It really is amazing how the Almighty God can bring changes and can work wonders in people’s lives. Before coming to believing in Christ, I always thought Christians are some other species, with different ways of thinking and different attitude. There always seemed to be some kind of barrier between me and them. Somehow their seemingly undiminished enthusiasm, boundless joy and at times annoying behaviors made me think that Christians are overrated.

Now that I am part of ‘them’, it feels strangely exciting, like a little boy that got his birthday present early. As I start to walk with Christ in my life, and as I learn more, I came to realise that the joy is genuine, and now I know why people want to spread the word about Jesus so much to other people.

Lately, something is different with me. I know that prayer works, but never had any idea that God actually listens and gives us more than we asked for. I wanted to change – to be a better man, what God intended me to be. In the past, I tried, yes. Tried to read the Bible and tried to devote more time to prayers. Then the enthusiasm died. It came and went like embers in a haystack under a windy dark sky.

I was afraid to be the seed that fell on stony ground – sprouting roots quickly but dying quickly too. I wanted to be different. So I said to God: “Hey, I wanna be what You want me to be. So please help me change.”

My pastor at the church I go to then told me about the upcoming baptism, which I decided to take part in. Strangely, it just feels right. Today, at the baptism class, I finally had a revelation – it was all coming together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. God did want me to change, and He made that possible by blessing me with an unexplained, sudden ability to concentrate a lot more compared to the past. He gave me the desire to learn, to study. I remembered how hard it was to make myself revise.

A verse in Colossians 3 struck me – it was as if God was telling me what He wanted me to do exactly:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

I stumbled across this on Facebook’s viral group – “We support the use of the name Allah by all Malaysians” – which I did not join, of course. (My principle – when in doubt, be passive.)

But the posts in the blogs are really enlightening. I did not even know that there is a Charter of Rights between St. Catherine’s monastery and Prophet Muhammad. The church has been under Muslim’s protection for ages, which is really amazing and makes me gush with gratitude.

In 628 AD, a delegation from St. Catherine’s Monastery came to Prophet Muhammed and requested his protection. He responded by granting them a charter of rights, which I reproduce below in its entirety. St. Catherine’s Monastery is located at the foot of Mt. Sinai and is the world’s oldest monastery. It possesses a huge collection of Christian manuscripts, second only to the Vatican, and is a world heritage site. It also boasts the oldest collection of Christian icons. It is a treasure house of Christian history that has remained safe for 1400 years under Muslim protection.

The Promise to St. Catherine:

“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.

Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by God! I hold out against anything that displeases them.

No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses.

Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.

No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”

The first and the final sentence of the charter are critical. They make the promise eternal and universal. Muhammed asserts that Muslims are with Christians near and far straight away rejecting any future attempts to limit the promise to St. Catherine alone. By ordering Muslims to obey it until the Day of Judgment the charter again undermines any future attempts to revoke the privileges. These rights are inalienable. Muhammed declared Christians, all of them, as his allies and he equated ill treatment of Christians with violating God’s covenant.

A remarkable aspect of the charter is that it imposes no conditions on Christians for enjoying its privileges. It is enough that they are Christians. They are not required to alter their beliefs, they do not have to make any payments and they do not have any obligations. This is a charter of rights without any duties!

The document is not a modern human rights treaty but even thought it was penned in 628 A.D. it clearly protects the right to property, freedom of religion, freedom of work, and security of the person.

Go to this link to read the entire article: http://pahlawanvolunteers.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/prophet-muhammad’s-promise-to-christians/

It really is encouraging to read a different view on the controversial issue of church attacks recently in Malaysia. And Marina Mahathir has a post in her blog that sums up the conflicts in a very modern, compassionate way that encompasses the real spirit that true Malaysians really WANT in 1Malaysia.

http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/2010/01/confident-people-do-not-get-confused.html

I have hope, still.

Church attacks? Come on. This is getting a bit too far, is it not?

Click here for the whole story

And more here from The Star

And more

The recent court ruling that allowed the word “Allah” to be used in the Roman Catholic publication has led to protests around the country. Of course, Muslims are upset that their word for God is now officially allowed (by the law, if you please) in Catholic publication.

But attacking churches? Please. Even the army of the caliphs of Prophet Muhammad era hundreds of years ago respect Christian places of worships.

I am not pointing fingers here. The attacks might come from people who just like to take advantage of the situation. I believe a majority of our fellow Muslim brethren in beloved Malaysia will not resort to such an attempt – only a certain small minority percentage that adopts a hard line radical view will even think of doing something like this.

Fortunately no one was hurt.

Of course, rationally speaking, using the word ‘Allah’ in Catholic publication is like pouring oil on fire (Chinese proverb), especially in a Muslim majority country.

Then again, there’s the argument that “Allah” has been in use for years in the Malay version of the services and newsletters of the Catholic church, especially for indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak. ‘Allah’ is also used by Christians in the Arabic countries.

So, who is correct, who is wrong? Can you blame the Muslims for not protesting decades ago, when the word was used in the newsletters? Can you blame the Catholics, for stoking such sensitive issues in a volatile situation?

Either way, rest assured that there will absolutely be no mass protest or rallies by the Catholics. It is just not the Christian way to go out in force and yell slogans, cause disruption and so on.

ROMANS 12:19-21 (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION)

¹⁹ Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,

“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord.

²⁰ Instead,

“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.”

²¹ Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

I personally cannot imagine Christians doing that. But if tomorrow there is indeed a counter-rally by the Catholics, then.. o.O Anyway, note that I have referred to Catholics only, because Protestant churches use the word ‘God’.

I just hope the issue can be resolved amicably. What with 1Malaysia and all. Bleh. >.>

Really amazing sometimes, when you put faith in things you do not see. The feeling of letting go yet still believing 100% that there is someone out there looking after you is awesome.

Take for example today. 3 days more until Anatomy test, and I still have not read anything. I began to worry. Yesterday night I received a note to pick up a parcel from the post office. I did not give much thought to it, I thought it was from my sister. Today, when I was busy worrying about Biophysics and wondering out loud whether I could juggle everything, a voice crept into my head, whispering something. I could not remember it now, but at that time I instantly made the connection and thought “Hey I think the books I ordered have finally arrived.”

You see, I ordered them from Amazon and have been waiting for ages for them.

When I arrived at the post office, and after waiting for eons, I finally got my package. Ripping it open after reaching home, inside the box I found exactly what I have been expecting and exactly what the voice told me to expect – my books!

3 days before the test – just enough time for me to study.

He is simply amazing. How could one not trust in Him fully and submit his soul 100%, when He does so much and gives so freely? That He knows our every thoughts?

God is good.