Christianity

Sharing a few interesting bits of news from around the world:

• Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, is now a Christian and calls himself Joseph. (Haaretz)
• British Newspaper Readers Vote To Keep Todd Bentley out of UK. At least it’s not all bad in the UK! (End Times Prophetic)
• Ken Silva was on Crosstalk Radio filling listeners in on what has been happening to him and his site since the threat of a lawsuit from Richard Abanes. (Crosstalk Radio)
• My good brother, Yong Chun, writing on City Harvest Church, has a great sermon-by-sermon MP3 comparison of how the same parable — The Sower — has been badly mangled and interpreted by three pastors of the church. (All of Grace)
• New Christian radio stations worth a listen-to: Pirate Christian Radio and Fighting for the Faith.
• I’ve put up a new poll — have fun!
• And, finally, some humor for the weekend: Introducing the Evolution Mix…

Daniel at Messy Pastor mentioned that in our zeal to observe the Sabbath on the proper day as sanctified by God, we shouldn’t fall into the danger of still being bonded by the old Laws as did the Galatians.

Previously, I have written quite a lot on the importance of observing the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week just as God had sanctified it.

That led me to earnestly read Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

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I love reading testimonies from other Christians.

Because nothing is more real and inspirational than reading about how God has worked miracles in someone’s life, turned it around, made it better or how they themselves overcame trials and tribulations in their lives.

Some think that their testimonies are nothing to shout about, but my belief is that no matter how mundane you think it is, your testimony shows just how God can work in anyone’s life.

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Finally, it’s the Shabbat and today is also finally the day when I can pay a visit to Hephzibah Christian Fellowship and find out more about them.

Finding the place was a breeze. After alighting at Queenstown MRT station, it was only about a 350 meter walk to the building itself.

As advised by one of the elders, Michael, I arrived a little late as he had previously told me that services don’t really start on time as they usually have a home group at church that he leads.

It All Looks Good!

The service is held on the fourth floor, but Michael was on the second floor of the building to welcome me, which was really nice of him. Upon entering the service hall, I was pleased to find no extraneous decorations like images of saints or a figure on a crucifix. In fact, there wasn’t even a crucifix to be seen anywhere, which is great.

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I have to admit: I have never ever fasted. Not once, not even for a short duration of time.

However, I have been giving it some thought. Not fasting itself per se, but the act of fasting.

Just the other day in the study, my wife popped her head past her monitor, looked at me and asked, “Dear, why do Christians fast?”

(We have 2 PCs in the house, both set up opposite the other back-to-back)

Honestly, I was stumped and couldn’t give her an answer simply because I have never done it, nor really explored this aspect of faith and prayer. In the end, I had to ashamedly fire up Google for a few good articles on why Christians fast.

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Two strangers recently arrived at my mother-in-law’s, decided to make themselves really comfortable and stayed for good.

Both are Caucasians, blonde, and rather tall.

The man’s quite pleasing to the eye, and the woman, whom the man claimed to be his mother, looked young and couldn’t have been older than 25 years of age.

I must admit that though they intruded without as much as asking permission of my mother-in-law in any way, they are rather good guests. Their business was love, they claimed, and all they needed was a wall to hang themselves on.

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Now, who was it that said that Christians have no sense of humor?

God is the one who gave us laughter, so naturally we can be funny people.

No, seriously, we can.

I saw this at Shalene’s blog and just had to share it with everyone else. Sorry if it’s corny, but it’s just so me (yes I can be the king of corny according to my wife, but I blame her family’s influence).

Copyright Gospel Communications International, Inc - www.reverendfun.com

It used to be that I’d be the one sore thumb that will stand up against injustice and unfair treatment and actually fight for my rights as well as those who rally to me. It also used to be that I don’t give two hoots about what society thinks, and step up to the plate when it comes to issues that are close to my heart.

Just last Sabbath night I found myself being less gutsy than before, and questioning where my courage has gone. Is it age that has mellowed me, or has the courage just gone out because I am in a more comfortable situation now? Read the rest of this entry »

I have been with a write-for-money service since earlier this month and have just received my first assignment. According to the terms of the assignment, I stand to earn US$5 if my post were approved.

The money is sure helpful, but there’s just one problem.

I am unwilling to write it, because I don’t agree with the topic that was assigned — infant baptism.

To be more precise, the paid advertorial is for an online merchant selling invitation cards to celebrate the baptism of an infant.

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Phase 1: Indignation

I just read this piece of news saying that as part of the ‘peace’ deal between Israel and the Palestinian people, Ehud Olmert’s government has turned over control of the Temple Mount to the enemy.

According to top Palestinian sources, the proposal is for Jerusalem’s Old City holy sites near the Mount to be governed by a Jewish, Christian and Muslim task force; and the Western Wall plaza below the Mount to be controlled by Israel.

In addition, Israel will evacuate from most of the West Bank and cede the eastern sections of Jerusalem.

The Temple Mount is Israel’s holiest site, for crying out loud, and people who have no claim whatsoever to land either historically, religiously or otherwise are demanding that the Jews give up their holiest site within their own state to foreign control?!

That made my blood boil with indignation.

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In the Gospel of Matthew, our Lord Jesus Christ said:

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

Matthew 5:13

Have you ever wondered what it means to be the “salt of the earth”?

In examining what being the “salt of the earth” means, we need to first examine what the primary uses of salt are during the time of our Lord’s earth ministry as well as what salt was used for through the ages.

I can think of three at this point in time.

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God's Warriors

I have just finished watching the entire three-part special by CNN called “God’s Warriors” which takes a look at “warriors” in the three major faiths — Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

The series aired here in Singapore at 9pm, and started with a look at “warriors” for Judaism on Wednesday, then Islam on Thursday and lastly Christianity just earlier this evening.

While I feel that the series did a pretty decent job showcasing the stories for each faith, many misconceptions were still propagated in the name of being politically correct.

Like how they still referred to land that Israel captured in the 6-Day War as “occupied territories” and the like. Moreover, they had interviews with Karen Armstrong that, in my opinion, was the key letdown in the entire series.

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This song stuck with me through the 80s till today, simply because it is such a victorious song reminding us of our victory over death through Christ Jesus our Lord.

I finally found it again and had no second thought about immediately sharing it with you.

Where is the sting, tell me
Where is the bite?
When the Grave Robber comes like a thief in the night
Where is the victory?
Where is the prize?
When the Grave Robber comes and death finally dies

It is the only song from Petra I listen to and like, since I don’t really buy into the genre of Christian rock. Let’s just say that it just isn’t my cup of tea.

Shalom.

This is not an attack on any church or denomination. I am going to simply tell my story as it is, about my experience in a Pentecostal church and why I stepped out of it.

Back in my youth, during college days, I started attending Charismatic/Pentecostal church services as it was the natural thing to do. Natural because back then I was in a college run by the Anglican Church of Singapore and the school’s chapel was skewing towards the Pentecostal movement.

Moreover, I wasn’t attending any church on a regular basis as I was looking for one where I could really find the form of worship I would be comfortable with.

It was easy to step into the Pentecostal movement and feel part of the community immediately. Most of the friends I made in college were of the same inclinations — Christians who were looking a church to attend. So when seniors of the school who were also members of the church started inviting us to attend the services on Sunday, it didn’t take much to say ‘yes’ to the proposition.

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Coming across other Christian blogs and getting to know some of the authors, there’s one thing I realize that I come up short when it comes to my walk with God.

Prayer.

I am not comparing myself with them in some kind of weird competition to see who has more favor from God or something but I realize that, from reading their blogs on a regular basis, that they are prayer warriors who have a real desire to communicate with God.

And that’s one aspect of my walk with God I want to improve on. Paul exhorts us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) but that’s what I never do, not even sporadically.

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I’ve written so much on Christianity and my Christian views that some of you might be wondering “where did this guy come from?”.

Wonder no more, I’ll tell you a story today — of how I came to be a Christian.

I am the first-born of a Chinese family in Singapore, and took my first breath outside my mother’s womb just before midnight on May 9, 1970.

Dad was a Chinese teacher until his retirement and mom has always been a housewife since I was born. Two brothers followed me — my parents’ 2nd son arrived 4 years later, while their youngest 9 years after. Today, it’s just my younger brother and I, as my youngest brother passed away a couple of years back in a motorcycle accident. He was just 26.

As a young child I was quite sickly and never did a week go by without me having to see the doctor for a bad cough that can keep the entire household awake all night. Exasperated, my mom took the advice of my paternal grandmother, and prayed to Guan Yin (the Chinese goddess of mercy) to cure me.

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It’s Sunday evening here, and no doubt many Christians across the country and the world would have already attended church services or are preparing to attend one.

Which makes it a perfect opportunity to discuss what some have asked me about a statement I made in my old blog on the fact that I believe we Christians should keep the sabbath on Saturday instead of Sunday.

I am not a Seventh-Day Adventist; it just happens that I agree with them on this point about observing the sabbath on Saturday instead of Sunday.

So why do most churches observe what they call “The Lord’s Day” on Sundays?

The Reasons Why

From what I understand, there are basically two reasons why:

1. Church tradition has most people believing that Christ was resurrected on Sunday after His crucifixion on a Wednesday afternoon
2. Constantine, the Roman Emperor who claimed to have converted to Christianity (but in fact created a false church) decreed Sunday to be the day of worship. At the Council of Laodicea, in A.D. 363, the following formal decree stated: “Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, resting rather on Sunday. But, if any be found to be Judaizing, let them be declared anathema from Christ.”

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