I planned to visit a small men's Bible study meeting on the other side of the city yesterday. I suspected that cab drivers in this area might not easily find the location. So I brought the address and four area google maps showing sections of the city. Since it was a 6:30 am study, I knew we would be driving in the dark, so I even brought a small flashlight to help in reading the maps.
The taxi driver spoke no English, and my Vietnamese --- enough said. It helped that I knew some of the route we needed to take. We stopped twice for the driver to look again at one of my maps. With a couple of wrong turns, and stopping once to ask another taxi driver for help, we made it. Fortunately traffic was light. And to save time, my driver had no problem driving through several red lights. So we actually arrived on time!
There were just three others in the study, one from the USA and two from Malaysia. We studied the testimony of Scripture about the incarnation and the uniqueness of our Saviour. We rejoiced in the free gift of salvation we have in Jesus. Then for a few moments we talked about the sad alternatives offered by a variety of religions and religious experiences.
One of the men shared the sad experience of his brother who became heavily involved in the dark side of Buddhism. He would fall into a trance and by the power of evil spirits speak in languages he had never learned. His parents and siblings were startled to hear him speak in several different Asian languages that they could recognize but knew he had never studied.
Like many others, when he entered a religious trance he would make predictions of the future. Both men from Malaysia told of how those capable of this would be encouraged to enter a trance and then asked to give out lucky numbers for future lotteries!
At HIF we continue to preach on the Christmas theme "The Light Has Come", aware that many Christians in the congregation have much more experience with the powers of darkness than we have. With these spiritual brothers and sisters we will continue to share the Good News that Jesus is the Light of the world.
The taxi driver spoke no English, and my Vietnamese --- enough said. It helped that I knew some of the route we needed to take. We stopped twice for the driver to look again at one of my maps. With a couple of wrong turns, and stopping once to ask another taxi driver for help, we made it. Fortunately traffic was light. And to save time, my driver had no problem driving through several red lights. So we actually arrived on time!
There were just three others in the study, one from the USA and two from Malaysia. We studied the testimony of Scripture about the incarnation and the uniqueness of our Saviour. We rejoiced in the free gift of salvation we have in Jesus. Then for a few moments we talked about the sad alternatives offered by a variety of religions and religious experiences.
One of the men shared the sad experience of his brother who became heavily involved in the dark side of Buddhism. He would fall into a trance and by the power of evil spirits speak in languages he had never learned. His parents and siblings were startled to hear him speak in several different Asian languages that they could recognize but knew he had never studied.
Like many others, when he entered a religious trance he would make predictions of the future. Both men from Malaysia told of how those capable of this would be encouraged to enter a trance and then asked to give out lucky numbers for future lotteries!
At HIF we continue to preach on the Christmas theme "The Light Has Come", aware that many Christians in the congregation have much more experience with the powers of darkness than we have. With these spiritual brothers and sisters we will continue to share the Good News that Jesus is the Light of the world.
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