Panama Videos (3 of 3)

The third program is about two sisters of Iglesia Evangelica China de Panama (巴京堂) who have been in Panama for over 40 years. Formerly Mrs Yuen was very unhappy because she was an overseas bride 過埠新娘，but her husband left her for another woman. However, now she is always joyful despite a serious car accident that left her dependent on a wheel-chair. Pastor Anita Chan was previously rebellious but felt empty, yet today she has a vibrant ministry in her church. Her Spanish is so good and she is so into her interpretation that sometimes when she translates for a Cantonese speaker, the people would mistake her to be the main speaker.

The last SOBEM video tells of the struggles of Ricardo Kam, born in Panama of Chinese and Spanish blood. He looks West Indian, but is thoroughly immersed in Chinese culture and fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and Hakka, the opposite of a typical overseas-born Chinese. Amidst the prevailing lack of commitment among Chinese Christians, he is an example of God’s “remnant” who shines in the darkness. God always has His men or women. Are you one of them?

Panama Videos (2 of 3)

These programs are from Showers of Blessing Evangelistic Ministry (SOBEM). The first program, filmed in 2006, tells the story of a couple I first met in 2002 when they were new Christians in Colon. We met them again during this trip and were glad that they are still strong in the Lord. Their former pastor and his wife had nurtured them well, and the fruit of their labor is evident today.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4565646926532450948#

The second program is about Juan Zhu who went to Panama under a 3-year “calf-labor” deal. He encountered war when the US invaded Panama, was cheated by his relative, became angry and bitter, but eventually established an electronics business and found his “treasure”, and his whole life changed.

Parents or Tyrants?

Last week I met with a young couple for breakfast to see how they are doing. I counselled and married them, so this was somewhat of a check-up. They have good news – no, she’s not expecting, at least not yet – she’s getting baptized. This is exciting as I led her to the Lord a couple of years back, but there is a problem – her mom, who is not a Christian, is very much against it. For some unknown reason, she is dead set against Christianity, and she’s not the type that listens calmly to reason. 😦

When does the responsibility of a parent to a child, or a child to a parent, end? That depends on a lot of factors. In some Caucasian families, the parents can’t get their children out of their house soon enough. They want the kids to be independent and look after themselves, and would not hesitate to charge them room and board as soon as they finish high school. On the other hand, some oriental parents just can’t let go and hang on to their children even after they have established families of their own. Some like the extended family to live together, if not next door, at least within walking distance. The parents might like that, but the children might find that suffocating.

So what’s a good balance? When does care and concern turn into interference? Or natural love and affection turn into unnatural meddling? I think the Bible gives us very clear guidelines here. Four times the Bible says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” (Gen 2:24, Mt 19:5, Mk 10:7, Eph 5:31) When a child is united to his wife or her husband, and they become one flesh, then he/she shall leave his/her father and mother, not just physically but also emotionally.

When a child is a minor, naturally he should obtain parental consent for major decisions. When he is an adult, he may still wish to have his parents’ approval on certain issues for the sake of maintaining a harmonious relationship. It would be good if his decision pleases the parents, but it is no longer a necessity, as he is an adult responsible for his own actions. But when he gets married, the umbilical cord should be cut. He still loves and respects his parents, but it is more necessary that he and his wife be united in their decisions and actions. The parents should learn to stand aside and support them when necessary, but not stick their noses in, as the children have now formed their own family unit.

What did I tell the young couple? I referred them to Acts 4, where Peter and John healed a cripple and the Sanhedrin warned them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name. Acts 4:18-19 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.” Did the high priest have the right to command Peter and John to obey him rather than God? No. Did the mother have the right to command the daughter not to be baptized? No again.

When it comes to giving up my rights and privileges for the sake of the gospel, I am more than willing to do so. But when it comes to obeying man rather than God, I take a strong stand against it. I asked her to pray first before breaking the news to her mom. I pray that she will be as loving and gracious as she can be, but also as bold and firm as God grants her to be, when she shares with her mom. Who knows, that could be a turning point in her mom’s life towards God. Prayer is a wonderful thing. I’ve seen marvellous things happen when we go to our heavenly Father in prayer. But even if good things don’t happen, doing the right thing is still the right thing to do.

Panama Videos (1 of 3)

Too bad I did not discover these programs before our trip, but they give you some idea about the history and traditions of the Chinese in Panama:

They are in Spanish with English subtitles, and the 3 parts together run for about 22 minutes.

Battle of the Sexes

Q. What does Eccl 7:28 “while I was still searching but not finding– I found one [upright] man among a thousand, but not one [upright] woman among them all” mean? Is it saying there are more upright men than women?

A. I don’t think Solomon is saying that there are more upright men than women, or that no woman is upright, because in Proverbs wisdom is personified as a woman. Commentators have understood this verse in primarily 2 ways:

1. True uprightness is as scarce among men as among women, even though men were given a religious education and women were not in those days. Men’s cultural advantage gave them only the slightest of margin.

2. Solomon the Teacher was lamenting from his own personal experience. 1 Kings 11:3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. His “1,000 women” did not help in terms of searching for uprightness, but in fact led him down the wrong way.

I found both explanations to be possible but lean towards the former.

Milestone

My wife and our grand-daughter celebrated their belated birthday yesterday. My wife told me to say she’s 28 🙂 (actually that’s more like our daughter’s age), and our older grand-daughter turned one. Over 40 family and friends came to celebrate, some of whom we haven’t seen for months since I left MBC. Even though the age range ran from 3 months (my younger grand-daughter) to 89 (my mom came too!), a good time was had by all.

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Pictures show:
* Twin birthday cakes. No candles of course, to give away the secret
* The young came to celebrate the young
* The young-at-heart came to celebrate with the “older”
* Highlight of the afternoon: Opening the birthday gifts
* Presents not just for the toddler
* The birthday girls
* Cutting the cake
* The star who stole the show

There are certain significant milestones in one’s life, like learning to walk/talk, going to school, becoming a Christian (which could come at any age), entering university, first job, getting married, first child, children getting married, grand-children, retirement etc. Even though the generic milestones are similar, every one’s life is different. I suppose if we have time to chat over a nice cup of coffee, you could tell me your own interesting life story too.

Sometime ago I read a poem called “The Dash” by Linda Ellis:

http://ray.milidoni.com.au/category/the-dash-poem/

It’s not a Christian poem, but very meaningful nonetheless. What was your dash like up to this point? We don’t know how much is left, especially for those of us in the later stages of our life-cycle. What would you like to change for the remainder of the dash? For those of us who know the Lord, the important thing to know is that what we do now can affect eternity. So think it through carefully. What is on your spiritual bucket list? If you don’t have one, make one and start living it today.

Why Doesn’t God Heal My Baby?

Q. I witnessed to a neighbor but she told me, “My baby had meningitis which did some damage to her brain. The doctor said that may result in mental retardation. If God is so good why wouldn’t he heal her? Why would he let this happen?” What should I tell her?

A. This is a very difficult question as we have to separate the facts from the emotions, particularly as it relates to your own loved ones. As well, we do not have the mind of God and the full answer. Still, we need to separate our feelings and explain what the Bible does shed light on.

First, your neighbor’s assumption is that if God were good and loving, He would heal her child, or for that matter, anyone who is sick. In other words, He is duty bound, or bound by His nature, to heal everyone. Unfortunately that is a faulty assumption. Surely no one is good, except God (Mk 10:18, Lk 18:19). But sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned (Rom 5:12). God is good, but He is also just and must punish sin:

Gen 3:16-19 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Rom 8:20-22 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

As a result of sin, the world is cursed and we live with pain, suffering, toil, frustration, and decay. In love God sent His Son to redeem us. 1 Jn 4:9-10 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. But this redemption is in stages, first our spirit when we trusted in Christ, and ultimately our bodies at the end of the age when God puts an end to death and sin itself. Rom 8:23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Until then, we are still subject to sickness and death.

Think through your neighbor’s assumption. If God were bound by His goodness to heal her baby, then He is also bound to heal everyone else, because that’s His nature. Besides, why should He stop with her child? That would not be fair to others. If God heals everyone, then no one would ever die. But we know that is certainly not true. This tells us that the assumption is wrong in the first place.

Secondly, your neighbor also assumed that her baby’s possible brain damage is the worst that could happen. That is the doctor’s diagnosis, his worst-case scenario based on his experience, which may or may not happen. Doctors are not infallible, they do not know the future. They could be wrong. What’s more, Paul said in Rom 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. In other words, our future glory will far outweigh our present sufferings. I do not want to minimize your neighbor’s pains, but the fact remains that our present sufferings, hers, her baby’s, are not worth comparing to the glory they will have when they are fully redeemed. Our present sufferings, bad as they are, are temporary. Our future glory will be eternal.

Jesus said in Mt 18:8-9 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. That is, it is better to enter eternal life maimed or blind, and be made whole at the redemption of our bodies at the resurrection, than be whole and thrown into hell, where the fire never goes out (see also Mk 9:43-48). The salvation of the soul is the most important thing. Rather than blame God for not healing her child, the positive thing is to trust in the loving God who gave His one and only Son to save us. Leave things in His loving hands. Rom 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? He will do what is best for your neighbor and her child.

Slaughter of the Innocents?

Q. I can never believe in the God of the bible because he is so cruel. He ordered the Israelites to destroy all the people of Canaan, including babies. How can he do that? Babies are innocent. He is just a tyrant!

A. Some people feel that they are more loving and righteous than God, and are appalled at what they read in the Bible. They are quite willing to condemn God for commanding the Israelites to perform such atrocities. But actually they do not know the background and are mistaken about the real situation.

God told Abraham in Gen 15 that He won’t bring his descendants back until the fourth generation, because the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure 惡貫滿盈：

Gen 15:13-16 Then the LORD said to him (Abram), “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

What are the sins of the Amorites? Lev 18 warn about the practices of the Canaanites:

Lev 18:3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.

Lev 18:24-30 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. ‘Everyone who does any of these detestable things–such persons must be cut off from their people. Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the LORD your God.’

Three times the Lord described what the people who lived in the land did as detestable. Six times He said not only the people but even the land was defiled by doing all these things, so they must be punished and cut off. What exactly did they do? Lev 18:6-23 give us the answer:

Sexual relations with：
6. close relative
7. mother
8. father’s wife
9. sister, either father’s daughter or mother’s daughter
10. son’s daughter or daughter’s daughter
11. daughter of father’s wife
12. father’s sister
13. mother’s sister
14. father’s brother’s wife (aunt)
15. daughter-in-law
16. brother’s wife
17. both a woman and her daughter, her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter
18. wife’s sister while your wife is living
19. a woman during her monthly period
20. neighbor’s wife
22. same-sex (homosexuality)
23. animal (bestiality)

V 21 also forbids sacrificing children to Molech by burning them. What the Canaanites did was to practice all forms of incest and gross perversion of the worst kind. Even the babies were fruits of incest and infested with all types of venereal diseases. This is confirmed by archeological findings which attest to the total depravity of the nations.

How many years did God give the Canaanites to repent? Four hundred years! But they did not repent, so God’s judgment came, executed by the Israelites as God’s instrument of punishment. Just as in the case of cancer where all the cancerous cells must be removed, so all the Canaanites, men, women and children must be cut off.

Imagine a case where some criminals committed the most heinous crimes for the longest length of time. The righteous judge, in order to carry out justice, must apprehend and punish them; otherwise it would be a gross injustice to the victims. However, the judge was also loving and gave the criminals time to repent, warning them if they do not repent judgment will be inevitable. Not only did they not repent, but their sins became worse and worse. Finally the judge had no choice but to execute the promised judgment. Is He still being unfair and cruel? Was He a tyrant? Not if you understand what really happened. Don’t accuse God of cruelty. Thank Him for being so patient. But His patience won’t last forever. Just as He judged the Canaanites, He will judge this world. That Judgment Day is coming fast. Repent, or you will have only yourself to blame.

Choosing a Short-term Mission 2

Yesterday we looked at the needs or demand in the field. Today we continue to look at the supply side i.e. what the short-termer can contribute. Obviously there needs to be a match between the demand and the supply. For example, if the need is to help host a vacation bible school (VBS), or train the local brothers and sisters how to conduct one, we need to recruit people with experience running VBS. If the hosts need help in doing every household visitation “carpet bombing” style (地毯式探訪)，then we need folks who have done community visitation locally, and who have been trained to use evangelistic tools to share the good news. You don’t want to send people who had never witnessed to anyone in their home town thousands of miles across the ocean.

There are other matches to consider. Again using Panama as an illustration, the local Chinese are mostly from Guangdong and speak Cantonese and Hakka. They generally do not have a lot of education, and most (except the local-born youth who study in private schools) don’t understand English at all. So if the short-term team consists of Canadian-born Chinese university students who don’t speak Cantonese, they would be limited in their ministry options. In general, the closer the match (except for spiritual maturity and biblical knowledge), the better. It doesn’t mean that a highly skilled team can’t minister to a sociologically lower group. It does mean that they need to be flexible, to make themselves a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 1 Co 9:22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

This is also where you use your SHAPE (spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experience) to narrow down options. The needs are the same, regardless of who responds to God’s call. You, however, are unique, so that’s where the choices are screened. God shaped you to be the person you are, so it’s natural that He uses you in ministries according to your composition. Note that with God you expect the unexpected. From a human standpoint Paul would make an excellent apostle to the Jews. Phil 3:5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee. Acts 22:3 Under Gamaliel he was thoroughly trained in the law of the fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of the Jews. He would know exactly how the Jewish mind works, and be able to counter every argument and objection. However, God chose him to be the apostle to the Gentiles. So keep your mind open to God over-riding your plans.

Third, as in any venture, there are costs involved, which need to be counted. The airfare alone could cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Then there is accommodation (depending on whether you need to stay at a hotel, or whether the host church can arrange for you to stay with her members), food, insurance, vaccinations etc., all of which can add up to several thousand dollars per person for a two-week trip. Plus there are health and safety issues. Certain countries have out-dated medical facilities or lack the medicine commonly available anywhere in Canada. Or crime rates could be very high, or political situations very unstable, in certain parts of the world so as to place team members at undue risk. All these need to be carefully weighed in choosing a short-term mission.

A STM can be a tremendously rewarding trip to open your eyes to the possibilities outside of our little world. It could enlarge your heart to feel the Lord’s compassion for the lost. We just need to balance the needs, what we can bring to the table, and the costs so that both the host and you will receive the full benefit of such an experience. It could be a trip that change your life. Hope you will join one soon. Bon Voyage.

Choosing a Short-term Mission 1

I have spoken to several mission agencies about short-term opportunities. With so many needs locally and around the world, and so little time and resources on hand, how do we decide what to do and how to allocate our scarce resources? Obviously, the best is when we know what God wants us to do, and where, but how?

In the Old Testament, When God called Jonah to go to Ninevah, He told him directly. Jonah 1:1-2 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” Similarly, When God wanted Paul to go to Macedonia, He gave him a vision. Acts 16:6-10 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Either directly or indirectly, God made His will explicit and there was little uncertainty as to what those called were supposed to do.

But that was then, and this is now. We rarely hear of God intervening directly to make His will known, then what? I believe God still guides, but probably more indirectly through providence nowadays. I’ve already written a couple of posts about how God confirmed His leading His servants to the field He had prepared for them. So keep praying, and keep exploring, with your hearts open. He won’t show you step two unless you are willing to obey step one. Having said that, are there other criteria to consider? Yes, there are. I believe there are several things to think through, and the first is the needs of the field.

This is the demand side of the equation. Using our recent Panama trip as an example, PCBC needs acting pastors until a full-time pastor is called. ABS-CSA needs guest lecturers. Chitre needs people to assist in evangelism, follow-up, and to train the congregation in selected topics. Other teams do corrective surgery, teach English, build houses and do maintenance projects etc. All are driven by the actual needs of the hosts, not the desire of the team members to see the world.

If you are interested in ministry to the Chinese either in mainland China or overseas, it is helpful to know the size of the “market” you are serving. There are several websites that provide statistics on the distribution of the overseas Chinese population e.g.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Chinese

http://www2.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/shao/ch_databases_popdis.html

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Overseas_Chinese

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_chi_pop-people-chinese-population

http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/12539-overseas-chinese-population/

Some of the numbers reported in these sources are different, so you need to trace the sources to determine which are more reliable and up-to-date. All other things being equal, the larger the “market”, the greater the potential. However, from a missions strategy point of view, we need to consider not just the “demand” but also the supply of workers as well. The distribution of Christian workers to the “reached” versus “unreached” people groups is a very skewed one, with a disproportionate number serving the “reached”, compared to the very few ministering among the “unreached” people. For me, it makes more sense to help those “least served” rather than gild the lilies (錦上添花) for those who are already adequately served. As I said before, if I see ten people carrying a heavy log, with nine at one end and only one at the other, I’ll help the lone laborer rather than join the crowd.

(to be continued)