First, something really important to note from Syed Akbar Ali’s blog yesterday.
Syed Akbar wrote:
<QUOTE>
How do you convert more high income and high earning Chinese in Malaysia to contribute to the Church’s bank accounts?
Young Chinese, like all young people, like music, song and dance. Young people like to meet their peers – boys and girls. Hence the Church organises many prayer meetings and events for young boys and girls that is full of music, songs, singing, dancing and activity. The Church has no dress code. The girls can wear shorts and mini skirts. The boys can wear shorts and look at the girls. And they are called church activities. So more young people join the flock.
How to attract the older Chinese? By exploiting their fears and their dislikes. By exploiting their unhappiness and turning their dislikes into hate.
[…]
So the Church has found that racial and religious issues are easy bait to be exploited. What for? To increase market share, win more Chinese and other non-Malay converts, fill its coffers with money and increase its own bank accounts. Exploit racial and religious issues. […]
OK maybe the religious organisations are tax exempted but they should not be exempted from disclosing their finances to the public. The very fact that they are exempted from taxes makes it more urgent that religious organisations should make public their accounts.
<UNQUOTE>
What Syed Akbar has observed about spreading hate is very true! Hate is a potent force in strengthening the emotional bond of the middle-aged parishioners to their church and the evangelical agenda.
The evangelical churches get a lot of easy money (contributions) from these people motivated by hate.
The evangelical churches collect 10 percent of the monthly income of their well-to-do, yuppie parishioners in the form of tithe.
These churches are very rich.
The latest one to be completed in Bukit Jalil was built at the cost of RM200 million. The Calvary Convention Centre (photo above) is the reputedly the biggest church in Southeast Asia.
Another rich church, the Damansara Utama Methodist Church, better known as DUMC, is expected to complete its RM50 million Phase II building by next February (artist’s impression below).
DUMC, aside from its controversy with regard to the Jais raid, is also famous for its entertainment praise (musicals, concerts, singing, etc) — see photo below.
The Full Gospel Tabernacle (FGT) church in Subang Jaya is the one that hosted Nurul Izzah’s controversial talk. It’s big and rich too.
National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) chairman Rev. Eu Hong Seng is the head pastor of FGT, which is very politically active church — read here.
Their church social activities – the singing and dancing – are as described by Syed Akbar Ali (see photo below).
FGT is a very savvy church aside from its bigness. And they are expanding further (see their recruitment ad screenshot below).
You can see how big the church is in the photo below where Hannah Yeoh is snapped sitting in the front row. (I can’t tell for sure but is it Yeo Bee Yin – the DAP Adun-to-be for Damansara Utama – that is sitting beside Hannah?)
The City Harvest Church is the filthy rich one in Singapore that is embroiled in the corruption scandal.
City Harvest has its Malaysian branch in Subang Jaya.The photos below shows (1) the City Harvest Subang Jaya dance group and (2) the fashionable emcee for a concert in 2007, performing at DUMC’s Dream Center.
A more recent photo of the City Harvest Church Subang Jaya shows Hannah Yeoh on stage (see below).
These mega churches are very rich. They collect 10 percent of the salary/income of their churchgoers.
And we know that Damansara Utama and Subang Jaya Christians are not poor people.
They have even got the patronage of Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim and his exco (see photos below).
Photos show the singing and dancing at Selangor official Christmas celebration a few months ago (X’mas 2012).
Are Jerusubang churches RM2 companies?
Wow, terribly impressed by their business model.
With so little capital, they’re making so much profit — all presumably tax exempt.
Do they keep their books in order?
These churches are actually registered as companies such as:
- Kingdom Christian Fellowship Bhd in Subang Jaya
- Subang Jaya Assembly of God
- Evangelical Free Church Gospel Centre (listed as providing “professional services”)
Hannah Yeoh has channelled, from her DUN allocation, annual donations to the Subang Jaya Pastors Fellowship.
DUMC’s Dream Center is located in Section 13 Petaling Jaya which is a light industrial area. The Dream Center building permit is for it to operate as a community centre and not as a church — see Agenda Daily report ‘Tembelang sudah pecah: MBPJ tidak pernah keluar kelulusan untuk gereja…‘ (9 Aug 2011).
Instead of reporting to inform, The Star has been covering up these irregularities!!
Tweets screenshot below: KL Chan is the editor of Selangor Times. Wong Sai Wan is executive editor of The Star.
Helen Ang 
We have enough monuments? Then explain to me why that 200 million monstrosity was built?
We have enough slogans? Then why parrot (or is it hornbill?) the Ubah slogan the way a snake oil seller parrots his wares?
You know what we really have enough of? People who overestimate their righteousness & people who are hypocrites.
Somehow, they’re one & the same especially if they’re card carrying Christians & DAPpies.
Years ago when I was at uni in the UK, I had a classmate, a fellow Malaysian Chinese who joined the church because she was attracted to the activities they held and the way the church members befriended her. After some time, she disclosed that the church had asked her for financial contribution of a certain percentage. She even asked me to loan her money but I refused as I didn’t think that it was right for her to give her parents hard earned money to the church. She didn’t want to know me after that…surprise, surprise.
My husband was brought up in the bible belt USA. There are so many churches in the southern states but as his aunt mentioned to me recently, most of the churches have very small congregation. The one she goes to is closing down as they only have about 10 people coming to Sunday service. In the US, the mainstream Christians are more conservative and do not join churches like the DUMC. Thats why the evengelicals are spreading their wings to Asia instead.. cos to the maksalleh what these evengelical preach are not the true teachings of Jesus but more like a breakaway group teaching their own thing for their own personal benefit
In the UK, groups like the DUMC are not very popular with the locals either. I remember groups of them will knock on the front doors in my neighbourhood and they will always get the doors slammed in their faces by my neighbours.
When I read about the City Harvest Church’s Prosperity Gospel in the S’pore papers – but which The Star refuses to report – I’m given the impression that with those scandalous pastors, it’s “anything goes”.
Chinese supremism and Christian zealotry and chauvinist politicking make for the worst possible combination.
The putar-belit pollies make baseless accusations, the religious zealots self-righteously declare the victim guilty as charged, and the supremacists see a most profitable blue ocean business in supplying the stones to cast at the sinners.
dear semenyih,
what your husband said is true. evangelicals are primarily considered as run by kooks and crooks in the US.
the concept has certainly moved and found lucrative homes in asia. for some inexplicable reason, i read that the chinese numbered among those most suckered by this whole circus-type worship. not just in malaysia, but also in singapore, hongkong and taiwan. it seems they are getting young converts in droves.
in the US now, some evangelists like pat robertson still hold sway over their followers through their radio broadcasts. but the kind of idiotic televengelistic services complete with burlesque side-shows in extravagant venues like what we’re seeing in msia right now with the DUMC, City Harvest et al are no more.
at the turn of the century almost all their pastors were eventually exposed for the frauds and swindlers that they were and people like jim and tammy bakker and jimmy swaggart and a few others went to jail.
So how long until we see something like the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?
We already had the Al Arqam, Ayah Pin and Nabi Melayu for the muslims, wouldn’t be surprising to see a Christian version coming next time. Especially when some organization gets many fanatical followers and funds quickly.
The Star is at the forefront of promoting the personality cult of the DAP 3.0 evangelistas.
The paper gives the political-pastors legitimacy through its fawning coverage.
The political power obtained by DAP 3.0 will open all kinds of doors for its evangelistas.
It is time for Malaysia to have a Charities Commission like Singapore in view of the long history of capers in this country.
1. 1950s. Political Social Welfare Lotteries
2. 1960s Mushroom insurance companies
3. 1970s Chit Funds, Co-operatives, RM2 incorporated Religions
4. 1980s Share rigging, Co-operatives, insurance companies guarantees. RM2 incorporated Religions
5. 1990s Share riggiing. RM2 incorporated Religions
6. 2000s Share rigging, Forex money changers, Gold bullion trades. RM2 incorporated religions.
Apart from the above, a few FAKE CHARITIES have been attempted from time to time. AND COLLECTED MONEY WITH GREAT SUCCESS !
It is very clear that the RM2 incorporated religions have had a free run from the 1970s. This is the reason why so much TAX FREE MONEY HAS BEEN COLLECTED.
It was the S’pore Charities Commission that nailed the alleged money laundering done by the City Harvest Church Subang Jaya on behalf of Pastor Kong Hee for his pop singer wife trying her luck in Hollywood.
The Star deliberately covered up the story so that M’sians were not exposed to the extent of the scandal which made S’pore & international headlines.
For me, this also means that NST is unable to serve as a good alternative to Star.
Sad.
Yeoh Tiong Lay and family are members of the same church at the Kelang Road congregation. They flit between the various “franchises (read churches) in their congregation to give those hopefuls and wannabes a taste of “God’s blessings” when they rub shoulders with the rich and powerful.
It is the same mindset that attracted the republicans and the John Howards of this world before they collectively bombed Irak and killed hundreds of thousands destroying a nation “in the name of God and weapons of mass destruction”
Question is this. Which of the two is a lie?
“These mega churches are very rich. They collect 10 percent of the salary/income of their churchgoers.”
Really? Is it compulsary or optional?
From the accounts I’ve heard, the evangelical churches in M’sia demand 10 percent zakat.
The experience of City Harvest Church in S’pore is brainwashing & tremendous pressure to donate. The pastors even want money from students who aren’t working but are asked to give from their allowance, read
http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/07/28/city-harvest-church-taken-all-my-nephews-pocket-money/
http://temasektimes.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/my-unpleasant-experience-at-city-harvest-church-after-being-brought-there-by-a-female-friend/
http://sgforums.com/forums/1381/topics/432477?page=2
http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/06/27/an-analysis-into-the-wealth-of-city-harvest-church-revisit/
Plenty other first-person accounts. Just Google.
The Star deliberately buried this story!
These churches are very considerate. If you have no cash, they make it easy for you by accepting credit cards, debit cards, cheques, money order, postal order. Very nice of them….
The Temasik Times article reminds me of my uni days with the adamant usrah groups. Thank god I stayed away from them but it wans’t easy and took a toll on my overall uni life.
Just replace cell groups with usrah, pastor with naqib, CDs with tahi hidung Tok Guru etc.
I believe most Chinese oppose BN not because of race or religion. The following opinion from an UM professor said it all: PRU13 :
Dr.Azmi Sharon, Assoc Prof @ Faculty of Law, UM.
“We will vote PAKATAN RAKYAT bcoz we still love BN” all Malaysian stand to gain by voting PR into government, and BN has the badly-needed chance to clean itself up while in the opposition, and to prepare to take over if PR does not perform well!.. Its a win-win for all parties! After all, it was started by great and honest leaders of the past!. It’s for the good of BN that we vote for PR and for a better future for the people at the same time, when PR becomes the new government..We have a New Government with LESS experience in CORRUPTION, SCANDALS & ABUSE OF POWER…!!! It’s good for the people. Then, we have a STRONG & RICH OPPOSITION (UMNO/BN) with 56 yrs experiences in corruption & scandals….!!! They know the inside and outside of all corruption & scandals…!!!! so they can better check the PR government. BN/UMNO will do this BEST to EXPOSE those who are CORRUPT…. UMNO mmg pakar dlm hal ini…!!! bcoz UMNO has 56 years of experiences in Corruptions!!! Final result : Rakyat Menang & Senang…!! A two party system is born. We vote for the change…. bcoz we love MALAYSIA….VOTE FOR CHANGE & VOTE FOR BETTER MALAYSIA…!!!
Azmi Sharom is a Star columnist.
dear Malaysian,
good that finally you dare to comment with some points to share.
however…
if BN really have been stealing rakyat’s money, they taking 56 years long to be the expert & untouchable.
but PR, imagine only in 5 years, so manyyyyyyyyyyyy corruption, nepotisme, scandal, affairs etc etc already occured.
BN might be the BAD mentor, but PR is the WORSE MENTEE who is very quick learner, WORSE COPYCAT particularly in the area of scooping money, contracts into their own pocket.
can not imagine if we give another 56 years to PR, Malaysia will doom to the lowest! not only bankrupt, Malaysia would be begging from other countries including Zimbabwe!
but I’d love to see BN not getting 2/3 majority, and welcome more newcomers such from ISMA, Hindraf and Independent, while PR remain strong as opposition.
PR still not perfecting their skill in corruption. otherwise they would not have people who will just died in MACC buiding for RM1000 bribe. PR may be learning fast in corruption but what we need in next 5 years is for PR to take revenge on BN and dig out every scandals of BN and clean up BN. BN on other side will be a strong opposition and will not allow PR to corrupt so easily especially those big budget projects. Also one must remember unlike BN, PR consist of 3 parites. If one party want to corrupt some money, the other 2 will not sit tight and keep quiet (unlike BN where MCA and MIC plus others basically have no say on whatever wrongdoings of UMNO).
PR not only still not perfecting their skill in corruption but in everything… Malay said.. Bodoh tak boleh diajar, Pandai tak boleh di ikut..
boss,
u ada guna otak tak time cakap? Sudah kasik 5 tahun, apa file sudah keluar dari Selangor & Penang? Lagi mao kasik 5 tahun? U ingat 5 tahun tu 5 hari ker? Apakebodoh ko ni? Dah tahap sengal macam Bush ngan Weapon of Mass Destructions yang sampai sekarang tak jumpa2..
Lain kali bila cakap, guna logik dgn otak ok?
Azmi mental tu ko quote. ‘sayang kat bn sebab tu nak ubah’ – jadik, kenapa tak tukar bini/suami ko, kata sayang. Tak paham betul la ngan logik org pakatan ni – cakap berbelit2, rugi malaysia kasik education tapi hujungnya, jadik lebih bodoh dari org yg tak pernah gi sekolah.
Azmi has never hidden his penchant for all things opposition. How’s that for a balanced, fair & apolitical academic’s view?
Anyway, if it is reported by the Star, it must be true right?
Oh, the gullible shall inherit the (doomed) country..
Azmi is also a Selangor Times columnist. So if he’s published in two papers, that’s double vlaidation.
Well I’ll be damned. I didn’t know that.
Kalau macam ni ditanggung 100 persen halal oleh PR!!! Disahkan oleh JAbatan HAlal Nik Aziz nik Mat (JA-HA-N-A-M).
Typo: Validation
In a way, this phenomenon of the RM2 incorporated religions is due to the fault of the non-Malay political parties which did not do their alloted task of filling the spiritual and cultural void of these young, innocent and receptive minds. The fotos illustrate the brainwashing carried out right in the open since the 1970s with dollops of money thrown in for whose benefit we do not know. The City Harvest claims to have many branches throughout the World after the leadership (how very clever these Chinese are) gained the know-how in the great United States. The leadership has stated that City Harvest is going to be like KFC or Big Macs.
I have seen 2 Trustees of a Singaporean Church came into Malaysia and built a corporate empire for themselves. But they failed because they did not follow the norms of proper business.
My support is always for mainstream and conventional religions.
re: “In a way, this phenomenon of the RM2 incorporated religions is due to the fault of the non-Malay political parties which did not do their alloted task …”
Could it also be due to the blocks (building permits for churches/temples, registration approvals for religious societies, land use titles) imposed by the Malay-dominated govt bureaucracy that has the effect of curbing and discouraging the practice of other religions?
Like Syed AA always says – No $, no religion !
read this : http://deminegara.blogspot.com/2009/02/oh-tuhan-wont-you-buy-me-mercedes-benz.html
Is there a connection between DAP’s Dream Machine and the Dream Center ? Perhaps it is sponsored by the Church ?
I’m a member of that church – no direct connection but certainly lots of private fund raising activities and efforts being done to support FLOS. and DAP christian politicians generally by the church.
That’s their right but the environment is very hostile to BN supporters like me – they’ve lost loving feeling and christians spew hatred, hostility, bitterness, irrational anger, lots of self-righteous standing up for rights of the oppressed and human rights – nothing wrong with advocacy but unfortunately it is done without a loving and gentle touch – all in total contradiction to Biblical teaching and admonition in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13:
Christians should use this passage to check their words and actions to see how they measure up to the standard of love – which is actually the greatest commandment.
God is on their side, or so they claim. I can relate to how you feel especially since the Catholic church is beginning to show its true colors in the last year or so.
As for hostility, I don’t feel it too much as I generally stay away from most church activities outside mass. But I do squirm about in the pews when the sermon gets political
We know the trite arguments. If PR wins it will be the will of God, triumph for God yada yada yada. And if PR loses, somehow God’s will go missing in the equation.
Amazing how twisted the righteous can be no? They cast the first stone all the time & condemn others they way the Pharisee did towards the tax collector in the temple. All the while proclaiming God’s goodness, love & compassion that’s thriving within them.
So we have a new Fat Lady in town – FLOS -S for Subang not Selangor since Selangor will fall back to BN after GE13. Have you heard the FLOS sing? It ain’t over till the Fat Lady lady sings…..by then it is over for her, no more EXCO, no more councillors or salaries, all these will dry up and she’ll be relegated to be just another ADUN….soon to be forgotten
*LoL*….let’s make it viral….FLOS,
The full Board of the Star and Wong Chun Wai should be sacked forthwith arising from all the complaints and for doing business with the Singapore Government.
Hi Helen,
I haven’t been around lately, and a comment by the pakatoon “malaysian” yesterday caught my attention. He said that he believed that BN would still win, but by a smaller margin. Unfortunately, the clown would not answer my question, so I have to ask you.
How come pakatoons still believe that BN will win? Is this just part of some mind games they’re playing, some pathetic reverse psychology ploy to garner sympathy votes? This would explain why AI suddenly saying that he will go into teaching if he loses this GE.
Or is there something more to it?
They probably think BN will win through massive cheating. That’s what Bersih has been saying, constantly repeating “the dirtiest election ever” and that’s what the oppo supporters will say on May 6.
then they don’t think that BN will win through massive cheating but rather they fear that BN will win in spite of pitting their all against BN, including this falsehood they have seeded in the minds of many, the outside world included.
I’m certain BN will win but ‘they’ have the opposite perception. It’s like we’re living on different planets.
I’m also fairly certain that ABU will scream fraud when BN wins. ‘They’ are people living in an alternate reality dictated by conspiracy theories and unable to assess facts.
What to do with these folks?
BN will still win because the no of seats in rural areas are still more than the urban areas, Rural areas are stonghold for BN because these people are mainly affected by the traditional media which consist mostly propaganda from BN unlike the urban people who has the option of alternative media. The key of BN win will be at East Malaysia. Taib still have strong grib in Sarawak and he can just give all the goodies to bribe the indegineous Sarawakian to buy their vote just like how he cheated the land from them. These people are just too poor to resist him. Opposition will have hard time to campaign due to the disadvantage of transportation to rural areas. Sabah will still remain the stronghold for BN as it consists of big chunck of votes from the IC projects. So my prediction for PRU 13 is BN will win with smaller majority but will probably lose 5-7 state in Semanjung to opposition. Generally those areas with better transportation, near highways and with higher internet speed will be won by opposition.
Not gonna touch on God’s will this time though I sure as hell am tempted to.
Instead, I’m gonna ask if you’ve heard of this little thing called paragraphs? You can end one & start another by pressing the enter button on your keyboard in case you didn’t know.
Remember that someone from Guan Eng’s staffers who said that ‘the church is being persecuted (she used Lord)’?
How are the Christians being persecuted by the Government?
With such approvals being given for worshipping places, how is the ‘Good Lord’ being persecuted?
Its no secret that the church is being used as a ‘kuda tunggangan’ by opposition politicians.
ABU’s Haris Ibrahim aims his hate messages squarely at this group to propagate his hate against the government, for obvious reasons.
It is sad that they cannot see the danger of this precedent that will impact the social wellbeing of the nation.
And yet, they blame it on the government.
Rational Malaysians MUST SEE that this is an unhealthy practise.
If indeed religion is a question, how can these Christians reconcile with the fact that all PAS wants is a more Islamised Malaysia through their back bending Hudud ways?
Surely, rational Malaysians can also see that the tri-party Pakatan only wishes to grab power by all means, even compromising on their own party policies just to reach Putrajaya.
Malaysia was built over 56 years, with its warts et all, to believe that in 5 years Pakatan is the right heir to the throne is just absurd.
How is all this hatred that is being pandered by Pakatan going to go away? Never.
Tony,
Watch out for OKM and YBY. CLL ain’t nuttin’ compared to the new and improved 3.0 strain.
And the lynch mob with the torches and pitchforks (you know who I mean) have upgraded from their medieval weapons as well.
it’s like seeing Republican evangelists bloom before my eyes.
add PAS extremism to the mix and you have fire and oil T___T
This evangelistic phenomenon bears its deepest charactistics to African voodoo which still exists in parts of the Caribbean and South America. From here, it hopped to the Deep South of the United States from which many variants were derived according to the promoters of this form of religion.
There is no doubt this is big business and the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia exploited this form of religion according to their personal requirements, be it spiritual, political or eclectic reasons.
In the 19th century, the Christian religion was used in Southern Africa and parts of West Africa to ‘civilise or control’ the tribes. This method was not entirely successful
Remember Tammi (or was it Tammy) Baker? wife of one Jim Baker, a TV evangelist in the US. They have thousands of followers who contribute $$ to the church. And guess what the Baker did? They swindle the money and wrap themselves with luxuries. Even their dog house were air-conditioned.
You just wait, this phenomenom is coming to Malaysia. It has hit Singapore, so soon it will arrive here.
It is already in Malaysia, albeit being done by Muslim. Al-arqam (now global ikhwan) is an example.
But Evangelist is going to bring it to a whole new level by the look of it especially if they did not have transparent auditing system in place.
This area of religion by RM2 incorporated places of worship has to be reviewed by the next BN Government as led by the UMNO with the 14 component parties. This has become a life-style of no consequence and by being active in confrontational politics leads on to become radical revolutionaries which are susceptible to foreign manipulation as we witness now – Radical Revolutionaries without Cause.
Just went to Syed’s blog and posted this comment. Thought I’ll post it here too. The DAP membership application form requires the chinese name of the applicant. If Hannah Yeoh’s children wanna join DAP, then what is their chinese names – Shay Adora etc etccc. God forbid – they’ll be rejected by Tokong for being not chinese enough. A clever and subtle way to shoo away other races who wanna join DAP…..u can’t even get past their application form ……
You are half-right on the bureacratic red-tape. Why ? This could be explained by the weakness of the non-Malay political parties led by leaders who were not qualified ie. sacrifice is a big word here. There was definitely no rapport after 2003. Everyone went to sleep and was not vigilant. As a politician in diverse Malaysia, he/she has to be vigilant and on one’s toes all the time. But this has not happened in most cases. If the non-Malay parties are strong and like Caesar’s wife beyond reproach and gain the respect of their colleagues, they would have my respect. But this has not been the case through the decades. And worst of all, the last 2 leaders of one non-Malay political party became exclusive – absolute power apparently gone to their heads. This became a dilemma of the BN also. Hence, the chicanery forced on them by their opponents today.
Just a note though.
I went to DUMC’s panel discussion between DAP and MCA reps for around the area (of course, Hannah Yeoh, Rajiv and the other KJ PKR guy was there) And 3 MCA men were there. (including the new Bukit Gasing rep)
I think it’ll please you to know that while the congregation was more or less pro-DAP. In fact, there was a ‘tinge’ of hooliganism when the crowd started to interrupt one of the MCA speakers when he was talking about the Ibrahim Ali incident and MCA’s stand on the issue.
However, when one of the elder MCA speaker had to leave early, the senior pastor (Daniel Ho) prayed for him (and for every other MP later on) and when the MCA man told him about how he his wife has been receiving hostility because of his position, he reminded the congregation that the root of Christian teaching is love. And any act of hooliganism, personal attacks are sinful and those who did so ought to repent. He said that towards the congregation knowing that they behaved like so earlier on. Which I think is a good thing.
He reminded them that idealogical disagreements are one thing, but personal attacks should never happen, regardless of whoever it is.
AFAIK, the stand of the senior pastor in DUMC is that the church has to be non-partisan (or at least, try their best to be). The Christian position in politics is more or less summed up in Romans 13 (hopefully I’m interpreting this correctly). that the authorities ought to be respected so long as they’re doing their job by upholding justice in the land (protecting the righteous, and stopping evil).
However, the case then can be made by the pro-opposition Christians that this is precisely why many local churches in the klang valley are up in arms; Because they believe that the authorities are punishing the righteous, and upholding the wicked.
Whether or not their beliefs are true or false is a separate matter. But I honestly haven’t met anyone who tried persuading them rather than “shout” at them. (if you get what I mean ;) )
I had a brother who established Sino-African relationships in London. He was the first Chinaman from Singapore to do so.
So this lot of Voodoo Choristers of Subang Jaya is just expressing their base instincts which they managed to suppress for 5,000 years – sort of aping their the ancestors according to the genius Charles Darwin – author of ‘ The Survival of the Species.’
What’s your problem? No one is asking you for your money. As I see it, you are the one spreading hate.
its a fact…. did Buddha or Confucius or Ganesha ask for money for their temples? or better known as a place for to learn their teaching? answer is NO… too bad, mind your own business (beliefs) n stop converting others. not all chose to believe what u believe in….
i have no idea why church going or cell group is a trend in asia particularly in msia n sg, is it just because i can find hot chicks or cute guy… (targets among collage n uni students locally n as well base in overseas) or will have more business opportunity (oh u go same church, my project give to u la)
do they really learn whats in the bible??? or just interested in what they want to achieve? its sad to see Christianity and churches are in a bad light these few years around the world. in malaysia, it seems that the situation currently is like –
Chinese=Christian=DAP. im lazy to elaborate, but think about it…
DUMC has always maintained that we give with a cheerful heart for God loves a cheerful giver. I could probably pass you the scripture verse but Google is also our friend here.
In all my years attending DUMC, I have never felt the pressure to give 10% of my earnings. However, its entirely up to you on how much you want to give as the parable of the poor widower shows us how much God values our offerings. Not to mention, I title monthly not weekly and I hope that clears up any confusion regarding the matter.
If you want to say churches are rich, I’ll not challenge that as I do not have access to their financial accounts. However, if we based on their property then yes, one might say they are rich in property. However, I implore you to look at it from a perspective of that you need to be able to sustain the church in terms of maintenance, supporting overseas missionaries, staff member’s salaries and many more. Just like a business I believe a substantial amount is required each month.
While some people has their misgivings on both the Opposition party & BN, I choose to stand by Hannah Yeoh as she won me as someone who serves the people. Why I choose to stand by her in the 2nd election was because of her transparency in doing things for the people (check YB Facebook & Twitter). Many things such as being able to openly fight for race-based politics are also a plus for me.
Karen, while I see you’re definitely passionate in your blog. I do pray that you won’t misuse your power and lead people down a thornier path. Hence I’m very careful with my teachings because the one who teaches the wrong things are subject to a heavier punishment according to the book of James.
I wish you all the best in your posting and if you do actually read this, I hope you see us a slighlty different light.
Cheers!
re: “supporting overseas missionaries”
And local missionaries to mendakwah to local Malaysians I’m sure.
re: “Just like a business I believe a substantial amount is required each month.”
Yup, just like a business.
Perhaps you could take a closer look at Grace Assembly in TAMAN MAYANG.