A clarification as to what this blogsite is about

A clarification as to what this blogsite is about

Khen Lim

Image source: RCCG Household of Faith

A little more than a week ago, I shared an article with a pastor that I drafted on the sovereignty of God, which I plan to publish here in a fortnight from now. Seeing that he had years of experience running a Bible College in the West Indies, he would be a good person to ask for suggestions to improve what I wrote.

In turn he wrote an email back to me, remarking that Systematic Theology is a very difficult topic to touch on let alone explain. And I couldn’t agree more. But that led to more challenging questions he asked, which, for the benefit of my readers, I’ll attempt to answer: 

Update from the Publishing Editor

Update from the Publishing Editor

Announcing the premature end to the Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly

Khen Lim




Image source: curvy magazine

After one-hundred and fifteen issues spanning a little more than two years of circulation, the Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly has come to a stop. Permanently.

The last was Issue #115/16 on October 30 2016, bearing the headlines, ‘Why Christians are a Misunderstood Lot.’ There were initial plans to at least get the last copy out on December 18 to coincide with the closure of the church, Hosanna Evangelical Free Church but a few things have conspired against that happening.

Our Struggles over Changing Times

Our Struggles Over Changing Times

Hosanna Evangelical Free Church is Closing

Khen Lim




Image source: johnpavlotivtz.com

Regular readers to our website will notice a few irregular things that have been happening over the past number of weeks. Firstly, the Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly editions have stopped three weeks ago. This previous weekend, there has not been any new articles uploaded and conspicuously absent is the weekly history article as part of the ‘On The Day’ series. For all of this, I apologise.

However there are reasons for all of this. You may notice that the last two major articles posted on October 2 and 9 have to do with the issue of the church closing. Most unfortunately, these articles do echo what is happening to Hosanna EFC (Evangelical Free Church), the church I belong to and the one to which this website has been centring on.

A Lesson from the Past

Comparing Julian the Apostate with our World Leaders

Khen Lim

For the relevant link article on Julian the Apostate, clickhere.

Today’s history lesson dates back to 1,653 years ago when the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate died conceding to Christ that He was right after all. There is something very poignant about this because almost 17 centuries later, we still have yet to learn from it. Before the Emperor died, he realised that his defiance against Christ and his disdain for the millions of His followers was futile.

Julian’s background is hauntingly surreal. Check out how well educated he was. Find out the kinds of philosophical intellectuals he hung out with. Consider him a man for all seasons, supremely refined and cultured. He’d have been a real catch of the day too. He was baptised a Christian; yet he turned away from God and went against Him by deliberately reviving long-gone pagan religions. He reworked the very things that God was angered by. He squared off with Christ, thinking that as a Roman Emperor and assuming the cult of the Unconquered Sun, he was greater and more supreme.

Julian’s disdain for God is similar to what we see today in the tens of millions whose liberal antics would have been equally as if not even more despicable and defiant. I think that if we consider any of these – abortions, baby-part harvesting, same-sex marriages, transsexuality, embryonic stem cell extractions, euthanasia, Christian persecutions, anti-Semitism and hatred against Israel – we could possibly conclude that many of our world leaders today might actually be far worse than Julian the Apostate.

Julian died with regret lingering pathetically on his lips. His last words evidenced this. The tragic difference is that countless modern world leaders we know of may not be that remorseful even in their dying minutes. Where has the world gone to? And what are we Christians to do?

Today, we quietly celebrate the 100th edition of the Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly (LMSW) now read by readers from 70 countries, comprising 29 European, 13 Asian, 6 Mid-Eastern, 7 Latin American, 5 African, 3 Australasian and 6 Central/North American nations. Since August 2014, we have come a long way but it seems we still have a very long long way to go! 

Thank you for your support. We hope you keep helping us make up even bigger numbers!

Every Step Forward is for Christ (Part Two/Final)

Embodying a purposeful direction in the Vision Statement to bear fruit for God

Khen Lim

Final Part




Image source: redletterchristians.org

Re-envisioning the Future

Leaders of our church arrived at a mutually-agreed conclusion that a generic vision under the common umbrella of the Great Commission wasn’t specific enough at least for our church and the problems we needed to attend to.

Hence our new chairman proposed the need to revise the church’s Vision Statement with the view to come up with a more appropriate replacement that would, firstly, fall under the general auspices of the Great Commission and secondly, offers better details that carry more relevance for our church. 

Every Step Forward is for Christ (Part One)

Embodying a purposeful direction in the Vision Statement to bear fruit for God

Khen Lim




Image source: ellenwhite.info

For the many decades of my church’s existence, the mandate fleshed out in its Constitution was to fulfil the Great Commission (Mt 28:16-20). Of course, that would probably be no different for many churches throughout the world because this is a broad vision that is well spelt out in the Bible. How the vision is fleshed out will likely, though, be varied, given the different complexions, needs and issues that each church has.

The Great Commission is, of course, a very important cornerstone for all Christians and it goes without saying that it is therefore an inherently vital function of the church. That being said, our church had, over the decades, struggled to understand how to fulfil it beyond a generic understanding of what churches in general are purposed to do. 

Happy Chinese New Year 2016

By Administration



Image source: theatlantic.com

To our Chinese readers around the world

A very Happy Chinese New Year to you and your loved ones. There will be no Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly for tomorrow. In fact at Hosanna EFC in Ipoh, there will not be any Sunday Service as well since most of our congregation will be spending precious time with the family members who would have returned home. Some have gone interstate where their ancestral homes are.

Tonight is Family Reunion, which is the Chinese equivalent of the American Thanksgiving Day. It is a day (called chú xī and written natively as 除夕) where family members have all returned to their parents’ homes to share their dinner together for that one time a year in a traditional practice that has been staple for more than a thousand years. In an increasing number of cases, reunited families will also be having their reunion bashes in Chinese restaurants for practical and convenient reasons – so be forewarned, this is NOT the day to casually walk into a popular Chinese diner and expect to find an empty table!

The Chinese take their traditions seriously (Parts 1, 2 and 3 here) and Chinese New Year’s Eve is no exception. Family members from abroad are also likely to make their way home, which is why travel-bound Chinese from all over the world will have been busy scheduling their flights home in the last number of days. They may come from America, Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand or Canada but their destinations will be China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore or whichever country that you find an ancestral Chinese population.

In Ipoh (Malaysia), residential streets will once again be clogged up by cars of returning family members including those from our southerly neighbours, Singapore. For that one time every year, these will be days when simply coffeeshops with Ipoh’s legendary noodle dishes will be chockablock full of ‘tourists’ and ‘annual visitors’ and so there will be no places left for locals.

Not just that, prices will skyrocket beyond reasonable expectation. A simple iced Chinese tea drink will go up from 0.50 sen (US0.12/AUD0.17) to anything like RM1.00 (US0.24/AUD0.34) or even more. That’s a minimum of 100 percent price hike, if not more! For some of us, the best places to eat during the Chinese New Year season might be the Indian curry houses where the prices don’t go up at all.

For my family, Chinese New Year 2016 will be an entirely different experience altogether. It will be the very first time, my mother won’t be around. Having passed away only recently in October 2015, we still miss here. That hole in all our hearts will take time to heal. It will also be the first time that we have brand new additions to our family to usher in the New Year. Our newborn twins, Heather and Bridget, will bring us joy while we remember our beloved mom.

I have included a very special video that was sent to me by a relative only a few hours ago. It would provide our non-Chinese readers a very good idea of how the Chinese value the little things in life that bring their families together. For our Chinese readers, the video might be a good reminder of what such values are that we should treasure.

For reasons unclear to me, I have had difficulties uploading the video to the website so that you can view it directly here. This means that the best I can do is to provide you with a link to the video clip, which I have uploaded to MediaFire. Whatever it is - and I apologise for the inconvenience - it is well worth watching.

Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/watch/ms757smact8o03o/VID-20160207-WA0002.mp4

Have a memorable Chinese New Year.

Khen Lim

Happy Chinese New Year 2016

Administration

As Chinese New Year falls on February 8 this year, this means that the Family Reunion day that is its Eve will coincide with what would otherwise have been a usual Sunday Service. So ‘regular programming will resume on February 14 instead.

Apologies for Missing Sunday Weekly Download

Dear readers

Many of you would have expected to be able to download yesterday’s Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly (LMSW) edition but found no link to one. In fact much of the website has not been updated for the past one week and to all of that, our sincere apologies.

I have been completely caught off-guard with unexpected challenges at home to deal with. Even so I thought I still had Saturday to work on it but even so, I couldn’t find the time or opportunity. In the past days, I had relatives come from Canada to visit. Then my newborn twins – now almost three months old – have been as temperamental as Mount Krakatoa! I’m told that because they are girls, their wailing is especially piercing and highly amplified. I’m actually convinced that babies have a volume knob with only two positions - Off and Full Blast. With two in tow, the cries are as close to ear-deafening as you can imagine. We just came back from the paediatrician who told us both of them have colicky issues that won’t go off until they’re at least four months old.

On the same day, I had to send my aged father to the hospital for an urgent blood transfusion that took up pretty much the whole day. And because there was a kink in the IV line (and nobody noticed it), that meant the first bag of blood took ages to finish before he could be switched to the second pint. By the time all of these chores were over and we got home, it was close to 10:00pm.

My deadline window was therefore shot and Issue 78/16 for January 17 2016 is now history. Therefore the next issue will be Issue 79/16 earmarked for this Sunday, January 24.

I sincerely apologise for that.

Khen Lim

Editor-at-Large

Merry Christmas To Our Readers Worldwide

Administration

When we began in August 2014, we neither knew nor expect what would really happen to our church website. We did it only because it was something that should have been up a long time ago. We talked about it often enough but nothing showed up for many years. And so when we took the bull by its horns late last year, it was merely an experiment.

It’s now Christmas 2016; sixteen months later and we’re delighted with what has taken place. Our readership numbers are impressive beyond what we dared imagine. We spent literally nothing on starting it up or maintaining it but praise the Lord, it’s been a wonderful journey so far!

Thanks to all of you, our articles are read far and wide, across forty-nine different countries around the world. We’d imagine that our readership outside of Malaysia is actually even wider than our own local readers. With over 150 articles and more to come, we hope that more will come to know of us and pay us a visit.

Again, our gratitude and appreciation for a wonderful maiden year to all of you. We humbly pray that we can quietly move on from strength to strength with all glory due the Lord Almighty. For this Christmas and New Year, we pray also that all of our readers stay safe and enjoy the company of your dear friends and family members while we remember that amidst the joy of gifts, the greatest of them all was the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you again.

Colossians 1:15-18 Bible Verse Art

Administration

Colossians 1:15-18 (New International Version)

Note: A slightly different version of the Verse Art appears in our Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly for November 22 2015

None of the 128 Needed to Die

Editorial Commentary

Administration



Image source: nbcnews.com

According to the latest BBC news (at this point of writing), the present Paris attack has claimed 128 lives with 180 others injured. The attack took place in a night of gun and bomb attacks at a concert hall including restaurants and bars at five other sites with one just outside the Stade de France stadium where France was playing World Cup champions Germany. All of these were in and around the centre of Paris.

It might be politically incorrect to say this but there will be more of the same attacks to come. At any rate, this wasn’t the first time for Paris. If our memory isn’t too short, you might remember Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher, the Jewish supermarket. And they were hardly ten months ago.

The godless continue not to recognise that these are not only the End Times but that, appeasing evil merely brings more unmitigated evil. Similarly a stubborn refusal by liberal socialist politicians to call it what it is – purely unadulterated Islamic terrorism – leaves plenty of doors open for more of the same to come. And they will surely come before the year is up. It might not be Paris but it will surely be somewhere where the same blasé attitude prevails.

Much of Europe is embroiled in the most incompetent assessment of what terrorism is about and how poorly they have been managing the situation; no less mired by a complete lack of due diligence. When you bring in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees without any checks and balances, it tells you everything about utter European ignorance and political indifference. But when 128 people died because of government stupidity and a refusal to acknowledge and then act against Islamic terrorism, the fault must lie equally between I.S. and, in this case, the French government.

Looking at where we’re at in the scheme of things, Ephesians 6:10-20 might come at a humbling but right time. Maybe we can now see these verses for what they’re worth. Maybe we can now wake up from our slumber and take things a little more seriously.

Editor

Ephesians 6:10-20 Bible Verse Art

Administration

We don't always have the time to devote to the design of Bible Verse wallpapers.As and when possible, we will do just that.

Feel free to make use of our first example if it suits the needs of your church or Bible study group:

Ephesians 6:10-20 (Good News Translation version)

Note: A different version of the Verse Art appears in our Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly for November 15 2015.

Introducing The Restoration of Israel

Perspectives from the Poetic and Prophetical Books of the Old Testament in Three Parts

By Khen Lim

After 2,000 years, Israel continues to be taunted by its enemies. Notwithstanding the golden era of David and Solomon’s rule, the Jewish State had been plagued by upheavals, evictions, sackings and destructions and it isn’t until the last century or so that the Jewish Diaspora have been returning to the Chosen Land promised them by God.

Many say that this alone constitutes a sure sign that the restoration of Israel, so prophetically described in the Old Testament, is now in full swing. Others say it isn’t because this Israel isn’t the Israel that God spoke about. There have been so many debates about this issue that it is hard for any Christian to truly understand. And inevitably, each of us will have taken a stand in either believing or not believing, accepting or not accepting.

The importance of Israel’s restoration cannot be underestimated. For Christians, the fulfilment of the prophecies is God’s promise of deliverance. It will shape our faith that God is true to His Word and in every sense of it, Christian justice will prevail for the world and we Christians will all be safely delivered.

All of these make this topic so controversial. Apart from being the world’s most hated nation, Christians have also become not just easy targets but also the number enemy worldwide. In the restoration of Israel, our persecution ends and we get to enjoy all that Christ has promised us. For the enemies of Christians and Jews, this is the last thing they want to hear. No matter what, we take comfort in knowing that God never lies. If it is in the Bible, it is true.

‘The Restoration of Israel’ is a three-part treatise that focuses on the very subject itself. In it, I have taken a stand for Israel; that God has begun fulfilling the prophecies as literally told in Scripture. Coming this Sunday, November 15 2015 and for the next three Sundays, the three parts will be published.

If you are looking for the prequel that deals with the Tribulation period, check out the article called ‘The Three Wars to End All Wars’ published recently on October 4 2015. To go straight to the article, you can follow this link: http://hosannaefcluxmundi.blogspot.my/2015/10/the-three-wars-to-end-all-wars.html. 

Another article called, ‘The Political Crucible of the New Testament,’ delves into the Second Temple Period, which is also part of the restoration process of Israel. You can go here: http://hosannaefcluxmundi.blogspot.my/2015/04/the-political-crucible-of-new-testament.html.

Resumption of Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly(LMSW)

By Administration

Dear readers

It has been a very difficult time for my family and I since the passing of our beloved mother. In a short space of time since the first of the two retired issues, our family had to deal with polarising emotions. While my mother passed away on October 22, my wife was actually due to deliver our twin daughters the following day but due to now unforeseen circumstances, we pushed that date to a week later, on October 29.

As you find the resumption of our Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly for this week, our family welcomes the arrival of Heather and Bridget, our twin girls, weighing in at 2.7 kg and looking very beautiful, cute and completely lovable. Set against such unimaginable joy is the shadow of our mother’s passing and because both events are separately only by a week, there is much difficulty in reconciling one with the other.

As they say, time will heal and I’m sure it will. In the meantime however, forgive me for letting a fortnight lapse while I struggled to gather my thoughts back into motion. Our grieving has not ended and so we still await healing to come.

For the many around the world who have sent us condolences, thoughts and prayers for my mother’s passing, our family thank you. We also thank the nursing and medical staff including the valet boys at Pantai Hospital (Ipoh, Malaysia) for the love and care they had shown to our mother in her time struggling to deal with her cancer.

We also take this opportunity to express thanks and gratitude for those who sent their celebratory messages with the arrival of Heather and Bridget.

Khen Lim

Vale - Pooi-Cheng, Leong (1931 - 2015)

By Khen Lim

Vale: Pooi-Cheng, Leong (1931-2015)

After spending ten days at Pantai and despite the loving attention of the nurses and our trusted oncologist, it has always been mom’s constant desire to be back at home, the home that she had built with my dad in a marriage that has lasted a beautiful 58 years.

Now she is home and resting, free from pain and freed to be with Christ. We are of course saddened that she could not see the twins let alone touch them or have a picture taken with them, but the consolation is that she is no longer ravaged by the cancer that took her away from her family. She is at peace and my whole family certainly knows she is up there with Christ, looking at us with all the affection that she is so well known for.

Her generosity in spirit, her kindness and consideration for others is legendary. It is so widespread that the whole of Pantai Hospital, from the valet boys to the front admission counter, the nurses at the Oncology Day Centre, the nursing staff at the second and third floor wards. The story gets even more pronounced when in her brief visits to the KPJ Hospital for her radiotherapy, her heart had caught up with a clinical assistant there who made it her point to not just remember mom but to made the effort to visit my mom at Pantai just to be with her.

I also like to take this opportunity to thank a few people on behalf of my family: 

• The oncologist Dr Zul and his team of dedicated nurses, Ms Chan, Ms Liew, Ms Farrana, 
• The gastro-enterologist Dr Harjinder Singh
• The haemotologist Dr Teh Hiok Seng
• The dietician Ms Rachel Lee
• The nursing staff at the second and third floors
• The front admission counter girls especially Ms Ferrin
• The private night nurses Anis, Amira and Gayathri, including 
• The valet boys, Jumat, Ahmad and Amir

...all of whom work at Pantai Hospital Ipoh and were exceptional and exemplary to my mother and my family. 

And with all of that in mind, I have now sent my last letter to my mom. This is how the letter goes:

Dearest Mom

It’s good to know that you are finally with Christ, the one who saved you when you called on Him for the first time three years ago to rescue you from your coughing as you were wheeled into the operating theatre at Selayang Hospital. You can now look at His face and let Him lead you into heaven. You can now see and experience the splendour of God’s glory and see the Father for the first time. It is such a privilege that you are now able to do all of this and we are sure you are revelling in the delight.

Now that you have left us, mom, we feel the suddenness and some of us are still reeling from the quick turn of events. No doubt there is now a gaping hole in our family, a hole that is impossible to fill. All of us have poignant vivid images of you everywhere we look in our home. For me, I see you walking in your bright green flip-flops, searching in your right trouser pocket for your room keys. I see you having loads of fun playing your favourite tunes on the electric piano. I see you walking ahead of Marianne and I, holding dad’s hands as we make our way to some food court. I see you watering the plants in the garden, squatting down manicuring the grass with nothing but a pair of scissors. Only you would have such a meticulous way of doing this.

Chong and I are proud and privileged to be your children and you to be our mother. When we were young, we already knew your lovingkindness but it’s only when we became older and married that we fully understood how you define family love and how you fiercely protected us from harm. Through thick and thin, through our triumphs and darkest hours, you have always been there with us. And no matter how old we are, we always remained your boys no matter what.

Marianne, my beloved wife, cherishes you so intensely. In the number of years she has come to know you, she cannot think of anything else about you than that you embody all that love is. She grieves now as much as we are. But I’m sure that your love and kindness for her will live forever in her very being and it will be passed on to the twin girls that will come into our lives on the 29^th of this month.

And from that day onwards, dad will also have a new sense of purpose, a renewed sense of desire to play the role of the loving and doting grandfather in their lives. He will know in his heart of hearts what you will expect him to do in caring for your new granddaughters. And they will be truly beautiful because in them, your love will shine. In them, your grace will be pervasive. Dad will get to see and play with them, teach them and tell them who their grandmother was and how wonderful she has been in all our lives. Dad’s role will be new but I know for sure that from above, you will guide him to perfection.

Mom, we are slowly coming to terms that even as you are no longer with us in person, you live in our hearts and minds. It will take some time as the pain of longing still resonates. But it will surely come. In the meantime, I want to tell you, mom, don’t worry about us. We are going to be okay. Chong, Marianne and I promise you from our hearts that we will love dad with everything we’ve got. We will stay united as a family. From you, mom, we have more than enough love to share around not just within our family but with all our friends, our relatives and everyone we come across in our lives.

We will honour you by adopting your kindness, humility and generosity. And it is by doing all of this that we know you will live in our lives forever.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ words are truly appropriate in this moment. He says:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”

(Jn 14:1-4 NLT)

Mom, I love you. It’s not goodbye. I will see you again. 

Apologies - Service Interruption

Dear readers

I write with a heavy heart. On October 22 2013 at 5:38pm, my mother passed away of cancer of the duodenum at the Pantai Hospital in Ipoh, Malaysia. It would be too difficult for me to put up the Sunday Weekly or post articles for this week. I appeal for your understanding and accept my sincere apology.

I hope to be able to resume management of our church website by next week.

My apologies once again.

Khen Lim

Administration 

A Selection of Multi-Part Feature Articles from Lux Mundi

By Khen Lim



Image source: myjewishlearning.com

Since August last year when the Lux Mundi website first began, multi-part articles have been part of our offerings. They do not always appear but when they do, there is always a reason why or at the very least, there is some inspiration behind them.

Short of two months, this website would be one year old and in that time, we have amassed the following statistics without any help from the use of slick analytic tools or commercial wizardry:

New Leadership at Hosanna Evangelical Free Church

By Administration

Last week, on Sunday March 22 2015, Hosanna EFC took a brave new step forward into the future, no longer restrained by an old guard but changed in so very many ways with fresh blood and very possibly, a renewed sense of purpose.

Sunday Service to Resume After This Weekend

By Administration




Image Source: cometothewell.org

Owing to the predominantly Chinese composition of our church congregation, it has been unanimously decided that service for this Sunday, February 22 2015 will not be available as it coincides with the traditional celebration of Chinese New Year.

There will also be no Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly published this coming Sunday. In other words, there is no PDF version available for download as well.

Service and all forms of programming for the church including matters concerning the running of our Lux Mundi website will resume after this weekend. However stay tuned to the publishing of the three-part article on The Christian Standpoint to Chinese New Year, which continues throughout the week.

Do not also forget that we are now right into the starting stages of Lent, leading to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. As it stands, Ash Wednesday has commenced yesterday and with it, the 46-day countdown to the resurrection of Christ Jesus. 

We regret any inconveniences caused by the temporary cessation of services. At the same time, we also take this opportunity to wish our non-Chinese readers a safe and meaningful holiday. 


The Administrative and Pastoral Staff
Hosanna Evangelical Free Church
Ipoh, Malaysia