When the Lord commanded us to set up CKRM Leadership Training Centre in Malacca January 2009, we went in obedience on a mission that would frustrate and offend some religious leaders due to the odd ministry pairing of Ps Esther and I. Some six months prior to leaving Singapore for the new assignment, a man of God told me that the Lord revealed to him that we would be moving in 6 months and we would be facing very heavy persecution in that territory, far and much more than what we had experienced in Singapore. God had to prepare our hearts for such eventuality.
Like Noah who was ridiculed for building a boat on dry ground, we just obeyed the voice of God by going to Malacca.
20 years ago, I was a businessman and a property developer. It would take some courage to go into Malacca again this time as a preacher, staying in a shop house where many people knew my past – a man of vice and sin living in a world of luxury – like Moses from the palace to live in the desert as part of God’s preparation to humble him.
This time, worst – the odd pairing of a messy family man from an English educated back ground pairing with a Chinese educated conservative married lady. The BIG question was – How would the Christian world accept such ministry pairing of a man and a lady? This is God’s humour to frustrate and offend the mind-set of the religious and self-righteous (Isaiah 29:13-14).
No amount of human reasoning and logic can accept this odd pairing of Ps Esther and me for this unique ministry. This is man’s concept of holiness and they overlook the fact that God’s way and thought are higher than man’s way and thought (Isaiah 55:8). Infant Christians who have not matured in walking in the Spirit can never understand or comprehend such pairing. They have not learned how to be led by the Spirit. Anything that does not make sense to their rational mind is automatically in conflict with the Scripture. Apostle Paul calls them carnal – souls driven Christians. There is no biblical precedent of a virgin giving birth to Jesus, yet Mary was willing to obey the voice of God.
That is why Paul taught that we should fit our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). Paul meant that we should walk and see in the Spirit. God gives the Spirit without measure (John 3:34) so unless we are filled with His fullness which is the heartbeat of God for all His people, we can never truly understand what God is doing.
If we are filled with His fullness, then we would have grown to maturity and will not judge by what we see with our eyes or decide by what we hear with our ears (Isaiah 11:2-3). Jesus taught that by their fruit, you will recognize them and those who do the will of my Father will enter the gate of heaven.
Many religious leaders want to play God and judge ministries despite it is written in the Bible (James 4:12) “God alone, who gave the law, is the judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbour?”
Ps Esther and I had struggled with this pairing issue so the Lord gave each one of us a verse in the Bible.
For me, the Lord gave me the revelation about Saul. Saul fell into a sin of disobedience despite carrying out the task of killing the Amalekites men, women, children and infants (1 Samuel 15:3). Such killing in modern day would be considered genocide and Saddam Hussein went to the gallows for such reason. Saul’s sin of disobedience was his fear of men that he brought back the fat cattle & sheep. As a result, the Lord has rejected Saul as king.
The pairing of me and Ps Esther is His command. The revelation given was that what He has commanded is not a sin but disobedience is a sin of divination. There is no partial obedience but absolute uncompromising obedience. It is a command that we have to obey. It was also received and confirmed by our group of anointed intercessors at CKRM.
The Lord gave Ps Esther the Scripture (Acts 10:11-15) The Lord said, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean,” when Peter told the Lord “Surely not, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
Sadly, many religious leaders broke the law by judging us.
They should heed the wisdom of Kathie Walters when she wrote about critics: “Do what God wants you to do and stop judging ministries because you do not know how God works and you are not God.” Or at least heed the advice of Paul when he taught that we should continue to work our salvation with fear and trembling….(Philippians 2:12). We all fall short of the glory of God and if we really work out our salvation with fear and trembling, we would be so busy repenting that we do not really have the time to judge others. This is the secret to our spiritual growth that it is God’s heartbeat for His children to grow from power to power and glory to glory and it is through repentance and his sanctification that we can be filled to His fullness. By judging, we are in fact collecting more rubbish in our body that obstructs the flow of God’s power through a purified channel to bless others, like a clogged pipe with dirt that water cannot flow.
Judging others is not the fruit of the Spirit.
It is me and Ps Esther who finally have to be accounted to God when we meet Him. As it is written, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). Ps Esther’s husband and my children never make any negative comment about the pairing and Ps Esther’s husband even says that he would like to serve God at CKRM when he retires early next year.
Only the enemy wants to hinder and destroy the work of God.
When Bill Johnson placed his right palm on my forehead and his left palm on Ps Esther’s forehead to bless us in 2007 at Bethel School, Redding, he did not utter a word to question about the relationship of Ps Esther and me. He did what the Holy Spirit prompted him to do so. And Bill Johnson has a very successful ministry – a ministry that keeps growing from power to power, glory to glory.
Bill Johnson taught: "A religious spirit allows people to tolerate hatred & anger under the guise of passion for holiness."
Jonathan Edwards quote: A true love of God must begin with a delight in his holiness. –
Bob Jones, Sr quote: The acid test of our love for God is obedience to His Word.
God has to isolate CKRM and forbids me to contact certain people during my 17 months stay in Malacca otherwise we would be kept busy away from our main priority wasting valuable time trying to defend ourselves against all the slanders, criticism and negative things that have been spread about CKRM and the odd pairing.
The situation is different now. The Christian communities could see the blessing of how the unique pairing has blessed many people. Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 13:16-17 “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and long to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
Jesus said these two things to the religious leaders – The Pharisees:-
John 8:47 “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
John 9:39 “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
The religious leaders were arguing with the man whom Jesus healed him of blindness. This man made the religious leaders very angry when he told him in John 9:31-33 “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of the blind. If this man is not from God, he could do nothing.”
This unique pairing has blessed many people, setting many people free and empowering the body of Christ:-
The ministry is bearing fruit.
• Two Websites and a Blog bear testimonies of the awesome work of God at CKRM.
• The Presence & Anointing of God is very strong and evident in our meeting. Read our websites. (We have paused the meeting many times when we sense low spiritual atmosphere and it is through God’s revealing our sin that repentance bought back the Holy Spirit to the meeting. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord).
• God has led many talented co-workers to us including professionals.
• CKRM has never done fund raising and despite a small ministry the Lord has provided CKRM a seven- digits Cash reserve stacked up in FD.
From a ministry which started in Singapore 3 years ago with no assistance or guidance from any Christian organisation, the ministry had penetrated deeper into the hard land of Malaysia to plant ministries. Without guidance, we were like wild donkey and whatever we made mistakes, the Lord would set it right. Through this, we learn and grow how to run His ministry and how to work with Him. We learn the most important fundamental; that is, without God, we can do nothing (Jeremiah 17:7) “Blessed in the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.” The other is Psalm 127:1, “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.”
And finally the wisdom of Gamaliel when he addressed the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:38-39, “Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
CKRM has no human program which can attract people to the ministry. We have learned something very valuable and it is a treasure; that is, without the Holy Spirit in our midst, we have no ministry and have to close shop. We can’t glorify God by our carnal work using human strength. Only His work will glorify Him as per Psalm 145:10 “All Your works shall praise You, O Lord…”
奇特的事工搭配——听命胜于献祭（撒上15:22）
(中文翻译由中国Sarah Shan博士完成)
当主命令我们于2009年1月在马六甲建立CKRM领袖训练学校时，我们顺服了这个命令，领受了这个任务，我们知道以斯帖牧师和我的搭配，这样奇特的事工搭配肯定会冒犯很多宗教领袖。在六个月之前，就有一位神仆人告诉我说，神启示他说我们六个月后会启程，并且会在那地面临极大的逼迫，甚至远远大过我们当年在新加坡所遭遇的。神预备我们的心来面对这种不测。
如挪亚那样顶着嘲讽在旱地造船，我们也顺服了神的声音前往马六甲。
20年前，在马六甲我是一个生意人和地产开发商，而这次以传道人的身份再入马六甲确实需要一些勇气。安居在一个店屋内，那里的很多人都知道我的过去——一个在奢华世界里过着堕落罪恶生活的男人——如摩西那样从王宫到旷野，让神来预备他学会谦卑。
这次更糟糕的是我们这样的事工搭配——一个受英文教育背景家庭混乱的男人和一个华文教育背景保守的已婚女士。最大的问题是，基督教世界如何能接受这样的服事配搭？神实在是如此幽默，以此干犯和挫败宗教自义的思想架构(赛 29:13-14)。
人的理念和逻辑很难接受这样一个独特的事工再加上以斯帖牧师和我这样的奇特的搭配。但这是人对圣洁的概念，并且他们忽略了神的道路和意念高过人的道路和意念的事实(Isaiah 55:8)。灵里不成熟的婴孩基督徒不会理解这样的搭配，他们还不知道如何被圣灵引导。任何与他们的理性思维不符的事情都自动被他们判断为与圣经冲突。使徒保罗称他们为属血气的基督徒。童贞女生下耶稣，在圣经中并没有这样的先例，然而马利亚还是愿意顺服神的声音。
这就是为什么保罗教导我们说：我们不是顾念所见的，乃是顾念所不见的。因为所见的是暂时的，所不见的是永远的(林后 4:18)。保罗的意思是说我们要在灵里行走和看见。神赐圣灵没有限量(约 3:34)，因此除非我们被祂的丰盛所充满(这也是神对祂百姓的心意)，我们就永远无法真正理解神正在做什么。
如果我们被祂的丰盛充满，我们就会行审判不凭眼见，断是非不凭耳闻(赛 11:2-3)。耶稣教导我们凭他们的果子就可以认出他们来，凡遵行我天父旨意的才能进入天国的门。
很多宗教领袖想要扮演神并来审判祂的事工，全然无视圣经(雅各书 4:12)所说：“设立律法和判断人的，只有一位，就是那能救人也能灭人的。你是谁，竟敢论断别人呢？”
以斯帖牧师和我为着这个配搭非常挣扎，主分别给了我们以下经文。
主给我的话是关于扫罗的情形。扫罗因为没有履行灭尽亚玛力“男女，孩童，吃奶的”而陷于不顺服的罪中 (1 Samuel 15:3)。这样的灭尽按现今的观点来看，会被认为是种族屠杀，萨达姆候赛因就因此上了绞刑架。扫罗犯了不顺服的罪是因为他惧怕人，因此将肥壮的牛羊带了回来。结果神废弃了扫罗做王。
我与以斯帖牧师的配搭是祂的命令。祂给的启示是祂所命令的不是罪而不顺服这命令则是罪。没有部分的顺服，只有绝对不妥协的顺服。这是一个我们必须服从的命令。这也通过我们CKRM的恩膏代祷团队得到了印证。
主给以斯帖牧师的经文是使徒行传10:11-15，当彼得告诉主说“这是不可的，凡俗物，和不洁净的物，我从来没有吃过”时，主说“神所洁净的，你不可当作俗物。”
很遗憾，很多宗教领袖因为判断我们而背弃了律法。
他们应该注意看看Kathie Walters写作中的智慧，关于批评者她写道：“做神要你做的事情，停止判断事工，因为你不知道神如何做工，你也不是神”。或者至少留意保罗的建议，他教导我们应当恐惧战兢，作成我们得救的工夫(腓2:12)。我们都亏缺神的荣耀，如果我们真的恐惧战兢作成我们得救的工夫，我们就会都在忙于悔改，就不可能有时间相互论断。神的心愿是让祂的孩子成长，从能力到能力，从荣耀到荣耀。通过悔改和成圣，我们才能被祂的丰盛充满。这是我们属灵成长的秘密。我们在论断的时候，实际上是在我们身体里积累更多的垃圾，从而阻碍了神的能力通过一个洁净的管道流淌并祝福他人，就如一个塞住的管道，水不能从其中流动。
论断别人不是圣灵的果子。
是我和以斯帖牧师最后要在主面前交账。如经上所写“并且被造的，没有一样在他面前不显然的。原来万物，在那与我们有关系的主眼前，都是赤露敞开的” (Hebrews 4:13)。以斯帖牧师的丈夫和我的孩子们从来没有对我们的配搭做过负面评论，以斯帖牧师的丈夫还说明年年初退休后，他要在CKRM里服事神。
只有仇敌企图要拦阻和破坏神的工作。
2007年在美国雷丁市伯特利超自然学校，当比尔强生牧师把右手和左手分别按在我和以斯帖牧师额头上为我们祝福时，他没有说一句话质问以斯帖牧师和我的关系。他只做圣灵感动他做的事。比尔强生牧师有一个很成功的事工，这是一个不断从能力到能力，从荣耀到荣耀增长的事工。
比尔强生牧师教导说：“宗教的灵使人们在追求圣洁的幌子下容忍仇恨与愤怒”。
约拿单•爱德华兹（Jonathan Edwards）说过：真爱神的人一定是从喜悦圣洁开始。.
鲍伯.琼斯（Bob Jones, Sr）说：我们是否爱神的最苛刻试验就是是否顺服祂的话。
我们在马六甲的17个月时间里，神必须孤立CKRM，并禁止我与某些人接触，否则我们会浪费宝贵的时间忙于努力防御应对那些对CKRM和我们的配搭所散布的毁谤、批评和负面的事情，从而离开我们来马六甲的主要任务。
现在情况已经不一样了。基督教团体已经能看到这个特殊的配搭如何给很多人带来了祝福。耶稣在马太福音13:16-17告诉祂的门徒，“但你们的眼睛是有福的，因为看见了。你们的耳朵也是有福的，因为听见了。我实在告诉你们，从前有许多先知和义人，要看你们所看的，却没有看见。要听你们所听的，却没有听见”。
耶稣对宗教领袖-法利赛人说了以下两件事：
约翰福音8:47 “出于神的，必听神的话。你们不听，因为你们不是出于神。”
约翰福音9:39 “耶稣说，我为审判到这世上来，叫不能看见的，可以看见。能看见的，反瞎了眼。”
宗教领袖们与被耶稣医治好的瞎子争辩，当他告诉他们约翰福音9:31-33“我们知道神不听罪人。惟有敬奉神，遵行他旨意的，神才听他。从创世以来，未曾听见有人把生来是瞎子的眼睛开了。
这人若不是从神来的，什么也不能作”，这些宗教领袖非常气愤。
我们这对特殊的配搭祝福了许多人，使很多人得到释放，并且也装备了基督肢体：
事工一直在结果子。
•建立了两个网站和一个网络博客来刊登神在CKRM工作的奇妙见证。
•在我们的聚会中，神的同在和膏抹非常强烈明显。请阅读我们的网站。（当我们在聚会中觉察属灵气氛比较低时，我们会暂停聚会，通过神的启示显明我们的罪，悔改重新带来圣灵在聚会中的同在。人非圣洁不能见神的面）
•神带给我们很多有才能的同工，包括专业人士。
•CKRM从来没有做过任何筹款，虽然是一个小事工，主却为我们积累了7位数的现金定期存款。
从一个3年前在新加坡开始的一个没有任何基督教组织支持、带领的事工，CKRM延伸进入马来西亚这块坚硬地土上，不断渗透深入并建立了事工。没有人的引导，我们像野驴一样，无论我们犯了什么错误，主都会纠正过来。通过这样，我们学会了如何运作祂的事工，如何与祂同工。我们学习到了最基本最重要的事情，那就是：如果没有神，我们不能做任何事情。耶利米书17:7“倚靠耶和华，以耶和华为可靠的，那人有福了。” 诗篇127:1 “若不是耶和华建造房屋，建造的人就枉然劳力。若不是耶和华看守城池，看守的人就枉然儆醒。”
最后我们看看迦玛列在使徒行传5:38-39的智慧，“现在我劝你们不要管这些人，任凭他们吧，他们所谋的，所行的，若是出于人，必要败坏。”
CKRM没有用人的计划来吸引人来到这个事工。我们学习到很多有价值东西，这也是个珍宝，那就是，如果没有圣灵在我们当中，就没有这个事工，我们也就关门大吉了。我们不能用属肉体的工作和人的力量来荣耀神。只有祂的工作才能荣耀祂自己，如诗篇145:10所说,“耶和华阿，你一切所造的(工作),都要称谢你...”
The Lord is pouring His Holy Spirit like never before during these last days.
It is the manifestation of the Godhead himself on earth today. He reveals what the Father and Son (Jesus) are saying and doing in His church today. Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines manifestation as “a sign of something existing or happening, appearance, something clearly shown through signs or actions.”
Thus, we see the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove at the baptism of Jesus (Matt.3:16); tongues of fire on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:3); a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21).
The Lord is calling His church to walk in a much higher level of awareness, obedience, understanding, and cooperation with the Holy Spirit. We are to actively engage the Holy Spirit in everything we do for the Kingdom, expecting to see, to hear and experience His manifestation in our presence. Just as in Genesis, He is still creating that which is spoken in Heaven by the Father. That which is spoken by the Father will be revealed by Jesus and then manifested upon the earth by the power of the Holy Spirit, as we walk in constant obedience and holiness unto the Lord.
The Lord clearly calls CKRM to exercise 1 Cor.2:4,5 - "And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." These are the modern days of Elijah where miracles, signs and wonders are supernaturally natural in CKRM meetings. It is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that produces great manifestation of His Holy Spirit’s power in our midst, not giving fear but drawing us back to the first love of Christ when we first came to accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. So let us be prompt to recognize Him, thank Him and depend totally on His holy presence, constantly obeying Him and allowing the Holy Spirit of the Living God to move freely in His church.
----------------------------------------------------------
圣灵的彰显-编辑撰文
(中文翻译由中国Sarah Shan博士完成)
主在末世正在前所未有地将祂的圣灵浇灌下来，这是祂的神性在地上的彰显。祂正在显明现今在祂的教会中父与子（耶稣）正在做什么。《剑桥高级英语学习词典》（Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary）对彰显一词的定义是“所存在或发生事物的标志，表现，事物通过记号或动作清楚地表现出来”
因此，我们在圣经中看到耶稣受洗的时候圣灵如鸽子降下（马太福音3:16），五旬节当日舌头如火焰显现（使徒行传2:3），旷野中有云柱火柱引领（出埃及记13:21）。
主正在呼召祂的教会走在更高的认识、顺服、理解及与圣灵同工中。我们在为国度所做的任何事情中，必须积极参与圣灵的行动，期待看到、听到、经历祂在我们当中的彰显。如创世记中一样，祂仍在按照父在天上所说创造着。当我们持续在主面前走在顺服与圣洁中，父所说的话要通过主耶稣启示，然后藉着圣灵的能力在地上彰显出来。
主清楚呼召CKRM操练哥林多前书2:4,5的经文，“我说的话，讲的道，不是用智慧委婉的言语，乃是用圣灵和大能的明证。”在CKRM的聚会中，如同是以利亚的日子，超自然的神迹、奇事成为自然。圣灵的浇灌使祂的能力在我们中间极大地彰显出来，不但没有使我们惧怕，反而将我们带回对基督起初的爱，如我们在起初接受耶稣为我们的主和救主的日子。让我们来渴慕认识祂、感谢祂、全然倚靠祂的圣洁同在、持续地顺服祂，让永生神的圣灵在祂的教会中自由运行。
