory. We continue to keep his family, church, and school deep in our prayers as we carry the memory of his life, and grief of his passing with us always.

Was Mary Ascended into Heaven?

Posted on by johnmarkum

Here on my blog, I have been addressing the doctrines of Catholicism that revolve around their belief that Mary was something more than Protestant Christians claim her to be. You can read more on each below. The four core dogmas of RCC Mariology include:

  • Perpetual Virginity. This is the notion that Mary remained a virgin after giving birth to Jesus, and was never sexually intimate with her husband Joseph, and gave him no children aside from Jesus (who was not biologically Joseph’s son).
  • Immaculate Conception. The idea behind this doctrine is that in order for Mary to have been the vessel for bringing God’s Son into the world, she too must have been sinless.
  • Mary as “The Mother of God”. This doctrine is based on the Greek title theotokos meaning “God Bearer” or “Mother of God”. Protestants generally reject this title, and I discuss why at the link.
  • The Assumption of Mary. This doctrine insists that Mary ascended into Heaven – or, God “assumed” her into Heaven – like Christ, Elijah, and Enoch are described as having experienced.

Let’s address the Assumption of Mary…

For starters, it is important to understand that God has in fact raised people to Heaven either before death as in the case of Enoch (Genesis 5:21-24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:9-11), or afterward in the case of Christ (Acts 1:9-11). So there is ample precedence to suggest God could have done so with Mary. But did He, and is there any evidence of this?

According to church history, Mary did in fact die, though the details are a very thin, which has convinced some (but not all) Catholics to believe she did not die at all. The historical account of her death from natural causes is referred to as the “Dormition of Mary”. Best as we can tell she seems to have died in Jerusalem, and in the company of a few of the apostles including John. This places the time of her death and/or ascension somewhere before 70 AD when Jerusalem fell to the Roman siege of the city. Yet there is no recorded mentioning of Mary’s death and assumption… with one, possible, exception…

Revelation 12:1-6,

“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth… And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

Catholics will assert that these verses are a “clear reference” to Mary in the Heavens, clothed with the sun, and in a position of honor and glory, “proving” the Bible supports the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary. Here are the flaws in their “proof”…

  • Mary’s supposed ascension is never mentioned or even implied. It begins with a “great sign in heaven”, but does not indicate how the “woman” got there. We believe Heaven is full of people who were not “assumed” into the spiritual dimension. Furthermore, Mary is not even named! The imagery could just as easily be referring to the nation of Israel as a whole, and God’s protection of “her” in the wilderness for 3.5 years in the future would strongly suggest that is a better interpretation.
  • Revelation is written in the Biblical apocalyptic genre. As such, it is flush with figurative imagery which is almost impossible to interpret literally in every instance that does not give us clear indicators. If this passage even is referring to Mary, she does not “literally” wear the sun as a garment, nor does she have a literal crown of 12 literal stars… again, this strongly suggests a reference to Israel, not Mary.
  • The rules of interpretation cannot bend that far. The only way to interpret this passage as a “clear” reference to Mary’s assumption is if you decided it meant that and tried to make it fit, also known as eisegesis. By contrast, honest interpretation of Scripture requires exegesis, or extracting meaning from a given text within the intended contextual settings.

Again, I am not against the idea that God did something miraculous for the woman who brought God the Son’s incarnation into the world. As mentioned earlier, He’s done so for a small handful of others. But there is zero proof of this. In fact, we have zero historical records of any dormition traditions regarding Mary until 450-600 AD – a whopping four centuries after her lifetime! That’s a lot of time for Christian superstitions to emerge, especially in an era that was very susceptible to such infiltrations of false beliefs.

I will write one final piece concerning Mary, how Protestants generally view her, and what I think is appropriate to the mother of our Jesus.

Blessings,
Pastor John

Sermon Recap: Don’t Look Back, week 2

Posted on by johnmarkum

This past Sunday, as we continued our Don’t Look Back series, we cross-examined two seemingly unrelated stories in Jesus’ ministry: the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-27) and the paralytic man by the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2-9).

From these stories, we learned that our past experiences have the power to shape our identity and restrict God’s work desires to do in our lives, whether those experiences are marked by success or suffering. Through examining the contrasting encounters of the paralytic man and the rich young ruler with Jesus, we discover that both achievement and adversity can become spiritual shackles that prevent us from moving forward. The problem with our past is that it often becomes a matter of identity. Many people define themselves by past trauma or achievements, accepting limiting labels that cage them. The solution lies in agreeing with our heavenly Father about who He says we are – loved, forgiven, and made new in Christ. Breaking free requires total surrender, dying to self, and trusting that God’s way is better than our own. God works in the present as the great “I AM”, not the “I WAS”. He can use anyone regardless of their past and is not limited by our mistakes or successes. The challenge is to identify what parts of our past we need to surrender, what labels we’re clinging to, and whether we’re ready to fully trust God with our future rather than remaining defined by our past.

In summary,

  1. Both success and struggle can become shackles.
  2. The problem with our past is a matter of identity.
  3. Total surrender is required for victory over our past.

You can catch the entire service on our YouTube channel here.
And you can download our 5-Day Devotion based on the message here.

Blessings,
Pastor John

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