My dear readers,
1. “Tempus fugit”
Time flies! Constant, untiring, unerring, ever hasting to history’s final chapter in fulfillment of the Creator’s plan for man, the hours and minutes bear us all toward God’s shoreless ocean of eternity and the ultimate reality. Then time will be no more.
Today (October 1, 2007) begins the fourth and final quarter of the year. It is a time for reflection and self-examination. How have you done so far? Are you satisfied with your performance? Did you sometimes have moments of regret? Along life’s pathway there are pitfalls, stumbling blocks, and snare’s sown by the adversary. Let us pray that this last quarter may be our best and most satisfying quarter, with God’s help. Then let us “gear up” for the next year 2008, ever bearing in mind – tempus fugit! Our time on Planet Earth is ever so transient and brief.
2. Last scheduled “Gospel Shuttle”
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (Ec 3:1 ), a time to start, a time to stop. This “Gospel Jet-setting” takes a rest for now, after twenty-one challenging fruitful years. By courtesy of Boeing’s “airbuses” I made my “Australia round-trip” September 14- 27, visiting God’s people in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, averaging 3 days each city.
In every place, the Gospel was held forth. God’s people were blessed and the work consolidated. The newly formed Brisbane BP Church pastored by Bother Hien (pronounced “Heen”) is stable and united. Pray for him, his family (wife and daughters) and for Eric and Linda Too who help as Worship Leader and Pianist. “Despise not the day of small things.”
Ebenezer BP Church had a “Double Event” – their Eighth Anniversary and Dedication of the recently acquired property. Significant to report was the presence of about 30% Aussies among the 264-strong congregation, and a strong contingent of University Students (some forty, including some from Pandan).
My last stop was Perth (which was our first established Church [1986]). It was a “one night stop” to speak at Prayer Meeting. Thereafter, symptoms of gastric ‘flu appeared. Today the infection lingers – the respiratory system as a tenacious disturbing cough which interrupted my sleep these past two nights. Nevertheless the Lord’s grace is sufficient and I was enabled to minister at True Life BP and SGBF yesterday. For all this the Lord be praised.
So we live out our days, labouring in perilous times. This is the Apostle’s warning, and so we warn. But who (except some readers) really takes note that perils abound? These are end times of unbelief. Brethren, let us be constantly reminded.
3. Some gleanings from “Down Under”
My caring hosts Mr & Mrs Luke Lim (Perth), as always, gave me gracious home hospitality, plus a “harvest of newscuts” of the Australian Church’s falling away. Here I shall share with readers a few latest snippets, some unbelievable, but all Satanic.
a) “Lord’s Day Worship in Pubs and Cafes”
Anglican leaders in WA have embraced the idea of holding services in pubs and cafes to boost numbers of churchgoers.
The report on the Church’s declining numbers, Sydney diocesan researcher Wayne Brighton has proposed tailoring services and sermons to meet the needs of different groups from yuppies to accountants in places where they felt most comfortable, including pubs and cafes.
The proposal will be on the agenda at the Church’s national synod in Perth in October. It has already got the enthusiastic support of Goldfields Bishop Tom Wilmot, who said it was high time a new approach was taken.
“I’ve always harboured a secret desire to open a “pub church,” he said. “It’s not enough to just open the church doors on Sundays and expect everyone to come.”
Bishop David Murray, administrator of the Perth diocese, supports the calls to broaden the Church’s traditional places of worship through individualized sermons. He said it was already happening unofficially with many priests taking churchgoers on social outings. (The Western Australian, Aug 7, 2004)
b) God couldn’t care less
God “couldn’t care less” whether people are repentant or not, says Perth’s outspoken Anglican Dean, Dr John Shepherd. He used his sermon at yesterday’s Good Friday Eucharist at St George’s Cathedral to call for a change of thinking about the traditional notion that sinners would be punished by God. He said the theory that Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday for our sins had the potential to destroy Christianity.
“The idea of God suffering and dying to pay off some fictional debt makes a travesty of God,” Dr Shepherd said. Good Friday is the day of suffering and death, not suffering and death undergone by Jesus to square off some Shylockian deal.
“Our God isn’t a God who needs satisfying. God is not settling accounts, not a secret deal that is supposed to restore our relationships with God to what it was at the beginning. “Whether we are repentant, unrepentant – whether we ask for forgiveness, or not – God couldn’t care less.”
Dr Shepherd said God suffered along with the world, and the idea that God would punish humans through acts of nature, such as the Boxing Day tsunami, was obscene. “If people think that way then that would be unfortunate, because that is not the Christian God, he certainly doesn’t use punishment for transgressing,” He said events such as the tsunamis left people looking for answers. (Western Australian March 26, 2005)
Lovingly in the Lord
Dr SH Tow, Senior Pastor