Ponderisms

Found the "Ponderisms" in a forum. Feel that it is quite meaningful so decide to share it with whoever is reading my blog:

PONDERISMS

* I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.

* Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

* The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

* Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

* There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.

* Life is sexually transmitted.

* Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

* The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

* Some people are like Slinkies. Not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.

* Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

* Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?

* Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

* All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

* In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

* Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

* How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

* Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"

* Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there? I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes outta its butt."

* Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

* If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?

* Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!

* If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that Acme crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?

* If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

* If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

* Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

* Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

* Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

* Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

* Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

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From Buddhism to Christianity - life change

Life-change

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Biting My Tongue

This article is about speaking in tongue. For those interested in this issue can read the article below:



http://graceatwork.org/view.php3?Id=350

When I was interviewed for the position of pastor of First
Baptist Church, I had to answer one key question: "Do you
speak in tongues?"
The church had been split by the charismatic
controversy. They had to know.
My answer then and my answer now is this:"What you need to
know is my theology on the matter. That is more critical
then whether I have this gift."

I have not revisited this topic for some time. In the twenty
odd years since that interview many of the churches I know
have moved beyond that controversy and that divide. There
has been a lot of maturing all round. Although different
churches still have different views on the subject there is
a much higher level of mutual respect and a lot of healthy
learning between different traditions. (I am grateful for
the many friends I have from Pentecostal and charismatic
traditions. I am grateful for their friendship and the
opportunities we have for working together.)

But once in a while you get "deja vu all over again" and you
get a speaker or a group that pushes the classical
Pentecostal position on tongues, tongues here understood as
an unknown language, sounds uttered in prayer unintelligible
to the one praying and to others (1 Corinthians 14:2).

Usually the agenda is the desire to see the release of God's
supernatural power. This is something seen as happening in a
believer's life separate from conversion, an event often
referred to as the baptism of the Spirit. As evidence that
this release had taken place, one was given the gift of
tongues. Tongues became something very critical because it
was identified with spiritual empowerment which is the real
goal.

So what is my take on this?

First off I am very grateful to my Pentecostal and
charismatic friends for reminding us of the need for the
Holy Spirit's power. Luke summarizes Jesus's ministry in
this way: "...with respect to Jesus from Nazareth, that God
anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went
around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the
devil, because God was with him." (Acts 10:38 NET)
The link between supernatural power, the Holy Spirit and
the ability to do God's work is clear. And Jesus is the
model for His church.

Too often the modern church has put her trust in techniques,
technology and good marketing to get God's job done,
basically paying lip service to the need for the Spirit's
anointing. We welcome every reminder that while we should
appreciate all tools the Lord gives us, our ultimate trust
is in Him and in His empowerment.

But what is the linkage between spiritual anointing and the
gift of tongues? Is tongues something that everyone should
be seeking as the sign of God's empowerment?

My starting point is 1 Corinthians 12: 29-30

"Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are
they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all perform
miracles, do they? Not all have gifts of healing, do they?
Not all speak in tongues, do they? Not all interpret, do
they?" (NET)

There is no ambiguity in the Greek. Paul is asking a
rhetorical question that demands the answer "no". No,
tongues is not for everyone.

Remember that Paul is writing to a church that included a
faction that was pushing for more dramatic manifestations of
the Spirit including the gift of tongues. This was a group
who probably saw themselves as spiritual elites who wanted
others to join them and apparently one of the marks that you
had reached their level of anointing was the exercise of the
gift of tongues.
Paul is clear. No, not everyone has this gift. Indeed it is
the Lord who decides who gets what gift. (1 Corinthians
12:11).

But Paul is not against the gift of tongues. He admits to
exercising the gift frequently in his private prayers. But
he is also clear that his preference is that intelligible
language be used when the church gathers so that believers
can be edified.

"I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you,
but in the church I want to speak five words with my mind to
instruct others, rather than ten thousand words in a
tongue." (1 Corinthians 14:18-19 NET).

There are those who argue that there is a "sign of tongues"
which is to be differentiated from the "gift of tongues." At
Pentecost one of the signs that the Spirit had come was
tongues. And everyone ought to seek this "sign of tongues"
as evidence for the Spirit's anointing though not all will
be given the "gift of tongues."

I do not see this differentiation in Scripture.
The word "tongues" is the same both in Acts 2 and in 1
Corinthians. And if one were to push for the signs at
Pentecost should we not also push for the sound of a violent
wind and the tongues of fire?

Therefore I am not convinced that the gift of tongues is the
indispensable sign of God's empowerment or that all
Christians should strive to get it. And I am against any
sort of elitism in the church. There are no second class
Christians at the Lord's table.

But I am convinced that we desperately need the empowerment
of the Spirit for the life and mission of the church. How
then do we appropriate God's power for His purposes? For my
answer I go to Acts 4: 23-31.

Here we find a church totally sold out to God and His
purposes. Initial success in mission work had provoked
persecution. God's power was critically needed for a breakthrough. And so the group joined in corporate prayer beseeching the Lord to intervene and work His power with the following results:

"When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled
together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak the word of God courageously."

(4:31 NET)

Yes there was accompanying physical phenomenon - the place
was shaken - and the Lord does that sometimes, but the key
words are "prayed," "filled with the Holy Spirit," and
"began to speak the word of God courageously."

When we focus on the phenomena of tongues we often get tied
up into all sorts of controversy that take us away from the
heart of the issue.
Instead of pushing tongues we should be searching our hearts
and asking, are we are indeed sold out to God and His
purposes? Are we really aware of our total helplessness to
do His work apart from His anointing?

Whatever our stand on the gift of the tongues, and every
church needs to define their position, we must major on
the majors.
Come O Lord and fill us again.

Your brother,
Soo-Inn Tan

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Should Christians Convert Others?

I find this article interesting . . .




Should Christians Convert Others?
by Tan Soo-Inn, 25 Jul 2003

http://graceatwork.org/view.php3?Id=174
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was quite jarring to walk into bookstores in Malaysia to be confronted with the cover of the June, 30th issue of TIME magazine. The headline screamed: "Should Christians Convert Muslims?" Fact is, there are state laws in Malaysia that penalizes anyone caught "enticing" a Muslim to leave his or her faith. Therefore the issue of how Christians should reach the Muslim community for Christ is one that is hardly discussed in public in Malaysia.

My first response to the headline was "I would frame the question differently." The Scriptures teach quite clearly that conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit i.e. God's own Spirit (John 16:8-11). A Christian may share the truths of the gospel, she may appeal to people to embrace the truth of the gospel, but he cannot convert anyone.

Indeed the church of Christ has often gotten into trouble when she crosses the boundary and tries to do the work of the Holy Spirit, "helping" people to convert through the use of military or governmental powers, or enticing people to Christ through the giving of aid in times of need.

(I quickly need to qualify that Christians are called to show compassion to all in need, giving with a free hand, giving unconditionally. This indirectly reveals the heart of Christ. But we cannot ever imply that to receive help, one must first embrace Christianity.)

No, we cannot convert anyone. Nevertheless, there are certain truths in the Scriptures that are clear. Two of them are:

1. Jesus is the only solution to the root problem of humankind - sin. "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12 NRSV

2. Followers of Jesus are called to bring this message to all races and communities. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

The irony is that Islam and Christianity share a number of things in common. One of them is a common adherence to the concept of objective and absolute truth. Standing against the post modern mood of many truths for many people, Islam and Christianity would say that if Islam or Christianity were true, then other answers to the fundamental questions of humankind --- "where did we come from", "why are we what we are", "what is the ultimate solution for humankind's problems"---are wrong.

The temptation for Christians and Muslims alike, is to jettison our commitment to absolute truth. We are told to "play nice" and live and let live. Any position that takes truth as absolute will lead to fanaticism and violence. After all, the modern world is a pluralistic world of many faiths. Let every faith community do their own thing but don't try to "convert" others. This position is appealing because there many conflicts around the world that appear to be rooted in religious differences.

Unfortunately any backing away from a commitment to absolute truth undercuts the very basis of the truth of the Christian gospel. If Christianity is not true for all it is not true at all. Why should God come as man and to die on the cross if there was any other way? I am always amused when I hear people say that all religions are essentially the same. Such people betray the fact that they have not studied religions with any degree of depth.

Of course no one wants intercommunal violence. What this means for Christians is that we must take a long hard look at how we share the gospel. I am particularly partial to Leslie Newbigin's suggestion that the lives of Christians must be so different that we arouse the curiosity of those outside the faith. (See for example his "The Gospel In A Pluralist Society.") And when they ask why we are different, then we answer with the gospel. For example, I recall the enemies of Christ having to acknowledge "how they love one another" when they looked at the early Christian communities. I wonder if they would say the same today.

The whole question of Christian-Muslim relationships is a big and complex one. I speak to those within the Christian community. We follow a crucified Christ and have been specifically warned that his followers would suffer the same fate (2 Timothy 3:12). Suffering is intertwined deep in the Christian DNA. We must never kill for Christ (Matthew 26:47-56). But we must always be ready to suffer and die for Him.

Before we even think of such heroic possibilities, we must first ask: What is the quality of our life in Christ? Do Christians and churches reflect so jarringly the love and holiness of God that people pause to look and ask questions? Or are we qualitatively no different from those who do not follow Christ? If there is no real difference, then there really is nothing for people to "convert" to is there?

Your brother, Soo-Inn Tan

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About the resurrection of Jesus Christ

The late jurisprudential prodigy and international statesman Sir Lionel Luckhoo (of The Guinness Book of World Records fame for his unprecedented 245 consecutive defense murder trial acquittals) epitomized Christian enthusiasm and confidence in the strength of the case for the resurrection when he wrote, “I have spent more than 42 years as a defense trial lawyer appearing in many parts of the world and am still in active practice. I have been fortunate to secure a number of successes in jury trials and I say unequivocally the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.”

Reference:
Sir Lionel Luckhoo, The Question Answered: Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? Luckhoo Booklets, back page. http://www.hawaiichristiansonline.com/sir_lionel.html.

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National Healing Campaign?

Website: http://www.nationalhealingcampaign.com/

Why does this person call himself prophet? Are we going to realise Matthew 24 soon? Will it be in my times? Maybe in our children's times? Don't know la. Just trust and obey. There is no other way. I need to let go and let God, sometimes . . .

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ECUSA's Incoming Leader: Homosexuality Not a Choice, Jesus Not the Only Way

ECUSA's Incoming Leader: Homosexuality Not a Choice, Jesus Not the Only Way
Comments by Jefferts-Schori During Interview Appear to Contradict Scripture

By Jody Brown and Allie Martin
November 2, 2006

(AgapePress) - She says she doesn't consider Jesus Christ to be the only way to God. She says she believes God makes some people "gay." And she's soon to be the leader of a mainline Protestant denomination in America.

In his letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul writes that "in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (Col. 2:9, NIV). But in an interview this week with Associated Press, Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori -- who is to be installed on Saturday as the first female presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA -- stated that Christians should not say that Jesus is the only way to God. "If we insist we know the one way to God," she said, "we've put God in a very small box."

In John 14:6, Jesus -- in responding to a question posed by the disciple Thomas -- said: "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." But Jefferts-Schori says she disagrees with the idea that salvation comes only through trusting in Jesus Christ. "It's this sense that one person can have the fullness of truth in him or herself, rather than understanding that truth is -- like God -- more than any one person can encompass," stated the soon-to-be ECUSA leader.

Jefferts-Schori says she views salvation as the healing of all Creation through holy living. "I understand salvation as being about the healing of the whole creation. Your part and my part in that is about holy living," she offered. "As Christians we understand [salvation] as relationship with God in Jesus, but that does not mean that we're expected to judge other people's own commitments."

Where does she stand on the issue of homosexuality? The Episcopal Church has been embroiled for years in a debate over the ordination of homosexual clergy and "blessing" ceremonies for same-sex couples. Jefferts-Schori supports both -- and in fact, she voted in 2003 to confirm her denomination's first openly homosexual bishop, V. Gene Robinson. She told AP that she does not believe the Bible condemns "committed" homosexual relationships. God, she says, made some people "gay."

"Sexual orientation is pretty clearly defined at a very early age, before the age of reason. It's not a choice," she said. "In that case, a person of faith would need to say that it's a piece of how one is created." Consequently, she says, the Church should offer what she calls "a sacramental container" to help homosexuals find "holy ways of living in relationship."

Scriptures in the Bible about homosexual acts being sinful, she says, are misunderstood. "They're not about what today we see as mature human beings entering into committed relationships with each other on a full and equal basis," says Jefferts-Schori, who believes such "committed" relationships can be blessed. "The religious community's job, really, is to help all human beings find healthy and whole and holy ways of living in relationship."

Run, Don't Walk
Canon David Anderson is president of the American Anglican Council, a group of conservative clergy and lay people from the Episcopal Church. Anderson says he's not surprised at the recent comments by Jefferts-Schori, and offers what he sees as the only option for those still in churches aligned with ECUSA.

"I think they need to run, not walk, to the exit and find an orthodox Episcopal church," suggests Anderson.

According to Anderson, the Episcopal Church cast off biblical beliefs long ago in favor of postmodernism. Jefferts-Schori's comments, he claims, is merely in harmony with that. "Her remarks with regard to the plurality of ways to God are consistent both with what she has said before and with what the top level of leadership in the Episcopal Church has been saying now for probably a decade," says Anderson.

Associated Press reports that eight Episcopal dioceses have asked Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who heads the world Anglican Communion, to put them under a leader other than Bishop Jefferts-Schori. But the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas says it is not one of those dioceses asking Williams to appoint a conservative national leader to oversee them.

Dallas Bishop James Stanton said in a statement earlier this week that he still disagrees with the direction of the Episcopal Church, but that the language in the request from the other dioceses rejecting incoming Jefferts-Schori and seeking an alternate leader had "caused confusion and some anxiety" in his diocese.

More and more signs.....

Episcopalians install female leader

By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion WriterSat Nov 4, 3:40 PM ET

Katharine Jefferts Schori took office Saturday as the first female leader of The Episcopal Church and the first woman priest to head an Anglican province, two landmarks that could quickly be overshadowed by divisions over the Bible and sexuality throughout world Anglicanism.

Jefferts Schori, who supports ordaining gays, acknowledged the rift in an elaborate ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral, urging parishioners to "make peace" with those who oppose the direction of the U.S. church. In 2003, the denomination consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

"If some in this church feel wounded by recent decisions, then our salvation, our health as a body, is at some hazard, and it becomes the duty of all of us to seek healing and wholeness," Jefferts Schori said during her ceremony.

Jefferts Schori, 52, was bishop of Nevada when she was the surprise winner of the election for presiding bishop at the Episcopal General Convention in June. A former oceanographer who was ordained in 1994, she had served only about five years as a bishop.

Her election was celebrated as a victory for woman clergy and for Episcopalians who support full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the 2.3 million-member denomination. It was decried by U.S. traditionalists and many Anglicans overseas who do not want to recognize Jefferts Schori's leadership.

More than 3,000 people filled the church to welcome the new presiding bishop.

Worshippers stood and faced the doors of the cathedral as Jefferts Schori knocked and entered, wearing a multicolored robe and miter. She walked in a procession toward the front of the church, led by people waving streamers and flags, as applause and music filled the sanctuary.

Outgoing Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, who just completed his nine-year term, turned over the symbol of authority, the primatial staff, and Jefferts Schori stood beaming at the altar as onlookers cheered. She received blessings in Hebrew from a rabbi, in Arabic from a Muslim scholar, along with receiving prayers in several other languages.

Jefferts Schori hopes to revitalize Episcopal parishes after years of declining membership, and to advance the church's fight against poverty and other social ills at home and abroad. She urged Episcopalians on Saturday to work for "shalom" — the Hebrew word for peace — by working to heal the world's suffering.

But internal conflicts are likely to consume much of her time.

She will now represent the American denomination to the Anglican world. Her job is complicated by her personal support for Robinson's election and for blessing same-sex couples, though she insists she won't impose her views on others. She said the U.S. church should be willing to compromise "for a season" to stay in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion.

That may not be enough to appease other branches of the Anglican family, which take a traditional view that gay relationships are prohibited by Scripture. Some Anglican leaders also reject the idea of women's ordination: Jefferts Schori has said they'll have to "get over it."

The majority of Anglicans worldwide have conservative views on sexuality, but they are a minority in The Episcopal Church. Still, by withholding money and building alliances with like-minded Anglicans overseas, they have chipped away at the authority of the denomination.

Seven U.S. conservative dioceses have already rejected Jefferts Schori and have asked Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, to assign them another national leader. Three of the dioceses do not support ordaining women.

Jefferts Schori has spent her life tackling challenges.

Along with her past career as a scientist, she is a rock climber and a pilot who flew her plane to visit parishes around the sprawling Nevada Diocese.

Her husband of more than 25 years, Richard Schori, is a retired mathematician. Their daughter, 25-year-old Katharine Johanna, is a pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

Jefferts Schori decided to pursue full-time ministry after federal funding for her scientific research dried up.

___

On the Net:

The Episcopal Church: http://www.episcopalchurch.org

Oh dear, oh dear, we are approaching towards the end of human history le.

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The word "God"

I have been thinking why whenever the word "God" is mentioned, non-believer would usually feel annoyed or irritated by it. I have come to believe that this is because they believe that if God exists, He will help to solve all the problems and messes in this world, and their own problems. If God exists, they would see the glory of God with their own eyes. But, to them, none happens and so to them either God is dead or God is a man-made notion to explain the purpose of everything. This is similar to the story of the boy "crying wolf is coming" three times.

However, the bible gives us the assurance that suffering is inevitable in this present world, not until the old rule of system will give way to the new rule of system in future. There is something which I still have not understood: that is God's overall plan - why does He allows suffering to happen and why does He wants to use suffering to build us up for the better. Is there really no other way?

The bible also tells us that we will not see God until we breath our last and definitely in the eternal future. A parable tells us that the Master was away for a long journey, leaving his servants at his house. The Master will return unexpectedly, punishing the servants who are "fooling around" and rewarding servants who are obedience.

There are greater reason to believe in God and His plan. Yes, His plan is in progress and we can be impatient at times. Around 2000 years have passed since the "last hour" kicks in.

I can understand why non-believers find it hard to believe in a Creator but His word left in the bible gives us the confidence that there is a God. I really hope they would spend some time to study the bible. The bible, on the whole, is difficult to refute, otherwise the faith will not withstand for so long. So our enemies wanted to deceive the world that the bible is corrupted and not worth believing and so on. Well, if one care to put in effort to study and understand the whole picture, one would find it hard to deny the word in the bible. The choice is yours.

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Nationwide Church Attendance In The United States Less Than Half Of Previous Estimates

Surprising Stats in New Church Research
Nationwide Church Attendance In The United States Less Than Half Of Previous Estimates

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

ST LOUIS, MO (ANS) -- Attendance at American churches is less than half of what we have believed in the past, according to Dave Olson, director of church planting for the Evangelical Covenant Church, and director of the American Church Research Project.

According to a news release from Mission America Coalition, Olson addressed the Mission America Coalition annual conference on its closing day with groundbreaking new research about the state of the American church. Instead of relying on limited survey data which is then extrapolated to the entire population, Olson has worked for years to build a database of actual recorded attendance in over 300,000 churches across America.

His vision was to present a much more accurate picture of what is really happening to the American church at both the national and local levels, and with information refined down to individual zip codes.

“I'm not relying on what people say, I'm measuring their actual behavior,” he told nearly 170 national church, ministry, and lay leaders gathered.

The released continued, “According to Olson's research, overall church attendance is virtually unchanged from 15 years ago, even though the United States population has grown by 52 million people -- mostly unchurched. The northeast U.S. is the only region where the church is growing faster than the population, and no state has seen a net increase in the percentage of church attendance in the last five years. Even in the southern states, the traditional Bible Belt, the population is growing faster than the church.”

Jim Overholt, executive director of the Coalition said, “Having information about actual attendance at churches in individual communities is a significant leap forward by itself, but even more important is that we can now overlay the church data with census and other demographic information to tell us more about the dynamics of change within income, education, and other key sociological indicators that are also available by zip code.”

Olson's research revealed a number of surprising and often counter-intuitive statistics. For example: the evangelical church is growing fastest among the higher income, college-educated, suburban population, and declining fastest among the least educated, and in areas with the highest poverty rates.

“The evangelical church is becoming suburban, affluent, and educated,” Olson said.

“We live in a world today that is post-Christian, post-modern and multi-ethnic, whether we realize it or not,” he added. To reach this “new world” with the gospel, the church needs to change, he told the leaders gathered, echoing one of the key elements in the Coalition’s new initiative, Calling God’s People Together to Love Our Communities to Christ.

“The church needs to have an attitude of brokenness, humility, and repentance,” he said, admonishing that as evangelical Christians we tend to have an attitude of triumph--that we are right and the world should live like us. That attitude will keep us from reaching the lost for Christ, he said. He emphasized that the world simply acts the way it is supposed to -- as unbelievers. “This is the way it's always been, this is the way it's described in the Bible. The problem is that the church has not been acting like the church.”

“The Christian community needs a restoration of its understanding of the message and mission of Jesus. It needs to be less self-righteous, individualistic, and materialistic. It needs to be more biblical, Christo-centric, and holistic.” He said that when the Church talks about Jesus, it often does so in a second-hand way. “In a Christian world we can get away with that,” he says. But not in the emerging 21st century culture.

Olson's data and presentation to the Mission American Coalition annual meeting will be available to access online as of Oct. 17 at: www.theamericanchurch.org.

The Mission America Coalition is a network of national church leaders, representing denominations, ministries, and other key Christian leaders with a shared vision to collaborate in prayer, evangelism, and revival. Since its inception, leaders from 81 denominations, over 400 ministries and dozens of ministry networks have been involved in the Coalition. Mrs. Vonette Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ), Dr. Billy Graham (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association), and Dr. John Perkins (Christian Community Development Association) serve as honorary co-chairs.

For more information about Mission America Coalition or the “Loving Our Communities to Christ” initiative, www.missionamerica.org.

Errr....... really coming le la.... when it really comes, everything will kick off very fast .....

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Jews have started the process of rebuilding the third temple??

http://www.templemountfaithful.org/Events/20060607.htm

*surprised*

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'In 20 years, there will be no more Christians in Iraq'

'In 20 years, there will be no more Christians in Iraq'

Three years after the invasion of Iraq, it is believed that half the Christians in the country have fled, driven out by bomb attacks, assassinations and death threats. So why haven't the coalition forces done more to protect them? Mark Lattimer reports

Friday October 6, 2006
The Guardian

Three members of his family had already been murdered before Shamon Isaac decided to leave Baghdad. First, his son-in-law Raid Khalil was shot dead in January 2005 as he fled gunmen who had tried to pull him and his father into a minibus. Like many Christians, Khalil had received a death threat signed by the Islamic Army in Iraq. He left behind a widow and a baby girl, who is now nearly two.

Four weeks after Khalil was killed, Isaac's brother was stopped at a checkpoint by seven men in Iraqi army uniforms as he was on his way to collect passports to take his own family out of the country. "People in the neighbourhood shouted to his daughter that her father had been assassinated," Isaac said, "and she came out and found his body in the street." Then last August Isaac's brother-in-law was shot dead in his shop by three gunmen.

Finally Isaac and his family had no choice. When in January this year cars started to circle the family home in al-Dora with men shooting in the air, they escaped to another Baghdad neighbourhood, al-Jediya. But major demonstrations were taking place throughout the Muslim world in response to the Danish cartoons and on January 29 bombs ripped through seven churches in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk, killing 16. Then one day a man walked into the small shop that the family had just opened next to their new home, bought some cigarettes and walked out, but not before he had left a letter on the counter. On opening it, they found it contained a single word: "Blood."

The mechanisms of terror in the new Iraq have uprooted families from every community, including Sunni and Shia, Arab and Kurd. But although Christians made up less than four per cent of the population - fewer than one million people - they formed the largest groups of new refugees arriving in Jordan's capital Amman in the first quarter of 2006, according to an unpublished report by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). In Syria, which has a longer border with Iraq, 44% of Iraqi asylum-seekers were recorded as Christian since UNHCR began registrations in December 2003, with new registrations hitting a high early this year. Fleeing killings, kidnappings and death threats, they come from Baghdad, from Basra in the zone of British control and, disproportionately, from Mosul in the north. The Catholic bishop of Baghdad, Andreos Abouna, was quoted recently as saying that half of all Iraqi Christians have fled the country since the 2003 US-led invasion.

Yet their exodus has gone largely unreported, despite the fact that both George Bush and Tony Blair have spoken about how their own Christian beliefs have informed their policies in Iraq. In one of his first speeches after 9/11, the US president described the fight against terrorism as a "crusade", a characterisation that he wisely dropped but which is habitually repeated by critics of US foreign policy, including al-Qaida and other insurgent groups in Iraq. Many Christians have been accused of association with the multinational force, or of supporting the west. Now Iraqi Christian leaders are bitter that the west has done so little to protect them.

When Isaac fled Baghdad with 11 of his family it was, naturally enough, to the ancient home of Iraqi Christianity that they came - to the plains of Nineveh. I met them there three weeks later, huddled in a room in Bartallah, outside Mosul, part of the great fertile flatland on the banks of the Tigris where nearly every village has its church, and each church now has an armed guard. The plains are among the longest continually habited places on earth. It was to save Nineveh that the Biblical God delivered up Jonah from the belly of the whale, and the Assyrian Christians here still speak Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language Jesus Christ spoke with his apostles.

But Nineveh's unique place in Christian heritage counts for little today beside its strategic value in the geo-ethnic endgame of the Iraqi conflict. Situated between Iraqi Kurdistan and the insurgent strongholds west of Mosul, the Nineveh plains are central to the security of both, and to the territorial ambitions of Kurds and Sunni Arabs alike. Travelling in Iraq as part of a human rights mission coordinated by the charity Minority Rights Group International, in association with the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (Unami), I was told that no aid workers had been able to operate here since May 2004, when four Americans from a Baptist charity were killed in an ambush on the Mosul-Erbil road.

In Mosul city, both the Ba'athists and the Islamist groups had deep bases of support that enabled them to control whole neighbourhoods and, periodically, the city's police. "They stopped a Christian woman from Mosul university, took her away and cut off her head," the manager of a women's welfare organisation told me, her face flushed with the imagining of it. "They said that if anyone comes to college without hijab, they will be killed."

"The poor security situation covers all communities in the city," explained Dr Yousef Lalo, the assistant governor of Mosul. "But as a minority, the Christians are particularly vulnerable. They are also often more affluent than other communities, so people try to extract money from them." A former psychology lecturer, Lalo's habitual companions are no longer students but the bodyguards that testify to his status as the only remaining Christian in the city's senior administration.

"Many churches were bombed in 2004 and 2005 but the multinational force and the Iraqi national army did not find out who was responsible; they didn't even do a proper investigation. It got worse and few people turned up even for Christmas and Easter celebrations. Now the Christians protect their own churches."

Lalo couldn't provide a number for how many Christians had left Mosul, but said that "thousands" had emigrated to Jordan, Syria and Turkey. "Half the Christians in Mosul have left since 2003 and the rest are planning to leave if they can. Many of my family have emigrated to Australia and Sweden and become refugees."

But this softly spoken professor was staying to fight. "This is my land, and the land of my father and grandfathers, and I will not leave. I have also forbidden my three sons to emigrate."

That morning, Lalo had his first meeting with the multinational force commander for Mosul and eastern Nineveh, Colonel Michael Shields. Although "meeting" is perhaps not quite the right word for an encounter that began when four US soldiers in full battle dress came through the front door unannounced, the commander demanding: "Who's the leader? Where's the leader?" But once the Americans had put down their weapons and body armour, the exchange that followed was polite enough. I knew Lalo was bitter that the US had supported the appointment of a Muslim mayor in a predominantly Christian area and Shields told me he was working hard to improve contacts with local officials. He explained: "Nineveh province is an ethnically challenging area. If the governor shows favouritism, that creates problems." Lalo ventured bluntly that Shields' predecessor had been "bad for the Christians". "That," the colonel said, "is water under the bridge."

The Christians' last hope in Iraq may just lie, according to Lalo, with Sarkis Aghajan, minister of finance in the Kurdistan regional government and, until last May, Kurdish deputy prime minister. It is he who has been channelling money to Nineveh to pay for armed guards.

In his palatial residence in Ankawa, a Christian neighbourhood in Iraqi Kurdistan, he talked about his community as he sat between a picture of the crucifixion and the statue of an eagle. "As Christians," he said in Syriac, "we regard Nineveh as our region. Throughout history our people have been obliged to leave and live elsewhere." This included those who had fled Saddam Hussein's campaign to "Arabise" Kurdish and Christian areas in the north, when land was redistributed by force to Arab settlers. But now, he explained, about 3,500 families had come from Mosul and Baghdad to settle in the Nineveh plains.

"More than 30 Christian villages have been restored. But people will not return unless they feel their national rights are protected. Before, people were kidnapped on a daily basis. We increased the number of armed guards and now there are thousands. We are not threatening any other party, but the Kurds look out for the Kurds, the Arabs for the Arabs, so we have to protect ourselves too."

But Aghajan's ambitions go further. He is convinced that the only way to secure protection in the longer term is for an autonomous region, a safe haven, to be established covering Nineveh's Christians, as well as smaller minority communities there such as the Yezidis and the Shabak. "This special region would help us to maintain Christian history in that place. In that way, there would be no way for Kurds or Arabs to intervene. This would encourage the Christians living outside to come back, and it would be an example in the Middle East."

Aghajan is also sure that such an autonomous region should be part of an enlarged Kurdistan, prompting some politicians from Nineveh to accuse him of serving a Kurdish agenda. One, who fears the prospect of Kurdish control as much as a return by the Ba'athists, described him as "prime minister Barzani's loyal Christian". But Aghajan insists that the Nineveh plains would "get a fairer share" from the Kurdistan administration than from the central government. He praised Barzani's leadership. But he also knows that many Christians are already voting with their feet for the relative safety of Kurdistan.

Then he decribed how his people had been betrayed. "It was easy for the Americans and the British to have supported us when the churches were bombed - it was a historic opportunity - but they did nothing. If they had supported us financially, for example, we could have protected all the Christian families in Mosul."

Asked if he thought the Americans might be afraid to be seen to support the Christians, because that might be perceived as partisan or anti-Muslim, he waved his arm impatiently. "They didn't have to do it publicly - they could have done it through the Kurdistan Regional Government or through individuals. Now the Christians in Mosul are being made to change their religion. They are forced to pay money for jihad. If you hear the stories of those people, you will understand the tragedy. I am not talking about one of two families, or even a thousand, but about a nation.

"If our friends don't help us now, their friendship will be worth nothing in future. If it continues as it has, Baghdad and Mosul will be emptied of Christians."

As he spoke, I recalled Bush's words, over three years ago, from the decks of the USS Abraham Lincoln, announcing "the end of major combat operations" in Iraq. The president is fond of using biblical quotations in his speeches and he ended this one with a stirring message from the prophet Isaiah: "To the captives, 'Come out!' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'"

In May, Iraq's first full-term government since the fall of Saddam Hussein was approved in Baghdad. Wijdan Mikha'il, a town planner and member of the secular Iraqi National List, was appointed as the new minister of human rights - a hard job, she remarked to me ruefully, in a country where "the people hardly have any rights". Mikha'il is also a Christian, the only one in the government. When she got the job, she moved her family, including her three young boys, from their spacious Baghdad house to live in a hotel behind the concrete blast walls of the Green Zone. Over supper there one evening she talked to me about the sectarianism that has poisoned Iraqi society.

"I have always seen myself as an Iraqi first, and then a Christian. Before, we all lived together, we never thought that someone was a Sunni and the other was a Shia, or a Christian, but now it is different." She has held discussions with the Iraqi Council of Minorities, a new umbrella group that is pushing for amendments to the constitution to improve human rights protection. When I asked Mikha'il about how many Christians were leaving, she said: "The process started before the war but it has accelerated. In the schools the children now say that a Christian is a kaffir, that he is different from the Muslims. And that means he can be treated differently. In 20 years there will be no more Christians in Iraq."

As she talked, two men and two women, dressed mainly in black, walked into the hotel restaurant and sat down in a corner. The minister lowered her voice: "They are Saddam's witnesses." The trial of Saddam Hussein was in session that week, stumbling from one adjournment to the next, and Mikha'il listed some of the atrocities for which the former dictator should still be tried, including the genocidal Anfal campaign against the Kurds, in which many Christians were also killed.

So was it worse before, or now, from the point of view of the Christian community? She replied immediately: "It's worse now. Not just for my community - for all Iraqis. Of course, what is happening now, Saddam partly created. We have gone in one year to a situation we would have reached after 15 years if Saddam was still in power: the lack of security, the breakdown of society . . ." Suddenly she laughed, for the first time that evening. "So maybe it is better to get there in one year, so we can start the process of improvement."

Would she herself still be here in 20 years' time? This time she hesitated. "I don't think so. I love Iraq. I had so many opportunities to leave, but I always stayed. But I don't want my children to live here"

I am convince that we are indeed living in the last stage of human history. The world is more aware of Christianity. Though more and more have heard of the Gospel, the hatred towards Christianity is increasing. The world belief and the Church belief contradicts. I believe the day will come when the world will not tolerate the teaching of Christianity and wanted to ban the bible. As more and more people of other tribes and tongues have heard and believe in the Truth, falsehood screams louder and louder. Wait and see. Truth will always endure.

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Lamentation

I am born with a pentium II processor and a ram of 256MB. The society wants me to overclock to fit into their demands. I overclock and seems to become a pentium 4 processor but the ram remains. Now the society requires us to become pentium 6 whereby the maximum I can overclock is pentium 4. My CPU is burning hot. Good for those who managed to overclock to pentium 6.

Perhaps I could comfort myself with a church song. The title I forget but there is a line but never forget: 。。。。。 感谢上帝玫瑰有刺 。。。。。 Maybe that is why God makes me so imperfect. (Those who don't understand can try approaching me.)

Haiz... the higher I go up, the thinner the air is. How far up do we need to go before we can't even grasp for air?

I am tired of this society and the world. I am sick of their ever-changing policy; errors and mistakes made because of the sinful nature - especially pride.

I am so sick sometimes I feel that to be non-existent is better than struggling in this world. But on second thoughts, I have not found the rib that God took it from me. Perhaps God really did not take it?

Sometimes I feel frustrated at waiting for Him to come back and restore everything. I know I have no choice because it is God's will. I know He will come back but the waiting part is really not easy to endure. Sometimes the devil would tempt me with the fruit and I give in. Sometimes I shout to the devil "GET LOST!". The struggle for following the Truth really has a price to pay. I could rather join the world and lost myself in this fallen world - if only God is dead. I believe otherwise.

The world is indeed degenerating. I believe everybody who still desire to do good and response to their conscience would feel it. How long and far can God tolerate the world? I don't know. The bible tells us that this generation will become like the days of Noah. How corrupted were the days of Noah I don't know. One thing I know is that we are slowly if not accelerating towards this state.

I can't understand God's way of doing things. Some says He is dead. However, there are stronger reasons to believe otherwise.

To all who still want to listen: Grasp to the faith and the truth when the wave of evil is marching in.

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Is God the author of confusion?

This question has been asked soooo many times. -_-

6He said, "Listen to my words:
"When a prophet of the LORD is among you,
I reveal myself to him in visions,
I speak to him in dreams.

7 But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.

8 With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?"
(Numbers 12:6-8)

The above verses are quite clear to me that when God wants to tell us a message, the message will not be direct. God's way is not easy to understand; we could not fathom His way. To answer the above question, click on the link below:

Is God the author of confusion?

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Many worries

Suddenly I have many worries. I worry about my study. I worry about my grades. I worry about my future. I worry about finding a good job. I worry about survival in working life. I worry about many things. Lord, when are You coming? I want to go home. I want to go home with my rib. I know that Your coming is near but I need to deal with my present fear first. Teach me to let go and let You guide me.

Amen

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Marriage

I would like to share some paragraphs on marriage from "Rumours of another world" by Philip Yancey taken from page 94 and 95.

" Increasingly, marriage as a sacrament is a quaint concept that few couples take seriously and fewer still could explain. The notion, though, is rooted in creation itself, a calling to be living witnesses, to establish settlements or "signs" of God's kingdom within an uncomprehending wider culture. The sociologists who authored Habits of the Heart found that few individuals in their survey except commited Christians could explain why they stayed married to their spouses. Marriage as a social construct is arbitrary, flexible, and open to redefinition. Marriage as a sacrament established by God is another matter entirely. "

" By declaring marriage a sacrament, the church did nothing but acknowledge formally a reality that already existed. It is a vocation, a calling, to spend a life together in self-giving partnership. "

Some quotes from the bible by me:
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)

"Haven't you read," [Jesus] replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (Matthew 19:4-6)

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." (Ephesians 5:31)


" Jesus pointed to the original source for that unity: God designed and intended it, from the moment of creation. "



Without understanding the purpose of life, I find that people stayed married are just conforming to the "rule" of society, which is actually rooted in creation itself and has lost it significance. Which faith can clearly explain the need to stay married to their spouses? If human being is just evolved from apes, I don't see why the early homo sapiens would want to establish a marriage system and stayed married together. There is no purpose and need for that at all.

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Test everything!

Warm greetings to all of you,

As you know, the Christian faith is being scrutinized by the world recently. From the early centuries, it had been like that and has gained greater momentum through cunningly devised fables by mass media. I believe there will be greater deceptions which are devising in progress in latter times.

The Da Vinci code and the Gospel of Judas have attracted many attention because of how globalised the world has now become. However, all these debates are not new. Regardless, it has left many - believers and non-believers - wondering if the Christian faith is really a lie after all. If this is so, the foundation of mankind will be shaken as you know Christianity has a great influence of how the world is now. For example, human history is divided into two - the B.C and the A.D by the birth of Jesus Christ. Do you think a New World Order will be implemented when the influence of Christianity is reduced?

Many people has now become interested in knowing more about the Chrisitian faith (reverse mission) and the deception has led many to explore the faith and its history. [The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.]

The Christian faith has always been attacked but nevertheless, it has withstood the test of time. Christians ought to remember that by being a follower of Christ, the world will hate us. Though the wrong often seems so strong, God is the ruler yet.

I have attached two pdfs which are meant for skeptics and seekers. I would like to invite you to spend some time reading over it if you have doubts in mind. If Christianity, afterall, is a lie, then expose it. I would like to give you an advice, "Test everything!"

I have the hardcopy for "The Da Vinci Code - Separating Fact from Fiction". If you want to have a copy, do ask me about it.

Thank you.

God bless

==========================

The Da Vinci Code - Separating Fact from Fiction

Gospel of Judas

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Some of my favourite quotes

We think so because other people all think so; or because after all, we do think so; or because we were told so, and think we must think so; or because we once thought so, and think we still think so; or because, having thought so, we think we will think so. - Henry Sedgwick


"I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining; I believe in love, even when I feel it not; I believe in God even when he (seems) silent." (-by a World War II prisoner of war on a cellar wall in Cologne, Germany) Yes, I believe that God will come again as I believe the sun will rise tomorrow. God will not break His promise. (time of writing: 8.17pm)

You ask: what is the meaning or purpose of life? I can only answer with another question: do you think we are wise enough to read God's mind? ~Freeman Dyson, quoted in The Meaning of Life, compiled by Hugh S. Moorhead

Be God or let God. ~Author Unknown

By night, an atheist half believes in God. ~Edward Young, Night Thoughts

Maybe the atheist cannot find God for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman. ~Author Unknown

I've never tried to be controversial. The truth is controversial enough. - Keith Green

Evil is a parasite, not an organized thing, which gets its power from goodness. - CS. Lewis

What is religion? Religion is the service of God out of grateful love for what God has done for us. The Christian religion, more particularly, is the service of God out of grateful love for what God has done for us in Christ. ~ Philips Brooks, author of O Little Town Bethlehem

~ will be added on subsequently ~

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Da Vinci Code Project

http://www.rbcdavincicode.org/pdf/q1117.pdf

http://www.davincicode.org.sg/

http://www.syfc.org.sg/events/dvc/cinema.html

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C.S. Lewis quote

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C.S. Lewis

Below are some helpful explanation to the above C.S. Lewis quote. This explanation is not written by he himself but by some other christian. Hope it will help you understand this C.S. Lewis quote.


The first sentence can have a double meaning:
1 - Seeing the sun rising is obvious and that is why he believes in Christianity: because it's obvious to him.
2 - This can also be a definition of what Christianity is: Belief that the SON has risen.

The overall underlying message is that we each view the world (reality) based upon our preconceptions. Just like by the sun's light you see the world, so by the light (understanding) of Christianity you see everything else (non-physical or metaphysical).

The sun opens our eyes to the reality of the physical world around us.
The Son of God open our eyes to the reality of the spiritual world around us.

So C.S. Lewis was saying he didn't believe just because Christianity is obviously true. Rather, he believes because of the truth that Christianity allows him to see.

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Verses that are close to my heart

I'm have already planned to put this post up but have been procrastinating. I think I should put at least something up here so that I will continue to add more stuffs here.

+ + +

Verses that are true even till the end of the age:

the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." (Genesis 8:21-22)

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

"But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation. Thus you shall say to them, "The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens." (Jeremiah 10:10-11)

Verses that comfort me:

It is mine to avenge; I will repay. . . . (Deuteronomy 32:35)

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." (Romans 12:18-20)

Verses that strengthen me:



Verses that guides me during my life journey:

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. (James 1:19-20)

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

Verses that motivate me:


Verses that are meaningful:


Verses of wisdom:

etc etc .... will edit and add more verses ........

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Procrastination = laziness?

I have something to write in this blog but either time does not permit me to do this or I'm not in the correct mood to write this. It has been quite long since I wanted to write. Anyway, I think maybe I'm lazy la. :(

Please don't procrastinate, Jeremy! Haiz...

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Finally read finish the book of Genesis. (=

Yeah, I finished reading the book of Genesis, finally. But I'm still way out of schdeule. :(

I find a lot of answers when I was reading the book of Genesis. Not only I know better how Israel came about but I also find answers in life. :) :)

I look forward to reading finish the whole bible. May God guide me along the way and gives me wisdom to understand some difficult passages.

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常常喜乐 and 轻轻松松

在生命里，我们就应该常常喜乐和轻轻松松。有主的生命是不一样的。因为主是我们的力量，是患难中力量。我们的盼望是在未来的世界里因为今世将会废去。 我们把盼望放在将来！

以下有两首我喜欢的诗歌。这两首诗歌让我明白基督徒是因当常常喜乐与过着轻轻松松的生活因为我们是新造的人 — 一切都更新。

--> 常常喜乐

--> 轻轻松松 (MTV)

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