Don't pray pray

Me and the hood

Lily and Midori

The little kid up there (being supported
lovingly by her elder brother and sister),
will soon have a little kid of her own.
Lily, life's beautiful, isn't it?

When I say...I am a Christian

When I say..." I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I am saved"
I'm whispering "I get lost"
"That is why I chose this way"

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need someone to be my guide

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong
I'm professing that I'm weak
and pray for strength to carry on

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success
I'm admitting I have failed
and cannot ever pay the debt

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
my flaws are all too visible
but God believes I'm worth it

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartaches
which is why I seek His name

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I do not wish to judge
I have no authority
I only know I'm loved.

- Carol Wimmer

The author who came in from the cold

I've always had a fondness for Russian authors because they had their hearts and minds in the right places. Where do I even start when talking about Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn? To me, they are all literary geniuses and I deeply admire their resolve in writing about the political poverty and social inequity they see around them. Of course, the other important aspect about them is that they are mostly believers in Jesus Christ.

Their love and patriotism for their country also run very deeply through their works. Indeed, those who care deeply for their country are the ones who would most want the best for their country, and invariably the ones who would agitate for change.

I was elated to come across this lengthy Spiegel interview of Solzhenitsyn, and learn from it that he will be coming out with a new book - My American Years - later this year.

There were two comments from him in the article that I liked very much:

"I have always believed in what I did and never acted against my conscience."

"For me faith is the foundation and support of one's life."

Becoming Christ-like

World-renowned British Anglican evangelist Reverend Dr John Stott retired from public ministry recently, giving his last sermon on July 17.

Fittingly, his sermon focused on "What is God's purpose for His people?".

He said: “God wants His people to become like Christ. Christ-likeness is the will of God for the people of God.”

"This entering into other people's worlds is exactly what we mean by incarnational evangelism. All authentic mission is incarnational mission,” he said.

“Why is it, you must have asked, as I have, that in many situations our evangelistic efforts are often fraught with failure?” Stott continued. "[O]ne main reason is that we don't look like the Christ we are proclaiming.”

Dr Stott referred to a “perceptive little book” by John Poulton, entitled “A Today Sort of Evangelism.”

“The most effective preaching comes from those who embody the things they are saying,” Dr Stott cited from the book. “They are their message. Christians need to look like what they are talking about. It is people who communicate primarily, not words or ideas. Authenticity gets across. Deep down inside people, what communicates now is basically personal authenticity.”


To illustrate the impact that a Christ-like church could have on the world, Stott noted the words of non-Christians such as a Hindu professor in India who said to one of his Christian students: ”If you Christians lived like Jesus Christ, India would be at your feet tomorrow.“

From the Islamic world, Stott noted the words of the Rev. Iskandar Jadeed, a former Arab Muslim, who said: “If all Christians were Christians – that is, Christ-like – there would be no more Islam today.”'

Rallying a captivated congregation, Stott asked the question: “Is Christ-likeness attainable?”

He concluded: “In our own strength it is clearly not attainable but God has given us his Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to change us from within ... God's way to make us like Christ is to fill us with His Spirit.”


The above are extracts from the Christian Post article on Dr Stott. I noticed a comment by Peter Ramsay of www.heaven4sure.com on the article, and he mentioned that he had two Muslim-to-Christian conversion testimonies on his website:

1. Afghan Muslim discovers Jesus is more than a prophet


2. How a Muslim from Malaysia found Christ


May these testimonies serve as encouragement for those who have Muslim friends and for those who wonder whether God has a salvation plan for Muslims.


I pray that even as we read the articles and the testimonies, our faith will be lifted up, our spirits will be strengthened and our revelation of God will be that much deeper and broader. And that the Holy Spirit will carry on with its refining work in us.


And that most importantly, that we grow in faith and mature as authentic Christians who walk the talk so that we may draw people to Christ.

Personal authenticity beats everything else flat.

Amen. :-)

For The Sake of The Call

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
- Matthew 16:24-27

It was reported only recently that 23 South Korean missionaries in Afghanistan had been kidnapped by the Taliban. One of them has already been killed, and they found him with 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach. He is 42-year-old pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, who led the team of Korean volunteers on a humanitarian aid mission to Afghanistan. He was killed on his birthday.

South Korea has the second biggest number of missionaries abroad after the US - about 12,000 serving the Lord in over 70 countries. I went on a mission trip to Kyrgyzstan two years back and in that country, the Koreans were the first to go in and set up house churches. Almost all of the local Kyrgyz pastors were evangelised to and discipled by Korean missionaries.

Such is the impact of their missionary work for God, and such is the willingness to obey God to go into the harvest field. Is it any wonder that the devil keeps attacking in that direction?

When I read the reports on the kidnappings, I was reminded of a song by Steven Curtis Chapman (For The Sake Of The Call)

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die for the sake of the call

Not for the sake of a creed or a cause
Not for a dream or a promise
Simply because it is Jesus who called
And if we believe we'll obey


Please do set aside some time to pray for the other South Koreans still being held captive.

Homeland missionary

Here's an estimated breakdown of the major foreign nationalities from Asia in Singapore today:

Chinese: 200,000
Indonesian: 150,000
Filipino: 120,000
Indian: 90,000
Bangladeshi: 60,000
Thai: 45,000
Japanese: 26,000
Sri Lankan: 20,000
Myanmarese: 10,000

The harvest field for us is in our own backyard.

The one and only Faye

Well, this had to happen after my recent postings on Cantopop stars.

Here are some youtube videos of my most favourite singer (I even dreamt of playing badminton with her!).

Every time I listen to her or watch her music video, I have a wonderful smile on my face and my heart grows warmer because she sings so beautifully and she is so into her music.

I learnt something new about her: She likes to record in the dark and once she steps out of the recording studio, you can forget about asking her to go back to record the song a second time. It's no wonder she closes her eyes when she sings during concerts, such intoxication with the music.

My little-known fact: So far in my entire life, I've queued up for only two autograph sessions. These two singers are Faye Wong and Jacky Cheung.

矜持

千言萬語

人間 - 王菲

Thank you for loving me

天使

但愿人長久

推翻

感情生活

新房客

香奈兒

流浪的紅舞鞋

我愿意

悶

暗涌

懷念 + 夢醒了


Rare gems:

Concert rehearsal


Cocteau Twins' first live TV performance in the US


Faye Wong covers The Carpenters


北京一夜 With Zhang Xinzhe and Na Ying


王菲翻唱黑豹的歌 - Don't Break My Heart


Faye and Jacky Cheung


Faye and Tong Tong - 你快乐所以我快乐

娱乐百分百 : 王菲 歌唱大賽
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6

Li Ya Peng on Faye and their child Li Yan (born with cleft lip)
Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3


Faye and her daughter Tong Tong

CNN interview with Faye Wong in 1998: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. She is, of course, the first Chinese singer to be interviewed on CNN.


嫣然天使基金会 (Smile Angel Foundation)

The only song composed and sung by Faye after her "retirement"

愛笑的天使嘴角上揚，欣然而至，嶄新的臉龐，不閃不躲，盈盈亮亮，面朝純白，背向金黃 。愛笑的天使沒有翅膀，嫣然一笑就飛翔，笑容在心裡，快樂在臉上，不說一句教人善良。

愛笑的天使嘴角上揚，混然不覺，兀自安詳，不惹塵埃，不起風浪，在你身上我看到了光。 愛笑的天使沒有翅膀，嫣然一笑就飛翔，笑容在心裡，快樂在臉上，不說一句教人善良。愛 笑的天使愛歌唱，帶來人間希望，不需要翅膀嫣然一笑，就能快樂飛翔。

Knowing what I did not know

On Monday, I had a one-on-one session with my counselling training supervisor to assess whether I was ready to counsel clients as a lay counsellor.

It was an enjoyable, meaningful and mind-opening session with her. Thanks, SK, I appreciate greatly the fact that you took time out for me. I want to tell you that this session is one of the defining moments in my life because of what I got out of it and what I learnt about myself. :-)

She started off by asking me for feedback on the counselling training sessions.

I said that after the training was over, I had to pray to God and check my motives. I had to examine myself - whether I was in it because I wanted to help people or I was in it because I could socialise, meet new people and have interesting training sessions that included role-plays.

When I do start counselling people, I am directly involved in other people's lives. This is not fun and games anymore; this is the real thing.

I also told her that at this stage, I was not very confident of counselling real clients. She told me that she was also of the view that I undergo further training. I was fine with it because I told her that I will not counsel clients if I was not ready.


I also told her that I was quite surprised that certain people felt very strongly about certain situations, like for example, a person would say he or she could not take a case involving abuse of children because it would arouse anger. She asked me what I felt about that. I told her that nobody was perfect and that I felt very strongly that if the world wouldn't extend grace to a person, then surely the church and the counselling ministry had to extend grace because that was the core message of the Gospel.


Somehow, inexplicably, we kind of veered into a discussion on Cantopop. I told her that I had attended a concert by Jacky Cheung and had gone to see lots of youtube videos of Cantopop stars after I returned home from the concert. I also said that when I was watching an Anita Mui concert video, I cried. (I had elaborated on this in my previous blog entry.) She told me that her favourite Cantopop star was Leslie Cheung. I told her that I missed the entire Cantopop movement. She then started telling me about some highlights of that era, and I really enjoyed her sharing.


I then told her that when I heard something or I saw something, my heart would go out to the other person immediately. I seemed to feel what the other person was feeling and so I would react emotionally. Like if I saw a young person in a coffin, I would be trying to control my tears because I would be thinking: "Sigh...he or she will never have a full life" or "His or her parents must be feeling so sad now".

When I listened to sermons, it would be the same thing: When a speaker spoke about a certain struggle in his life, I would be sniffling away because I could picture myself in his situation and feeling what he would have been feeling then.

The thing, however, was that I never ever examined within myself why I reacted in those ways. I never examined my own feelings.


She said that at the cognitive level, I was very self-aware but perhaps at the emotional level, I was lacking in self-awareness. For example, I was not aware that I was frowning so much during my role-play sessions. Also there was the transference effect --- I had to ask myself whether I was feeling what someone was feeling and reacting to the client's feelings, or I was reacting in that manner because of issues in my own life.

Self-awareness of one's emotions would be very useful in counselling people, she said.


This was a revelation to me because I had always thought that I was very self-aware. She pointed out that apart from feeling empathetic towards others, I also needed to examine my own feelings. Take the Anita Mui video, for example: Why did I cry and what did it mean to me, apart from the fact that my heart went out to Anita Mui?


She also said that I would need to be aware of why and how I react in a situation or to a person, as well as how my emotions would affect others. I remembered telling her that my friends sometimes said that I was not in tune with them. Like for example, they may want to be in the first gear during a conversation with me, but I'm in the fifth gear and racing away with my speech.


I also told her that I have this thing about people relying too much on me, and that is why I keep a distance from people once they get too close to me.


I had served two years as a cellgroup leader. During that time, I kept my cellgroup members at a careful distance because I didn't want them to depend on me, but to look to God. I also was very open about my struggles with the Christian faith because I wanted them to know that I also had issues and that my Christian walk was not all roses.


She said that she observed that I was a solutions-focused person during my role-play sessions. She said that as a counsellor, we were to help the counselee come up with his or her solutions, and we were not to jump the gun and start offering solutions to the counselee. Counsellors are there to listen first and foremost.


I told her that to me, there were three stages of personal growth and development: dependence, independence and interdependence. I admitted to her that I was finding it very difficult to make the transition from being independent to being interdependent.


I gave her an analogy. The temples of the biblical days had an outer court, an inner court and a Holy of Holies. I told her that I had a very big Holy of Holies that I did not allow people access to. It was very strange but during that time,when I said that, I was close to almost crying but I recovered my composure. Most likely, there are a lot of issues that I have yet to address and that is perhaps why I have a very big moat around my inner feelings and my emotions.


She asked me why that was and whether it is because I'm fearful of being vulnerable in front of others.


I told her that I have to think through this because it could be a lot of things including the following:

* I am fearful of rejection so I don't allow people to get too close to me.

* I don't want to disappoint people or let them down.

* I am afraid of being vulnerable.

* I don't really know how to open myself up to people. (She said I have no problems in this area because I'm very open.)

* Some other issues that are bothering me but which I am reluctant or afraid or not ready to address them or confide in people about them.

* Other things that haven't come to my mind as of now. :-P


I then asked her how I can become more self-aware of my emotions. She laughed and said that there was no secret and that I just needed to be more aware at the emotional level. To a solutions-focused person, that was the death knell. I was like "huh??!!" and she laughed.


Before I knew it, we were walking to Plaza Singapura for a quick bite. She had mee rebus and I had laksa. She asked me if I was doing anything later in the night and I said no. So she said I should go for a session being conducted by another counselling supervisor on bipolar personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. So I told her that I will attend the session because I was interested in psychology.


She left because she had to see a client at 6.30pm.


Remember the Cantopop conversation I had with her? I went to both Music Junction and Sembawang Music at Plaza Singapura to try to get music CDs and concert DVDs of Anita Mui, Eason Chan, Sammi Cheng as well as Anita Mui's only female disciple Ho Wan Si or HOCC. But the stores didn't carry these titles.


Around 7.30pm, I was back at the counselling ministry for the night session. The session ended around 10pm and I took a bus home.


I was very happy that day because someone took the time to talk to me and to tell me some things about me that I personally was not in tune with. That is, someone taking the effort to help me so that in future, I can help others.

Thanks again, SK. :-)

Past and present Cantopop greats

I came back from the Jacky Cheung concert and started going through youtube.

I wanted to check if there were video postings of Anita Mui because I had never heard her live or seen her perform live before. Then I realised that there were quite a few video clips of Jacky and Anita performing a particular song during their concerts etc. The song was called Blessing.


One video led to another and before I knew it, I had gone through some videos of Anita Mui, Jacky Cheung, Faye Wong, Teresa Teng, Sam Hui, Alan Tam and Danny Chan and Eason Chan. All greats in their own right. And I discovered one real gem in Denise Ho or HOCC.


I've listed down some links to some videos below. I'll probably be going through some more during my free time.


One of them, in particular, made me cry because it was a clip of Anita singing one of her biggest hits during her 2003 concert series in HK. She appeared in a wedding gown singing that song, to symbolise that she was married to the stage.

It was a very poignant song for me because I think that she herself must have known that there was something seriously wrong with her body but yet, she chose to have that series of concerts because music was her life. And I felt that she wanted to give it all she had during this last concert series because perhaps in her heart, she knew that her time was very nearly up.


1. Jacky Cheung's CNN interview in 2004
Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.



2a. Anita Mui's video that made me cry - 夕陽之歌
2b. A tribute to Anita Mui (sitting in the audience) from Sammi Cheng, Kelly Chen, Joey Yung, HOCC, Miriam Yeung and Gigi Leung. - 似水流年
2c. Another of Anita's classic live performances - 似水流年


3. Faye Wong's tribute to Teresa Teng - 我只在乎你



4. Sam Hui's medley of songs

Sam Hui's 2002 version of 浪子心聲

Sam Hui's 1976 version of 浪子心聲

Anita Mui's version of 浪子心聲



5. Danny Chan and Leslie Cheung on stage



6. Alan Tam and Danny Chan on stage



7. Alan Tam and Sam Hui on stage



7. Eason Chan on stage
How talented is this guy? He plays a wide variety of musical instruments - the piano, drums, guitar, violin, harmonica, accordian, saxophone, electronic organ as well as the trumpet. Is it any wonder that he's widely regarded as the best male singer of his generation in the Chinese/Cantopop world today?
Some other clips:

陳奕迅 - 反高潮

Eason - 反高潮 (99大個唱)


8. Denise Ho or HOCC (Anita's disciple): I was very stunned by her voice. As one of the comments on one of her live performances said: "The song could barely contain her voice." This is the first time I've heard of her and I proceeded to watch some other live performances of hers. She is probably the one I will fly to Hong Kong just to catch a concert of hers. She's got fantastic stage presence, just like Anita. A joy to watch. From what I have seen, she plays the guitar, electric guitar as well as the piano. Another clip where she's with Sammi Cheng at her concert, where they seem to be having such a great time!


PS: It was an emotional trip down memory lane for me when I was listening to some of the clips because some of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard are no longer around.

Better than ever - Jacky

I just attended a concert of my favourite male singer, Jacky Cheung.


How did I hear of him? During my first year of university, one of my classmates brought me to this music shop near our university. He recommended that I buy one album each of the four Heavenly Kings - Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok. From the moment I heard Jacky Cheung sing, he was the only one for me.


Apart from Faye Wong, Jacky is the only other singer whom I place on a pedestal higher than all others.


Before university, my life was a very regimented one - badminton training sessions thrice a week with additional physical training sessions on Saturdays. I spent the rest of the time studying. I knew only badminton and books.


When I heard Jacky and Faye, they flung open the world of music to me. Only through their voices did I realise that there was this wonderful world of great Chinese/Cantonese music. This is why I've been their loyal fan for so many years. They were the ones who first liberated my ears. In my heart, they are irreplaceable.


Back to yesterday's concert: It has been a few years since Jacky Cheung came to Singapore. I also have not heard him sing live for quite a while. He did not let me down. The concert was polished and his voice was as good as before.


I also felt that he has matured a lot in terms of stage performance. This concert was the one that made me feel that he has finally broken off the shackles of performing the way his audience wanted him to perform. Instead, this concert was staged, I feel, according to what he wanted. He showed some nifty dance steps and also incorporated a segment where he performed songs from the musical Snow.Wolf.Lake and the movie Perhaps Love.


His concert contained some parts which were very touching to me. He sang songs that he composed for his older daughter and for his wife.


Then at another part, he turned a bit philosophical. He told the audience that inevitably, in life, there are some periods of deep sorrow but when one survives that, the future is definitely brighter. And he encouraged the audience to persevere when they are in a period of their lives when they are undergoing some difficulty or experiencing sorrow.


He referred to the year 2003 as a year when he felt very down and out. He didn't elaborate but that was the year when Leslie Cheung committed suicide in April and Anita Mui died of cervical cancer in December. These two singers were from his generation of Cantopop singers, and that generation was a very tight-knit bunch. I think he was very close to Anita as well as Leslie, especially Anita. They would always appear at each other's concerts. He sang a song he wrote in remembrance of them.


During a segment when he was singing songs of other artistes, he said doing so always made him nervous because if he failed badly, he would feel very embarrassed when he were to meet them the next time. But he said he believed that music should always be sung from the heart, and that people would feel it if he sang from his heart.

I felt it.

Ever so often, a rainbow appears

Sometimes, I doubt whether God hears me or whether He's really there. Then something happens to ensure I absolutely know that God is with me. And then, I have to repent and tell God that I'm sorry and ask Him to forgive me for doubting His existence.

I went to a bookstore on Tuesday for some literary consolation, following a rather numbing root canal treatment.

I stopped by the travel section to get a book on Washington D.C. (I'll be travelling there in mid-August with a dear friend, and staying with her in her apartment for two weeks or so.) I then skipped through the military history section and ended up in the inspirational/religious section.

I went through all the Christian books from A to Z.

I picked up four books after asking God what books He wanted me to read:
- Too Busy Not To Pray (Bill Hybels)
- Orthodoxy (G.K.Chesterton)
- How To Hear From God (Joyce Meyer)
- The Wounded Healer (Henri Nouwen)

Henri Nouwen was, to me, a dark horse. I knew him only as a Catholic priest and writer, and had never read any of his books. But I had read of him as well as of Thomas Merton in many Christian articles, which cited their insightful writings on faith and Christ.

On returning home, I went online to download some sermon podcasts from my church. The next day, I listened to one of them during my cab ride to work.

The podcast sermon was from a recent youth service. The youth pastor started her sermon with a story. When she finished telling it and said that it had been written by Henri Nouwen, I could feel the hairs on my body standing.

I just said silently in my heart: "Yes Lord, I know you really want me to read this book. Thank you for making it very clear."

I told God: "God, sometimes I am overwhelmed by Your presence. Forgive me."

I have finished listening to that sermon on faith, and I am starting on Henri Nouwen's book.

It is vain to serve God?

Malachi 3:13-15
13 “ Your words have been harsh against Me,”
Says the LORD,

“ Yet you say,

‘ What have we spoken against You?’
14 You have said,

‘ It is useless to serve God;
What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,
And that we have walked as mourners
Before the LORD of hosts?
15 So now we call the proud blessed,
For those who do wickedness are raised up;
They even tempt God and go free.’”


God tells the Jews that they have spoken harshly against Him. But the Jews deny this, questioning God at His word.

The Jews show their arrogance and openly display their anger towards God. Their attitude betrays a transactional view towards their relationship with God. They think that God should bless them. Why? Because they have kept His ordinances.

They are angry that they have done so and yet have not profited from it. To rub salt into their wounds, the proud have been blessed, and those who are wicked get away with it - escaping punishment by God. So they conclude that it is useless to serve God.

Do Christians today also think in this manner?

That God should bless us because we have attended church services, gone for cellgroup meetings and tithed faithfully?

That God should favour us because we have kept the 10 commandments, said the Lord's Prayer every night, and gone on mission trips?

That God should reward us because we have served in ministry for years, attended the rally of every Christian speaker that passed through the country, and sung our hearts out during praise and worship services?

That we should expect blessings and fortunes because we did all those things?

That we have the right to be angry at God if He does not bless us after all our efforts for Him?


Oh, the arrogance of such foolish human thinking.


If we expect such transactional behaviour from God, then we really have thought too lowly of God. We would really have missed out God's heartbeat entirely.


God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us so that we, sinners, could be restored to a full eternal loving relationship with Him. In Jesus, we have the full revelation of God's love and sacrifice that saves us from God's righteous judgment on sinners.

Christ's sacrifice and resurrection speaks of grace, redemption and restoration. Our response is through repentance, grounded in faith that leads to good works. It is manifested in the fruits of the spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.


Oftentimes, the sermon preached from the pulpit is that of blessing, wealth and prosperity for Christians. Such a message is but a pale version of the Gospel.


We need to turn back to the cross of Calvary and rediscover God in His fullness.

Cult watch: Scientology

All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke



I went to youtube because I hadn't been there in a while.


I was drawn to a video which featured BBC Panorama's John Sweeney losing his cool at one of the cult's leaders. He had gone to Clearwater, Florida - the base of the Church of Scientology - to find out more about the cult because it recently opened a big centre in London.


I proceeded to watch a few more videos on the cult. The footage is extremely disturbing and shocking. Make no doubt about it: Scientology is one of the most dangerous cults in the world today.



I've highlighted a few videos below:


1. Inside Edition's shocking report on Scientology and the death of Lisa McPherson.
Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
One key point: People between the age of 18 and 25 are the ones most vulnerable and, therefore, the most attractive targets for cults.


2. In Britain: The Big Story's inside story on the cult
A reporter goes undercover and infiltrates the cult. One can also understand how the cult grew so rich by exploiting its members.



3. In the United States: Scientology and the death of Lisa McPherson
The Lisa McPherson Trust showcased in the video how the cult engaged in the "fair game" policy.

According to Scientology's Fair Game policy , an enemy of Scientology "may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist, and may be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.



4. In the United States: 60 Minutes' report on how the church of Scientology took over the Cult Awareness Network in 1998. Before that, the network helped parents whose children had been entrapped by groups like Scientology.



5. Scientology vs BBC: How the Church of Scientology treated John Sweeney of Panorama before he lost his cool at one of the church's leaders

BBC filed a report shortly after.


And you know what was the saddest part for me? Scientology totally discredits psychiatry and believes the Holocaust was started by a group of psychiatrists. It does not believe in psychiatric treatment for its members, and that was how Lisa McPherson died.


I followed up on a comment in one of the videos, and found another similar tragedy that happened in Australia just recently. Here, a woman charged with murdering her father and sister was allegedly forced to stop taking psychiatric drugs by her family because they were Scientologists.


The key warning signs of a cult (source):

• Single charismatic leader.
• People always seeming constantly happy and enthusiastic. Especially if you discover that they have been told to act that way for the potential new recruits.
• Instant friends.
• If you are told who you can or cannot talk to or associate with.
• They hide what they teach.
• Say they are the only true group, or the best so why go anywhere else.
• Hyped meetings, get you to meetings rather than share with you.
• Experiential rather than logical.
• Asking for money for the next level.
• Some cults travel door to door during times when women are home alone. They, and this is rather sexist, think that women are easier to recruit and once they have the woman then it will be easier to snare the husband or partner.
• Saying that they have to make people pay for it because otherwise they will not appreciate it. This is of course a very silly reason, plenty of people are able to appreciate things which they did not pay for.

I hope that if you're reading this blog posting, please forward these videos on Scientology to your families, relatives, colleagues and friends so that more people are well-informed about this extremely dangerous cult.


God is about truth. Scientology is about lies.

Bringing home the prodigals (II)

I especially liked this prayer that was printed on a pamphlet distributed along with the cards. It's called the Elder Brother's Prayer:

Dear Loving Father,

I humble myself before You.

I repent of my negative attitude towards my prodigal brothers and sisters.

Even though I may appear to be faithfully serving in Your house, I confess that I too have been prodigal at heart.

Forgive me for pretending to be more spiritual than I really am.

Forgive me for self-righteously judging and rejecting those who had walked out on home and faith.

Forgive me for begrudging Your lavish love and longsuffering mercies towards them.

Pluck out the hidden roots of spiritual pride and deception in my life.

Create within me a right spirit.

Baptise me in Your compassionate love so that I may always - with open heart and open arms - accept and acknowledge, applaud and affirm every prodigal who comes home.

In Jesus' Name, Amen.


It was a very humbling experience to say the prayer out loud among the congregation and know that deep in my heart, I have been guilty on all counts. Thank God that when we repent in our hearts, there is forgiveness because of the cross. Amen.

Bringing home the prodigals (I)

The Parable of the Prodigal Son: I like the story because it reveals a lot about the nature of God (the father figure) and the nature of man (the two sons).

The father longs for the return of his son, and gives him back all the rights, status, privileges of a son: Christ is always standing outside the doors of our hearts, patiently waiting for us to invite Him in. When we repent and turn to Him, God restores our status and identities as children of God, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

Like the prodigal son, we sometimes fall too easily for the trappings of this material world. We take the blessings of God for granted. We persist in our own foolishness and rebellion. We look to God and come to our senses only when bad things happen or when troubles come our way.

Thank God that He is full of grace. He is always there with open arms to lift us up whenever we fall and stumble in our walk with Him.


Some associate the prodigal son with people outside the church, but there are also many prodigals within the church who need our love, grace and support.

Prodigals outside the church: These people could have hurt badly by people within the church and that's why they left. Or they could have sinned and felt so ashamed that they are afraid to even step back into a church again because of their heavy burden of condemnation. And then, there could be some who feel that they are never good enough for Him, so why bother.


I wish they would know that no one is perfect and everyone is a sinner and that is why God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us on the cross, so that we could be saved from his judgment through Christ.

God cares for them and loves them, and wants them to come back to him. Christ is the Good Shepherd. He is searching for the many lost sheep in his flock.


Prodigals within the church: They attend church but feel disconnected to the family of God. Or they could have backsliden and need just a helping hand back into the church. Perhaps, their hearts have turned slightly cold and cynical over the years, changed by the fallen world they see around them.


Rob Parsons of the UK's Care for the Family charity gave a stirring message in my church yesterday. His message was on Bringing Home The Prodigals: Preparing for Our Prodigals' Return. There were some main points:

- Some of the prodigals are not even prodigals to begin with but became prodigals because they were pushed away by people and rules and rituals.

- The guilt and condemnation of Christian parents with regard to prodigals is oftentimes tremendous and he asked these parents to leave all these negative feelings at the foot of the cross.

- Forgiveness extended to the prodigals is key in preparing for the prodigals' return.

- When the prodigals return, the church should ensure that they will be met by the father first instead of the elder son.

- Pray, pray, pray for the prodigals out there.


At the end of the service, we were told to write down names of the prodigals we knew and to put the cards in baskets at the foot of a cross on the stage. Then we had congregational prayers for these people.

I put down the names of four friends because they were people who had known God and had now left church. I'm committed to praying for them.

My family is on a separate list in my book because they have not yet known God yet. But it's amazing how God works - He spoke to me about reaching out to them through a friend, and a younger person at that. But I'll blog about that another time.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Luke 15:11-32 (NIV version)

Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.^[a]'

"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'

"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

Is there spiritual warfare in this time and age?

I mentioned in an earlier post about Pastor Joel Stockstill of 220power, the youth ministry of Bethany World Prayer Center in the United States. He and his wife have raised up 430 leaders who disciple more than 3,300 students in weekly cell meetings. I said that I liked listening to his sermons through podcasts and was edified by them.

I left a note on his personal blog some time back. Yesterday, when I went to check his blog, I was quite shocked to find out that he is facing kidney problems and that his wife has been diagnosed as suffering from a low-grade cancer called Hodgkins Lymphoma around the same time.

Among his blog entries were these words: "Yesterday was one of the most difficult days of my life. Between Amy’s first chemotherapy treatment and a rough day at the dialysis unit for me (simultaneously) it all seemed to surreal. Even now, speaking about the situation with my darling wife seems like another person’s story or a book of someone else’s life. The emotional side of all this is too much to even try and handle and that is why we must not be led or controlled by emotions but allow our spirit man to take the lead. In my emotions there is anxiety, fear, and shock, but in my spirit there is peace, faith, and a calm assurance that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father interceding for me day and night. What a grand thought!

"Never in my life have I seen such warfare, and you all that know me know that I have seen some serious battle days in my time, but this is something else! To be honest it is truly shocking in one sense but exciting in another to know that the enemy is so afraid of us that he has to go to all these lengths to try and stop us and still he fails! haha devil, take that!"

I am deeply humbled by his courage and his faith in God, and I pray that I will exhibit those same attributes during my times of spiritual warfare and battles. I also pray that God will deepen and broaden my faith more and more each day.

I'm also praying for Pastor Stockstill and his wife Amy.

When there are no answers

I went to the wake of a senior colleague on Wednesday. He refused all medical treatment for an illness, trusting in God with faith. Some other colleagues asked me what to make of his decision as well as his death.

I told them that I could not understand his decision not to seek medical treatment but I supported it because he heard from God, and that settled it.

Faith is a personal walk with God. His decision rested on his faith in God, and his actions bore out his faith in God. He showed tremendous faith and humility in depending totally on God.

Why did God not heal him? The answer falls beyond human comprehension and rests in the higher realms of God's sovereignty.

What I do know is that I will see him again, in a little while, in God's kingdom.

What matters in the end is that he has fought the good fight, he has finished the race and he has kept the faith. The crown of righteousness awaits him.

How reassuring

Sitting in the smoking section

Pastors breaking taboos and reaching out to city folk

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070629/28225_Innovative_Church_Leaders_Move_Into_the_Neighborhood.htm

One of them is Senior Pastor Craig Groeschel of www.lifechurch.tv

Here's what he says about reaching out to the unsaved:

"If we're going to reach the world, we're going to have to sit in the smoking section."

"In order to reach those that no one else is reaching, we will have to do things that no one else is doing."

"We need to stop trying so hard to build attendance and we need to think about building the Church. When we redefine it and say 'look at how many people are being lost (rather than counting those being saved),' that's going to change everything."

His website has an Internet church campus - my favourite part of this website: http://www.lifechurch.tv/p/39/Default.aspx?SermonID=109&CategoryID=2

The other church mentioned was Granger Community Church in Indiana (http://www.gccwired.com/)

Granger broke the rules when the church plastered mylamesexlife.com billboards around the local city, which stirred debate among Christians and a media storm.

My favourite part of Granger Community Church: http://readmylifestories.blogspot.com/

Are these innovative churches a flash in the pan? Are they biblical? Well, test them. Check out their websites, go through their church mission statements, listen to the sermons, and understand where their pastoral leadership is coming from.

I think that many churches in Singapore have yet to even fully come to appreciate or even harness the fantastic complementary channel of the Internet that God has placed in our hands in this generation and for the future generations to come.

I pray that Christians can claim and harness the Internet to reach out to people with messages of hope, love, grace, forgiveness and Christ instead of losing this channel to messages that breed sin, hatred, racism and terrorism.

The Strunk and White of visual design

I was delighted to come across two recent articles on Edward Tufte - one of the big influences on the way I view design.

The New York Magazine calls him The Minister of Information in its article, while the Stanford Magazine's story on him carries the headline - Intelligent Designs.

I hold Tufte in the highest of regard as the Grand Master of visual design, especially in information graphics and the display of quantitative information.

I've two of his books - The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and Envisioning Information, both of which are available at www.amazon.com.

He's recently come out with a new book called Beautiful Evidence, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

His personal website also highlights two of the most beautiful informational graphics ever done in history.

The first is a map drawn up by Charles Joseph Minard of the losses suffered by Napoleon's army in the Russian campaign of 1812. It is tough getting four variables down on a two-dimensional plane but Minard's map manages to display six variables - the direction of Napoleon's army, the size of the army from the start all the way through the end, the time taken, the temperatures throughout the march, the distance covered and the places the army marched through. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Tufte describes this map as "the best statistical graphic ever drawn".

The second shows a cyclogram hand-drawn by a Russian cosmonaut, Georgi Grechko. It shows a 96-day flight of Salyut 6. Some 22 parallel time-series show 1500 sunrises and 1500 sunsets during the flight, a schedule for space walks and baths, and visits of resupply ships bringing equipment, fresh fruit, and gingerbread. How does one beat that? And Grechko rendered everything in colour. Awesome.

I'll order posters of these two graphics when I'm feeling rich, and will display them in my new place (when I do get round to getting one).

Urban expectations in a new world

I read through a friend's musings on city life, and wrote about what I felt.

Call it good timing, I suppose, but I'm now reading a book, City Life, that my colleague, Joyce, lent me some time back. It was written by Witold Rybczynski in 1995. (Joyce, be patient with me --- I'll finish it soon.)

He wrote about cities: how we live in them and how we use them, how cities develop their own identities, and how our urban spaces have been changed and affected by our lifestyles and landscapes through time.

There was this part that grabbed me:

"Most cities have places of which the visitor can say when he reaches them, "Now, I'm really here." These hallmark places can be famous monuments like Eiffel Tower and Berlin's Brandenburg Gate or even famous buildings like Buckingham Palace. More often than not, they are large public places: The Piazza San Marco in Venice, Red Square in Moscow, Tiananmen Square in Beijing."

I got to thinking about Singapore and whether we had anything that was unique and iconic. The closest I could come to was the Singapore Girl.

People might point to that durian of an Esplanade but to me, it's a recent thing. I was in search of something more historically significant or monumentally impressive but I couldn't think of any. The Sir Stamford Raffles statue?

Well, in future, we could well be known as the Monte Carlo of Asia. That's light years away from being the Antioch of the region.