I've found a friend who died for me

Hey all. To continue on the recurring theme of Christianity, I would like to branch out further. I have written about Why Jesus, but now I wanna talk about Why Christianity. Believe me, there are totally very good and substantial truths to it.

The modern and social description of the church, I believe, is that we are a global enterprise, having outlets in nearly every country of the world. We run orphanages, homeless shelters, hospices, hospitals, reconciliation work, justice work, basically, we look after people from birth to death and specialize in the area of behavioural alteration. Sounds cheem right? Haha. I'll explain further later. So next time when someone asks you what you do for a living, and you work in a church, that's a cheeky way of telling people what you do. It sounds better than saying you're an evangelist or pastor cos that puts people off at times.

If we are part of Christ, then we really are part of a global enterprise called the church. Not just global, but intergalatic as well cos it includes everyone that has gone before us, and that's quite a thought to have innit? Often, people from outside the church gets an impression like a rugby huddle when everyone squeezes together and you know something is happening but all we get to see are backsides. And often, there's a little bit of confusion as to what Christianity is all about. So what is Christianity? Why should people be Christians? I would just like to take this opportunity to give the answers to the questions. Now if you are already a Christian and you're reading this post, I hope that it will re-affirm your faith and equip you in a way so that you can explain to people what Christianity is all about. Cos many people have a misunderstanding about Christianity.

So here's my first reason as to why Christianity. Christianity is TRUE. That's a pretty good reason. Many people have this idea that Christians don't think cos Christians don't think like they think. But we do. See, if we only believe in things that we can explain and understand, let me pose an example. If you are studying agriculture and refuse to believe in God and Christianity cos you don't understand, then tell me this. How is it possible for a black cow to eat green grass and produce white milk? Exactly my point. There is no explanation for such stuff. There are alot of things in life which we don't fully understand. And it's only when we humble ourselves that we begin to understand. We can't just demand that God first satisfies our questions before we believe in Him. There can be two different kinds of understandings of the word "God". And there are too many people today that are asking the wrong questions. So if we are asking the wrong questions to begin with, how can we expect to get the right answer? The question that we should be asking is this: Has God spoken? And the answer is an emphatic yes. God spoke in creation. God has spoken throughout history. But God's greatest revelation of Himself, for all people and cultures and times, was in Jesus Christ.

So how do we know that Jesus is the One? The Bible has two testaments in it, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament begins with a book called Genesis and ends with a book called Malachi. The New Testament starts with a book called Matthew and ends with a book called Revelation. In the Old Testament of the Bible, there are 322 messianic prophecies about the arrival of God on the Earth and what He's going to do. Do you realise what the mathematical probability of one person in one moment in time fulfilling ALL 322 prophecies? It's 1 over 84 with a HUNDRED zeros behind the 84. In other words, it doesnt happen everyday! This is a rare occurance. But Jesus did exactly just that. Therefore, Christianity is TRUE. But Christianity is not just based on the fact that Jesus fulfilled all 322 prophecies. It's not just based on His life and His teachings, not based on what He did for us. It's based on the fact that Jesus died and rose from the dead. His resurrection from the dead, authenticates everything that He said and everything that He did.

That reason alone should be enough to convince people to follow Christ. But I'm not gonna stop there. There are at least two major other reasons. Here's my second reason. The reason why I'm a Christian, is cos Jesus Christ is AMAZING. You might be feeling that you're just one person among millions and billions of other people around the world, but the moment we reach out to God, He is so willing to experience you and have fellowship with you. He wants to get connected to you. He is so amazing. Jesus spent 3 years articulating who he was in different ways to different people so that they could understand. He is the Bread of Life to the bakers, He is the True Vine so that gardeners could understand. He is the Good Shepherd so that the farmers could understand. He is the Door, so that carpenters can understand. He is the Foundation Stone, so that architects could understand. He is the Living Water so that plumbers can understand. He is the Alpha and Omega so that scientists could understand. He is the Word so that actors can understand. He is the Light of the World so that electricians can understand. He is the Way so that traffic wardens can understand. He is the Truth so that politicians can understand. He is the Great Physician, so that doctors can understand. He is the One. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And's that is just amazing.

So I'm a Christian cos it's true, and Jesus is amazing and astonishing. And that's why we should all be Christians. But let me give you guys another reason. It's because I am a broken person. I have not met anyone who isnt a broken person. There are problems in the world today. We all agree with that. And there are many people and agencies that are endeavouring to alleviate the symptoms. But the big question is, what causes the symptoms? Cos if we are only dealing with the symptoms, we will always have the symptoms. What we have got to do is deal with the root cause. So what is the root cause? The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. Sounds contradicting? Read on. We've all got a heart problem. It's a heart dis-ease. The word to describe it in the Bible is SIN. If we dont have the proper diagnosis, how then can we have the proper remedy and solution? It's cos of our hearts that is the root cause of all our problems. Everything we do here on Earth, everything we said, everything we ever thought will be judged at the end of time when Jesus comes again. I do not need convincing that I have thought, said and done things that arent right. But what if along with that comes the things that we COULD have said or done or thought but we chose not to? We are not just judged by the sins that we commit but also the sins of omission. All that stuff has consequences. Lots of people dont believe that. They believe that whatever you do doesnt matter. But it does. It disconnects us with God. It works like a person in debt. If you are in debt and I am in debt, what we need is a person in credit to help us. If our greatest need was money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need was technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need was pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness. And that is why God sent us a SAVIOUR. Jesus Christ came into this world cos he was the only one in credit. That's why Jesus came to do something for us. He died on the cross, and by doing that, it was as if He was cashing in a cheque signed in His blood to erase our debts.

Most people look at the sign of the cross as jewellery. But what we have to remember is this. Jesus didnt wear it on His neck. He wore it on His back. Big difference. Jesus Christ came into this world because we are broken people. He came to fix us. And the way to fix us was to die on the cross, to offer us the cheque to clear our debts. It wont be always smooth sailing to be a Christian. At times, it will be a struggle. But you will always be conscious of the Son of God shining on us. The reason I'm a Christian, is cos it's true and that He is amazing, and that I am a broken person and the only person who can fix me, is Jesus. Jesus Christ offers us forgiveness from the past and new life from TODAY. When we connect with Jesus the Truth, His spirit comes into our hearts and enables us to be a child of God. His spirit works in our lives to transform us, to help us and to alleviate our faith in our thoughts, works and deeds. And we also have a hope for the future. In a world where there is so much hopelessness, we can have hope from Jesus.

The thing about being a follower of Jesus, is that we can have the utter confidence that we have a hope for the future. Our lives are just a small speck on the eternal screen. We have to live our lives in the light of eternity. If we are a followers of Christ, we know all of the above. And if we are Christians, we have a responsibility to visually and verbally communicate this truth to other people. It's time for Christians to communicate the truth to the world visually and verbally, to pass on the good news in a world which is so full of bad news. So I believe that all Christians, Catholics or Methodists, should do something in sharing the good news with the people around us. It is a responsibility of ours. And we shouldnt focus of what we cant do, but rather the things which we can do. We can make a difference to those around us in whatever environment we have.

That is the truth. Jesus is the truth. And once we have Him as our personal Lord and Saviour, we will have our debts cleared, get new life today and a fresh hope for the future. That is the reality of Christianity. So the question is, have we spread the word? Have we acted like Christians in the secular world? Only we know the answer deep down.

Hey again people. Now that I just covered the idea of Why Jesus, here's the next step we are to take as Christians.

Now that we are sure why we choose Jesus, we should now unite as Christians together for a common purpose. We should serve as God's sparks to ignite other pre-believing friends interest in Christianity. How do we do that? We must first know what it truly means to be united in Christ. To be united means that we must have a common goal and passion, a desire to see the people around us be united in the same one faith, one body and one heart which beats for the Lord our God. It means that we are to burn for Him. Though we are all small sparks, but the littlest of sparks can start the biggest fires. We are to be the matches, or sparks which when gathered together, is able to sustain a huge flame. This huge flame can then serve as a light for others who are in the dark or have lost their way and stumbled. In Ephesians 4:12-13, it is written " We are to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." How appropriate. That's our calling and it's up to us to reach the unreached.

In the same way that we hunger for His word, we must aim to pass on that hunger to others. We must light a fire in them that stirs up an increasing appetite for Jesus. So now that we realise our purposem and know what it means to be united in Christ, how about being ignited in Christ? What does it mean to be ignited? To be ignited in something, the literal meaning is to catch fire, but what it means here is to arouse an interest. So what ignites us? Some of us are ignited by LAN games, others by movies and cars. Some are ignited when we don't get what we want, by unfavourable circumstances, by unfriendliness and even by aloof parents. But to be ignited in Christ, it means that our hearts must be influenced and inflamed by God with a burning desire to fulfill His purposes in our lives. That's right. By God's purposes in our lives. What is God calling us to do today? Sometimes we can hear Him and know what He wants of us, but we just choose to block it out cos we dont wanna do it. Also, we are to be ignited by the needs of the people around us. Be sensitive to God and those around us.

Now that we have a inherent desire to fulfill the plans that God has for us, what next? Now, we must recognize that God's work is a spiritual work. Jude 1:21-23 says "Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt, snatch others from the fire and save them, to others show mercy and fear". Also in 1 Peter 5:8, it is written "Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" Indeed we must always remain steadfast in the Lord, so as to keep the devil away. And we must help others who have yet to know about God in this particular way as well.

Here's a question many want answered. How real is the supernatural? There are demons and angels and evil spirits, but they are all overruled by us, with the power of Christ. For in Christ, we can do anything and everything. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an experience where the believer is supernaturally filled with the Holy Spirit which results in greater enthusiasm and power in the devotional and ministry life of the believer. This experience is like the best drug. It gets you very high spiritually, and yet has no adverse side effects. So then how do we attain it? We must first actively seek it in earnest. We must want it with our whole heart before we will receive. And we cant just expect it to happen but we must ask God to rest His presence upon us. "Seek and it will be given unto you" (Romans 12:2). We must also remember that it doesnt always happen instanteneously. It can happen when we least expect it, but if our hearts are ready, God will give it to us. The first recorded baptism of the Holy Spirit was during the day of Pentecost when the apostles received foreign tongues and preached in tongues. On that day, the church grew by 5000people. But it didnt happen instanteneously. It was said that the disciples waited for a few days before the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples.

In closing, I have this to state. We have experienced the joy that comes with salvation and the undescribable joy and peace that comes with it. But there are many others who have yet to experience that. In all good things, we should share. So, again, it's up to us to spread His word to our Judea, Jerusalem and Samaria. That is our calling. So are we willing to unite and ignite?

Hey to all. I realise that some reading my blog are non-Christian, but even so, feel free to drop a tag or comment if you don't understand or don't approve of anything I've written.

Anyway, I'm here to follow up on the last post. I wanna use this post to jot down the key ideas I took away from the camp. The theme of the Senior Camp was "Why Jesus?" and I believe it is a very appropriate theme. Really. Some of us follow the Lord cos our parents are Christian, some cos they wanna have an alternative to Buddhism or whatever else, but have we truly ever wondered Why Jesus? Why Him instead of Siddharta Gautama or Allah?

The reasons are simple and basic. There are 3 major reasons for choosing Jesus over anything and everything else. Firstly, it is ONLY in Him that we find our true identity, that we are the Children of God. One thing the Devil excels in is to confuse us of who we really are. And when he does that, we tend to lose our identity in Christ. John 1:12-13 says " To all who received Him, He gave the right to become Children of God - children not born of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's wife, but born of God." And that's who we really are. We can't live on our parents' faith. That would be hypocritical, but instead, we have to each make a personal request for God to enter our lives. He gave us a choice. We were never forced to follow Him. Cos what God wants is a faithful heart. God wants us to follow Him of our own accord. We must realise that Jesus is the Doorway to the Kingdom of Heaven, and that He is the Son of God, who walked the earth to die for us and to redeem our sins. So, if God is our Father, then we must be His children. We must be Princes and Princesses for He is called King. We have authority over sin and death in Christ Jesus. Cos when Jesus died and rose from the dead, He overruled sin and death so that as long as we believe in Him, such things can no longer harm us anymore. So what does it mean to be a child of God? It means that we now have direct access to God. We can confide our troubles in Him. He already knows what we are going through, but what He wants is for us to tell Him of our own accord. When Jesus died, the temple curtains were torn from top to bottom, signifying that we can have direct access to God. Make no mistake, He created man to have fellowship with Him and it is a privilege to be one in Christ.

The 2nd reason is cos in Jesus, we find our true security. For in our daily lives, we hide behind covers and masks to help us feel secure. If we have the ability to think quickly, we hide behind a sharp tongue, but true security can only come from true love. The kind of love which never fails and is unconditional. AGAPE love. And there's only one source of that. Jesus. Let's be honest with ourselves. Do we really know Him? It's up to us to depend on God to defend us and protect us. God is a great god and in Him, nothing is impossible. Jesus has already overcome all our difficulties. Therefore, we have no need for masks or covers anymore. Cos all we need is Him. All we need is faith in Him, for we have been saved by grace and thru faith!

The last reason is that in Jesus, and only in Jesus, do we find our value, for we have been chosen by God! We should be content, and be happy not just on the outside, but from the inside as well. That is the true value of God that all His children should possess. We deserved death, and we had fallen short of the glory of God. But God's grace saved us. So can we now extend that grace to others? Can we let go and let God take control? Or are we subconsciously rejecting God's love? And we know that God loves us, but do we really love Him? If we do, where are our Christian values in the secular world? If we ask for any Christian values, we will receive. But the question remains. Do we really want to?

For too long, the Christian youths in some schools have yet to stand up to be counted. It's time. Time for God to appoint leaders to guide the blind out of the wilderness. We are The Next Generation. And we have to reach the next generation. Many things will happen in our lifetime, but are we spiritually ready to combat the Devil? It's time for a spiritual awakening. A revival in our schools, be it mission schools or not. I throw down this challenge to the Christian youths reading this blog. Are we ready? Are we willing to do our part and reach the next generation? Are we willing to gird up our loins and follow Jesus? Are we ready to guide our friends out of their spiritual wilderness and emptiness? If we are, then I say, let's join hands together, and in the coming year(s), reach the next generation in our schools!

Hey all. I'm back from the two TNG camps! I just wanna thank God and give Him the praise that only He deserves. During the past week, my life has been totally changed once again due to the realness of Christ. I went into both camps feeling pretty empty spiritually. This emptiness caused me to hide behind a mask that said I was feeling happy and life was going smoothly. But deep down, the emptiness had been there for a long time. I was hoping for a sign or an indication of God thru the camps, and I got much more than that.

During the Junior Camp, I really really felt God's presence in the camp. No matter what was said about the spiritual atmosphere, I believe that He was there right from the start. It was He who granted safety for the campers, for holding back the rain and for the spiritual enrichment of all involved. As I saw my juniors enjoying themselves in the presence of God, a wave of power surged thru my body. I saw God working thru them. Edifying them. Making known that He is REAL. There's nothing like the inner peace that God can give. It's the best kind of drug. He leaves you hungering and craving for more of His peace. And the thing is. There are absolutely no side effects. Thru the camp, I saw many of my peers not only receiving prayers but praying for others as well. And that's what truly moved me. In Isaiah 40:29-31, it says, "e gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even if the youths become weary and fall, those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, shall mount with wings like eagles and run and not be weary, walk and not be faint." How true. All we have to do is to give Him our trust and faith, and He shall do great things. We have no need to fear anymore, for He has already overcome the world. Just like Pastor B said. Place your faith in Him, and He will fight your battles for you. That really hit home hard. I've tried many times to overcome seemingly impossible things, but had I put my trust in Him, He will give me strength.

Romans 12:2 says "Do not be conformed to this world". Why? Cos although we are living on this world, we are not OF this world. Our true home is in Heaven cos He has already died for us and repaid our sins. We are merely travellers in the world, so why be influenced by worldly desires? Sometimes, God works in ways which are unknown to man. Therefore, we should just trust in the Lord and not depend on our own understanding. It has been said that the oceans of the world only fit into the palm of God's hand. Can we imagine how big God is? And yet, He is loving enough to save us for our sins. He had a choice. He could leave us to rot and fall so far short of the Kingdom of Heaven but He didnt. He couldnt bear to see His children suffer. So He sent His only begotten son Jesus Christ, who came to this world, with one purpose, to die for us. He lived a perfect life. There's nothing which He did wrong. But still He chose to die. So that we could be reunited with our Father, who art in Heaven. We were undeserving, but He bore the sins of the world and sacrificed himself to die for us. He went to Hell and overcame death, on the third day He rose again, and cos of that, we are saved. If God chose not to care about us, we would all suffer and rot in hell. But He loved us so much that He gave us His only begotten son.

We call God the King of Kings. So if God is a King, and we are His children, that makes us all Princes and Princesses of God. Are we ready to claim our throne? If we are, what are we doing to show it? The story of the Prodigal Son never fails to strike a chord. Why? Cos we have all run away from God before. But we must bear in mind that no matter where we run to, when we turn back, there He will be, waiting for us with open arms. How great is our God!

People question, why Jesus? Cos it's only in Him where we find our true identity and true security. The reason why Christians are all so happy is cos we find security in God. With God, there is no need for any more masks. He knows us for who we are. And I dont wanna be the guy that goes to Heaven at the end of my life and see my friends all suffering in Hell just cos I didnt share the Word with them when opportunities arose. It is my prayer that I can see my friends coming to God and acknowledging Him as their personal Lord and Saviour. And I believe that I will have a part to play in all this. So I just wanna take this opportunity to re-dedicate my life to God, that He will just lead me to green pastures and still waters. That He will use me to touch the lives of the people around me.

I wanna conclude by saying that the emptiness has been filled now, and the whole of me is back again. So till the next time, this is Dan signing off.

Hey all. Today is the 10th Dec 2006. I have finally hit rock bottom. I'm so bored that I'm playing computer solitaire. Still nvm. Keep losing. Damn. So I have decided to blog and to all who's reading, please bear with me. I think I'm getting injected by the Ali Baba virus. My mind is wandering and thinking about stuff which I don't think I would if I had more time. But I'm thinking about stuff that maybe makes sense, so I hope blogging it down will be a good idea.

First up. Today, someone asked me a question that really got me thinking. That person asked if I would do anything differently if I had the opportunity to retrace all my steps in life. I thought about it. If changing anything means I have to give up my cool funky friends from NCHS, then I would turn it down in a second. Cos I feel that the friends that I made in NCHS in the past 3 years are second to none. They will be with me whenever I'm in need of a pep talk. Oh. If I changed anything, and lost my beloved Squad 3 '06, I wouldnt want that at all. SQUAD 3 '06 ROCKS!!

Secondly, today is the eve of the church camps. I'm feeling kinda in between about both camps. But then again, I always do and in the end the group turns out pretty damn good. I guess that's God's way of slapping me in the face when I pre-judge someone or something. I just hope that my camp groups will turn out to be great, just like last year.

Oh well. Star awards is on tonight. Gotta go. Haha. So for now, it's Dan signing off.

Hey to all. The last we left off, we were all 29 years old, each having a bright future ahead of us. Let me now fast forward another 15 years. However, I must first add a disclaimer. The following may contain unfavourable circumstances to some, but please remember that this is just my imagination and may not happen in real life.

After stepping out of my interrogation room for the first time in three days because I was getting to the bottom of a punk who decided he'd take a chance and try to cheat in my casino under my watch. Fat chance. Feeling happy that I would not have to give any lectures at the polytechnic which I was working for on a part time basis, I decided to pay a visit to one of the nightlife hotspots in Clarke Quay. On the way there, I got a call from Jocelyn Quek who informed me that she had just gotten another call from Amanda, who is the current head of A & E Department of a hospital. To cut the long story short, someone had been admitted into the hospital this afternoon. Someone we all knew too well. Jun Ting. Apparently one of his clients was a lousy driver and when he took the car for a test drive, decided to speed and crashed into a tree. Jun Ting was inside the car and the airbags saved him from damage, but haemorragging had taken place and he was unconscious at the moment.

I rushed down to the hospital. Once there, I found Jocelyn and Amanda standing outside his room. We called some of our other ex-NPCC pals to notify them about this freak accident. Soon, I saw Aaron running down the hallway to meet us. Though Aaron now owned a car dealership of his own and Jun Ting was supposedly his main rival, they still kept in contact.

In the next one hour, we were joined by Junde, Samantha, Charles, Wei Siang and Yong Li. They all expressed their shock at this sudden turn of events. We tried contacting the others but the others were uncontactable. Charles told me that Meiqi was in China on a mission trip with her church. I was shocked to realise that people like Hui Ting, Rebecca, Baoyi, Yong Yi and Michelle had long ago emigrated.

At the end of the day, Jun Ting pulled through. But the things I learnt were far more appalling. I realised, that we, the 4th squad of NCHS NPCC, had drifted apart. No matter how much we had promised ourselves that we would always stick together, the brutality of life in the real world drove us apart. We were too busy, with our own lives, to bother with the seeming frugality of friendships. As I thought back to 32 years ago, when our lives intertwined for the first times, I realise the purity of the friendships we had back then. Back then, all we ever worried about was schoolwork and heart matters. Now, all we ever cared about was how to make money, how not to waste money, and how to get all the money in the world...

Okay. I'll be the first to admit that this post is a little downcast and the mood and setting of the scenario is horrible. Horrible. However, there will come a time when such a thing might happen, whether or we intentionally wish for it or not. But that's life for you and me. But for now, who wants to join me in this pledge? "We will stick together. Through bitterness and strife, through good times and bad, through joys and sorrows, come what may, Squad 3 '06 WILL stick together." (Yes I know I used these phrases in my article, but it applies to this now and I'm lazy to think up something new.)

I end this post with another quote I found. This is Dan, signing off for now. I promise that Part 3 will be a more light hearted affair.

“From quiet homes and first beginnings,
Out to the undiscovered ends,
There’s nothing worth the price of winning,
But laughter and the love of friends”
~ Joseph Hilaire Belloc (English writer)