The Walled City

     When I first came to Hong Kong, I worked for St. Stephen's Society. Part of our work was in a place called the "Walled City." There is a book about Jackie Pullinger's work that she wrote called: "Chasing the Dragon." The book reads like a novel but is a real story. If I hadn't worked with this lady, I may have had a hard time believing that this story is real. 

    When I first started working there, one of the workers told me that people have to be partly crazy to want to do this kind of work. I was offended at the time, but thinking about it many years later, I can see why she would say that.

    My visit to Hong Kong was the first time I had ever left the USA. I landed in a city of 7 million people all stacked on top of each other. It felt like a big bee hive. Some people from St. Stephen's Society picked me up and took me to Hang Fook Camp. This was a place that was used to help drug addicts begin adjusting to real life.  I didn't sleep the first night. However, I'm not sure if it was jet lag or excitement about being in a new segment of my life.
     The next day, I was told to take 2 addicts and 2 older brothers as we called them to an island and pray for them to come off of drugs. And so my life as a missionary began.

 

     I don't work with this group any more, but it made an impact on my life.  I have come to respect the work that she does and enjoy the times when I run into those that have come out of her work.

 

Here is a video link to a documentary that was made the year we worked there.  It tells about the work that Jackie Pullinger and St. Stephen's Society do much better then I could.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itXkvGh1J0o

Why Would God Judge the World ?

   

      Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-2 that if we judge we will be judged back. What we sow is what we will reap back. Many times the church does this and then we are surprised when it comes back and hits us on the backside. We may see the effects on the nation we live in and blame it on unbelievers when the problem can often be linked to the Christians and their attitude towards those that don't believe in Jesus.

     1 Peter 4:17 says that judgement begins with the household of God. Why would God be judging the Church? From reading various passages in Scripture like the letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, we see that God still has a standard for the church even though we are saved by grace.

     An interesting point is that the only church in Revelation that was not judged was the church that loved. When believers can look past the sin in peoples' lives and take the love of God to unbelievers, the impact will be dramatic and life changing. There are different ministries in the world today that are bringing many people to the Lord through simply bringing God's love. Many Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus have become Christians because missionaries just loved on these people.

     So is there a time when it is alright to recognize issues as being not right? In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 Paul said we are not to keep company with those who are in the church who are fornicators, or covetous, or extortioners, idolaters, railers (people that are, by habit, abusive or slanderous in the way that they speak), and drunkards. Other passages of the Bible mention other sinful habits that fit into this list. We are not even supposed to eat or spend time with people like that. This is a tough passage.

      I want to say that I believe these behaviors are fruit of wounding, and that some Christians have weakness in these areas based on past hurts. Unfortunately, the church often does not know how to minister freedom. The Body of Christ also does not always offer understanding and compassion to those desiring to change. Transformation takes time and sanctification is a process. The heart is more important than outward behavior - and it is those who are unwilling to seek help and justifying their sin but believe themselves to be Christian that we are told to distance ourselves from. On the other hand, verse 12-13 says we are not to judge those outside of the church but leave those outside for God to judge. 

     Why was Sodom judged ? I used to think that it was because of the sexual sin. When the angels went to check out the city, scripture records that all the men in the city wanted to rape the angels. But Ezekiel 16:49-50 said that that main issues were that the people had plenty to eat, a lot of free time, and they did not help the poor in a way to get them out of poverty. So God destroyed them. Now I do want to clarify that I believe sexual sin is a byproduct of the other problems.

      We need to quit thinking that the government is supposed to fix problems. Pain in this world provides opportunity to show God's care. There is much the church can do to practically show the love of God and meet the needs of others. One example is in the area of poverty: People in the church should be doing things to train others in types of work that will help them become financially independent.

      So if judgment starts with the household of God where does this leave us ? As a church we need to quit judging those outside of the church. This does not mean that we stop noticing that there is sin in the world. Rather we need to recognize that it is God's loving kindness through us that will change people not our judgments. We need to use some of that free time we all have to just love on people so they will know the love of Jesus.



Feel free to leave me an e-mail or a comment. I want to know what you think.

 

My Journey to Hong Kong

Downtown Hong Kong

Not too long after I became a Christian I wanted to become a missionary to Africa. I thought Africa because that’s where I thought all missionaries went. Sometime after I became a Christian, God gave me my first vision -  at least the first one that I knew was from Him. After having the vision I knew I was supposed to come to Hong Kong. Hong Kong was one of the last places on earth that I would have picked to be a missionary. I didn’t even know where it was. I was pretty normal for my circle, because many of the people that know me, after my family moved here, thought we were living in Japan. So for all of you who don’t know where it is, Hong Kong is in the most southern part of China.

I had a friend that worked for the Lancaster Vineyard Church. He was a caretaker for a ranch where they trained missionaries. I called him and told him that God had told me to go to Hong Kong. He knew a person named Jackie Pullenger who was (and is) a missionary in Hong Kong. He helped connect us with her.  After two years, they contacted me and asked me to come and check out the work to see if I thought our family could work there. After another two years they asked us to come and work with them.

Jackie Pullenger’s ministry, St. Stephens asked us to receive missionary training through another ministry in Los Angeles before coming to Hong Kong. So I quit my job. My family and I went through a summer training with a group called “Servants Among the Poor” in downtown LA known as Skid Row. This is an area full of drug dealers, drug addicts, prostitutes, alcoholics. and many homeless who slept in the streets or in abandoned cars.  We learned how to reach out and love the people who lived here. We were some of the few white people in the area. This experience greatly reduced our culture shock when we moved to Hong Kong.

When I dreamed of being a missionary I always thought that I would live in some remote village somewhere. Instead, I ended up living in a city of 7 million people with a high population density –all living on top of each other. My family has worked with drug addicts, street kids, troubled youth, and the working poor. Some of the troubled youth have been in the Chinese mafia (Triads). Over the years, we have spent much of our time praying for those that have been emotionally damaged and developing inner healing materials appropriate for Hong Kong. In addition discipleship materials, and literature that helps promote Biblical literacy as a focus. We have also put out a Bible to help people learn to read and use the Bible in Cantonese.

Some of my vision includes

Developing an online course to teach about moving in the spiritual gifts.

Opening a center where the poorer people can come and receive inner healing and counseling.

Hosting a school where people can learn what their gifts are and be equipped in those gifts.

Equipping Christians all over the world to grow into the callings that God has called them to.

Encouraging church leaders to see all of their people as gifted and equip them to become what God created them to be.

Living Like The Seventy Sent Out

 

     At one time Jesus sent out a group of seventy men to preach and demonstrate the Kingdom of God. One of the accounts is in Luke 10 but the story is also accounted in the other gospels. Jesus told them not to take anything with them, no money, food, clothing except for what they wore and no extra shoes. They were to experience God providing for them. When they came back they had a lot of great stories and were excited to have seen what God did in their lives.

      There are some people in today's world that God tells to live this way in one form or another. There are missionaries and church workers I know that just trust God for what they need although they may have some support from their home church. On the mission field, these missionaries are called "Faith Missionaries." People have asked me how we finance our missionary work and I have told them we live by faith. Some understand what we are trying to say but others will respond with "we live by faith too." I agree that if you have a normal life, job, paycheck, etc ... and that is what Jesus has led you to do, you are living by faith in a broad, general sense. But when I'm talking about living by faith as "Faith Missionaries", I am talking about those that trust God to put it on some one's heart at the right time to donate to the work they are doing to build the Kingdom.

     My wife and I, together with our two daughters have been living as faith missionaries for 22 years. We get about one fourth of what we need from donations each month and then trust God to provide in whatever manner he chooses for the rest. We have found out that when God wants people to live like this that He does provide at least their basic needs. In the last 22 years, there have been four specific seasons that have been more difficult and challenging in terms of our provision but God has gotten us through it.

     Each season has been different. One season we found eggs for a very cheap price if we bought a carton of 30 eggs at a time, so that was our sole source of protein. Sometimes people would ask us to come over and would bring food for us not knowing we didn't have money to buy food. We ate so many eggs that for awhile after we were through that difficulty, some members of my family no longer liked eggs. Other seasons we found chicken really cheap and ate chicken most of the time. 

          It has been an interesting and sometimes very exciting life.  There are times when it has been very stretching and a few times we have had to let people know we have a need but God has been faithful to take care of us.

     Let me know what you think. Leave me an email or a comment. If you have a prayer request leave me an email and I will pray for you.

Bruce Isom

The Church That is Alive

   

We all want to believe that the church that we go to is alive. I'm not saying that your church isn't alive, but in Revelation 3:1 the church in the city of Sardis had the name of being alive but God said that this church was at the point of death. I would hate it if God said that the church that I was a member of was almost dead. This passage also shows that we can be deceived and think that we are on the right path but be totally wrong.

     The interesting thought is that Revelation 3:2 says that those who are in this state have a choice whether they stay this way. The Holy Spirit first tells them to be watchful. The Greek word for watchful is "grēgoreuō" and it basically means to become aware of what is going on. This is not only in the natural world but the spiritual world. In other words, don't walk around in a spiritual stupor.

     The second thing the Holy Spirit tells the church is to strengthen the things that remain. While the book of Revelation was being written, all the other scrolls that became the Bible had already been written. In passages like Colossians 4:16 Paul told churches his team had planted, that they should pass his letters around to each other. Hebrews 6:10-15 says that they already had a history of mature believers that they were supposed to imitate. The church did not have any reason not to know how to live the Christian life. They needed to start living the Christian life, instead of just going to church and pretending to be Christians.

     So what is it that makes a church alive? In Revelation, it says that the church should have listened to the instruction that had been given to it. The church in Sardis already knew what they should be doing. It is easy to go to church and be passive. I have gone to church, heard amazing sermons, walked out the door and nothing changed in my life. It is too easy to become a spectator when we go to church. When we receive instruction there is supposed to be a continuing response to the words we hear in the life we live and everything we do. God wants His heart to transform our hearts so that He becomes a natural part of who we are.

     Revelation 3:2 says that their works were not perfect before God. The Greek word "plēroō" that is translated "perfect" means complete. Ephesians 2:10 says we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, works that God has planned beforehand for us to accomplish.

     - There are things in our life that God has especially planned for just us and only us and there is no one else that can fulfill those things. Even if you are part of a team to accomplish those things you are still the one on that team that is needed to fulfill that part that only you can do in the way that you do it.

     - God doesn't want us to be just content to be a "good person" -- He doesn't want us just to be nice to people at work, be good parents, give money to ministries, or be the best friend. On the other hand, I'm not saying that those things are not included in the list that God has for us. He has a much bigger plan for us than what we can imagine.

     Revelation 3:3 says that it is important to God that we obey Him and fulfill what He has planned for us. It is important that we remember those things that God has burned into our hearts. He doesn't give us a vision or Godly desires just have us bury them and not do anything about them.

     In Revelation 3:5 there is an important statement with conditions. If we overcome then our name will not be blotted out from the "Book of Life" and Jesus will confess our name before our Father and His angels. How we live our lives does make a big difference to God and maybe even our salvation. Jesus is saying that having an active faith is part of showing that we believe in Him. If you really believe in God it will show in how you live your life. 

Bruce Isom

Many Churches Keep Their Members From Growing up in the Lord

     This is a "picture" of a new Christian. The Bible says that when people believe in Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit, they are given gifts. These gifts are besides the gift of salvation or the gift of Jesus in our life. These are supernatural gifts because even though believers get a new "operating system" for their life, they also get updates as they mature in the Lord.  Sometimes we get "updates" as we are reading the Bible, praying, receiving teaching or just living life -- these "downloads" will teach us spiritual truths. In the Bible these "upgrades" are called renewing our mind: Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:23 or getting rid of every defilement of spirit: 2 Corinthians 7:1.

     Christians need to use that giftedness God has given them to mature into spiritual adults. If they don't use it they will stay in the baby stage of their Christian walk until they either start using it, and hopefully mature in that gift, or die as a baby Christian. Many believers may have years of teaching, but if they don't have opportunities to move in the giftedness that God has given them, most will stagnate and  have a spiritual death in their hearts. Many times this is a reason that people loose their first love.

     I have heard many people tell me that they don't have any gift at all. There are people that are gifted in knowing what a person's gift is. Many times they have an apostolic or prophetic gifting or just get words of knowledge. There are Christians that will receive a gift just because an apostle or prophet laid hands on them and imparted a gift, 1 Timothy 4:14. Sometimes believers are walking in those gifts and they are so much a part of their life, they don't even know it.

     Some Christians seem to think that if they were gifted they could do almost anything. When I was younger, many people including myself, thought I was a computer expert. That didn't mean I knew everything about computers, but the things I didn't know, it seemed easy to find the answers and apply them. There were also many things I didn't know but that didn't mean I wasn't gifted with computers. It's the same way in the Church. There are things we do better or very well and there are things we just can't do at all unless God gives us that gift in our life.

     A call to all leaders: No matter what size of church you have, house or mega church,  the church is meant to be a place where believers are equipped for ministry. This is not just giving those in your church a bunch of head knowledge, but practical experience along with it. Train yourselves to look at those in your church and see who they are even when they don't see it themselves. Then ask God to use you or other people in your church to gently carve away the marble to see the masterpiece underneath. This is a process, not necessarily an instant transformation.

 

Bruce Isom

 

 

    

More Vision for Church

     After going through the hippie thing I became a Christian in 1974. I became a believer after my wife and I visited a friend who had become a Christian. I believed in Jesus because the Holy Spirit touched me and not because our friend talked me into it.

Just married! 1974

     I didn't have any idea what it meant to follow Christ. I had some religious background because I went to a Baptist church as a teenager. The Pastor there was an evangelist but he was also older and should have retired many years before he did. So every Sunday instead of teaching the Bible, he tried to save everyone in the church, even though except for a few of the kids every one else had already believed in Christ.

     My wife and I started to read the Bible to find out what Church and the Christian walk was supposed to be like. When we read the Bible we were surprised to find out that it wasn't just a place to go sit on a pew on Sunday. It was supposed to be an interactive, use-your-gifts type of meeting. So when we started looking for a church it wasn't an easy task because most of the churches we visited didn't fit with what we felt like the Bible was talking about.

     We did find a church that was more interactive. It was a church that allowed men that the pastor was discipling to teach on some Sundays and it had what we now call "open worship". If someone felt like the Holy Spirit wanted them to lead out in a song, when there was a brief pause they would just start singing or shout out the name of the song. Usually someone would lead out with the song in the worship time. It was not chaotic at all, the Spirit-led flow was amazing.

      We had an "open mic" for part of the time where people would give testimonies or ask for prayer. As a new believer I felt guilty because I smoked cigarettes. I had tried to quit many times with no success. One day when I was in church the Lord spoke to me and told me to go forward and ask for prayer. When I did, the Lord set me free and now I haven't smoked for nearly 40 years.
     I want to let everyone know that I don't hate other types of churches. It is not my intention to stir people up to hate their churches or their leaders. I hope more to stir up churches to use the gifts and let the "Body of Christ" function in the way that God intended.
     Now I have walked with Jesus for around 42 years and still desire to see churches where many people can be involved in ministry and participate in meetings. There are different movements in the world today where people are planting churches with the intention of people using their gifts. Many of these churches are growing by the thousands and from studies they are still able to do a quality work. I will talk more about spiritual growth and about these types of churches in future blogs.

 

Bruce Isom