Christian Death Metal Bands

Metanoia = Acute Obliteration

Deliverance = Weapons of our warfare

Deliverance = Jehovah Jireh

What is your view on Christian death metal band?

Passage for meditation and application

I was browsing through the Book of Proverbs, and i came to this chapter, Proverbs 30. I used to only read one part of it but last night, i was reading the entire chapter realizing there is so much more to the chapter than the small part of verse 7 to 9.

Proverbs 30

The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh – an oracle

This man declared to Ithiel, to Ithiel and to Ucal
I am the most ignorant of men, i do not have a man’s understanding
I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.
Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
who has gathered up the wind and in the hollow of his hands?
Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and the name of his son?
Tell me if you know!

Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Do not add to his words or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.
Two things I ask of you O Lord; do not refuse me before I die
Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither ppoverty nor riches, but give me my daily bread
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or I may become poor and steal and so dishonour the name of my God.

Do not slander a servant to his master or he will curse you and you will pay for it
There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers
Those who are purse in their own eyes, nd yet are not cleansed of their filth.
Those whose eyes are ever so haughty, whose glances are so disdainful;
Those whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are set with knives to devour the poor from the earth, the needy from among mankind.
The leech has two daughters. Give Give they cry.
There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, “Enough”.
the grave, the barren womb, land which is never satisfied with water, and fire which never says “Enough”.

The eyes that mocks a father, that scorns obedience to a mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.
There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that i do not understand.
The way of an eagle in the sky,
The way of a snake on the rock,
The way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a maiden.

This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:
a servant who becomes king, a fool who is full of food, and unloved woman who is married, and a maidservant who displaces her mistress.

Four things on earth are small, yet they are extemely wise:
Ants are creatures of small strength, yet they store up their food in summer.
Coneys are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in crags;
Locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks;
Lizards can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

There are three things that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing:
Lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing
A struttling rooster, a he-goat, and a king with his army around him.

If you have played the fool and exalted yourself, or if you have planned evil, clap your hand over your mouth!
For as churning the milk produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strifer.

Apart from all theological dissecting of this passage, reading it overwhelms me from the marvel of the workings of God. It simply puts everything in its God perspectives. I guess there is where Wisdom will first take fruit when we place everything including our problems, our plans, our lives even in the sheer perspectives that show who my God is, my Father and my King.

Within the Church

It is often said that adversity in life brings out the best in people, and i have to agree with that statement. I have been rebuked by the truth in this especially when it is applied to the church of believers. Now Mercy is in trouble, I see selflessness in the group of people in church stepping out to help despite their present situation. I see unconditional love from saints that are yet to be perfected, they have shown evidence of Christ in their actions of which it is mind blowing. Of which is another evidence of the reality of Christ, that even non-Christians commented in awe that even such love was an attractive force that lure people who are thirsting for Love to find it in the body of Christ. That is Jesus with skin on.

Biblical Discipleship Newsletter for March

BDN for March is one issue that is close to my heart – God’s love for the unlovable. There are millions out there, who have no hope for today or tomorrow, and my heart breaks to see these people, in need of God and to know His Love.

biblical-discipleship-march-09

Please feel free to distribute this newsletter to anyone, and if you feel led to support the missionaries here in Asia, please write to me and we will fill you the details where your money goes directly to the work these missionaries are doing in the unreached region of Asia for God.

I was lost and God found me

I left Singapore a lost and hurting child of God. As i have struggled with my relationship with God in my many theological arguments and i am unable to see God as a loving father and more importantly my heart is dead from believing in love, in a God who loves, and more importantly in a God who provides, not just all my financial needs, but emotional, and spiritual needs. I realised i am more impoverished in my emotional side than the financial side of my life and God has to show me in the trying times of my life that without an active relationship in my life and my heart with God, theological knowledge up there in my head counts absolutely for nothing.

I went to Hong Kong thinking i can see Mercy as i missed her, but little did i know, i miss God even more. In my trip, God found me and slowly in the short 7 days, He showed me about Himself through the faces of the people at the base camp, the missionaries, the base staff, Joseph, and even in the lives of the old folk i met and talked to, especially in Uncle Teng whom i had a long time fellowshipping with. Through the outreach, and the times i was sharing, i find pain, i find emptiness in life that is so overwhelming which I realised, only point to the need for an absolutely loving God. In my heart, sparked a renewal through the conviction of that, God must be so real. As i sat listen to Joseph’s account of the ophans in China, and how they needed love, and the lives of these people who gave their lives to go into the unreached people group to minister, is another testimony of a God so real, because no conviction can arise from a lie; Just as many who gave their lives for God since pentecost, the changed lives is the assurance of the work of the Holy Spirit, and the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

I met really nice people like Manuel, Josh, Jonathan, Jonah, Connor, Judy, Cherise, Cynthia, and among many others during this trip.

I went to the Delirious concert and my childhood band beside Petra was having their last tour and Martin Smith was so great! His opening song – the Kingdom of Comfort really cuts into my being and as if it is a cry from my heart for God to save me

Kingdom of Comfort
Save me save me
From the kingdom of comfort where I am king
From my unhealthy lust of material things

I built myself a happy home
In my palace on my own
My castle falling in the sand
Pull me out, please grab my hand
I just forgot where I came from

Save me save me
From the kingdom of comfort where I am king
From my unhealthy lust of material things

I rob myself of innocence
With the poison of indifference
I buy my stuff at any cost
A couple of clicks and I pay the price
Coz what I gain is someone else’s loss

Save me save me
From the kingdom of comfort where I am king
From my unhealthy lust of material things

Save me save me
From the kingdom of comfort where I am king
To this kingdom of heaven where you are king

Martin Smith then sang History Maker, and he sat down with his bible and shared, his sharing and his life did something which no theological conviction has ever done, it shows me the heart of God – that it is not the big things we do in public that we are history maker, but the little things, to preach freedom to the oppressed, to feed the poor, to house the homeless, to hug the sick, etc, and these are the history makers in God’s eyes. I don’t know why but i felt the healing that God’s masterful healing hands began to close up the wounds that were left opened for so long.

I left the stadium a changed person, like a miracle, my healing journey began with Mercy forcing me to read the two books, which on my plane journey, God began to minister through the words of the author, that God has began his restoration of a Loving Father to my life.When i get back to Singapore, i know two things, I am changed by His love, not theological expositions and knowledge and second, God has called me to mission cos I saw those old folk and ophans through the eyes of Christ and i know i will be in the mission field. Even Jennifer said to me, are you going to be in the mission field soon. I guess that’s a confirmation from what I have been wondering.

God’s priority in His people

I was reading this chapter Ezekiel 24:15-27, of which it was a strong message God sent to Israel through His prophet Ezekiel. What strikes me was the harshness of God’s message about three things.

Death of Ezekiel’s wife
In verse 18, it says that after Ezekiel pronounced what God told him to the people, his wife died later that day, and i thought it was harsh the way God has to make a point. But i realized Ezekiel was given notice of his wife’s death beforehand, and God has to make a point of taking his wife away to illustrate one very important point. Ezekiel’s wife is representation of the city God loves. The same degree of affection that Ezekiel lavished on his wife, is no less equal to the intensity God loves his people. And the death of the prophet’s wife is a prophecy that the city will be conquered and died in the hands of the Chaldean.

The descrecration of His sanctuary.
God foretold the destruction of His Sanctuary, the exegetical background points to the growing sins of the Israelite prompted God to allow the city to fall to foreign powers. On the hind side, God does not dwell in the buildings we build and thought by its splendor that God should be satisfied with its constructions. In my city, there are a few churches who has built multi million dollar buildings in the namesake of honouring God, but what happened within the church walls are strifes of church rivalry, and their hearts were deceived that they should build their own kingdom rather than God’s Kingdoms of which it is not in the stones, or extremely modern sanctuary. God looks into the hearts of His people rather than in the artificials of the outside decorations.

No display of excessive grief.
This is an interesting trait here, that even Ezekiel was told not to mourn or grief lavishly at the death of his wife. From the scriptures, such outpouring of excessive emotions tend to gravitate towards sympathetic condolences of each other rather than point to a grief that leads to repentance. In many times, how the less fillial in the family tend to wail loudly than those who love the deceased, that they should attract the approval of those around. The bible terms this hypocrisy. If we were so in grief with our sins, let us grief and let that leads us to a repenting stance before God rather than lamenting as a public show of grief that brings to nothing except noise.

Despite the impending judgment of God on the city, there remains a glimpse of hope that God will send a fugitive (which was Ezekiel) to bring first confirmation that God will bring to pass of which He has spoken through his prophet, and second, that God will speak again to His people, a sign of reconcilliation and hope.

A new heart

It seems almost surreal how this trip turns out to be – a journey from a total wreckage to a complete transformation of a heart that was set on fire for passion for Christ. It seems this short sentence does injustice to the work that was accomplished in so short a time in the span of a couple of hours in a small tiny stadium where Delirious made their first and last appearance in Hong Kong.

In a seemingly ironic that one of my early influences in my christian walk – the Delirious band, with Martin Smith, Stu G, and others in many ways turned out to be performing their last tour in Asia, where a miracle took place bringing me back to passion that got me captivated by Christ. It is a glimpse of again the power of the Grace of God and through the new songs by Delirious, the message of keeping what is more important in Christian life and making that worked out is more important than the outward working of our life. What is inside in our heart is more important than the words or work of our hands. When Martin Smith talked about how the song “History Maker” has changed in its meaning for the band over the year, i felt tremendously blessed by Martin’s words on the stage as he sat down on the stage and said about the message of how God hates injustice, that we have a mandate to speak up for those who can’t.

In most of the songs they performed last night, were ringed with message of stepping up against injustice and for the widows and ophans. Is that what God has reminded me, about the heart for these people? About the 40 million babies who were killed in the name of freedom in the clinics of America, it is not about human rights, it is about a genocide, a systematic murders that we are numbed to. I had enough of organized religious institutions like Churches in Singapore or America, all squabbering about who has the bigger church, and hurried about in their well pressed suits and parading their expensive cars, and talked about God. Such hypocrisy! I had enough of big mega churches storing up millions, and millions of unreached are dying everyday. I want to start a church in Singapore that breaks all the rules of fake religiousity and in all our offerings collected will go to the poor, missions and it is ALL OF IT.

The Church today needs to wake up or we will drown in our fake spirituality and lies and to rise and be counted among the people who care, people who wants to make history through the small things in life, like giving food to the hungry around in their community, giving money to those who needed it and more! I had enough of organized religion, i had enough of these holy cow business of pastors in well pressed suits asking for offerings and tithes of people and feeding their own dark greedy soul.

1300 feet on top of the mountain

I climbed the mountain behind the hostel on Saturday and now my body is in pain. Years of well unexercised muscles are protesting of abuse in this strenous climb. However, it is not the climb or the pain in my body that i am concerned with, it is the state of spiritual emptiness that is bothering me.

On the climb up, the story of how God see the spiritual journey of our Christian walk, that we all started out from the base of the mountain, slowly making our way up. Some are fast, they reached the top in no time, as for some, we took our time, while climbing enjoying the scenery, some stayed back to help others, and at certain point of the climb, we gathered for food, drinks and talking, while some preparing to move on.

How this is playing out, i have no idea. All i remember was the time i climbed the mountains in my army, and i realised, it wasn’t that bad. But the realization that that happened almost 15 years ago is a neither a shocking revelation because i feel i am getting older, and getting somehow out of shape and out of character.

I still struggle with my faith, what am i doing? Is God silent because of the glorious moment of silence or is that He is silent cos of my iniquities? I am trying to read Mere Christianity, and while it all makes sense, when the heart is dead, or close to dead, the message no matter how good it is, will not suffice to perform a resurrection stunt. If all is up there (brain), and whatever down there is dead (The heart), what is it good for except that I am nothing but a living dead, a zombie sort of thing.

Am i lacking faith, well this question doesn’t matter anymore if i am not worth anything as a value of anything right and I wish in this trip, seeing Mercy and all, I can find God if not all, at least a glimpse that He is real.

Free Will?

Sitting at the airport on my way to Hong Kong, i am thinking back to the incident which we were debating on the issue of Free Will. Perhaps in my crisis of faith, i began to deconstruct faith and what it really mean for me. Are we all unwilling accomplice to the grand conspiracy of which the argument that God’s sovereign will play out eventually with or without our conscious participation.

Two incidents which i am beginning to slice open my own faith were the Pharoah, and Judas. Two examples in how God actively has hardened Pharoah’s heart so his judgment will be released on Egypt, and second, Judas was set to betray Christ, with or without free will, he is set to do just that, which is necessary for God’s will to be carried out. I reflected on myself, then, what is the meaning of my faith, absolutely meaningless and now it seems like it is a cosmic joke. I asked myself, am i a Christian, or have I been lying to myself about a faith that now seems defragmented and i am left with the demise of my spiritual consciousness and be borned into a prison of emptiness.