Excuses or Just Ignorance ?

Skipping the Sunday Service for the reason of fellowship with unbelievers so that can bring them to Christ? This is one message I received today. This struck my mind as a big blow as I do not understand.

Matt6:33"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Some things come first in our life; others come second; others are less important. We will live best when we put God and His way of life at the top of our list.
I wonder what happen nowadays? Are we Christians just Christians by name sake only? Should we Christians not Followers of Christ?

If we are Followers of Christ, we should respect God, fear God and place God in front of everything we do. This is what I have said in my earlier post, THOUGHT, where we see Eric Liddell was a godly man indeed.

How can we fore-go our once a week Praise and Worship God for the sake of fellow shipping with the unbelievers under the excuse of bringing them to Christ? We know our LORD is sovereign. He knows us even before we are born(Jeremiah 1:5 NIV "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." ). Even our hairs he has counted before we even know(Matthew 10:30 NIV "And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." ). Our foremost important thing to do is to love our LORD by praising Him and worshipping Him. For it is "Seek first HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well".

Christmas

O God, may we not miss the true reason for the singing and celebration of Christmas. Please fill us with a wholehearted desire to do what is right in Jesus' name. Amen.

This is an extract of Today Vol.18 Nov-Dec Issue.

Let us remember the remarkable reasons that give rise to celebration and to holiness this season. Jesus came to make us children of God, offering us a future beyond imagining. We are reminded that He appeared so that He might take away our sins and destroy the devil's work. Both sin and devil had to be dealt with so that we might belong in life and in death to Christ.

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."
"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires."

May we take this Christmas occasion rejoice in the coming of our LORD!

FINISH STRONG坚勇不息

The title of the sermon on the BCM's 47th Convocation Night is FINISH STRONG.

Rev Issac Chan began his preaching: "In Ministry it is not how well you began. But it is how well you ended". He gave the example of King Saul who started strong in the Bible but ended disastrously. The other example is Paul who started miserably but ended strong. He gave three points which would help us to finish strong:

1. one needs to remain humble.

2. one needs to remain teachable.
3. one needs to remain accountable.

All in all, one needs to watch his life in doctrine.

Well, it is so true. If we remain humble, remain teachable and remain accountable and watch our life in doctrine, following the doctrine strictly in our everyday life, I believe we can finish strong. Amen.

TRUST

God's Timeless Time
There is no "after" after death. Words like after and before belong to our mortal life, our life in time and space. Death frees us from the boundaries of chronology and brings us into God's "time," which is timeless. Speculations about the afterlife, therefore, are little more than just that: speculations. Beyond death there is no "first" and "later," no "here" and "there," no "past," "present," or "future." God is all in all. The end of time, the resurrection of the body, and the glorious coming again of Jesus are no longer separated by time for those who are no longer in time.
For us who still live in time, it is important not to act as if the new life in Christ is something we can comprehend or explain. God's heart and mind are greater than ours. All that is asked of us is trust.

Devotion from The Henri Nouwen Society

We cannot fathom God's heart and mind which are greater than ours. Isaiah55:9"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Let us just give our TRUST to our LORD.

Assured Eternal Life

Restored to Eternal Life
One thing we know for sure about our God: Our God is a God of the living, not of the dead. God is life. God is love. God is beauty. God is goodness. God is truth. God doesn't want us to die. God wants us to live. Our God, who loves us from eternity to eternity, wants to give us life for eternity.
When that life was interrupted by our unwillingness to give our full yes to God's love, God sent Jesus to be with us and to say that great yes in our name and thus restore us to eternal life. So let's not be afraid of death. There is no cruel boss, vengeful enemy, or cruel tyrant waiting to destroy us - only a loving, always forgiving God, eager to welcome us home.

from the Henri Nouwen Society Daily Devotion.

Therefore, we should give our life fully to Jesus and obey God's will when He calls us, like Father Abraham full of Faith.

THOUGHT

CREATED FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10
Eric Liddell was an Olympic runner from Britain who won a gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics.
He was a man who had a deep commitment to the Lord and had future plans of being a missionary. In the meantime, he knew God had given him a special gift to run, and he often said, "I feel God's pleasure when I run."
He spent years training for the Olympics. He passed each hurdle and qualified for the Olympics.
Finally, the day came for him to run in the games that were held in Paris. There was only one problem. One of his running events was held on Sunday.
Liddell refused to run on Sunday, believing it dishonored the Lord's Sabbath. He held to his convictions and brought great persecution on himself. He made a decision that even if it meant losing his opportunity to compete, he would not run. God's laws were greater than man's applause.
Just when the circumstances seemed hopeless, another situation arose that allowed Liddell to run on a different day.
So often this is the case in the spiritual realm. God tests our hearts to see if we will remain faithful to Him at the cost of something important to us. Once He knows where our loyalty lies, He opens a new door that meets the desires of our hearts.
God takes pleasure in seeing His creation used for His glory.
Liddell understood why he was made to run; he used his gift of running to bring pleasure to his Creator.
Later, Eric Liddell went on to serve God on the mission field.
Does your life work bring pleasure to the Lord? Do you understand that God instilled certain gifts and talents in you so that He might find pleasure in His creation of you?
Take pleasure in the gifts God has given to you this day. And let His glory shine through you.

This passage is taken from AllWorship.com by Os Hillman.
Here we see Eric Liddell was so respectful to God and fear God that he would rather sacrifice the gold medal to win God's pleasure. We Christians, the followers of Christ should always observe God's law, fear God, respect God and love God our LORD and be faithful to Him. In the spiritual realm we must be stouthearted to be on God's side.

Could we tell the animals the Good News ?

I have heard some pastors telling the members that Jesus never asked us to go and tell the animals the kingdom of God is near! They said in Genesis, God created animals before man as God wanted man to feed on animals and plants. Thus, I checked through the Bible, English and Chinese, and I could not find any that could say the Pastors were wrong.
There is a trend, especially among the rich people who have turned into worshipping their pets as their gods! For gentiles, it is understandable as they are yet to be introduce to Jesus. For Christians, it would be very very wrong to have idols! The Ten Commandments should never leave our mind any moment not even any second! May God forgive them for they don't know what they are doing. May the Holy Spirit guide them and bring them back to the right path which leads us to our Abba Father.

Bringing the World into the Church or Bring the Church into the World?

This thought has come into my mind on and off. I was impulsed to write it down. As we move further away from the day Christ was born and the day he ascended to heaven, a lot of so called Christians, be they Reverends, Pastors or just the common believers are really shifting away from the Way, the Truth and the Life Christ Jesus
has taught us. We tend to become more relax and forgetful. We begin to shift away and farther away from the narrow path Christ Jesus asked us to walk!

Are we bringing the world into the church or are we bringing the church into the world? This has been puzzling me as I watched the changes taking place in the churches nowadays. When I first asked this question to my fellow Christian friends and they for a moment, were sort like taken aback and did not know what I meant! Some churches wanted to have more members and rich members to come to them and they began to modify themselves just to please the world. Are they doing the things that would please our LORD?

Deut28:1If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God.

I pray the churches would remember that we are to walk into the world and change the world and win the world for Christ, and not let the world change us. If we are to let the world change us then Christ Jesus would not have to die for us on the Cross.

Luke23:34Jesus said,"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Have YOU Changed???

EX19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
EX22:31You are to be my holy people....
LEV11:45For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
JOSH24:19And Joshua said.......Ye cannot serve the LORD:for he is an holy God........ {King James Version}

There are 59 verses I found in my Chinese Devotional Bible, telling us our God is holy and He wants us to be holy before Him. I was referring to my Nov18th post [THOUGHT which I have changed to IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE] that we Christians should not bring shame on our LORD. We should make less and lesser offences against the law. Incidentally, this morning this thought came to me. I was reminded of a sermon I heard in the GoodTV where the Taiwanese Pastor asked his congregation,"Have you changed?". He was referring to his congregation where a number of them had gone to visit the famous Korean Pastor David Yonggi Cho's church, the Yoido Full Gospel Church (Assemblies of God) and the Prayer Mountain yearly. He told his church members to observe from their daily life, like driving on the road, had they changed from their usual habits. If they still remained the same as before,then they had not grown spiritually. It would then be of no use no matter how many times they had done the pilgrimage to Korea. It is not the matter of you have visited the famous Korean church. It is more important that you have changed spiritually and away from sin. The change must come from within, from our inner body. Once we have the change from within us, then people can see Christ in us.

Yes, may GOD bless you and me too.

Testimony for the Grace of our Lord

With reference to my October 20th post, this morning when I went to the coffee shop to have my breakfast, the smiling sister who operates a mee stall there told me that she had a testimony she wanted to share with me. While she was talking I could see her beaming smiles which was so touching. I was telling myself this is the type of Chrisitan we are lacking in churches nowadays. I was so happy as she showed her joy and she rejoiced in her experience in the walk with the Lord!

She was very worried the other day when there was no customer came to her stall. She phoned her good friend who was a mature Chrisitian. Her friend then prayed for her and reassured her that if there was still no customer to eat at her stall by 3pm, she would buy all the food in her stall. She told me that she was so shocked as all her food was sold out before 3pm after that prayer! Hallelujah. Praise the Lord! Our Lord has shown this newly born again sister He is the God who answered our prayer. Her beaming smile just told how she rejoiced in the Lord. I too was very happy and praise God for He is so faithful.

IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE ?

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

May we remember as we love our Lord, we should make less and lesser offences against the law. The Cross we carry is showing the gentiles we are the followers of Christ and we are honouring Him in our Everyday Life. Christ is so Holy. We should not bring shame on Him. One easiest excuse the gentiles would use is: " You Chirstians are just the same as us, doing things against the law too. What is so different?" Yes, is there any difference?

JESUS replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' Mat22:37

Healing

有些病虽得医治，但因病根没有全然拆毁净尽，所以会再生病。

我们看箴言十五章13节-心中喜乐，面带笑容；心里优愁，灵被损伤。我们再看箴言十七章22节-喜乐的心乃是良药，忧伤的灵使骨枯干。我们又再看箴言十六章24节-良言如同蜂房，使心觉甘甜，使骨得医治。

神的话是有威力的。神说灵被损伤会带来肉体上的病。所以弟兄姐妹若是有骨头痛的症状，就要想到良言如同蜂房，去原谅，饶恕那些令你们不愉快的人时，病就会全然都得医治了。

病会再回来，乃是正常的。就像身上的细菌没有全然消灭， 问题还是会再回来的。

以上取自为何得医治的病会再复发 - 张志雄牧师。

Hold Firm To The Word Of GOD

I received this inspirational email from the AllWorship.com. This passage just hit on my mind and I want all my friends to share. Seems we can use things we observe from our everyday life to practise in our walk with the Lord. We just can learn so many things.

A LESSON LEARNED FROM A BUG

I pulled out of my driveway heading for my mom's and noticed a katydid on my windshield.
This is rare for the area I live in since it is more city than farm or wooded area. For those of you who do not know what a katydid is, it is similar to a grasshopper. It is green but has a flat body whereas the grasshopper has a round body and is more brown colored.
As I accelerated, I noticed the wind was making his body flutter, but the legs were securely attached to the windshield. I was sure he would lose his battle to the wind, but he kept hanging on, body fluttering in the wind. He did this for a couple of miles.
As I slowed down one time, he tried to re-adjust his footing. He released his grip on the windshield with just one leg and it was all over; he was gone.

The wind is our trials.
The windshield is like the word of God.
When we hold on to our "windshield" securely, we are secure.
When things start to settle down, we often loosen our grip on God's word. We start to rely on our strength and understanding rather than staying in God's word. That's when the trials come back and catch us unprepared and the trials drag us away.

If we hold firm to God's word, we will be ready for the trials as they come.
by Mike Stull, Chino, CA

Healing ；病得医治

Remember in my earlier blog I asked why are there Christians fell sick and why are there Christians healed but fell sick again (为什么我们又看到有弟兄姐妹病倒了呢？为什么又有弟兄姐妹病得医治了切又再复发了呢)？
In The Elijah Challenge book of Introduction To The End Time Model Of Evangelism where the author Rev William Lau, who is the founder of The Elijah Challenge Ministry, said evil spirits, including those which cause infirmities, may attempt to return to afflict the person who has been healed. In such cases, the person may feel the symptoms returning, or resurface in another part of his body. The person should repent and receive Jesus, live a life of obedience, and fill his "house" with the presence of the Holy Spirit. We are referred to the Gospel of Luke11:24-26 and Gospel of John5:14
Christians should be obedient to follow the teaching of Christ Jesus and seek God steadfastly so that one is "sanctified" and there is no opening for the evil spirit or the spirit of infirmity to enter into the "body".

Hold On To GOD

Wow, it's Sunday today. We rejoiced in the church to receive God's Word.

Today my church Pastor preached on the subject of Hold On To God and do not look back anymore. We were referred to Hebrews Chapter 10 verses 19 to 39 and also Chapter 12 verse 5. We were saved by Christ and through Christ we can come near to God and call Him Abba Father. Jesus Christ helps us to be able to come near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. We should then hold fast to the hope promised as our God is a faithful God. Then in the body of Christ we should consider one another to love each other that the Agape Love of God is manifested through us to the world. However, a number of people after being saved still continue to sin. This deliberately continue to sin would bring the severe punishment from God as we have treated unholy the blood of the covenant that sanctified us and also have insulted the Spirit of grace. We should remember it is dreadful to fall into the hands of the living God for He said,"It is mine to avenge; I will repay." It is not easy to be a Christian but is a joy to be a Christian; a true follower of Christ would testify to this! Paul said, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." To win that prize, we have to be faithful in suffering and courageous in endurance to press on toward the goal. God bless you.

Faith In God

'A man who slipped off the edge of a cliff and was desperately hanging onto a rope to keep from falling. He screamed at the top of his voice, "Is there anyone there who can help me?" A calm, reassuring voice answered back, "It is the Lord. Let go of the rope." The man thought about it for a moment, looked down to see how far he would fall. Then he yelled out again even louder, "Is there anyone else there who can help me?'

See here, we find it to be ridiculous that one should refuse the help from the Lord! But human nature is such one has to see first and would base on what one sees. He forgot he should trust God! It is the Faith that we very often lack. Many of us have read the Bible many times and know of the Word of God very well. Yet when it comes to a situation when one has to put Faith in front of things that one sees, one totally forgets about it. One forgets Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses and Lord Jesus! These were the people who walked by Faith! Lord Jesus told Thomas:"Thomas, you believe because you have seen. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." Have you ever been at a place in your life where you felt the Lord was telling you to let go of the rope, but all you could see was how things looked from a logical, human perspective? It is very important for Christians, the followers of Christ to walk in Faith and not by sight!

Dear friends, what is God calling you to do that will require you to step into the darkness? Are you ready with the Faith in God?
--Extract from the Allworship Inspirational email by Rev. Alan Riley, Managing Editor of StreamingFaith.com.

These two weeks I always saw a newly saved sister who always showed her smiling face. My wife said she had changed so much and she looked much younger and healthier and sweeter. She was saved in the hospital when she was going for a knee operation(Osteoarthritis). After the operation she can walk briskly and enjoying her new health. Before her operation, her leg was swollen and she rather pulled along her leg instead of walking as she was having the severe nerve pain then. She told us her sister and her sister's church pastor went to visit her in the hospital while she was there and they prayed for her and told her the Good News. She was then saved though her husband was still not aware of her change. She would laughingly told us she now worshipped the One True God while her husband was still praying to the idols. Wow, she was so strong in her Faith!

I always saw a sister in my church who was always giving me the impression she was hurrying here and there and seemed to have a lot of questions in her head. I sympathized with her as she is a Chrisitian for more than 25years! Why is that she is not like the newly saved sister who is always smilng and happy!

Here is the problem. The other night when Rev John Ng was preaching in the Healing Rally he commented we Christians had to love our Lord fervently . We should not be cold and without fire. Oh, there is the reason! Very often, we "longtime" Christians tend to become indifferent if we stayed in the church for too long without going out to reach those unsaved souls outside, like joining the mission trips.

Care for the flock of God entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don't lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your good example---1Peter5:2-3 ;


Who has bewitched [bedeviled] you---Galatians3:1



Some one requested Daily Encounter to do a lesson on spiritual abuse in the church where some pastors were found rather than shepherding their flock, rebuke people into submission.


"This type of people are very insecure and immature...is an emotional sickness....they are playing the role of God and God's Spirit in other peoples' lives. However, when we (as adults) allow ourselves to be controlled by others instead of yielding to the control or direction of God's Spirit, we become a part of the controlling person's sickness because of our own insecurity and immaturity"


May be this is an awakening call to those leaders in Church who have got into this unbecoming attitude and also those church members who were too submissive or having a couldn't careless attitude. Time to wake up and serve our Lord gloriously.

You may refer to Acts International at http://www.actsweb.org/devotionals.php

The Two Sides of One Faith
Our faith in God who sent his Son to become God-with-us and who, with his Son, sent his Spirit to become God-within-us cannot be real without our faith in the Church.

The Church is that unlikely body of people through whom God chooses to reveal God's love for us. Just as it seems unlikely to us that God chose to become human in a young girl living in a small, not very respected town in the Middle East nearly two thousand years ago, it seems unlikely that God chose to continue his work of salvation in a community of people constantly torn apart by arguments, prejudices, authority conflicts, and power games.

Still, believing in Jesus and believing in the Church are two sides of one faith. It is unlikely but divine!

(Extract from The Henri Nouwen Society's daily meditation.)

This is so true. The present church should review their faith in God. The body of Christ should be introspective now of their role in the church. Are we following....?

"The Church is holy and sinful, spotless and tainted. The Church is the bride of Christ, who washed her in cleansing water and took her to himself "with no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and faultless" (Ephesians 5:26-27). The Church too is a group of sinful, confused, anguished people constantly tempted by the powers of lust and greed and always entangled in rivalry and competition."
The above is the extract from the Henri Nouwen Society's daily meditation. This reminds us of our Lord Jesus's purpose of coming to this earth. Are we to be without speck or wrinkle but holy and faultless after being baptized with water and the Holy Spirit, so that one day we could come face to face with our Almighty One?

生病的罪根没有全然拆毁净尽

雅各书五章13-16节


你们中间有受苦的呢, 他就该祷告。有喜乐的呢，他就该歌颂。你们中间有病了的呢，他就该请教会的长老来，他们可以奉主的名用油抹他，为他祷告。出于信心的祈祷，要救那病人，主必叫他起来。他若犯了罪，也必蒙赦免。所以你们要彼此认罪互相代求，使你们可以得医治。






哈利路亚！雅各书这几节给了我们盼望。告诉我们，我们的神是充满爱心的神，是充满怜悯的神。看哪！主说， 主必叫他起来；也必蒙赦免；使你们可以得医治。 哦。谢谢耶稣！

可是，为什么我们又看到有弟兄姐妹病倒了呢？为什么又有弟兄姐妹病得医治了切又再复发了呢？

Forgiveness vs Reconciliation

Like to share this from the Acts International Daily Encounter with you.
This is interesting and will solve what has been hoovering over the head of some of us for the past: forgiveness vs reconciliation.
God bless.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008
NOTE: Daily Encounter still has more work to be done following the "hacker-attacks." Some links and pages are still under repair.

Forgiveness Vs. Reconciliation

"Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men."1
Following a series of Daily Encounters on "Forgiveness," a number of readers wanted to know if forgiving another person meant that we have to forget what has happened; or to love and stay with them if they are abusive; or to trust them?
The answer is no, no, no! Let me explain further.
When we have sinned, we need to be reconciled to God,2 but while reconciliation with others is the ideal, it isn't always possible—and sometimes not to be desired. Some teachers argue that forgiveness isn't possible unless the offending person admits what she/he has done and asks for forgiveness of the one they have hurt. If this were true, many of us would be stuck for life for the fact that many people do not, or will not, admit that they have done anything wrong, let alone apologize for it.
Forgiveness is dependent only on the person who has been hurt. Reconciliation is dependent on both the offended and the one who has offended.
One reader, whose husband was an alcoholic and physically abusive and dangerous when drunk, wanted to know if forgiving him meant loving and trusting him. Whew ... she was in quite a predicament. However, the most loving thing she could do, was to confront him and let him know that she was not going to tolerate his behavior any longer.
Furthermore, unless he got into recovery, and overcame his alcoholism and abusive behavior, she needs to separate herself and the children from him, and not return until his counselor could assure her that she and the children would be safe to live with him again. If she keeps tolerating his abusive and destructive behavior, she becomes part of his sickness.
In cases like this, the first thing victims need to do is to get professional counsel and help because some of these abusive husbands can become very dangerous.
And unless destructive and/or toxic, abusive people repent and change their ways, it is wise to avoid associating with them wherever possible. As the Bible indicates, it just isn't possible to live peaceably with all people.
Suggested prayer, "Dear God, in all my relationships, please help me to forgive all who have hurt me, to seek forgiveness where I have hurt others, and give me the wisdom to know when reconciliation is or isn't advisable or possible, and give me the courage to do what I need to do no matter how painful or frightening it may be. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Romans 12:17-18 (NASB).
2. 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV).

<:))))><

Below is an article I just received today from my mailbox and reading it, my heart goes to the Sabah Ranau district........ I am so sad. Yet, I dare not say anymore Wawasan 2020. We in the city enjoy all the most modern facilities. I believe even in the Peninsula Malaysia, there are places having the same conditions as Ranau Sabah, may be of a little bit better condition. We are yet to discover. Do we need our foreign friends to come to discover for us? Oh, no. Where are the State Assemblymen and where are the Members of Parliament of the respective districts. The politicians, they do not know of this state of life in Sabah?
Please read. May be those of us who can afford, who are wealthy enough-the philanthropists, can go and help out the poor people there in Ranau Sabah; so that the parents need not have to feed their children with toad eggs!


A touching account from a West Malaysian doctor - Don't neglect Sabah, please

Don't neglect Sabah, please
Another Doctor Sep 8, 08 5:11pm
I refer to the Malaysiakini article Kota Marudu needs more than wireless InternetI read Dr Hams letter and cannot help but agree with many of his observations.
I worked in Sabah for over seven years as a house officer and medical officer. After my housemanship, I was sent to Ranau to serve in the district hospital. What Dr Hams described in Kota Marudu is not something isolated to that district alone in Sabah. It is an often repeated story in the whole of Sabah.
My first introduction to the poverty in Sabah came during my first months there, when a sweet 70- year-old lady from Kota Marudu was sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital with deep jaundice. She lived alone in a small village off Kota Marudu and noticed the jaundice about a month before. She had no money for the taxi fare and so waited a month to sell off her chickens to have enough money to pay RM50 for the transport to Kota Marudu Hospital. She had to walk two miles to get to the road to get to the taxi. Having been born, bred and educated in Peninsular Malaysia, I was shocked. When she arrived, she was septic and had a gallstone lodged in her common bile duct. The stone was duly removed but she was found to have a heart problem that required a pacemaker. We arranged for her to get a permanent pacemaker but she refused.When I pressed her for her reason, she told me that she couldn't afford to buy batteries for the pacemaker, having sold off her chickens. Once I explained to her that the batteries would last for years and we would provide them, she agreed to the pacemaker.
Ranau town itself has roads and is on the main highway between Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu. It developed primarily as a result of the Mamut Copper Mines in the district. However, highway in this context means a two lane road with frequent landslides and potholes, with a two-hour drive to Kota Kinabalu. Outside Ranau, transportation becomes a problem as tarred roads disappear to become gravel or crudely marked logging trails. Anyone who has worked in Sabah would have the same stories to tell, of extreme poverty and poor transportation. During my 2 years in Ranau, I've heard and seen it all, patients with cerebral malaria, a condition unheard of in Peninsular Malaysia, coming in after 48 hours to the hospital from places like Kaingaran and Karagasan, with relatives having to push the 'pirate taxi' through the mud, spending RM50 on fare during the monsoon season, the equivalent of 2 months income, this too when petrol was only around RM1.20 a litre in Ranau. Patients having to delay treatment for life threatening conditions because a bridge washed away along the trail (I won't even call it a road) to Tambunan. Emergency surgery such as cesarean sections, appendectomies and even ectopic pregnancies had to be performed in our little district hospitals by Medical Officers with little more than 4 months housemanship experience.Medical emergencies such as myocardial infarctions, which in Peninsular Malaysia would be managed in a Coronary Care Unit setting, had to be managed in the district hospital level. I'm grateful however, that my staff in that hospital were the best I've ever had the pleasure of working with and were dedicated enough to want to make a difference in their patients' lives.
But poor transportation does not only affect the access to health care. Having no roads to be able to transport their agricultural produce for sale means that these people are stuck in a never ending cycle of poverty. At most, some of them get RM20 to RM50 by selling their produce to middlemen to be sold at the monthly tamu or market at prices that are perhaps only 10 percent of the value of the goods. These innocent people are also preyed upon by traveling cloth merchants, mostly foreigners, who offer them 'easy payment schemes' to buy cloth for clothes, and when they cannot pay for the cloth and the interest accumulates, they end up having to marry their daughters to these men, who often have wives back home in Pakistan.
One of the cases I could never forget was of the family who came to Ranau Hospital just as I was leaving, a family who had failed crops, were hungry and unable to get food. The father collected some toad eggs and fed them to the whole family in a desperate attempt to stave off hunger. When they arrived at our little emergency room, one of the children were dead and two passed away within 10 minutes of arrival in our casualty unit due to poisoning.
Education is a problem in parts of Sabah outside major towns like Kota Kinabalu at the moment. Many children would be lucky to be able to get to a school or even afford to get to one. Most of my patients outside Ranau were lucky to even have a primary school education and a vast number of women marry in their teens. I've had 14 year olds delivering babies in Ranau, most of them have never ever stepped foot in a school. The education level is so poor that many women feed their children condensed milk thinking that it's better than breast milk.But at the heart of it all, these mothers want the best for their children but are not empowered with the knowledge to help them.
Major towns in Sabah have electricity courtesy of the Sabah Electricity Board, but smaller villages have either diesel generators or rely on candles or lamps when night falls. How can children study in these conditions? Like many doctors in the districts, I had to learn Dusun to communicate better with these patients who could speak little else.
Forty five years after the formation of Malaysia, the promise of a better life for these poor Dusun, Murut and Rungus patients in the districts of Sabah is a pipe dream at best.
How can our politicians claim to have brought development to the state and have neglected these poor people, many of whom still wear the cheap t-shirts and caps given free by political parties from many elections ago.
How can I claim to be proud of Putrajaya with it's beautiful bridges and lamp posts and the Petronas twin Towers when our fellow Malaysians in Sabah are so neglected?
The cycle of poverty and illiteracy one sees in the districts in Sabah brings despair to the heart. Eradication of poverty must tackle the real issues of education and transport and not just handouts to poor people.
By all means, declare Sept 16th a public holiday, but remember it in it's real context, where we made a promise to our brethren in Sabah and Sarawak to treat them as equals in Malaysia, and give them the development they've been long denied.

Wow, after more than a year.....

Wow, it is more than a year since the last time I penned something on my blog. Being encouraged by my daughter who is so enthusiastic in blogging and after reading those famous blogger sites, I began to rethink of writing something for myself to recall in future and also at the same time can share with my friends and brothers and sisters in Christ.

Lord Jesus told His disciples, the seventy-two He appointed to go to every town and place where the harvest is plentiful. "Heal the sick who are there and tell them, The kingdom of God is near you.* Luke10:9

Last night I went with The Elijah Challenge Ministry to a church in Setapak where the believers of Jesus Christ were taught The Elijah Challenge to heal the sick to equip themselves as disciples of Christ to evangelize so as to fulfil the Great Commission. The Elijah Challenge Ministry's main purpose is to equip the believers of Christ to evangelise following the way of Jesus to heal and preach the Gospel to save souls. The believers of this church was enthusiastic and their faith was strong that though this was the first night, they did the healing of the infirm, mainly believers having pains in shoulders, hands, legs, backs, heads and stomach, which are physically felt and detectable. Praise the Lord! I was indeed thankful to the Lord seeing the brothers and sisters being healed with their pains gone as one by one they went up the stage to testified glorifying God! Awesome is our Lord! They are being taught to build up their faith to the level where their faith would become the Moutain Moving Faith that they can go out later to evangelize and save souls. Hallelujah.