Truth

Before I begin this blog entry, I have to comment on the lack of comments in the recent posts. Have you read it and have no comments? Do let me know. Bloggers thrive and live on responses from readers. No, I am not an egomaniac. But knowing someone read the posts will encourage me very much.

What is truth? Some people say truth is relative and there is no absolute truth. Some say perception is truth.

The Bible says when we find truth the truth will set us free. That means we are no longer trapped by deceptions.

What do you believe? I just read a column in a local Chinese daily that suggested Ahmad Said is a power hungry individual who crave the MBship despite having no support.

If I am as gullible as the editor thinks, then I may give it some consideration. Unfortunately, my mind is already 'poisoned' by the other blogs like Malaysian Today. I believe in YM Raja Petra Kamarudin. I'd take his words over mainstream media any day of the week.

Why you ask? He has been detained under draconian law. He has been summoned to give his statements in police station. Surely, you cannot believe what he says / blogs?

Au contraire, YM backs up his words every time. This is what I observed. He talked about the wrong doing of a certain individual. The certain individual sent his lawyers threatening lawsuit. YM asked the certain individual to go to hell (literally) and brought up proofs. In other words, he has the evidence. What he says holds waters.

On the other hand, there are those who chose to believe in stories. Case in point is a female person in the church who claims that it's usual for more people to die during certain times in a year, like the Chinese ghost festival or even Cheng Beng (that's Hokkien, in Chinese it's "Qing Ming", pronounced as "Ching Ming"). She even quoted Mary Baxter to support her point, "Mary Baxter also said that."

For starters, there is a gross misunderstanding of the significance of Qing Ming (清明). It is one of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese calendar. The ancient Chinese who are very agricultural-based follow these 24 solar times in planting, harvesting, etc. Qing means clear while Ming means bright

Qing Ming Festival is a time of remembrance. Chinese will go to sweep the graves of the ancestors. The more superstitious ones will even burn things believing the ancestors will receive them. The paper stuff are getting more advanced. Jesse noticed the new shop that took over the sundry shop near our church offers Astro satelite (they renamed so as not to get into trouble) and notebooks. I go to visit the graves of my grandparents and my auntie during Qing Ming too. I don't offer joss sticks. I just help to clean up the graves. I think it is good for us to remember our forefathers.

Qing Ming Festival is NOT a time where the 'ghosts' are given temporary freedom to roam the eath, as popularly believed during the Chinese Chost Month (the 7th month in the Chinese calendar, which climaxed on the 14 of the 7th month) and the western Halloween.

An even during Haloween or the Ghost month, there is NO statistics to show there are more deaths. But the old ladies with their grandmother stories will point at each death during the Ghost month and claimed there are more deaths during that time "because the ghost are free."

It is so easy to debunk this myth. But the old lady would not have any of it because you see, even Mary Baxter also said that.

*** Warning, a can of worm will be opened. Read on only when you are ready. ***

In case you are fortunate enough not to know about Mary Baxter, she is one woman who received revelation from Jesus to write about her visits to heaven and hell. The books contain so many errors and fallacies that I will not bother to list here. Suffice to say the books fail the Bible test miserably.

I have met a lady in an online forum. She would preach from the book (the one on hell, not the heaven.) She had no doubt God intended the book for those who are unrepentant. She even went as far as to suggest that those who didn't believe the book would not go to heaven "because it was the truth."

So, if you meet someone who swears by the books of Mary Baxter, what do you do? Allow me to rephrase the question. How would you take someone who put a story book on par with the Bible?

Unfortunately, such people do exist. They themselves are not totally liberated by the truth of God. And they seek to bound others with their own entrapment.

Do you see the importance of sound doctrine now? Do you now understand why we need Project Timothy? And do you now know why some people DO NOT want to join Project Timothy when there are so many who want to take part?