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Staying in Perth with Penny

1 November 2010 blogpastor 1 Comment

Blessed with a severe beauty

Western Australia is vast and flat, blue and cool. It is greatly blessed by God with a natural beauty. A rather severe kind: the dryness, the short trees, easily broken branches, insipid green leaves, wiry shrubs and bushes and sand, lots of sand. These form the dull backdrop for a hundred resilient flowers of varied hues, shapes and colours now in full spring bloom. Coming from tiny, high-rise and compact Singapore, this holiday in Perth was so refreshing. The cool temperatures of morn and evening; the warm sunshine, clear blue skies and cool breezes that hug you each time you leave the house, just makes you wish Singapore had this kind of feel.

Penny from Christmas Island

A widow’s home was my comfort for a week. Yes, it did remind me of biblical narratives of widows helping the man of God and getting a God-surprise in return. I told her so, and wondered how alound how God would bless her, and we had a laugh.

This hospitable and wonderful widow was Penny Lim Ah Yoot, originally a resident from Christmas Island. At last, I have talked to someone from the island Singapore gave away. But she was as stupefied as I as to how this mineral- and crab-rich island in the midst of the Indian ocean changed hands with Australia for a song. Residents there could apply for citizenship and that was how Penny ended up in Perth.

Hungry for God

Penny was hungry for the things for God. First thing I noticed was the mammoth large print edition of Dake’s Bible which she ordered from America. She also signed up for a satellite religious channel with a one-time payment of A$400+. I got to see some wonderful and weird preachers on television and wished we had this kind of “entertainment” available in Singapore too.

We enjoyed the talks over her whipped up meals. You see, she owned a restaurant before. She studied in Singapore and attended the same church that my wife and I had attended for a while. Bukit Timah Evangelical Free Church(now Woodlands EFC) was where I attended Sunday School and played table tennis. She even remembered Pastor Twie Khim and Poh Choo. Small world, as Poh Choo was my neighbour.

Well cared for and fussed over

She fussed over our comfort and made sure we were okay, all this, while she had this chronic cough. We shared the word and sacrament with her. A pastor in a healing rally prayed for her. It got worse until one night she coughed blood despite being on medication, and an ambulance came. Assured that others would care for her, we left the next day for a three nights excursion into the great south west and returned to hear her say, “I have not coughed blood for 24 hours already.” She claimed her healing with a few praying friends one night, and had been counting the hours since she had stopped coughing blood. She called us a few days ago, and when I asked about it she said, “Stopped counting. A week already.”

Oral Roberts: an Asian pastor reinstates his hero

21 December 2009 blogpastor 1 Comment

Oral Roberts went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, 15th December 2009, age 91. When my wife told me, I was not surprised, because I knew he was quite old. He was one of my Pentecostal heroes in the early years of my Christian life.

He first came to my notice through his magazine, “The Abundant Life.” It was a magazine that was distributed free of charge and delivered to my home. From there I wrote in for his free books. One of them is titled “The Miracle of Seed Faith”.

Oral Roberts knew how to share truths powerfully. The truths he taught were simple and practical. I was inspired and instructed by his teaching on the Holy Spirit as your helper, and the edifying use of the “prayer language.” I also accepted and practiced his teachings about miracle seed faith. Looking to God as a source; seeding for your need; and expecting a miracle everyday – these were a part of my life in those days.

I read his autobiography, “Expect A Miracle” and still have the copy in my bookshelves. I never could give it away in my regular cullings when I selected books to give to friends in Bible school. He was a captivating personality, a visionary charismatic Pentecostal leader. Being Pentecostal at that time meant “Stone Age” methodology, and uncultured presentation. Oral Roberts changed that perception through his visionary, outside the box, forward thinking and methodology, like his harnessing of television for the gospel.

My interest and following waned when his TV programs became more entertainment oriented, and when he tried to raise funds with controversial tactics. In particular, when he claimed that Jesus would take him home if he does not raise $8 million within a year, and pleaded with the readers and audience to help prolong his life. That was too difficult to swallow and from then on, I was disappointed, and stopped following and reading his magazines. Further news about the problems with the City of Faith and other university financial misdemeanours by his son Richard sort of confirmed I was right to feel disenchanted.

Now he is dead and as I read some online articles about Oral Roberts I have to admit he is a man sent by God, a man with flaws and faults but nevertheless, like the imperfect heroes of faith in Hebrews chapter 11, he deserves to be reinstated as a Pentecostal hero in my heart.

Here are some interesting articles from Chritianity Today.com about Oral Roberts:

Why Oral Roberts Obituaries are Wrong

Q&A: Mark Rutland on Oral Robert’s Legacy.

Fund Raising: Did Oral Roberts go too Far?

Here is an old clip of him praying for the sick in the healing crusades in the 1950’s: