Joie de Vivre A Wretched Man’s Quest To Follow Jesus Christ

I just learned about this from reading the blog posts at Simply Jean and Mr Wang Says So.

ST April 15, 2008
Couple charged under Sedition Act
By Elena Chong

A COUPLE were charged on Tuesday with distributing a seditious publication to two others.

Ong Kian Cheong, 49, and Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 44, are alleged to have distributed The Little Bride, an evangelistic material, to Sembawang resident Irwan Ariffin last Oct 19.

They are also said to have distributed the same publication to one Madam Farharti Ahmad at her home in Woodlands on March 6 last year .

It is not clear why they face the Sedition Act and the Undesirable Publication Act when the publication is the same.

Ong, who works in a telecommunications company, and his wife, a bank employee, were represented by Mr Selva K. Naidu.

The police prosecutor sought an adjournment of the case pending a Health Sciences Authority on handwriting specimen.

The couple were freed on $10,000 bail each. Their passports were impounded.

The case will be mentioned on April 29.

Under the Sedition Act, the maximum penalty is a $5,000 fine and/or a jail term of up to three years.

The maximum penalty under the Undesirable Publication Act is a fine of up to $5,000 and/or up to 12 months.

If this goes to trial, I’m guessing that it’ll become a landmark case whatever the outcome.

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One of the most oft-heard accusations of non-Christians against evangelism is that Christians are basically just using hell to scare many into becoming Christians.

Is there justification for such an accusation, and do Christians really seek to scare non-Christians with hell?

I’m going to say an emphatic “no”.

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A local blogger recently posted an article calling Christians hypocrites because while many of us here in Asia choose not to consume food offered to idols, we have no qualms about consuming halal food, i.e. food that is slaughtered according to Islamic rites.

Now, for those who are unfamiliar with the Asian context, especially in Singapore and Malaysia, let me first lay out the premise for you.

In Singapore, most food sold in supermarkets are labeled halal (except for pork and some other food items for obvious reasons) to cater to a bigger number of consumers inclusive of Muslims. Barring any comment on whether it is right or wrong, or whether I agree or disagree with the practice, one must acknowledge that it makes economic sense for businesses to do so.

Back to the blog post in question: in response, I asked if he has any understanding of what Christianity is, my premise being that I think he has misunderstood the faith and, hopefully, present the Gospel if he should question what Christianity is.

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Resurrection Sunday is over; most of us have been soberly reminded of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ who came to bear upon Himself the suffering and death that we deserve for our sins so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)!

Many Christian blogs I visit on a regular basis celebrate the Resurrection in their posts and on quite a few occasions, I have left comments in agreement.

One comment I usually left was “Hallelujah! Our LORD is risen!”, and the first time I wrote it I had a prompting that has been on my mind since then — I was asked “What do you do now, then?”

I answered, “Er, Lord, love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and to love my neighbor as myself?” (Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:30-31, Luke 10:27)

“Besides that,” the prompting came.

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In case some of you don’t already know, I love listening to Way of the Master (WotM) Radio — I think it’s one of the better Christian radio programs available over the Internet, in addition to White Horse Inn.

A feature of the daily two-hour broadcasts on WotM is street evangelism, when they share the evangelism experience with listeners.

I’ve been listening to the station for some time now, and I think this is one of the most touching and encouraging evangelism experiences I’ve heard — it reminds me of two important points when it comes to sharing our faith:

1. Never judge a book by its cover, and don’t be intimidated by tattoos, chains and spiky hairstyles on people, or just their outward appearances. In all honesty, most times we tend to think such folks bite and will chase us away with their fists, mock our attempts, or just won’t bother to listen.
2. Don’t count on your ’strengths’ to convince the person. Present the Gospel and let the Holy Spirit do the work in convicting the hearts of those who have heard the Good News.

Listen as Ray Comfort (that’s him in the picture) talks to Brad:

Source: “Way of the Master Hour 1.” Way of the Master Radio. 18 Feb. 2008 <http://www.wayofthemasterradio.com/podcast/2008/02/18/february-18-2008-hour-1/>.

Unfortunately, I don’t have much time today to actually write the post that I had planned to, it being the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year so there’s visiting to be done.

In light of that, I thought I’d leave you with some interesting bits that I’ve come across in the past 24 hours.

Best Church Sign

Here’s probably the best church sign I’ve seen in a long time!

HT: Christian Research Network.

Secular TV Series Reveals Emergent/Post-Modern Deathbed Evangelism

This is really funny, but very sad at the same time. Whatever happened to telling people the truth in the Bible as it is where it pertains to their eternal state?!

I just love the dying man’s retort!

HT: Way of the Master Radio.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Alright, I need to catch this movie when it’s released, and I do hope that it makes its way to Singapore.

The film is by Ben Stein who “…realizes that he has been ‘Expelled’, and that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired for the ‘crime’ of merely believing that there might be evidence of ‘design’ in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance.”

You can find out more about the movie at its official website.

It made me think — if I were a science teacher and had to teach whatever is mandated in the textbooks knowing that it is wrong, i.e. evolution, what should my position be?

Hmm… I think I shall try finding out from some Christian friends of mine who are themselves teachers in public schools here.

P-P-Pastor’s Wife?!

I have never paid much attention to the singer Ho Yeow Sun (Ho is her surname, Chinese names are written last name, first name), who is also the wife of pastor Kong Hee, and ‘was the music pastor’ at City Harvest Church.

Until some days ago when I took a look at a forum post that linked to what I wrote on teachings at the church and saw this video which left me flabbergasted.

I am not going to link to the official video of the song which I think is quite risque, but you can do a search for ‘China Wine’ on YouTube if you’re interested.

From what I understand, she used to teach young people at the church against listening to secular music and dressing up to titillate. I wonder what happened to all that, or do those lessons not apply to her good self?

I also wonder if she is aware of, or concerned with, the fact that she’s the wife of a pastor with a flock of 23,000 or more, and probably a role model of said congregation, a majority of whom are young impressionable people?

Before anyone accuses me of being legalistic, let me just say that I believe that those in leadership capacities or were in leadership capacities should be careful to not do anything that might cause others to stumble.

Would you want to see your children’s teacher smoking in front of them, or a respected ex-teacher suddenly featured as a centerfold in an adult-only publication?

Shabbat Shalom.

I kid you not when I say that there are just some really, really bad ‘Christian’ T-shirt folks out there. So, if you plan on proclaiming your faith with a Christian T-shirt, please do it with some discernment.

I present to you three of the worst examples:

The Blood-Wiser

The blood that our Lord Jesus Christ shed on the cross is made a mockery, tagged to the ‘wiser’ so that the new ‘word’ rhymes with a popular brand of beer.

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