Current Ministry At A Halfway House

Due to my commitment in pastoral ministry in two churches here and in Batam,  I can only commit to the sharing of the Word of God at a halfway house once a month.

Every time I worship with these brothers, I thank God for the repentant change in their lives wrought by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.  Only by surrendering their lives to Christ as their personal Savior and Lord can they come out of the bondage of drug addiction.   Everyone has an unique and amazing testimony of how God has touched his life.

I am so grateful to God for allowing me to be a vessel in the Christian journey with these brothers.

As much as I encourage them with God’s word, they encourage me with their living testimony of surrender and trust in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Praise the Lord for His goodness and mercy !

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Pastoral Ministry In Johor Bahru In 2012

Sometime in September 2012,  I happened to patronize a fruit stall in Johor Bahru together with a fellow pastor and we had a conversation with the Vietnamese lady owner.  She was in her mid 30s and she had two children aged 8 and 4 then.

When she realized that I was serving full-time in Christian ministry, she asked if both of us would be interested to pastor her small congregation of 25 people.

Without hesitation,  we agreed as we did not want to see the church without proper teaching.  This sister was responsible for the leadership and oversight of the fellowship.

After we had finished the worship service in Singapore at about 12 noon,  we would rush into Johor getting there in time for the 2 pm worship service and returning at about 5 pm.

And together with this same fellow pastor, we rushed again to conduct another Chinese evening service together in a Korean church.

Eventually this Vietnamese fellowship joined a bigger church nearby in mid 2013.

Just want to reminisce the wonderful fellowship I had with this Vietnamese congregation.  The ministry had helped me to brush up my Mandarin.

May God our Father uphold the faith of these Vietnamese brothers and sisters steadfast in our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Journey Mercies (I)

Since my first ministry trip in 2007, I am always amazed and humbled by the divine guidance of our Lord God and the journey mercies He has shown me.

In my recent ministry trip to Bagan Batu, Riau, Sumatra, going straight into the terrible haze of 1000 psi enveloping the entire region, God showed mercy for my health when the haze went down to healthy range just for the three days I was there. Though my throat was sore, it never gave serious trouble to disrupt my sharing.

Let me recount how God had protected me from danger and also prevented foul-up in schedule on several occasions after we prayed.

Once we stayed on a little longer in a pastors and ministry workers’ conference held in a village in Shenyang, China as not to disappoint the attendees who had this tremendous hunger for God’s Word, and we missed the train to Tomen, a border town facing North Korea. After prayer, we decided to chase after the train by hiring a van. We were late at the next city stop by one hour. By the grace of God, the train was delayed by one and a half hours enabling us to catch the train eventually.  We would have missed the ministry opportunity in this beautiful city of mostly Korean Chinese as there was only one train schedule each day and the traveling time to Tomen would take 18 to 20 hours.  We had a tight schedule so we could not afford to wait out another day.

Once I was in Guangzhou in November which was still autumn and the temperature was between 18 to 20 deg C, I brought and wore only a warm jacket. Immediately upon my return from ministry at one Guangzhou church, a freak snowstorm happened and paralyzed the train network for 2 weeks. Several thousands were stranded at the railway station and the Guangzhou church mobilized herself to provide relief and share the gospel. Hallelujah !

Several times in the midst of ministry conference, I had to evacuate quickly on standby motorcycle up the mountain to evade the police as such gathering was illegal then.

Once I was in Philippines, a category 3 storm lashed Manila. I was returning to Manila when the storm hit. It was reported that there was severe flooding in Manila. It was so amazing that the coach was able to travel straight into Manila and even reached my hotel. There was severe flooding on one side of the hotel where roads were inaccessible but the other side of the hotel, it was just fine. But I still wondered how the coach could continue into the capital with such lashing from the storm and flooding.

Once I was waiting under a big neon sign to catch the long distance coach to Manila. Somehow I was prompted to cross the road to the other side to find a seat while waiting. The moment I crossed and sat down, the big neon sign came crashing down.

Once I was trekking along the high mountain road linking Yunnan Province of China with Kachin state of Myanmar in a truck carrying basic food staple, I nearly fell three times into the valley as the mountain road was really narrow. Thinking it was summer, I did not bring along warm clothing but the highest peak I crossed was 12,000 ft with melting ice glaciers. Thank God for His protection as I did not fall ill as a result of staying in such cold condition for nearly a week.

Every quarter from 2011 to 2013, I went to share the Word of God with a church I had nurtured over the years. They were living among  one of the most hostile peoples to our faith. The last time which we met, God’s Spirit prompted me to stay in the capital instead of taking the train to meet them in their city centre some 150 km away.  To do so would be a logistics headache as I did not plan such in advance.   I would have to find hotel rooms in the capital and have all 10 leaders to travel to the capital.  I could not come up with a topic to share even when I had reached the hotel in which I would hold the fellowship meeting. Usually, I would prepare the messages for the plenary session and group discussion way in advance. But this time, I could not prepare anything as God’s Spirit had not impressed upon me the topic to speak on. During the plenary session, I shared about persecution from Luke 21 and Matt 24 as prompted by the Spirit of God. As I have never faced persecution before, it was a difficult topic for me when the participants asked questions about preparation. The moment, the leaders returned to their villages after the meeting, they were persecuted. Some were imprisoned. Some were missing. An angry mob of few hundred came into their villages and burnt their homes. A leader called me later to inform that my message on persecution was timely to prepare and encourage them to face this persecution. God is indeed sovereign. God is good. Hallelujah !   (It was like a “Cornelius” encounter for me to be instrumental to build up this church.  The local missionary translator and partner of ours told us that an unbeliever living in the city centre was interested to know the meaning of the Parable of the Sower after reading the Bible in their language.  That was a very wonderful blessing because firstly the Bible would not be available to all other peoples of their same faith in their respective native languages and secondly, it would be blasphemy for them to read the Bible.  Without hesitation, I went to his home and explained it to his whole household.  Through him and another brother,  they eventually brought some 105 people to Christ before being persecuted.)

Many a times, I was sick even before I embarked on the overseas ministry trip. And each time, God healed me so that I could continue with the ministry.

God is good. Hallelujah ! Praise His Holy Name !

Come To Jesus For Who He Is

Jesus Christ is the only Way.  He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Do not come to Jesus JUST for the food that spoils, the healing of the body which will eventually die, the consent to live ungodly lives, the consent to live in indulgent dissipation and the consent to gain the whole world. You may gain the whole world but you will surely lose your soul.

You can continue to think you believe and have eternal life but Jesus does not trust your belief if you come to Him for the wrong reasons. John 2:23-25.

Come to Him and trust and obey Him. True belief will lead to true allegiance and obedience.

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Evangelistic Musical Concert

Praise and thank the Lord for His provision as the church I serve planned and organised her first musical concert with her limited resources for everything since incorporation one year ago.

In the prior few weeks of planning,  God has answered all our prayer for the availability of venue, funds, good turnout of unsaved friends and relatives, and good weather especially.  The psi reading of the haze was unhealthy for the last 2 days. It read a healthy 70 when the concert started.  Praise and thank the Lord that the weather did not become an obstacle discouraging attendees from turning up for the concert.

What a harvest as many made their decision of their lives by the grace of God ! Hallelujah ! All glory and honour to Him ! What wonderful unity in the church when everyone gave his or her best for His glory.

Brother Asaph hailed from Shanghai is a gospel singer and composer par excellence. An overcomer himself, he testified he would end up on the road to destruction if not for the grace of God. What a testimony, excellent gospel songs and great voice !

Thank the Lord for answering my personal prayer to deliver the gospel message and conduct the Lord’s supper in double quick time without compromise of solemn consecration.

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Delivering the gospel message and conducting the Lord"s Supper.

Delivering the gospel message and conducting the Lord”s Supper.

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Several made the decision of their lives for Christ.

Several made the decision of their lives for Christ.

 

Ministry in Bagan Batu, Riau, Sumatra

Praise the Lord for His divine guidance that I finally made the ministry trip to Bagan Batu, Riau. God’s timing is always right. Praise the Lord for allowing my faith to grow and have a deeper rest in Him.

Despite traveling to the main haze disaster area at this time, we witnessed the wonderful journey mercy of our Lord God and to trust Him wholeheartedly. We arrived on Saturday 26 Sept 2015 when the psi reading of the haze was way above 500.

We prayed for good weather on Sunday and our prayer was granted. The psi reading went down to 100 in the morning in time for the Sunday worship service. The bad haze condition returned in the afternoon and we prayed again. And the skies suddenly poured to clear the haze for the evening service. Hallelujah ! Praise the Lord !

On Monday, we traveled to another town to share in the revival meeting there and the psi reading remained at 100.

On Wednesday early morning when we returned home, the haze condition was so bad. The visibility on the road to the port Dumai was only 50 metres. (See the difference between the mask I used that day and a new one for comparison.)

In a town where there is only 3000 Christians among a population of 70,000 of predominantly Muslim, I have to commend Pastor Siregar and his wonderful wife, Mastiur Silitonga, before God and give Him all the glory and honor, for their tireless labor of love to evangelize this town.

They also set up a Christian mission school there since 8 years ago and the enrolment is now about 800. This is the most wonderful ministry of sharing the gospel in such a town when the young are educated in the knowledge of the truth of the living Son of God.  (The students only pay annual school fee of USD 5 while they support nearly 50 teachers !  What a ministry of faith and love !)

They also invested in a broadcasting radio station 89.1 FM to broadcast the word of God to several cities.

Praise the Lord for allowing me to be the vessel in partnering His wonderful faithful servants and leading me to share the Word of God there to encourage the churches to rise up to set the city on fire for Him. I believe the town will see spiritual awakening soon.

All glory and honor to our Lord Jesus Christ !

 

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Christian Mission School

Christian Mission School

Teachers of Christian mission school

Teachers of Christian mission school

City Revival Meeting 29 Sept 2015

City Revival Meeting 29 Sept 2015

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Revival meeting in another town 28 Sept 2015

Revival meeting in another town 28 Sept 2015

Prayer For The Sick

James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

While we can pray for the sick without being present, nevertheless, when we go and pray in the presence of the sufferer, the prayer is heartfelt and fervid, and the love of one another is so strongly felt as well. It is important to note that we should not assume the elders have a special anointing or gift of healing but rather the elders are representing the whole church in being present with the sufferer.

As we are flesh and blood as well as spirit, the sacrament of oil anointing gives the sufferer a heartfelt presence of the Spirit of our Lord, though we have to be reminded again that there is no magical power in it. Psalms 23: 5.

The sheep in the Middle East are often annoyed by the numerous flies flying around them. And when the shepherd anoints their head with oil, it soothes them so much that they do not bash their heads in frustration against the bushes.  When a baby is feeling discomfort and cries,  the physical touch of the mother is so soothing and comforting.   So likewise, when we feel the presence of the Spirit of our Lord amidst intense suffering, the close communion with our Lord in His soothing touch comforts and uplifts our spirit man.

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Vision Of 9/11 At WTC On 8 September 2001

“As an engineer by profession in the early years of my career, statistics and probability were something we worked with every day.  We designed experiments and implemented control systems or screening tests based on the probability of the outcome deduced from the statistical data collected from the experiments.

I knew it would be too much of a coincidence for my vision of the attack to happen to occur right before the actual attack,  considering the odds of all the following events occurring altogether :

I had the vision just three days before the actual event;

I was at the exact place of the vision;

I had a vision of the actual terror attack using planes – which was unprecedented – and on the World Trade Center and not the United Nations Building;

It happened on my birthday on 11 September.

The probability of all these events occurring will be so miniscule as to be mere coincidence.

I was sure God was giving me a message.”

–  Anthony Ho,  The Coming Economic Flood, Page 5.   Published by Creation House, a Charisma Media Company,  2014.

Thanks be to God for giving me the message that pulled me out of the road to destruction into life in Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior.

Postscript :  Thought I lost the photos taken at WTC in the afternoon of 8 September 2001 and I searched for them after the book was published.

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Great Political Stability And Economic Prosperity Masks The Coming Judgment

Jeroboam II reigned as King of Israel from 789 BC to 748 BC. Despite being an evil king, who continued the politically motivated idolatry of his forefather Jeroboam, son of Nebat, God was gracious to Israel and gave her great political and economic prosperity during his reign as a last chance. (Eventually the deportation of Israel by the Assyrians came in 722 BC.) 2 Kings 14.

Archaeology revealed a time of great political power and economic prosperity. Jeroboam II recovered a lot of land from the Syrians. The houses were built much bigger than previous times and the rich could afford both winter and summer houses.

But the prosperity ended in abuse in being weighed down with living in dissipation and oppression of the poor. Amos the prophet denounced against the abuse and prophesized God’s judgment on all their trophies of prosperity – their large and great winter and summer houses of ivory splendor. Amos 3:13-15.

Israel was sinful yet she was thinking all the time that they were in God’s favor because of the tremendous political and economic prosperity. Isaiah 58: 1- 4.

Many false prophets also arose and preached feel good messages against the dire warning by God’s prophets during that time.

Right now, with all the political stability and economic prosperity in all the First World cities, is it so difficult for Christendom in these cities to take a hard look at herself whether she has sinned against God if she so claims to be so fervent in seeking God’s face ?

Whether we are proud that our hands and our leaders have given us this prosperity ? Whether we have excess of food or over-fed ? Whether we are living in care less or prosperous ease ? Are we indifferent to helping the indigent poor believing they are lazy and should work harder and not expect welfare ? Ezek 16:49-50. These are the four root sins of Sodom which God did away with her.

The fruit of sodomy and lawlessness are almost ripe in all these cities drunk with easy money making and pleasure and has heaped all the way to heaven. Rev 18.

God will judge all this wealth of this Babylonian system in one hour. Rev 18:17.  Three groups will weep – kings of the earth (governments), merchants (MNCs, SMEs) and those who make their living by the sea (global seaports cum financial centres).

God’s people will rejoice over this judgment. Rev 18;20.  David Pawson, a very prominent Bible teacher, asked whether we are citizens of Babylon or citizens of God’s new Jerusalem in his lecture, The Church and the End Times. If we do not rejoice or even want to hear such a message, frankly, which citizenship do we really hold ?