Month: July 2015

Deut 8: 2-7.

2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands…5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you…7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing..

Acts 16:6-10

Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia,but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.

We see how Paul was guided by the Holy Spirit not to preach the Good News to Asia but to move on to Macedonia instead. It would be logical for Paul to travel and preach around Asia, but logic is not the basis for calling. Though the Holy Spirit forbade Paul and Silas to preach in the province of Asia, Paul still attempted to go to the province of Bithynia in Asia. Yet again, the Holy Spirit stopped them.  We are not told how the Holy Spirit prevented them.  The Holy Spirit did not leave Paul clueless as to the next destination since He had forbidden him to preach in Asia. He was given a vision to go to Macedonia.

In the above passage and other passages of Acts, we saw the active guidance of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Paul and other Christians in the following ways :

1. Through the direct prompting of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 16:6. How the Spirit exactly prevented Paul from preaching the word, the Scripture did not reveal.)
2. Through vision. (Acts 16:9).
3. Through prophets. (Agabus predicted a famine. Acts 11:28)
4. Through angels. (Philip was guided to the Ethopian eunuch. Acts 8:26-39)

Before I go on, I must stress that Scripture is the primary way of God’s guidance.  All other ways have to be tested against it.  But sadly,  many dismiss all other ways of guidance and miss the joy of the close walk with the Spirit of God as we surrender to His guidance.

The Holy Spirit may prompt us through an inner voice (John 16:13) or our conscience (Rom 9:1).   How do we discern that it is really His prompting and not our own thoughts or from other sources ?  We have to test it against the Word of God because the Holy Spirit will not prod us to do something against the Word of God, and our conscience is suspect at times.  On the other hand, do not over-ride the prompting of the Spirit by our own logic or our own preference at times.  (Do not get me wrong that we do not exercise prudence for prudence is also a cardinal virtue of a Christian. We are exhorted to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  I am only exhorting not to trust ONLY logic ALL the time and dismiss His prompting unknowingly.)  God must have the best interests of Paul in disallowing him to go to Asia but to send him to Macedonia.  Many Christians suffer for making the wrong decisions in life by quenching the Spirit through insensitivity and disobedience to His prompting.  I have seen missionaries, who claimed that God had sent them to a certain place but it was really their own preference, came back with fruit-less ministry for several years while being there.

Many believers do not believe in visions and so why will God give them one ?  As long as the visions are not extra biblical revelation and do not contradict the whole counsel of the Word of God, why should we dismiss them as not one of the ways in which God may prod us to do something ?

Do not despise prophecy but to test each and every one.   If the Antioch church did not believe Agabus on his prophecy of a coming global famine and take definitive preparatory action,  the Judea church might suffer terribly without the relief aid from them through the hands of Paul and Barnabas.

Heb 13:2 exhorts us to show hospitality to all strangers in case angels are sent to minister or to guide us.

Dear Brother,

Grace and peace to you from Jesus our Lord.

It is our greatest blessing that we have received Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. It is only a matter of time before we leave our fallen physical bodies and receive indestructible bodies when Jesus comes again. During this time in our physical bodies which will be subjected to pain and wasting away due to its fallen nature, God wants to prepare us to be more like Christ loving Him and loving fellow brothers and sisters, especially the least of them. That is the Revealed Will of God.

Allow me to journey with you in trusting God for His mercy and goodness. We are all expected to have a life expectancy of around 80 years, so it is imperative that our immune system will naturally weaken with age anyway.  In God’s Word, we find detailed instruction on the food we can or cannot take so as not to compromise the immune system.  Now even if we do everything right concerning diet, eating well and taking extreme good care of our bodies,  it is still a very short sojourn on earth as compared to eternity.

The Bible says in Prov 17:22 that a joyful heart is good medicine. So let’s start by casting all our cares and worries onto our Lord Jesus. 1 Pet 5:7.

Secondly, let’s pray and petition God for your pathway of healing.

Thirdly, be sensitive to the Spirit of God allowing Him to help you select the right option of healing.

Meanwhile, let’s look at some simple ways of strengthening your immune system.
It is to my knowledge that traditional Chinese medicine is effective because they do contain some chemicals that improve the immune system and it is helpful to use at times. But at this stage of your medical condition, it is a war against the cancer and not prevention. During prevention stage when our immune system is strong, small dosage of chemicals helps to strengthen it. But during the war stage, when the immune system is compromised, very much higher dosage of the chemicals and vitamins are necessary to fight the cancer. Here is a list of vitamins and chemicals that the medical doctor will recommend.

1. Vitamin E <= 1000 mg twice daily.
2. Multiple vitamins including zinc and B Complex 100.
3. Vitamin C 1000 mg twice daily.
4. Chromium picolinate 200 mg daily.
5. Yogurt 1 or 2 cups daily.
6. Coenzyme Q-10 (Co Q-10) 30 to 90 mg daily.
7. Garlic. One clove equivalent. Take tablets daily.
8. Selenium. It is toxic so use not more than 100 mg daily.
9. Echinacea. Can stimulate immune system but tolerance can develop. Use 2 to 3 teaspoons tincture daily. Use for 4 to 8 weeks and stop for 2 weeks.
10. Glutathione. 100 mg daily.

Fourthly, stand firm and believe God will give you the best option. Spend your time in thinking of helping others around you. Help your family to cope with their anxieties over you. It is better to bring joy to others than to worry.

Lastly, think of what you will do if God extends your life another 5 to 10 years, and do it right away.

We are all appointed to die once no matter what and to die is gain because we will be ushered into the presence of our Lord. Sometimes He takes us away because He may not want us to see the coming judgment.

Isaiah 57: 1-2. NLT.
Good people pass away;
the godly often die before their time.
But no one seems to care or wonder why.
No one seems to understand
that God is protecting them from the evil to come.
2 For those who follow godly paths
will rest in peace when they die.

In His love,
Your Brother in Christ

Postscript :
There is an URGENT need for all of us to grasp the biblical revelation of the living God who works primarily in nature not in supernature, in history not in miracle. …Once we begin to see the living God ceaselessly at work through the processes of history and nature, we shall begin (for example) to recognize that ALL healing is divine healing, whether without the use of means or through the use of physical, psychological or surgical means. The former should properly be termed ‘miraculous healing’ while the latter is non-miraculous, but both are equally ‘divine healing’. – Dr John Stott, Baptism and Fullness.

On this fallen earth till Christ comes again to renew it, the enemy will seek every opportunity to distort Truth as the primary thrust of spiritual war. We need discernment from the Spirit of God always.

When two parties argue on certain issues holding opposite views, it is not uncommon to see the debate ending in offence to either party. A meaningful debate with the sole objective to learn from one another should see both parties presenting their case with their best evidence or persuasion. But if any one party starts name calling or uses expletives, I can only imply that such a party is not capable of handling truth. We need to have the basic understanding of a few important points to have a meaningful debate.

1. Whether the motion is about matter of truth or about matter of conscience.

Let us take an example in the debate on whether Jesus is the only way to God. As much as we would like to be seen tolerant on alternative view, we will end up arguing with passion and offending many holding the view that several roads lead to Rome. That is debate on truth. But to debate on whether one should eat food offered to idols; one should dress decently; mum should work or stay at home; one should drink or abstain from wine; we are then debating on matter of conscience. For matter of conscience, we only have to be wary of stumbling a weaker brother even if we have strong evidence. To persist in stumbling a weaker brother riding on uncharitable liberty is sin.

2. Whether the debate is on a particular message or a particular person.

When one party hold a critical view of a particular issue, the other party should afford the benefit of doubt at times that the opponent may also be a pious brother or sister in Christ who sincerely believe in his or her own critical view. To judge the character of the opponent through insinuation and not the message itself will cloud the argument put forward by him or her. For example, I tend to argue harshly against certain deviant truths but I should not be accused of bearing a grudge against the brother or sister adhering to such deviant belief. By heaping such accusation in a polite discussion, the best argument I put forward for discussion will be clouded or lost.

3. Whether the debate is backed by strong statistical evidence or by limited testimony.

I have once entered a debate with my engineering classmates on the harmful effects of Aspartame. My view is that it should not be harmful because the food and drug authorities of more than a hundred countries (with thousand of scientists testing and evaluating) have approved the use while the opponent merely produced a testimony by a Dr X or Dr Y as evidence. Though numbers may not be conclusive at times, common sense is still necessary for meaningful debate.

4. Whether the view put forward by the debater is against the intent or against the act per se.

When our Lord said, ” Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practised the latter, without neglecting the former.”, we can see that our Lord is not against tithing per se but about priority in practising the more important duty without neglecting the first.

For example, if I make the critical comment that the rich church should help the poor church and not spend disproportionately on lavish building and salary, I am not against spending per se but against neglecting the more important duty. I am not against the church spending on lavish building and salaries, but against the disproportionate spending towards other poorer churches.  In other words, the duty has to come before self in my opinion.