From Buddha to Jesus

I love listening to testimonies, because they witness to God’s power in changing lives. One sister in the STM team used to be a devout Buddhist until she committed her life to follow Jesus ten years ago.

She had exposure to Christianity when she was young. She attended Sunday school for a while, and even memorized some Bible verses. However, during high school she loved to hang out, go to parties and have a good time, so she avoided Christians as she thought they were boring, dull and generally poured cold water on everything. (Unfortunately that’s the impression many people have of Christians. Others consider Christians self-righteous and judgmental, which is even worse.) Then she went to the US to study, and Christianity was flung far back as she exerted her independence and decided everything for herself.

After graduation she returned to Canada, where she began taking an interest in spiritual things. Not Christianity, but the occult, such as astrology, fortune-telling, feng-shui, horoscope, Ouija boards, séances, Eastern religions, the New Age etc.; in short, anything as far from orthodox Christianity as possible. She would even put on a black gown to chant like Buddhist or Taoist monks! But then something dark happened. She started hearing voices and seeing things. At first she found it amazing, and thought it was her father speaking to her. But as time went by, she realized that her dad would not tell her to do inappropriate things, so amusement changed into apprehension and she wanted the entity to go away and leave her alone, but it wouldn’t.

She consulted her Buddhist friends, who told her to burn lots of incense and incantations, but it didn’t work. Another friend told her to place a Bible by her bedside. She dug up a NT from her school days, the only one she could find, and placed it on her night table. But it did not work either. Then out of the blue, a high school classmate she had not seen for several decades phoned to invite her to a class reunion, as they had not seen her since graduation. She went and met her old friends, some of whom had become Christians and invited her to church. She did not know why, but she accepted, and told her family that she’s going to church next Sunday.

Unfortunately the friend who invited her did not show up to drive her to church! Embarrassed, as she was all dressed up with nowhere to go, she went to a local bookstore to buy a Bible and began reading it at home. As she started reading, the verses she had memorized as a child came flooding back. She felt a warm, deep peace that surrounded her and was no longer bothered by the entity. All of a sudden she knew that God is real and the Bible is true. Often God had worked in a person’s life, long before she realizes it, to bring her to Himself. The following week she drove to church and started attending every week, and by the end of the year expressed her commitment to Christ by baptism. From darkness to light. Praise be to God.

First-Hand Account of Riot

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* Store front shattered by looters pelting rocks; you can see the broken glass on the left
* Same window with iron gate rolled up

We visited a couple whose restaurant had been attacked by rioters last Friday. Their store is near three main streets’ Y-junction, along the way where demonstrators marched towards the National Assembly building. The restaurant is on the ground floor, while they lived on the third floor. Since protests were common in Panama, usually without incident except for destroying government vehicles and traffic lights, the husband did not think too much of it initially. However, as thousands and thousands of protestors converged from all three streets, many wearing hoods with their faces covered with handkerchiefs, the husband got scared and hurriedly pulled down the iron sliding door (similar to metal garage doors) to close up shop. But he did not have enough time to lock up, as the iron door had to be locked form the outside, and the mobs were already in front of him.

The last time he experienced something like this was the US invasion of Panama in 1989. Even then he was not as afraid as now, as the army did not attack civilians. The American soldiers did not police order, but they would shoot thugs on sight, and even give food to civilians who asked for it. But now, the mob was out of control. One protestor pulled up his sliding door, but as he and his sons were standing behind it, he signalled for him to pull it down again, and he complied. They then quickly withdrew to the third floor and locked the apartment door, but heard three gun shots at close range and then a loud crashing sound of glass breaking. He rushed back downstairs to see what happened, and later found out that the looters wanted to rob the “super” and the cell phone store next door, but both iron doors were locked from the inside. The “super” owner aimed his hand gun at foot level and fired three shots through the door to scare the looters away. However, one shot hit a looter’s foot and he got very angry, pulled up his iron door, and threw rocks weighing over a kg. to break his store windows.

Four policemen were not too far from his front door, but they were vastly out-numbered by the mob. All they could do was to stand with their backs to each other in a small circle and fire tear gas bombs into the crowd to keep them at bay. The looters wanted to get in, but could not as there were sharp glass shards on the broken windows. Riot police reinforcement soon arrived, firing rubber bullets at those who pushed forward to drive them away. He still wanted to stay downstairs to guard his store, but his son pulled him back upstairs, as the tear gas was so thick that they could hardly breathe. All stores along the protest route stay closed the whole day.

Many shops were robbed, especially jewellery stores, supers, appliance stores, and bars. Looters would smash display windows and carried off TVs, air-conditioners, food, liquor and all kinds of merchandise. Some of the robberies were caught on camera, including a Ministry of Education employee raiding a speaker and loading it onto his government van. One super, which opened only three weeks ago, was robbed bare. He blamed his loss at the uneven distribution of riot police, as most were stationed around the nearby Super-99 supermarket, owned by the president, and the National Assembly building, and few elsewhere.

By Sat. things returned to normal, as the government debated Law 73 to revoke Law 72, promising not to sell the Colon Free Trade Zone lands. We were safe and not scared. I suppose the Lord still has some work for us to do. Thanks be to God.

Living Water Church Photos

A pastor friend invited us to see his church, located in a commercial building in a strip mall. The vendor purchased the building for US$270,000 several years ago, but sold it to the church for US$130,000 when the economy turned bad. Even the dark cloud has a silver lining.

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Pictures show:
1 Front entrance. It just happened that there was a crowd practicing outside for a festival parade.
2 Side entrance.
3 Pulpit. The “slogan” says, “Experience God – Live Out Your Faith”.
4 Sanctuary view from left.
5 Sanctuary view from right.
6 Second floor Sunday school class rooms and recreation room with ping-pong tables.
7 Kitchen.
8 Christian and Missionary Alliance 5 years (2011-16) Plan.

Note the strategic plan:
1 First you train lay leaders.
2 Plan for succession out of your finest.
3 With a solid core you are positioned to reach out.
4 This will result in growth.
5 Then you can expand into new territories.
First quality, then quantity. This is a very balanced approach with continuity for the long-term. I hope all churches can focus on the main thing instead of wasting time squabbling over trivialities.

Reignite the Flame

What do you do when you are faced with challenges that knocked you down and seemed so overwhelming that it appears the only way out is to quit? We met with a pastor we knew back in Canada and he shared with us his struggles over the past year, and how by God’s grace he overcame and bounced back.

He told us he had both internal problems and external threats. First, he was in charge of development for his denomination in that region, and one of his responsibilities was to oversee the construction of a community center to do local outreach. The project consisted of a 3-storey building with 410 sq. m. per floor, for a total of approximately 12,000 sq. ft. usable space. The original estimated cost was US$400,000, which was where the problems started, as the quote was based on lower sewage and electrical capacity only for phase I, but not the entire project to be completed in 3 phases. As well, the bids assumed lower quality doors, fixtures etc. The final cost was US$600,000, 50% over budget, but still low (US$50/sq. ft.) compared to N. American standards.

The overrun led to many disagreements as to final design and choice of materials. For example, some wanted balconies for the second and third storey, with anti-burglar iron bars common for that area. Others would rather have a wider enclosed space. Some preferred tiles for kitchen countertops to save money; others wanted marble tops for the long-term with low-maintenance. Some chose fans as air-conditioning was considered too expensive; but others insisted on AC as necessary for their climate. In short, there were diverse opinions on most things, with the poor pastor caught in between trying to please as many people as possible.

But the bigger problem was external. In Sep. 2011 three Chinese Panamanians, a rich businessman’s son, his girlfriend, plus another friend were kidnapped and held for ransom. But even after the parents paid the money demanded, the kidnappers still murdered the victims because they knew the ringleader, who had business dealings with the father. Their bodies were buried under the bathroom and kitchen floors of the rented house where they were kept. All three attended our friend’s church. It turned out that the kidnapper was also behind two other kidnap-murder crimes respectively three years and one year ago; both victims were also Chinese. Although these have nothing to do with the pastor, just comforting and counselling the victim’s family, some of whom are non-believers, became a heavy burden on his shoulders.

On top of that, he was also in charge of the youth camp in Panama. In Feb. 2012 three young people who registered for the camp decided to drive there instead of taking the rented bus. Possibly due to fatigue, as nobody knew the real reason, the car ran off the highway, hit a tree, and then bounced to another tree before it landed on its side. The driver died at the scene. Another passenger died 4 days later, and the last one died four weeks after the accident. All three were from his church. Again, even though it’s not his fault, he began to wonder whether God was displeased with his ministry in Panama, and whether he should just pack it in and return to Canada. On top of counselling the victim’s family, he needed counselling himself. Feelings of guilt and doubt hounded him, and he was about to give up. There was still the 10th Annual English Camp in June. Past attendance had been between 80-100, but because of the recent tragedy, he expected only about 60 to attend this time, after which he’ll resign and return to Canada.

But God had other plans. He was not displeased with our friend’s service. The pastor had false guilt, because the events were not caused by him. The pressure on him was great, but God gave him assurance that He still had work for him to do in Panama. Instead of the 60 he anticipated, 175 registered for the camp, three times his expectation. 32 committed their lives to Christ for the first time, while 41 dedicated themselves to serve Him full-time. God gave him immeasurably more than all he asked or imagined, according to His power that is at work within us (Eph 3:20). With that, he calmed down and thanked God for using him. His flame had been reignited, and he is now serving with a grateful and joyful heart.

I am reminded of 2 Tim 1:6-7 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. What about you? Do you have doubts whether God can use you, fears that your challenges might be insurmountable? Ask the Lord. He will gladly give you a sign which way you should go. Our God is the God of the impossible. Try Him for yourself.

Panama Riots Update

Things settled down in Panama City and Colon this morning, as the National Assembly passed its first reading of a bill to repeal the controversial law to sell the Colon Free Trade Zone lands. The second and third reading today and tomorrow should pass as a matter of formality without hitches. The SUNTRACS labor union called off its demonstrations and stores have reopened.

I spoke to our missionary in Chitre yesterday, and things were quiet there. I called a brother in Aguadulce, and he also said that there had been no incidents. Only in Changuinola and Bocas del Toro, which we visited last year, did protestors closed off two bridges and shut off the main access to the towns. I then phoned a brother in Colon, where the protests had been most intense. He had closed up his auto parts store for a week, but reopened this morning as things had calmed down and his workers had returned. The whole city had been in lock-down mode for a week, with stores shuttered to brace the storm. By God’s grace his shop had not been attacked, but there was food shortage as trucks were unable to enter or leave the city for delivery of food and other goods and services. We hope the worst is behind us and things will be back to normal soon. Pray for the people and us. Panama really needs the gospel for things to fundamentally change.

I found two more BBC news article in English with embedded video covering the riots in Panama. Hope we don’t see this again:

Oct 20 Panama protests over land sale in Colon Free Trade Zone

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20012842

Oct 24 Panama president cancels Colon land sale after clashes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20053791

Panama Riot Videos

I found two videos in English covering the Panama riots. Pray that peace will be restored soon.

Colon Oct 23 – Violence erupts as police fire gunshots during Panama protest

Oct 21 – Panama demonstrates over duty-free land sale

http://www.euronews.com/2012/10/21/panama-demos-over-duty-free-land-sale/

Panama Riots

Since the local news was in Spanish which we did not understand, we were not in the habit of turning on the TV. So we did not know what was going on until a sister phoned to warn us not to go out. She said demonstrations in Colon throughout last week had spread to Panama City, but the protests had turned ugly. Thugs with their faces covered had mixed with the protesters and began breaking into stores to rob whatever they can. She had closed her hardware store since 11 AM, and was afraid to reopen when she called us at 2 PM.

We turned on the TV and sure enough there was live coverage on several channels. Police on Lynx motorcycles armed with sub-machine guns and rubber bullets were rushing to where the riots were, trying to disperse the mob with tear gas and round up looters. The Metro Bus had stopped running since the morning, as demonstrators had blocked off major roads. All major malls had closed. Small business owners had closed their shops, but rioters used car jacks and crow-bars to pry open the iron gates to break in. We decided that it was dangerous for anyone to venture out, so began phoning church members that tonight’s fellowship had been cancelled and they should stay home.

One sister we contacted said she was in her laundromat when the riots broke out some distance away, so she locked up immediately to go home. However, since the main roads were jammed, she had to take side streets to reach home. Another sister said she was about to close her restaurant when the looters began throwing rocks, breaking her windows and glass door. The police came but were outnumbered by the looters so they stayed back. However, the sharp broken glass shards prevented the looters from entering the restaurant right away, and police back-up arrived in time to use tear gas to drive the looters away. They were very afraid but glad that no one was hurt and the store was not robbed.

We kept phoning until all regular fellowship attendees have been contacted. As we monitored the news, the National Assembly had already passed the first debate repealing the law to sell the Free Trade Zone lands, which caused the protests in the first place. Two further debates must be passed as a matter of procedure, so hopefully by Sunday morning the controversial law would be revoked. Gangs may still take advantage of the situation to stir up riots regardless of the legislation. Pray that law and order will be restored soon without loss of lives and property.

Panama Riot Photos

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Photos show:
1 Colon Oct 19 – demonstrators set up roadblock by burning tires.
2 Colon Oct 19 – a family runs for cover when riot police use tear gas to disperse the crowds.
3 Colon Oct 19 – riot police walks past gas station demolished by protestors.
4 Colon Oct 23 – roads blocked by debris.
5 Colon Oct 23 – riot continues throughout the week.
6 Panama City Oct 26 – rioters loot stores earlier today.

Abstracted from Reuters: “Following violent protests across Panama that have paralyzed business and hit trade, President Ricardo Martinelli said he would scrap a controversial law allowing the sale of state-owned land in Latin America’s largest duty-free zone. The impoverished port of Colon, which depends economically on the Free Trade Zone abutting the Panama Canal, has lurched into chaos since the National Assembly passed the law last Friday to allow the sale of lands abutting the city.

On Friday, unrest spread to the capital where hundreds of demonstrators descended on the area surrounding the National Assembly. Some burned effigies of politicians, threw rocks at police, looted shops and blocked key roads. Police tried to disperse the crowds with tear gas.

The Free Trade Zone employs approximately 30,000 people and earns the government an estimated $33 million a year. More than 2,000 companies lease land in the zone, the world’s biggest after Hong Kong. Martinelli has argued the sale of the land would benefit Colon and the government, but its opponents said they would lose income and jobs.”

New Fruit

I taught a mini-series in Sunday school about “How to Share the Good News”. After class a sister approached me and asked whether we can visit her store and witness to her employee. We accepted the invitation and booked a time when they would be least busy and least likely to be interrupted.

The employee and her husband both worked for that sister’s food wholesale/distribution business. She worked in the warehouse supervising receiving and shipping of goods, while her husband worked as a travelling salesman taking orders from retail “supers” and restaurants. She had followed her boss to church several times, while he and his brothers are idol worshippers. Herein lies the problem: her husband had warned her that how could he worship ancestors while she worships Jesus? Who is going to burn the incense when he is gone?

We explained the gospel to her using a picture book:
1. Everyone wants to have a big happy family, yet this is only an ideal achieved by few. Why?
2. Because sin separates us from God, as God is holy while we are sinful.
3. Sin is not just murder and arson. It is also lust, greed, hungry for power, gossiping etc. In fact, anything that fails to meet God’s requirements is sin, and God requires perfection.
4. For every cause there is an effect, and the consequence of sin is eternal damnation in hell.
5. But God loves us and does not wish for us to perish, so He sent His only Son Jesus to become man to be a substitute for us, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but has everlasting life.
6. To receive this free gift of eternal life we must place our trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is not by our own efforts or good works, but faith in Him.

She understood everything and wished to believe, but asked how she can believe and still burn incense at the same time. We explained that Christians honor their ancestors, as the fifth commandment stipulates “Honor thy father and thy mother”. However, they were human and do not change into gods after they die, so we do not worship them. We love them while they are living, and we show them respect by remembering them with flowers after they died.

Her boss added that she also worshipped idols for many years, but she only did what her mom told her without knowing what it meant. Then she learned about Jesus and found that idol worship was simply superstition, so she was the generation that broke away from tradition because now she knew. Her children do not need to burn incense as they knew better. With that she encouraged her worker to do the same.

“Now that you know how to be saved, don’t stay in sin. Deal with it by repenting and putting your faith in Jesus. Then your sins will be forgiven and you become a child of God to follow Him”, we urged. “Be the first in your family to be saved, then bring the blessing to your family members by sharing the gospel with them.” With that, she realized it’s a choice between eternal life versus eternal death, and committed her life to Jesus as Lord. Pray for her, as her husband and father-in-law opposed her believing in Jesus and going to church. This is a very common battle with family members who blindly put their faith in idols. We need more witnesses as well as follow-up.

A Hard Life

The Chinese in Panama have a hard life, but the Chinese women have it even harder. Among the ones we have met on our STM trips, hers was one of the hardest. She came to Panama over 20 years ago. In the beginning it wasn’t so bad. For 3 years she worked in a laundromat without salary to pay off her debts incurred in coming to Panama, got married, and things went downhill.

Her husband is mentally challenged. They have three children, two are normal, but one is also mentally challenged. The only consolation is that her mother-in-law left them with some property, and they lived off the rental income. We heard she was facing many difficulties so visited her to offer what encouragements we can. She was glad to see us and poured out what had been troubling her. One by one, she listed the woes surrounding her – physically, spiritually, relationally, and financially. We counted the following specific areas:

• Physical. Prior to her becoming a Christian, she was almost blinded by explosive gases generated by pouring potash into a clogged toilet to clear the drainage pipe. It was only the quick action of a neighbour who poured soda pop on her head to wash away the chemicals that her eyes were saved. Still, she suffered burns to her face. After her conversion, she lost 30 lbs. from 135 to 105 within 6 months, and is still losing weight. Many tests had been conducted but the cause has yet to be discovered.
• Spiritual. Whenever she tried to read the Bible, all kinds of distractions and disturbances would happen such that she cannot concentrate. She would also have visions of a snake trying to come out of her stomach. We suspected that this was due to demon interference as she used to worship idols, and the mission pastor who led her to Christ had removed most of the idols. However, there are still jade idols in the house which she was hesitant to discard because they were expensive. We advised her to remove them to sever all ties with demonic forces, and to relinquish all pledges of her children to Quan Yin, which her mother-in-law had vowed in ignorance.
• Relational. Her children developed weird behaviour/illnesses since she received Christ. Her mentally challenged daughter, in addition to causing messes for her to clean up as she could not look after herself, wanted to shut out all light and all rooms to be dark. Her teenage son suddenly became very disrespectful of his dad because of his condition, and also developed an infection in his ear with pus oozing out. Her neighbour complained that waste water from her building had seeped into their basement, and demanded reparation. Demonic influence is a possibility.
• Financial. There are two shops on the ground floor of her building. One store, a glass manufacturer, owed taxes and was closed by the municipality. They owed her rent too, but she does not know whether there will be anything left to pay her after the city liquidates the assets, nor how long it will be before the foreclosure is complete and she can lease the store out again. The other, a snacks manufacturer, paid a disproportionately low rent for the large area, but made the place very dirty. They also owed her rent and she wanted to evict them, but they threatened to sue her back. Another neighbour claimed that her building extension encroached on their property, and wanted to tear the addition down. Lastly, although she entrusted a “friend” to pay property and water taxes on her behalf as her Spanish was limited, the City said she owed several thousand dollars of taxes, subject to 10% penalty if she does not pay up. Apparently the agent never applied the trust funds against back taxes.

Since she could not work because of her daughter and is dependent on rent income, no rent meant no income, plus there will be large legal costs to evict hostile tenants. Despite all these trials, she wanted to study God’s word so she can know how to respond. She already read through most of the Bible once within half a year, which many brothers and sisters were not able to do even though they had been Christians for several years. As we listened to her plight, we realized how blessed we are in N. America. Our problems seemed so puny compared to hers. All we can do is to encourage her to pray persistently and persevere. You think you got problems? Think again and count your blessings! Many are far less well-off than we are, yet never complained. Should we?