Biblical Perspective on Chinese Customs and Beliefs

I read CH Kang and Ethel Nelson's "The Discovery of Genesis: How the Truths of Genesis were found hidden in the Chinese Language" (Concordia Publishing House, 1985) a few years ago with some understanding of how ancient Chinese words appeared to contain some aspects of biblical context. Some of the truths were etched in my mind and perhaps develop in me, an interest in traditional Chinese customs and beliefs.

Since last year, I have been practising Chinese body massage on my 2 elder children almost evey night before they went to bed. I learnt it from a book which advocated the many health benefits of Chinese massage for young children. I have been particularly conscientious of working on the Chinese way of eye massaging as I do not wish my children having myopia like me. Little do I realise the underlying origin of Chinese massage until I read Daniel Tong's "A Biblical Approach to Chinese Traditions and Beliefs" (Armour Publishing, 2007). Daniel advises against Christians learning and practising Chinese acupuncture and massage, tracing the origins of the practice to Taoism and Buddhism in ancient China.

I pray for God's wisdom in discerning the good and bad influence of traditional health practices.

Sex education - Responsibility lies with the parents

According to a recent report produced by the Ministry of Education (MOE), sex education is currently implemented in all schools, with two-thirds of all schools outsourcing it to external agencies in complementing their school programmes. Nothing alarming you may say, but today's newspaper article about the disengagement of parents in understanding the need or importance of sex education to their impressionable teens, is causing me unease.

Why? Because to me, sex education must be complemented by counselling from the parents, not just by the school or external counsellors! This concerns our young generation's shaping of moral values towards responsible parenthood, not just knowing the ABCs of the pregnancy process and use of birth contraceptives as taught during sex education classes. What more when school teachers are ill-equipped or embarrassed about teaching the subject in front of precocious students? Wrong or fuzzy concepts or moral values may be passed on and worse still, children learning about sex education through the Internet or illicit publications.

Last year, I bought a book which talks about the teaching of sex to our children in God's context. The title of the book is "I Want to Teach My Child About Sex: An On-the-go Guide for Busy Parents" by Dr Karl & Shannon Wendt (Standard Publishing, 2005). The authors emphasize the need for open communication with our children in creating the right and safe environment for sharing and listening. It has chapters dedicating to relevant topics relating to different age groups, which really help in systematically introducing the children to gender-specific messages, advocating learning through fun activities such as story-telling and the use of virtual aids. What I like about the book is the snippets of key points pointing to biblical truth to reinforce the right spiritual foundation in the process of learning. For example, for the age group of 3-6, key points such as "Tell your kids that God made their bodies and is very proud of His work!" and "Teach your child that God made us as we are --- the perfect and imperfect parts, the public and private parts, the whole thing -- and your bodies are good".

For Christians, it is our duty as parents to guide and teach our children in the ways of the Lord. I pray that Christian parents will rise up to protect our young ones against any wrongful teachings the world has so embraced in the guise of freedom of speech and liberalism, and that God will give us wisdom and patience in teaching our children according to His truth.

Reflections on the AWARE Saga

After all the brouhaha surrounding the AWARE saga and the public outcry about the alleged bigoted ways of a Christian group in the hostile takeover of a secular organisation (AWARE), I couldn't help but to pray against the threat of propagation of so called alternative lifestyles (the acceptance of homosexuality) to our younger generations in schools under the guise of sex education. Such subliminal messages to the impressionable teens not only destroy the foundation of our society's pro-family lifestyle, it run contrary to what God's consitution of a family unit since the creation of mankind.

AWARE's alleged neutral or positive standpoint of homosexuality and (shockingly) anal sexual activity is deplorable. Thank God for the revelation of AWARE's "hidden agenda" in their sex education programmes. Let us be guarded against the schemes of the evil one, who seeks to steal and rob of what God has created for good. May the Lord bless and let His light shine upon the leaders of AWARE.

Power of Parental Blessings

"God is a relational God", said Ed Silvoso at his sermon in the Chinese service this morning.

God loves Adam and Eve and treated them as His children and family. However, this relationship was broken when Satan messed it up at the Garden of Eden. Jesus Christ recovered what was lost when He died for us at the Cross! He restored our relationship with our Heavenly Father so that we could once again be restored as God's children.

Ed underscored the biblical importance of speaking blessings to our children (be them natural children or spiritual offsprings), that we need to let them know we love and like them. Ed revealed God's revelation that "curses can be broken but blessings cannot be destroyed", and that "curses last till the 4th generation but blessings carry on from one generation to another". Blessings have the compounding power and impact on our children and their next generations! The favour of the Lord from one generation would also be passed unto the next generations, as illustrated in 2 Chronicles, chapters 6 and 7. King Solomon sinned against God but God promised him that during his life time, he would not witness the division of the kingdom --- all because of God's favour on Solomon's father, King David.

In closing, Ed urged the church to invest in our children's lives by depositing blessings unto them. That echoed in my heart that as a parent of my three children, I need to be mindful of the words spoken to my children. May the words be of words that build up their characters and not to tear them down. Thank you Lord Jesus, for your divine revelation and reminder.

Transformation 09 (1-2 May 09)

"Transformation 09: Change the marketplace and you change the world!" conference, organised by FCBC and opened to the Love Singapore network of churches, was held from 1st to 2nd May 09 at Singapore Expo's Max Pavilion.

Ed Silvoso is no stranger to Singapore churches as his marketplace ministry is one of the key leaders in God's move in the marketplace. Ed dwelt on the fundamentals of God's plan in redeeming the marketplace, the Babylonia System that had brought about the current global economic crisis, and invited testimonies of marketplace leaders to share on their setbacks and victories in transforming the corporate world.

I felt blessed and encouraged by Ed's anointed messages during these 2 days of conference.

Qing Ming Festival

Qing Ming Festival is a traditional Chinese custom for paying respect to our forefathers at their tombs. It falls on the 5th term of the lunar calendar, usually in April.

This year's Qing Ming Festival started early April. 2 Sundays ago, I accompanied my parents to visit the Kong Meng San Monastry and offer my prayers to my ancestors at the columbarium. In the past few trips, my parents and relatives were surprised that I came along because of their misconceptions of Christians' resentment to honouring our forefathers. Even though I didn't participate in any of the rituals (offering joss sticks and incense papers to the forefathers), I am sure they appreciated my presence.

I believe God wants His people to honour our forefathers and parents. We need to know our roots so as to break the generational curses that flowed from our forefathers to our generations and beyond. May the Lord grant me revelation of the past generations' sins and bondages so as to deliver me and my family from these iniquities by the blood of Jesus Christ, who is our redeemer and saviour. Amen.

In the Name of Jesus, ...

I picked up Edmund Chan's book, "Growing Deep In God: Integrating Theology and Prayer", hoping to capture some spiritual nuggets of wisdom and stumble on the chapter on "Misconceptions About Prayers" (pp. 92 to 100).

In illustrating the mentality of treating God as the genie in a bottle, he talked about a little boy's fear of the dark when his mother asked his help to retrieve a broom in the back porch, and how his mother reassured him of Jesus' protection and omnipresence. Instead of trusting Jesus to protect him while retrieving the broom, the little boy prayed to Jesus to bring him the broom!

There were a few nights where my son would refuse to sleep and told me he was afraid of the dark and even ghosts. Despite reassuring him that Jesus is the head of this household and that ghosts would run away from Him, he would still be unsettled. I resorted to teaching him a Sunday School song "In the Name of Jesus" and after he sang that a few times, he was able go to sleep easily. That's the power of declaring Jesus' name!

For those with young children, try singing this tune to them before sleep in reassuring them of God's love and protection:

In the name of Jesus,
In the name of Jesus,
We have the victory

In the name of Jesus,
In the name of Jesus,
Demons will have to flee

When we stand on the name of Jesus,
Tell me who can stand before

In the mighty name of Jesus,
We have the victory.

International G12 Conference

The International G12 Conference, organised by FCBC, was held from 12 to 14 Mar 09 at the Singapore Expo. Many delegates from overseas churches attended the conference.

It was great seeing Pastor Cesar and his family again! I was deeply encouraged by Pastor Cesar's youngest daughter during her sharing of her diagnosed genetic disorder (rheumatic disorder) when she was younger. Her doctor told her that she would never be able to dance and lead a normal lifestyle. Believing that she has a God who heals, her family prayed for a divine healing upon her through the blood of Jesus Christ. She was healed and am now able to lead in the dance ministry in her church! Praise the Lord!

I learnt from Pastor Cesar the importance of the blessings brought about through the blood of Jesus Christ. Demons want our blood, which is why many diseases and genetic disorders originate from our blood system. Christ shed his blood at the Cross for us and redeemed our souls. So proclaiming Jesus' precious blood in healing our bodies and sins will defeat the plans of the evil one. Such is the revelation of the importance of claiming the Lord's blood and sacrifice in our spiritual warfare!

This G12 conference had a treat for us --- the final concert by Delirious!. This is perhaps my first time coming up close with the group performing in Singapore. I must say I was really impressed by the band's music and vocals! Despite a few not so well known songs (at least to me), I enjoyed "My Soul Sings" and "Majesty". I am a converted Delirious! fan already. Sad to know that the band will be disbanded and that the concert on the last day of the International G12 Conference would be their last performance. All the best to you guys!

Cell Group MTV for Joseph and Ying Ling's Wedding

After many late nights through trials and errors fiddling with Edward's videocam and researching on the Net on the conversion of VOB to AVI file format,in addition to learning some Movie Maker tricks, I've finally completed the final production.

Joseph and YL, congratulations and God bless your marriage!