WE WANT YOU OUT! NOW!

Lately, the world is engulfed with the uprisings and revolutions against dictatorships and iron-fisted rulers who fine dined while the people are sidelined and suffered lack of dime to dine. These rulers had conveniently forgotten the masses where they supposed to serve. Governments are set up mainly for two things - 1. To implement good things and 2. To weed out the bad. And all these are done for the betterment of its citizens and the rights of human being created in the image of God.

Why now? Some say, it was because the young people today consider themselves global citizens thanks to the Internet and they want to be treated as equals and as participants. You ignore them, they fight you to the face!

As a pastor, I believe everything happens today especially big events is somehow tied in with the prophecies of the Bible. The uprisings today will not end with the Middle East and North Africa nations but it will happen all over the world. This will be the beginning of a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT, a global system interconnected with all the nations of the world - where human rights and justice are common issues. The United Nations will assume full powers to persecute rogue leaders wherever they may be, any part of the globe.

Few years ago, Sudanese President was indicted for crime against humanity in Darfur, Sudan and still has not been persecuted yet. Therefore I believe soon, the ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT will devise a special force to deal with these perpetrators by capturing them for trial or imprisonment.

Today we have the Hague International Court of Justice where the head has warned Gaddhafi from Libya to watch out. This sends a signal to all leaders who are thinking of murdering oppositions who demonstrated against them.

In years to come, there will be people asking for this ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT to be set up so that it could monitor all lives that no one should be marginalised or killed by the leaders.

And after that the Anti-Christ will rise up to take control and desires to be worshipped as God. He would be given absolute power and absolute power corrupts absolutely! He would wage war against all those who hold on to Jesus and His gospel! Why? These people would not worshipped him.

The Bible says...

(2 Th 2:8-11) And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.

(Rev 13:5-9) The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. He who has an ear, let him hear.

Another event may happen too. After the uprisings are over, Israel would be hated even more for its stand on security and its Palestinian policy. And Ezekiel predicted that nations around them would one day gather together to try to destroy Israel. This would result in Armageddon where nuclear weapons would be used.

Then, Jesus Christ Himself would come again, this time not to save but to judge! To fight those who destroy what God stands for! And ultimately, to rule the earth He had created. To restore everything the Anti Christ had broken down.

The world will not be a better place until the King of kings rule! The young people today may ask for change but it may never satisfy them. Only Jesus Christ can fill all of mankind innate desires for well being! Nothing else can ever replace!

CAN SOMEONE HELP? I WANT TO DIE!

Today, STAR paper reported about suicide cases in this country following some recent suicide happenings here. There are averagely 60 suicides per month last year. And this is only those reported cases. What about the thousands who contemplated suicide? And the most troubling thing is that the high risk group is from ages 16 - 25. These are from the prime of life and the greatest potential within them in society.

Christians, counselors and especially youth and Young Adult ministries, we are so relevant in today's pressure cooker's world. Everyone tries to push their way up and the temperature is rising! The youth are so vulnerable and many had fallen into deep pits of despair with no mechanism to come out. There must be more centres for counselling where young people feel accepted and free to share. And please, there shall be no condemnation by adults as already they are feeling the heat of broken life.

What can Christians or Church Ministries do?

1. Embrace the problematic young people with genuine love and open arms. This will open them up to talk.

2. Take them seriously and don't ever provide them with easy answers, such as, "Take it easy, no worries, small problems only"

3. Engage them in a long term - not just one off thing.

4. Have support teams to deal with broken relationships, maybe start one "Restoration program" for the youth in trouble.

5. Involve them in helping people, letting them see that their problems are not unique.

6. Strengthen them through dialogue with the Word of God, the double edged SWORD! Perhaps start an apologetic class, strengthening their faith in God.

7 BILLIONTH PERSON - IS THERE ANY PLACE LEFT?

This year, 2011, the world will have its 7 billion people somewhere in October. Is the world capable of holding 7,000,000,000 people? Definitely! But would it be easy? Definitely not! In 2025, they estimated that more than 70% of world's population will be in cities all over the world. Which means, no one would be interested in the farms, tilling grounds and scraping crops. This means the world needs to develop genetic engineering of foods and do it fast

The experts believe that it wouldn't be a problem for 7 billion people or even 10 billion people living together but the real troubles start when everyone wants to consume more foods. The ideal thing to do is that the rich have to consume lesser food (I doubt they can) so that the poor can have enough, so to speak. Speaking of attitudes of human beings, I strongly do not think they will get better.

The Bible clearly says,

(2 Tim 3:1-4) But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

So, the adage, "survival of the fittest" rages on! To each his own! The rat race will not stop until the final cheese gets wholly gobbled up.

And then there is this number 7 thingy. It speaks of completeness in God's Word and perhaps, 7 billion would be another sign of the soon coming of Christ!

What Christians ought to do....

1. Live simple lives. Don't go into heavy debts or at all.

2. Have that theme in life, eat to live and not live to eat.

3. Be the light and salt to your world!

4. Glue your eyes to Jesus as you serve Him!

5. Always be aware that you are not just a statistic in the 7-billion-people world but a significant individual God can use for His kingdom!

HEY! CAN YOU STOP THE RISE?

As the world develops and its needs arise, so would be the prices of foods. Next generation, many people predicted that wars and figthing would be caused by expensive foods and scarcity of water. Moreover, floods and natural calamities have caused crops to fail and food prices to escalate.

Back to my own backyard in Malaysia, that one small bowl of Meatball noodles cost me RM6 (big bowl costs RM7) that drink of coffee with milk RM2. My breakfast that day, RM8. I am talking about a normal road side coffee shop! (That shop lah)

One brother in church was conversing with me about profiteering. He said when 1 kilo of sugar was raised 30 sen, the teh tarik and coffee a cup rose 10 sen respectively. Hey, do they know how to calculate or not??

I am concerned for the future of the next generation where everything becomes more expensive. In Chinese proverbial saying, 'finding two meals' simply means able to live without much problem. But I wonder the younger generation coming up to society able to "find three meals or more" or perhaps difficult even to find two meals.

Yes, water in Brisbane river and Brazil is rising and so does the food on earth!

Solution: Choose what and where to eat. Eat within your means. Most importantly, we eat to live and not live to eat.

HELLO TWENTY ELEVEN!

Whew! What a year that was! It was crazy November and December months in 2010 that I thought I could even collapse and die! But God saw me through and His grace is super sufficient! All glory to God!

Things God enabled me to experience in 2010 ....

1. Youth Enrichment School (YES) 2010 - evangelism class

2. Started POWER SUNDAY for the youth

3. Dad's baptism - had to be the most memorable of them all!

4. Graduated to Masters in Ministry after 10 or more years!

5. Had a great Cambodia missions trip - it was the most memorable one that I could remember.

6. Had a wonderful Christmas service in church (most of my family members came)

7. Had a powerful Watchnight Camp with Rev. Ruth Ch'ng - highlight - baptism and some miraculous testimonies

8. Squeezed out four Vineyard quarterly magazines - the last one was the Team's most happiest to date.

9. Huge Camp ninth season was one of the best to date - God moved so powerfully in our midst!

10. The Christmas Shoebox Gift campaign - visited three children homes and was so touched by what I saw.

11. The Youth Leadership Summit (YLS) was a success - Encourage, Enable and Empower the youth were what I got most from all the teachings and preparations.

12. Had a Christmas open house for neighbours and some of my wife's collegues - great way to build relationships.

13. Reaching out to Uncle Yaw before he died and how God used Ps. Anne and myself to help his brother entered in Rumah Charis Old Folks Home.

There were some great moments and some not so great moments! But the Hand of God was all over my life! All glory to Him alone!

I envision a great twenty eleven!

TEAM POWER!

As I led a team to Cambodia recently, we had such a great time together! First of all, definitely it was God! All glory to Him! But there was this element of a great team!

Some of the traits which associate with team power...

1. Humility - We know we needed God and each other to make it!

2. Communication - We were clear on our tasks and everyone connected

3. Unselfishness - We looked out for each other.

4. Positive vibes - No faults finding with each other. There was mutual encouragement.

5. Collaboration - We just fitted into our tasks!

6. Clarity - Everyone knew what to do and we just did it!

7. Emo control - Everyone controlled their emotion well.

With this kind of a team, God can do great things!

CAMBODIA - IT'S HARVEST TIME!

Everywhere we went, we see paddy fields, ripe unto harvest! That's Cambodia at this moment! God is doing great and wonderful works there! The Son is shining brightly everywhere we went and even government and village heads were impressed with the works of the Christians! We went to a house of a certain village head and he gladly allowed Christians to operate English classes for the villagers!

We go there with the intention of blessing them, instead we are tremendously blessed by them. Happy faces welcomed all of us when we visited homes and there was no dusting off of our shoes! Children were simple and adoring and loved everything that we did (nothing extraordinary that we had done)!

I was told that a certain village we visited was initially rejected the Christians and the church. Things began to change when one young girl was set free from demon oppression!

Another leader who took charge of children's home told us about how street children were fewer today compared to years ago! This was because the children were helped and they now have the opportunity to live in a great environment!

I have been to Cambodia about 7 times but this time, I felt different! I felt like Jesus was embracing the Cambodians there in their own humble and simple ways in a greater measure!

God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble!

God bless Cambodia! May the latter rain pour and rain on the whole country with God's grace and power! Truly it's harvest time in Cambodia!