God is Already in the Future
“The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” - Deuteronomy 31:8a (NIV)
It’s no secret that I have finished my Master of Divinity. My current church, which I love, is a little too far for me to travel to, and I would need to look for placement closer to home. I really don’t know what God has in store for me and where I should be going. The future is currently full of unknowns.
If it were fully up to me, I would try to find a multicultural church to lead. It is a harder task than I thought. Many of the “multicultural” churches I have come across are mostly “bi-cultural” with leadership mostly “non-colour.” God has been spoiling me with my current church.
In comparison, what I have is, in my view, “First World Problem.” Just over a week ago, we were informed that the church our Senior Pastor came from was hosting upward of 30 refugees from Africa. That is no easy task. There are much needs for these brothers and sisters.
Within the week, I managed to have four families cooking turkeys, donations are piling in. I am so proud of our members. It is not easy to pull this together in such short notice. “Help them . . . so they can continue to live among you.” (Leviticus 25:35)
I don’t know what is in store for these brothers and sisters any more than mine, but I know God is faithful and is already ahead of us and has a mission for each one of us. May we learn to be in tune with God to fall into that perfect plan He has for us.
Be Graceful, Like God is to Me
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2
During my last seminary course, the Professor asked us to pick an image out of a collection of photos to represent us. I picked one that has a girl looking into a room through a tiny window of a closed door.
When I shared, I talked about how my experience of being excluded in the pass just because I'm not in line with them. I hate it when the same mentality keep people outside of the Church because there is a standard that was not met and that standard felt so human.
I think this is why I passionately detest the Fundamentalists. I have no patient with them when they take Scriptures out of context because that would fit their theology instead of the other way around. I get upset when they go around telling people “unless you interpret the Bible my way you do not know the Bible.” Then to Pastors and Preachers, “if you don't preach the Bible like our great leaders, you don't preach the ‘full Gospel’ and you are leading people in worshipping a false god.”
Yesterday, I was writing something up and while I was telling myself, don't get upset, I did. By the Grace of God He made me lost what I wrote.
I know I could tell myself, Jesus seemed to have no patient with Pharisees, why should I? But this morning, He is telling me, “I did.”
He didn't randomly get upset at every Pharisees. Yes, Jesus did get upset with them, but in most interaction His first approach was always a teaching one, even when they used their Talmud to let the male adulterer go and tried to get Jesus to give the go-ahead to kill the female.
God has been gracious to me too many times in so many ways. Even when these Fundamentalists are doing the exact opposite of what God wants His people to do, and acting EXACTLY like the Pharisees, I need to be patient with them in correcting their ways, and if they insist of being stubborn and think their way is better, they don't determine things for God and what they say will never represent God. Meaning, just because they say I follow a false god and how I am not reading the Bible “correctly”, I only have to treat them as they treat prophetess of God.
And the end of the day, it is their loss and the only feeling I should have is sadness. The same sadness Jesus felt when that rich young ruler walked away.
May the Good Lord have mercy on me too give me the strength.
Tribute to My Late Grandmother
An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates
when he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.Proverbs 31:10-30
English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
Mother's Day is only a week away. Tomorrow I will be sharing at the monthly worship service at Sunrise Living Unionville. I was going back and forth and not sure what I should share, and recently I got to tell someone about my maternal grandmother, I just feel like retelling that story.
She may not have been a very "educated" woman, but she is smart enough to direct an army. There was a time when they lived in a company resident. Back then, women do not usually go to work, as their job was to look after the children.
We all know what happens when you have a small space with tens of families and the women are around all day sharing all common space and washroom: gossips, especially the mean ones. She had every right to exercise her power as my grandfather was, technically the boss of all the husbands.
She did not do that. Some of the gossips, she just ate it all up without even skipping a beat. For the few years they lived there, my grandfather had no idea that was happening. I was told she not only took those gossips with a stride, she made these people like her.
Fast forwarding a "few" years, and they settled in Brampton. My grandmother's English skill was still next to non-existent, but she managed to get herself to China Town Toronto for her weekly "English Class". There was little learning there, but she and her classmates went there for a social life.
She almost always visit 3-Level after class before she headed home. She loved shopping there. I still have not been there, but it is not the same place anymore. With her non-existent English skill, she managed to buy interesting stuff from there cheaper than the sticker price.
We still couldn't figure out how she did it.
Fast forward yet a "few" more years, and as her internal organs were shutting down after one too many strokes, the staff at the hospice comments on this old lady who can no longer speak nor able to move were: she is one brave, strong woman.
God has used her tremendously. Though she has had no formal education to speak of, she was wiser than many who managed to get a university degree back in the day. Her insight in wise living, drive to do the impossible, and strength to overcome her physical obstacles (with every stroke she had, she lost more and more of her mobility), teaches more about "how to live" than any professor can teach you.
Together with my grandfather, God not only shown them, but also all who knows them, that God is not only in charge, He doesn't only use those who are successful or powerful or smart beyond those around them. Just like how God has chosen those who represented him in the Bible, our idea of who should be chosen are often unlikely to be God's choice.
Their lives, especially my grandmother proves that. Our action and deeds speak louder than any credential we can pull out of our pockets.
She is to be praised for her fear of God was real. I pray that all the mothers will find the strength to have enough faith to trust God and follow the Spirit of God in all that she does.
Hope is Coming
The crowd of people stood, watching.
Authorities (mocking Jesus): So He was supposed to rescue others, was He? He was supposed to be God’s Anointed, the Liberating King? Let’s see Him start by liberating Himself!
The soldiers joined in the mockery. First, they pretended to offer Him a soothing drink—but it was sour wine.
Soldiers: Hey, if You’re the King of the Jews, why don’t Youfree Yourself!
Even the inscription they placed over Him was intended to mock Him—“This is the King of the Jews!” [This was written in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.]
One of the criminals joined in the cruel talk.
Cynical Criminal: You’re supposed to be the Anointed One, right? Well—do it! Rescue Yourself and us!
But the other criminal told him to be quiet.
Believing Criminal: Don’t you have any fear of God at all? You’re getting the same death sentence He is! We’re getting what we deserve since we’ve committed crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong at all! (turning to Jesus) Jesus, when You come into Your kingdom, please remember me.
Jesus: I promise you that this very day you will be with Me in paradise.
Luke 23:35-43 The Voice (VOICE) Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Yesterday was Good Friday. It was a day designated to remember that one dark day some 2,000 years ago during a Passover where The Son of God roam the earth with a purpose that was thousands of years in the making.
These authorities see themselves as the crusaders of God. Yet, they are so inlined with God that they missed the very person from God they have been waiting for, went to war with that person at all cost, conspired with their enemy to kill the person. Why? "God will never send us a person that does not meet the standard we have set to deem that person to be righteous.
Here we are, reading about two people who have committed crimes that earn them the privilege of being nailed to two pieces of wood butt naked for the world to see. They were nailed to the two sides of a Man named Jesus, who, unlike them, has been found to be innocent by, not one, but two government officials.
One of them decided to mock Jesus just like almost everyone around them are doing. The other, was, albeit a little late, resent what he has done, rebuked the idiotic fellow criminal, and pleaded mercy from the only person that matters.
Here, God is letting us know, it is not that we have to live a righteous life for x amount of time before we are "good enough". It is not that we have to follow a set of rules or law to be "good enough". It is our relationship with God that makes that determination. It does not matter who you are, unless you come to term with your sins, repent, and desire to have a relationship with God, nothing you do matters.
You are not perfect? Perfect. Recognizing the fact that you are not perfect and He is AND wants to be with God is what it takes to become one of the righteous of God. What about you?
Serving...who?
And they brought [the colt] to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as He rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As He was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Coming Sunday is Palm Sunday, and it's remembering Jesus' march into Jerusalem for the last time. Before I continue, please first watch this video:
In Luke's account of Jesus' journey, it was not the whole city lining up the road leading into Jerusalem shouting "Hosanna!", but mostly just His disciples. Maybe the amazing fact that they walked away with a colt by simply dropping Jesus' name, in a sense.
These people who have been following Jesus for various length of time, suddenly just burst out with declarations that are reserved for a king. It was an action that is as bold as the Declaration of Independent the American founding fathers made. It was the same as a declaration of war to the Roman Empire.
In the past, Jesus would have told them to keep quiet, but not this time. When the Pharisees, who wanted no trouble with the Romans, told Jesus to shut them up, Jesus didn't.
Here is the thing. While these disciples were not wrong with their statements, every words they uttered were true and Jesus was worthy of every letter, they have absolutely no idea they were talking about.
If we keep reading, we will find these same disciples stunt as Jesus clearing out the mess out of the Temple, need to be reminded of the emptiness of the teachings of the teachers of the law, asking the wrong questions, one of them decided to betray Jesus, fought over who is the greatest amongst them, failed in their promise to be with Jesus even to jail but disappeared the moment Jesus was arrested, and so on and so forth.
They completely missed Jesus point of "follow me" is not so that they can tell people "Jesus was my Rabbi" to awe people. Or even "I'm with King Jesus" like they were crying as Jesus head down toward Mount Olive.
"Follow Him" is to lose their identity in Jesus. "Follow Him" is to be His representative on earth. Not as some superior being lording over the ignorant, but as a Servant of God serving those who are lost. If those who are lost have never or can never see God through us, are we actually with Him? Who are we serving? Us? or God?
Who Am I?
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Today, I joined a tour that took us out to the San Andreas Fault Line. Not the beginning of it, but 20 miles northwest of it. The tour guide, as we were approaching it, taught us how to look for it: in the middle of this wilderness, where the ground suddenly pops up and have thrieving vegetation.
There we found this talcum-powder-like dirt, which is formed by the friction between two tectonic plates, which will eventually will explode with end-time scale quake is also life giving.
This fine dirt allows vegetation to grow by easily taking root and find the water and it allows water to stay underground and not evaporated because water cannot pass through this fine dirt.
Psalm 139 reminds us that there is no place we can hide from God, and nothing that happened in our lives can escape His eyes. That does not prevent us from being accepted by Him.
If God can allow a place that is storing up so much destructive power to have such life-giving characteristic, so will He with us; however, it is not by what we do. It is by what He does with our lives, if we allows Him by aligning our lives with His.
He knows exactly what He is working with before we are born. Nothing we do, good or bad, surprise Him. Yet, He has chosen to do everything He can to save us and give us a new identity.
So, who are you? I mean, are you defined by what you can, and have, and will do? Or, are you willing to let your life defined by Him? I am not asking because I already "got it." I am asking because it is a journey I am on, and I know the struggle is real. Think about it.
To Fast or Not to Fast, That is NOT the Question
And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:16-18 ESV
I grew up in church, but fasting was not something we have been taught much about. So, there was a time when I asked "why? What is it that we are supposed to do when fasting." The Bible was not really helpful in giving clear instruction of what to do when you fast.
This passage sure point to how it would be done incorrectly, and what would be a right attitude. Jesus' instruction here is found in a teaching session He did for His disciples.
He began with how we should be so discreet with our giving, our right hand should not know what the left one is doing it. Last week I talked about how our mindset should be from the lesson on the Lord's Prayer. This week it's about how fasting is something intimate between us and God and not for anyone else to know.
To fast or not to fast would not make you a more, or less, sacred person. There are people who can have a perfect relationship with God without it. The right question is
Do you want to have an intimate relationship with God, or having people think you have is enough for you?
Seek First
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:33-34 ESV
Jesus was teaching about how our attitude should be in our daily living. He started with our giving, then prayer, then fasting, then wealth, and now, in conclusion, Jesus summarized His teaching with these two verses.
When God's Kingdom is at the forefront of all of our concerns, we truly understand what it means to call God "our Father". We can get pass getting what we want, what we think is best for us, or even for others. We will not take what we have for granted or even have the delusion that it is our doing.
It is when we won't be so concerned about if we have been vindicated of wrongs done to us, temptation would have no hold on us, we will not need deliverance from evil, as we are preoccupied with what matter to God.
Sounds "too-good-to-be-true"? Is it because we treat prayer as a chance to let God know what we want, no matter how noble we are trying to make it sound? Is it because we spend ⅔ of our prayer in telling God who He is and rush through the ⅓ of our time chucking request at Him hoping God will fulfill them because you "kissed His 'behind'"? There is the problem: you are still "doing" YOU!
If we are determined to learn to seek first the Kingdom of God through our prayer, by putting the needs of others first, by casting aside what we desire for ourselves, being able to live a life of a Kingdom Seeker will just become that much easier.
Reading God's Word
This week, our Lent focus is on the Spiritual Discipline of Scripture. I have come across people who question if we should read the Scripture on our own instead of reading what others are saying about God's word. It is wonderful that people want to think about what God has said, but it is more important that we read for ourselves what is said in the Bible.
Before I get into the nerdy discussion of "Reading the Bible for yourself", I would like to talk about something just as nerdy. I recently come across a video of someone presenting in a TED Talk that all these "Green Energy Effort" is not helping the environment. That led to a discussion I had with someone else that has something to do with our faith.
Solar energy is everywhere, but in order for us to harvest that energy, it takes a lot of solar panels. These panels essentially turn the sunlight into energy, but to-date, the technology is not there to efficiently convert that energy into substantial amount to supply a town, let alone a city. In order to even power a town, will take football fields of these panels to generate enough power to do so. The problem is that they would generate so much heat, birds has been known to be cooked alive while "accidentally" fly over these arrays.
However, if a collection of homes install small panels to cut down their demands on the grid by at least 30%, the demand on the grid is much smaller, which allows everything to become more efficient.
What does that have to do with our faith? If a Church body operates like that of the first scenario, Christians are relying on their weekly "filling" from the pastor, and the pastor has to blast them with a nuclear amount of teachings that hopefully will last them until next week. It is inefficient, and someone will get burn one way or the other.
If a Church is Spiritually Disciplined, they will be willing to generate that "energy" on their own which is supplemented by the weekly teaching of the pastor. When that happen, not only will they have more than enough energy for themselves, there is enough to share with those around them.
"Doing good" will only get us so far with those around us. Only when we live the life we learn from reading the Bible, knowing who we are, and where our centre is we can be more to the people around us.
Thy Word
Come Unto Me
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”Matthew 11:28-30 (ESV)
Sabbath is about rest. It is a day that God has set aside as a special day. It is a day of the week God has demanded to be His. It is so important to God, that it has its own place in the 10 Commandment.In Luke 6:1-11, Jesus, when faced with challenge by the Jewish leaders, made it clear that He is the Lord of/over Sabbath. God made it simple, but people has made it complicated. Why? Why are we people like to complicated things?Ever since the Fall, we have been trying to take charge of our fate. When Adam and Eve realized they were naked, instead of running to God to ask for His help, they tried to “fix” their predicament by putting pieces of leafs together to cover themselves. God search for them and gave them a proper solution: He clothed them with stitched skin of animal.Sabbath is not about rules. It is not about whether you “work” or not on a Sunday.Sabbath is about us coming before Him, yearning for Him, share our burdens with Him. He is the only One who can turn our burdens into His burden that is lighter. It is because, by us turning the control of our lives over to Him, He will do His work ahead of us.The alternative is that we try, and try, and try to take control. We will feel like we are doing something and have control over the situation; however, soon enough, you will find that burden have only become heavier and a bigger mess waiting for you at the other end. The only feeling we end up having is just feeling more exhausted.We need to trust Him and find rest amongst the storm of life.
Heeding to the Call
People sometimes wonder what the call of God sounds like. In a sense, I don't know. It's not that I never heard God's call before. It's just that He hardly ever "repeats" Himself. Let me clarify that. In my experience He never repeats Himself not because I'm so obedient that He doesn't repeat Himself. It is just that even when He needs to repeat Himself, He will use a different way.That's not why I'm writing. I'm sitting at one of the waiting area in Sick Kids because one of my best friend's new born son is here. When I was here last night, his brother and I went downstairs to get a coffee and he ran into someone he used to work with. They chatted and we moved on.Since my afternoon is completely open, as I'm just waiting for my wife to finish her conference, I just hung around in case there is something I can help my friend with. Ended up it was not my friend God wants me to help.First was a desperate father who is short $3.22 for his co-pay to grab the supplies he needs for his family to go home. Then, remember there guy I came across the night before? God wanted me to talk to him.His son has just been sent into the OR to do heart surgery and he was just on the way to check on his wife in Mt. Sinai. He walked by, saw me and just walked over to talk to me.He has it tough. He lost his father just a week ago, and the doctor just decided his son needed to come out yesterday and surgery today. He KNOWS this will pass. He KNOWS this is not it. He just needed someone to talk to. I am just glad he left to check on his wife with a smile on his face.Just thankful I was used by God. Any time, Father. Anytime.
Seventy Seven Times
If you do not recognize the name Yip Kai Foon, he was a notorious robber from Hong Kong. He died last month while in prison. Before he went to prison for the second time, he has no regard for other human being.He once joined forced with another notorious criminal trying to kidnap one of the sons of the richest Chinese in the world, Lee Ka Shing. It was unsuccessful and he was imprisoned for his part in it. He escaped prison and got his hands on a few AK-47. He used these weapons to hit a series of Jewllery Store and sprayed bullets everywhere.Remember the North Hollywood shootout? How the LAPD was powerless with their powerful 9-mm? The police in Hong Kong were, and still, carries only .38 revolvers. They do not even have any bulletprrof vest, and do not have police cars as shield. He was eventually captured by the, then, newly formed SWAT team.He became a Christian while in prison, and after he died, he was paraded as some sort of hero. During the funeral, the banner over his coffin says 「浩氣長存」(a noble spirit that mill never perish).A lot of people have issue with the term "noble" with this notorious robber.I have been reading a lot of non-Christians posting their disgust over how he is treated as some sort of hero, and famous Christians standing up for him. I believe their biggest issue with him is that he became a Christian, and the Christians treated him as if he has done none of the notorious acts before.I think they may have an easier time with him if he apologize for his crime, especially for the women he killed in one of the heists he pulled. He did none of that, and was even disciplined in prison for fight with an inmate after he became a Christian.What do I think of him? I have absolutely no idea. What do I think of the Christians who are part of the group adorning him? They should have done a much better job discipling him, and get him to apologize to everyone in Hong Kong for terrorizing everyone while he was on the run.
Newton's Third Law
In case you do not know what Newton's Third Law is
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The crazy part it, if the law is applied to human, then the law becomes "for every action, there is a greater and opposite reaction. That remain true to humans, too. The more we try to tell people they should not do something, the more they will want to fight back with reason why they should.Ever since I have joined the Wesleyan Church, I have been not had a zip of alcohol. It is not that I was even a social drinker before that. I enjoyed a lager here and there before, but I cannot remember even one time I actually finish one of those drinks. The frequency I drink a lager is probably about as often I drink pop. So, giving it up was not hard at all.The same cannot be said about those who drank in the 1700s, during the time of John Wesley. Drunkeness was a norm in society, and the biggest issue was the same man who got drunk also go home and beat their wives. That was the highest priority and most important reason for John Wesley to promote sober living.After John Wesley's time in North America, there was a sweep of the Holy Spirit across the country for around a decade. It was called the Second Awakening. It was spreading like wild flower and lives were being changed. Yet, alcoholism was still a problem.In the 1920s, the Methodist Church along with the Pesbytarians and a few other denominations decided to join force with the women who want to put a stop to the violence that associate with drunkeness. So, there was the Prohibition. Did that purge out the evilness of alcoholism?Not only did the Prohibition failed to root out the violence against women, it gave the mob bigger power, led to bloodbath between rival mobs, and created the dangerous practice of small scale moonshiners.Instead on focusing on the momentum of the Second Awakening to change the lives of people, Christians tried to use their still small number to force the rest to "convert". Like I said, when the people are forced against their desire, they push back just as hard. Have we not notice Jesus never, ever push people to change?Look at where we are at today. Some Chrsitians still think God has given them a mission to "beat" people into submission to change. Not only have we not get "them" to change their minds, they are coming after "us" with the same, if not greater, force.When are we going to learn that we are not going to win people by screaming down at them? We win them over by becoming their friends. John Wesley once faced a mob that want him seriously harmed or dead, but he not only managed to talk down their leader, the same bad-to-the-bone mob leader eventually became one of the most effective preacher of the area.
A Divided Kingdom
Today, I was reading Mark Chapter 3. Verses 1-6 is about Jesus healing on Sabbath; verses 7-12 is about Jesus healing a growing crowd; verses 13-21 is about choosing the 12 Disciples among the growing followers and the growing needs for Jesus; verses 22-30 is the parables about blasphemes against the Holy Spirit; and, verses 31-35 is about Jesus' mother and brothers wanting to see him.Today, I received an email from one of the candidates for the Federal Conservatives leadership race. He's not the first one, and, while the other candidates wrote long emails explaining their position and vision for their version of the next Conservatives, this one is something else. He started his email with attacking the Ontario Provincial Conservatives leader for "Patrick Brown is no Stephen Harper". This candidate spent almost the entire email attacking a fellow politician who is not running in the same race, tried to throw dirt on the Provincial Party leader on, basically, how Brown is not a "true Conservatives" and, unlike him, is not as close to the last leader as he is (what does that have to do with anything?). He kept attacking how Brown is blocking Conservatives who are "true Conservatives" from representation of various ridings and forcing only fake Conservatives into those key positions.I have absolutely no idea where this candidate stand on any policies.He thinks it is more important for Conservatives to know how he "knows" Stephen Harper and the "fact" that he's a "real Conservatives" than for people to know where he stands in what Conservatives should stand for in the next election.He's nothing more a gossiper than a real leader material if this is the best he can do. His strategy for leadership is not to distinguish himself with a great vision of how he's going to lead the Conservatives and win over Canadians. His strategy is to attack a popular provincial leader to establish how only he is the "true Conservatives", how well he knows the last leader, and those are the only facts that matter.I'm from Hong Kong, and since 2014, it has become full-fledge chaotic. It all began with three fully grown adults who wanted to apply the "occupation" strategy to force the government into submission to their "democratic reform" demands. We were not dealing with "hey, let's talk how" but "this is what we believe democracy should be, so it exactly like we tell you or we will be trouble for you".What ended up happening is a bunch of hot headed student took over their idea and labelled themselves as "hero of democracy". What they mean is,"even we know nothing about anything, you must yield to our demands (which was never formed after 78 days of occupation).They equate themselves with the plots or characters of movies like V for Vendetta (which the real story was about the struggle between the Catholic Church and the Protestants), The Hunger Game (totally lacking in understanding of the original story vs. History of Hong Kong) and the Les Miserable (which they thought the French Revolution was an one-time event, but the correct question should be "which French Revolution" if they know History at all).
A divided Kingdom have no foot to stand on (Mark 3:25).
Okay, maybe you thought, "that's politics, the Church is not like that. Really? Think again.In Hong Kong, there are pastors and theologians who accuse anyone who is not against the government to be not Christian, as God will not allow an unjust and evil government to exist. They believe anyone who does not join this movement to be against God. I guess there must be another Gospels I didn't read where Jesus was telling His believers to rise up against the evil and unjust Roman Empire....oh wait....that Gospels doesn't exist. Yesterday, a friend of mine posted a very nice Hillsong song on his Facebook, and one of his friends immediately posted links to articles that accuse the entire Hillsong ministries as....just short of calling them the Antichrist....Hillsong is not the only target out there. There are many groups and preachers out there who love God and has been doing great works (another touchy subject) for God, and there are people who have made it their mission to "take them down" in what they believe to be "leaders who mislead God's people", but in reality to be nothing more than "theological differences".Often times these "crusaders" will take a few passages, take them out of context, turn them into theological measuring stick, and judge people based on that.Just like in Mark 3, they don't believe God will perform miracles on Sabbath because even God MUST take a vacation day. In their mind, it means anything extraordinary happens on Sabbath, it CANNOT be from God.In the early church time, unless a person become a Jews (circumcised for men), they cannot be a Christian. In the Post-anabaptist world, unless you are baptized by immersion as an adult, you are not a Christian (some even go as far as added meaning to the word baptizo to justify the immersion requirement). In certain circles today, unless you are a confessing Calvinist (whatever that mean), you are not a Christian.So, are we, with good intention, going to divide God's Kingdom just to satisfy our....psychologically based theological-correctness need?
It's 2017. But Is IIt "New"?
Last night, New Year's Eve, as I was driving home from hotpot party with most of the members of my Wedding Party, the first news I heard on the radio was the Terrorists' attack in Turkey.Just this week, I have come across this video that I posted on my Facebook page. The speaker talks about "failed parenting". As much as the terrorists are anti-West, or whatever they are "for", they are just much victims of the same "failed parenting" as the culture in the "West" that is represented by the "millenials".The terrorists are mostly by-products of the Cold War. They were rooted in the role they were forced to play during the chess moves by the brilliant minds of the USA and USSR. Their civilizations were destroyed so that there was not an all-out nuclear war between the two superpower.When the Cold War ended, while the two superpowers did not fire one shot against each other, at least not openly nor directly, the shots were fired mainly in the middleeast. They have now been trained by the best military minds of the superpowers and the weapons left behind which is constantly resupplied by the surplus that both sides were stockpiling preparing for a war that never happened.When your home is completely destroyed, you have nothing to look forward to. Or that's what you think is happening to you. When you are told that you can, not only get what your hearts desire, be a hero, why would you not jump at the chance? You are told that, by being a "radical" thinking person, you actually have a more clear mindset, a untainted message from God, and a "true" believer. Why would you not forsake your life to do what you need to do.That's "bad parenting"."Bad Parenting" teaches people "trust your heart". That's trusting the least trustworthy part of you.At Service today, the pastor preached on Acts 17:1-9, and some of the Jewish leaders trusted their heart so much so that they cannot accept the possibility that Paul and Silas were sent by God that they enlisted gangsters to create a riot, forsake their own faith (admit, in a way, to the Roman office that there is only one god, which is the Emperor) just to get rid of the two because they are more successful in reaching people.There is nothing new under the sun.Humans' sinful nature always had this desire to belittle the role of God. They don't belittle God himself,but what having God mean.It happened when Adam and Eve considered the Fruit; when Moses killed the Egyptian; when David murdered Uriah; when Rehoboam ignore advices from the advisors in favour of his peers; when the Spiritual Leaders rather kill the Message rather than admit the error in tradition and change the ways of a misled nation; when Saul saw it was his calling to kill as many Christians as he could; when groups call themselves Christians and killed each other for them believing in the wrong thing; when the White West considered the Africans not worthy of anything including the Gospel because they believe the Africans are devils based on their skin colour; when terrorists filtered and changed the Qu'ran to justify them killing anyone they do not like; when kids justify their bullying; and, when "activists" believe they can do no wrong just because they are representing the truth, whatever that means.What do they have in common? It is as if they know better than God, and all will fall apart if they don't handle things for God.It is 2017. A new year has begun. But, is there a chance that the same old pattern be broken?
What is Worship
God is not a Drug Dealer
There are a lot of things I could be doing right now, but I think my ADD got the better of me right now. This is bothering me so much that I can't help but have to write about it. I may add more stuff later.It has been bothering me for a long time, but my recent experience at Teens Conference have actually created pain in me that has been hurting me for the last 3-4 weeks.The problem is how worship leaders are more obsessed with imitating "successful" churches or worship leader in what they do than why they do what they do. For example, when it come to prayer, kids starts to talk about "let's do the Korean Prayer", and I go like "what?" What they meant is the one stream of Pentecostalists' method of prayer, which is very popular among a few circle of Korean Churches. The motive is, since the Korean Churches are known for being a praying church, and the number of Korean who are Christians are unbelievable, so if we pray like them, God will answer our prayers.That is scary because that has made prayer just a pretending imitation act of a group of people rather than imitating the heart.At Teens Conference, a kid walked around the Hall screaming and yelling out prayer and telling people what they should be doing, etc. First of all, that should be the job of the Worship Leader, and should be done like that of a pastor talking to the congregation, and not like a Marine Sergeant yelling at the platoon at training camp.I don't even know where to start with what's wrong with this one.I have heard from a pastor friend that at a worship conference, "Asian Style" worship was filled with Hillsong songs. Then I look at worship at our churches and at Teens Conference. They are full of imitation of Hillsong (or other worship bands) CD performance.Their idea is that since Hillsong concerts are so moving and make you feel so close to God, imitating them would bring the same effect.All the above are MYTH embedded into our young people head, and the young adults are helping it, and a lot of adult, being afraid of being called unspiritual and unsupportive, refuse to do anything about it.Why are we doing or allowing imitation of action to lead us in worshiping our Lord? I have nothing against loud and fast music, and I have nothing against praying out loud; however, when we copy action other people without making it our own, we are just a bunch of disharmony gongs that just make noise that can kill.Worshiping with emotional only is a very dangerous thing, because our emotion is the most dangerous part of us, it is a part of us that is the most vulnerable to Satan's attack. If our worship is all about logic, then we are endangering our faith to become legalistic: you HAVE to worship a certain way to be proper and acceptable to God.Worshiping must be emotional (what? I thought you said...), or else we will be like robots, but, if our emotion is without reason, we are just going through the experience looking for the next "spiritual" high. That, in no way, is worship. It is because GOD IS NOT A DRUG DEALER.The Korean Church's "success" is not due to HOW they pray, but their attitude in prayer. If someone want to imitate them, then let's get together at 6 am and pray. I mean get together, not get up at 6 am. If imitation is desired, imitate that.Hillsong is great is getting people to connect with God, but not just with everything loud and fast and excited. They spend hours in planning a "service", and they use different kind of songs with Scriptures and sharing. They also spend hours rehearsing, and there is seldom any ad lib moment. EVERYTHING has been planned. If imitation is desired, imitate that.What is Worship? Worship is to give EVERYTHING we got to focus on the One who has given us everything. Worship is not "Simon Said" nor what we feel like. Worship is digging deep into ourself and clear out every self-centered thinking and emotion, and worship the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.