Signs of the End of the Age

I am writing this article at a time when the world has encountered a series of disasters. The world elites were talking about Global Warming. When they scratched their heads trying to tackle the problems, nature had begun crouching on us.

When the world was boasting about human achievements in Science and Technology, suddenly we found ourselves trap in the dilemma of food shortage. While in the midst of strategizing increase of food supply, we saw catastrophes around us one after another.

On 2nd of May, Myanmar was hit by the cyclone Nargis. Myanmar's dictatorship officially put the death toll at 34,000, with another 30,000 missing. The United Nations estimated 60,000 dead. The toll may soar to 100,000 should there be an outburst of diseases. When the world is still in a daze, on 12th of May, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Sichuan, a province of China. The official death toll was 14,866, and the final toll could be over or around 50,000. Not too long ago during the Spring Festival in late January and early February this year, Southern China was devastated by snow storms, resulted in a loss of over 100 billion Yuans (RMB).

Our Lord Jesus must be heartrending. He must have wept? The Bible recorded only once that “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Jesus wept over the death of Lazarus. However His weeping had the connotation of disappointment over people’s ignorance about life and death. “Death” in the Bible reveals that it is a natural process in the course of a human’s lifespan. The Bible does not want human beings see “death” as something tragic, but instead seeing “Jesus as the Life”. Let Life overshadow death. So if the Lord were to weep this period around, He must have wept over the disbelief of human beings about His status as the Savior.
I moved in tears as I saw news reports on Myanmar and China. I am sure this was a normal response from any compassionate person. You may be one of those too. A question surfaced my mind – what is the value of life? Life is so fragile. How could flesh and blood withstand the powerful harassment of nature? Imagine that there were thousands of souls perished just overnight! And the scene of the 2004-Tsunami that had devoured 230,000 souls is still fresh in my mind! Psalmist David testified about God’s love for mankind, “What is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.” (Psalm 8:4-8).
But then I remembered s stern warning by the Lord. Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." We should not think that those victims of Myanmar and China are being more sinful than I, and that was why they perished. No! We are all equally sinners. The word “perish” means eternal damnation without God. No human should take for granted about God’s love.

How did Jesus view about death? When Jesus was being led towards Golgotha, a large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then " 'they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!" 'For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23: 27-31).

Jesus was prophesying about the destruction of Jerusalem and the subsequent persecution on the saints that would follow. Sure enough Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Romans and the Jews were scattered all over the world. In other words, Jesus was saying that “I’ve nothing to fear about death, it’s My turn to die now, but your turn will come one day too, so fear no death.”

Jesus had forewarned about bad times ahead after His death. His disciples asked Him, "Tell us, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus answered, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” (Matthew 24: 3-8). It was a prophecy made 2000 years ago. It culminates at the 21st Century.

Mankind should not blame God for disasters. Instead we should be blamed! It was our sinful nature – lust, greed and selfishness that has caused the destruction of our earth. Climates have become abnormal. For example, the snow storms did not occur in the colder Northern China but instead in the warmer Southern China. And the cyclone Nargis which used to visit Pakistan had, this year around, swung towards Myanmar.

Why is there a shortage of food? Because mankind had defiled the earth through wars! Wars had intoxicated the soils that they were no longer productive. Men had also violated the principle of cultivation. God had instructed that for every six years of cultivation on a piece of land, we must let it rest for a year. But how many people had actually followed such a wise instruction of God?

There are famines in Africa and certain parts of Asia. Many of these are hard-cored poverty folks. And out of these, many had died of starvation. In contrast, over other parts of the world, affluent people wasted tones of food daily. When people got affluent they consumed more meats. If every one of these affluent people was to eat less meat each day, many people would be spared from starvation. For example, for every cow a farmer rear, it consumes 10 people’s portions of food and water each day. If we eat less meat, we preserved the resources of nature. Water is very precious today, so do not waste it because we want to eat more meats. Ironically, too, farms feed their cattle and animals with oats, maize and wheat. If these lavish meals were to give to those poverty-struck countries, many lives would be saved!

Because men wanted to go their own ways, so the earth is destined for destruction. In fact another sign of the end of the age told by the Lord was “the increase of wickedness”, and as a result, “the love of most will grow cold”. (Matthew 24: 12). Human beings will be destroyed by their own wickedness. If we think the wars, famines, cyclones and earthquakes we saw today were severe, read carefully what the Lord had said – All these are the beginning of birth pains. When the baby is being delivered the real pain is yet to come! The Bible is referring these pains as the Great Tribulation. If you are interested to know more, please read the book of Revelation which is the last book in the Bible.

God is love. But many people began to doubt God whenever a disaster struck. It is true that God loves you and me. The apostle Peter said, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3: 9). What promise? “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3: 16). The promise to save all mankind!

On one hand there are many people who purposely reject Jesus Christ. They do not want the real God. Instead they turn to statutes and false religions. The Lord is weeping over the heart-hardened state of mankind. He is crying, “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7: 14). All men are God’s people. We do not belong to Satan.

On the other hand, Christians have neglected their responsibilities to fulfill the Great Commission. Firstly, we must channel more money sending people out, to both local and foreign lands, to preach the Gospel. But today more and more Churches are raising millions of dollars to build mega buildings. It is alright to own properties. The setback is that Churches could not work together to conserve resources. May God show us the way to please Him! Secondly, we must rise up to be watchmen and watchwomen, as well as intercessors. When Satan had an upper-hand smiting down so many souls in one hit, somehow Christians should be remorseful for slacking in prayer.

May God have mercy on people who survived at the catastrophes! Pray for them and the immediate family members of the deceased.

Where were you on May 13 1969?

Where was I on May 13 1969? I was just a boy studying Remove Class. I lived in Kepong, 5 miles outskirt from Kuala Lumpur. In that evening, I heard my family members shouted about "curfew". Our omnibuses heading for KL must pass by Chow Kit Road where the riot started. As the buses were asked to turn back, so the news spread fast in our area.

Well it was peaceful in Kepong though it was so near to Chow Kit Road. Those days the policemen in our town were friendly people.

Our neighbor behind us was a hawker. He could not operate his business for days. Our family would buy tibits from them.

Well, Please tell your experience on that day.

祷告缅甸早日国泰民安

缅甸受到“纳尔吉斯”热带风暴袭击，目前官方数据是2万多人死亡。而联合国估计6万3千至10万人死，远远超过缅甸官方数据。但可惜军政的缅甸总理添盛却视政府地位的威胁，比人民的生死更重要，所以出现只接受外国赈粮，不接受外国赈灾人员的决定。

这意味着200万灾民等死，英国《太阳报》分析，若缅甸再拖延允许外国赈粮和救灾人员的话，疾病和饥饿可能导致50万人丧生，是2004年南亚海啸的双倍丧亡人数。

《增广贤文》说：“救人须救急时无。”遗憾缅甸政府不着急，正所谓皇帝不急太监急，还有心机如期举行宪法公投。缅甸强硬军政罔顾人道是必须受到国际施压的，对于国难不着急不是正常人的特征，而是背后操纵领导层的鬼魔心理。

这明显看到军权政府是不适合任何国家的，它和民主理念是南辕北辙的。军政治理几十年的缅甸，民不聊生。人民纷纷往外国谋生，其中不少是方法潜入外国过着非人的生活的。

庆幸我国多个组织都发起筹款赈灾，不过我们必须通过可信赖的管道赈灾，免得一些人士大发灾难财。我国人民除了慷慨解囊外，我们也一起祷告灾民能够获得及时帮助，也借这个灾难的机会，求上帝一并推翻独裁的缅甸政权，让缅甸恢复民主，人民早日享受国泰民安。官员只顾自己，不顾人民死活。报纸报道掌权者每个都暴富，这些吸血鬼还让他们继续政权吗？

槟城回教法庭批准华裔回教徒离教

5月8日，槟城回教法庭作了一个明智的判决，让皈依了回教的华裔妇女陈燕芳脱离回教。但法庭没权更改她的身份证“回教”字眼，她必须亲自去申请删除它。



以下是《星洲日报》网站文章 http://opinions.sinchew-i.com/node/5575

陳淑芳‧非馬來人允脫教是突破
2008-05-09 19:14

檳城回教高庭允許華裔婦女脫離回教，她嫁給伊朗籍丈夫而皈依回教，後來丈夫不知所終。這是檳城回教法庭的突破，希望其他州屬回教法庭也能仿傚。目前關於脫離回教的事，還沒有明朗化，希望政府能夠在非馬來人皈依回教和脫教的問題持更開明態度。

回教教律協調理事會之前做出的“皈依回教無須知會家人”的決定，實在令非回教徒遺憾。首相署部長阿末查希過後澄清，非回教徒是在皈依回教後才知會家人，不是皈依之前。兩者看來還需要協調，因為傳達的信息很模糊。


改信回教之前知會家人，不等於表示家人能夠攔阻，因為一個人若已決定改教，應該是任誰也不能攔阻的。不過，先和家人商量，對家人是一種尊重。


知會的方式，口講無憑，首相表示將規定皈依回教之前必須出示家人已受通知的函件。不過有人反建議，必須由回教事務局通知家人。


過去經常發生改教者逝世後，其非回教徒家人和回教局“搶屍”的事件，顯示家人對死者是回教徒一事始終不知情。因此，一個人若要改信回教，應先與家人作個交代，如果一個人改信宗教，既然對信仰宗教有信心，為何會沒信心告訴家人呢？


基於回教的特殊條例，一旦配偶皈依該教，非回教徒不能分享對方的產業，並且孩子必須跟著皈依回教，由回教徒一方撫養。因此，改教之前有商量，便可讓配偶考慮是否離婚，以便預先分得當得的財產，並且爭取孩子的撫養權。


“搶屍”個案之中，有許多是死者已經不再信奉回教多年，死者在平日生活中並沒有奉行回教習俗，譬如照樣吃豬肉和拿香拜拜等。有些是身分證出現技術問題被誤植為回教徒。


我們希望政府一勞永逸解決改教衍生的糾紛，例如讓在民事法結婚的夫婦，若一方皈依回教，財產、孩子的撫養權和信仰等，由民事法庭判決。孩子的撫養權必須由兩夫婦決定。


此外，雖然在回教徒家庭出世的孩子自動成為信徒，但憲法第11條文保障人人的宗教信仰自由，那些改信回教的信徒，若他們要恢復原來的宗教信仰時，應允許他們有公平的管道脫教。



星洲日報／言路‧作者：陳淑芳‧2008.05.09

Let the authority drink indelible ink

Now Home Minister Said Hamid said it was a rumour to say that someone has imported the indelible ink. Therefore there is no court case against any.

Rumour? It was BN's gimmick to abolish the ink because they knew that they were losing out.! If it was not because of abolishing the ink, Pakatan Rakyat is already the new government now.

Now what shall we do with the RM2 million worth of ink? My suggestion is for the committees of Election Commission and the BN MPs to drink them. Please don't waste our money. The ink is a good vitamin for them. Then you all will have otak to plan how to win the next Gen Election.

Herald allowed to proceed court appeal

Let us pray for Justice Lau Bee Lan. She is bold to stand for justice. We want to see judiciary in Malaysia to come back independent.

The news was taken from http://www.mysinchew.com/node/10953:

PETALING JAYA: The High Court of Kuala Lumpur on Monday (5 May) allowed the Catholic Church to proceed with its bid to unshackle the government’s gag order prohibiting it from using the word “Allah” in its Herald-The Catholic Weekly- through a judicial review.

The government had earlier argued that the church’s application is frivolous and had urged the court to throw it out but Madam Justice Lau Bee Lan disagreed and allowed the application by the Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Murphy Pakiam, for leave to sue the government regarding the use of the word “Allah” to proceed.

The suit was filed against the Internal Security Minister who was previously Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi but now Syed Hamid Albar and the Federal government. The Church is now to file its application with the court for substantive hearing at a later date. The Church is represented by Porres Royan, Leonard Teoh, S. Selvarajah, and Annou Xavier while the respondents are represented by senior Federal Counsel Azizah Haji Nawawi and Suzanna Atan.

The court’s ruling was greeted with relief by a courtroom packed with nuns and supporters of the Herald and the Catholic Church as well as observers from the Sidang Injil Borneo, which is also suing the government over the prohibition of the word “Allah” in another case. Many were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the word “HERALD”
While this is seen as a victory of sorts, it is actually a mundane court matter when someone wants to sue the government is almost invariably given the nod to