Silent Retreat

Silent retreat. What is that, many may ask. Well, when you go to such retreat you do not talk for a few days. Some people cannot stop talking for even a minute, not to say for a few days! Well, I heard friends going to such retreat before. They said it is very good for meditation and prayers. I suppose it is useful during this time to talk to God and read the Bible, also to hear what God has to say to us. Of course, we still can hear from God while back to where we are, but many who have been to this type of retreat say that one can experience God more closely.

One such retreat is the Seven Fountain Retreat in Chiangmai, Thailand. I read of an experience of a pastor from Singapore. Click on the title of this blog to read what he has written.

Rev Wong Kim Kong

Last evening, Rev Wong Kim Kong was giving a talk at Good News Fellowship Church, Kuching. He was the former Secretary General of NECF. He spoke on "A Christian Response and Biblical Approach to Politics".

Note: To read more about Rev Wong click on the title of this blog post.

Ex-Yazuka Turn Pastor

Last evening, Good News Fellowship hosted an evangelistic meeting. The guest speaker was Pastor Kaoru Inoue a former Yazuka general, Japanese Mafia. He has tattoos all over his body.

He was born in Hokkaido to a very poor family. By age 22 he joined the Yazuka and began to take drugs. As a Yazuka he committed many crimes, and being addicted to drugs he found no meaning in life. He tried committing suicide unsuccessfully twice. His friend asked him to work in his construction site for one month. During that time he met his future wife. One day his girl friend invited him to a village festival, after that she gave him a gift in place of a coat he had lent to his girl friend but she had misplaced it. He took the gift home not realizing that it was a used Gideon Bible. Since it was from his girl friend he kept it by his bedside each night. Some how he was drawn to read the Bible. When he came to Matthew 5:30 he was touched by the message. Later his girlfriend invited him and his boss to a dinner in the church hosted by her pastor. On the way home, he asked his boss to release him from the Yazuka gang, miraculously his boss agreed. His boss also knew that 4 of Inoue's best Yazuka friends had died of various circumstances. ( It was not easy to get off the gang once you joint). Kaoru Inoue found that people in church love him, unlike the world outside no one cared for him. He became a Christian, and he told his boss to quit Yazuka but he refused. Inoue said he will pray for him to quit, after two years his boss quit! Pastor Kaoru Inoue always believes in prayers. He prayed for his own father who came to Christ two years after Inoue was converted. Praise God!

Pastor Inoue encouraged everyone to look to Jesus who can save and heal our sicknesses. Even a hardcore Yazuka like him can be saved. Nothing is impossible for our God.

Note : Picture above, the center guy is Pastor Kaoru Inoue

From 2010-11-26 Pastor Kaoru Inoue

From 2010-11-26 Pastor Kaoru Inoue

World's Largest Church Yoido Full Gospel Church

The world's largest church is Yoido Full Gospel church of South Korea. The church had a congregation of 780,000 until 20 satellites churches went independent reducing the number to 360,000. This church was founded by David Yoggi Cho, and the present Pastor is Young Hoon Lee.

After a reduction in members there are ready to expand. Korean churches are famous for their "prayer mountains", essentially places for prayers away from crowded places, usually up country.

The church is returning to the basics of prayers, dependent on the Holy Spirit, evangelism, divine healing and personal sanctification. This also reminded me of the teaching of Pastor Ben Wong of Shepard Community Church, Hong Kong who came to help our church. He too said we must go to the basics if we want to stay close to God. His church is a cell church just like Yoido Full Gospel church. Pastor Ben also personally know Pastor David Yoggi Cho.

Note : To read the full article of Yoido Full Gospel church click on the title of this blog post.

Counting Our Blessings Backward

When we are faced with trials and difficulties, it is already impossible to count our blessings. But counting them backward ? I read an article about this subject and I recall that in fact, we should take a step back to count our blessings backwards. That is to say, examine all the past blessings and answered prayers that we have experienced.

For example, I recalled how much work pressures I faced several years ago to the point of depression. But God was gracious and faithful, as I followed Him in my distressed, He provided me with an early retirement package from my former employer.

I am sure you have many experiences of similar blessings, and if you begin to examine these, you will be encouraged that our God is indeed with us no matter what happens to us. In Hebrew 13:5 He said he will never leave us nor forsake us.

One good way to record your walk with our Lord is to keep a journal of your walk. Record your requests, and what God have been saying. Later when you look back you will be able to see His work in you.

"O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you." Psalm 84:12

Mormonism is Not Christianity

As a regular Christian, we may not be able to tell whether the Mormons are Christians. But Dr. R Albert Mohler Jr., President of South Baptist Theological Seminary wrote an article explaining in details about the difference between Christianity and Mormonism.

Mormonism rejects traditional Christian orthodoxy, rejects the Trinity and the nature of Christ. Mormon doctrine of God includes many gods, not one. (Note: to read the full article click on the title of this post).

I remembered my own encounter with the Mormon in Kuala Lumpur more than 10 years ago. I met these two young Americans in the sub way. At that time I was new to Christianity as I was attending Full Gospel Assembly (FGA) but have not been baptized yet. These two men talked to me and thinking that they were Christians, I invited them to my house. They came and shared with me their bible "Book of Mormons", and I compared with my Bible, King James version and found it different. After the second visit, they asked me to join their church, but some tning inside me prompting me to reject their offer. Later, I learnt that this was the prompting of our Lord to follow Him and no other gods. Thank God that even before I was converted, He was with me and guiding me to the right path. After this second meeting, I told these two men not to come to my house any more.

"Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him" Matthew 4:18

Note:

See the pictures of these two young men? The two men who came to my house dress just like these two. In fact, this is their dress code. I can see some of them even here in Kuching, usually cycling around. In many cities they usually travel around by bicycles. Their ladies missionaries are also dress conservatively. They refer to themselves as "Elder".

Focus on the Family

On Sunday our Church speaker was Pastor Lai Moo Hin from Focus on the Family, a non profit organization that is doing a lot of work to help build strong families. Pastor Lai was here to conduct a prepared enrich accreditation course. This course was attended by some of our church members.

Later Pastor Lai preached a sermon entitled "Leave Behind a Living Legacy". He referred to Isaiah 54:2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,do not hold back;lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes."

What he taught was that we need to build strong family. This starts with the head of the family, that is the father. Fathers should take the lead and not delegate this duty to the mothers. Fathers should train the children, teaching them godly values as prescribed in the Bible. He said we can observed what is going on in society now, marriages are breaking up. In Malaysia in 2006 about 25% of marriages failed. One can see that moral standards have also being eroded. For example, one can see what are shown in cinemas and TVs, the crime and sex scenes. People are tolerating evil more nowadays too. People seem to enjoy evil nowadays from the many ghost movies one can watch on movies and TVs.

Therefore, we Christians have a role to play, in particular families should not leave the teaching to the Sunday schools, but take charge and teach our children at home.

Teach them Biblical values to leave a godly legacy behind.