Daily Devotional for September 22nd

Surprises and Assurance

Just 2 days ago (Sep. 20th), the wealthy and politically dominant Thai minister, Mr Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted by a military coup during his attendance at the UN's General Assembly in New York. The new military leaders said Mr. Thaksin could return to Thailand but may face trial. Today, it is reported that The Pakistani president Mr. Pervez Musharraf said during his address in the same UN's General Assembly that following the attacks of September 11, the US threatened to bomb Pakistan "back to the stone age" unless it joined the fight against al-Qaeda. Are these 2 pieces of news any surprise to you?

Another piece of surprising and sad news is the execution of three Christians today (Sep. 22nd) in Indonesia for leading attacks on Muslims six years ago that left at least 70 people dead and setting off fresh sectarian clashes on the Sulawesi Island. Ironically, the Muslim militants involved faced a maximum of 15 years’ imprisonment only. “Justice” is really in the hands of the ruling and the powerful!

What an incredulous and absurd world we are living in! It is well known that the military has had a dramatic presence in the politics of Thailand. This is obvious from the confusing array of coups and coup attempts that have occurred since 1932 (see THAILAND: MILITARY INTERVENTION). As of today, the coup against Thaksin is something like the 18th in the array. Amazingly, people in Thailand are so used to them that the impact of the September 20th coup to their daily lives is so minimal!

The Apostle Paul's teaching about terrible times in the last days (II Tim. 3:1-5) is so vivid. He prophesied that people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,… slanderous, without self-control, … treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Beloved, what shall we do then? First, let's learn to protect ourselves by avoiding and turning away from those sinful acts and those having a form of godliness but denying its power. Secondly, let's not give up the mission to lead people to Christ while staying as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves (Matt.10:16) in our footsteps to follow Jesus for we are citizens of the Eternal Kingdom.

Devotional for September 19th

The Cost of Evangelism

The Vatican released a statement on September 16th to explain the position of the Pope concerning Islam as a result of the controversy stirred up by the Pope's address at the University of Regensburg, Germany on September 12th. It stated that the Church regards with esteem also the Muslims. Understandably, the said statement was aimed at pacifying the recent outrageous reaction of the Muslim world towards the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, the wave of Muslim protests around the world especially in the hard-line Muslim areas is still surging.

The center of the controversy appears to be the Pope's quote of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus' statement before an educated Persian, namely, "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". The theme of the Pope's address (see LECTURE OF THE HOLY FATHER) was, according to the Vatican, rather that of “Acting unreasonably contradicts God's Nature”. The Pope quoted again Manuel II's remark, namely, "Not to act reasonably, not to act with logos, is contrary to the nature of God" in the conclusion of his concerned address.

The hostility and protests are certainly unfortunate events. It is also a sad thing regarding the use of violence in connection with religion. As a reflection, these events prompt me to ponder over our relationship with the other religions and the cost of our Lord's Great Commission. In Luke 12:51, Jesus said, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” What an amazing remark it is – especially when we think of Jesus' earlier teaching (Luke 6:27) that we should love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. The apparent conflict between love and division could be resolved through John 15:18-20 when Jesus pointed out that, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.”

It is so true that preaching the gospel requires a proper understanding of our neighbours and the cultures around us. It often attracts some form of confrontation between us as Jesus' embassadors and the world because behind somebody's conversion is spiritual warfare! Beloved, let's remind one another of the Lord's instruction (Matt.10:16) for us to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves when we are sent into the lost world.