After experimenting with “blogging” and attempting to blog for one and half years … we have decided to end this BLOG. Although the wordpress “engine” is much better than the other free blogs out there, hmm … wordpress doesn’t allow ads on it! So why waste all our efforts blogging on this ya!

We have moved all our Blogs to BLOGGER, and have further segmented it so that if you are searching for anything in specific, you will know where to look for it!!

FAMILY Blog : http://darentiff.blogspot.com

WORSHIP Blog : http://sembah.blogspot.com

ANYTHING ELSE Blog : http://delephant.blogspot.com

(yups delephant blog will contain what’s not related to the family or worship.. .. …

See ya at our new Blogs

DT signing off!

Hey peeps i just got the heads up from Leona that CCC Oxford Falls is coming to town!! Woo Hoo!!

CCC Oxford Falls is based in Sydney, their church pastor is none other than Ps Phil Pringle .. awesome speaker and they have come up with some radical songs lately in their church (esp in CCC Youth!).

- I digress!!

DETAILS Details details of the Conference & Concert!

Its called the FUEL 2007 Conference & Concert. Its organized by Kajang Assembly of God! And I am very sure its gonna be FUN FUN FUN!

Make sure you make yourself available for the Nite Concert on 15 Sep. Christian City Church (CCC) Oxford Falls will be featuring Jeff Crabtree and Joshua Bedoukian as well!

Fuel 2007 Concert

Date : 15 September 2007 (Sat)

Time : 8.30 to 10.30pm

Location : Dewan Wawasan PGRM Cheras – Map

More info? Visit their website here

Details on Conference Program, Speakers, Contact

I am pleased to see that Paradise Live Worship Team is back in Malaysia.

It will be one night in KLANG and one night in PJ. Check out the info below.

10 September 2007 (Monday), 8pm
@ Dewan Grace, Taman Chi Liung Klang

11 September 2007 (Tuesday), 8pm
@ PJEFC, Heritage Centre,
No. 3 Jalan 13/6,Petaling Jaya

Both FREE concerts start @ 8pm so come early to avoid disappointment!

Info from : Canaan Land – http://www.canaanland.com.my

Details of the POWER ENCOUNTER Rallies (FREE!) 

16 August (Thursday)     – 8.00pm in Maranatha

17 August (Friday)          - 8.00pm in Maranatha

Conference Details (For those who registered)

17 August (Friday)          – 10am  -  5pm

18 AUGUST (Saturday)   – 10am – 12.30pm

This message comes from the National Council of Churches in Korea …  Please keep them in prayer

Dear Friends in Christ,

Warm greeting from Seoul,

As you have been informed, the 23 Koreans have been held hostage in  
Afghanistan by Taliban last July 19th, two of them were already  
executed, and the others are still detained under the threat of  
execution. NCCK AND Korean churches have been sincerely praying for  
their safety and the immediate release.

We sincerely ask you and Christians of your country to pray for their
health and their immediate reunion with their families. We believe
that our prayer and our various efforts will affect on the safe
release of those who are still detained.In Christ, Yours

Rev. Kwon, Oh-Sung

General Secretary

National Council of Churches in Korea

Taliban Kill Second Korean Hostage

Shim Sung-min Taliban killed another Korean hostage in Afghanistan after the latest deadline for negotiations expired on Monday. Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a purported spokesman for the Taliban, told the Chosun Ilbo, AFP and AP by phone, “’Finally tonight at 8:30, we killed one of the Koreans named Sung Sim with AK-47 gunshots.” He claimed the armed group also killed one German hostage.The victim is presumed to be Shim Sung-min. The body of the hostage had been dumped in the Qarabagh district of the southern province of Ghazni, Ahmadi said. Shim is the second Korean killed by the militants after the Rev. Bae Hyung-kyu, who died last Wednesday. Shim recently quit his job and was preparing to go to an agricultural graduate school. He had told Japanese broadcaster NHK by phone on Sunday that he was with three hostages but did not know where. Prior to the killing, the militants extended the deadline by four hours, saying that the Taliban leadership council, the group’s supreme decision-making body, would then decide on the fate of the hostages unless the Afghan government free Taliban prisoners in exchange for the Korean captives. Shim Jin-pyo, the father of Shim Sung-min, 29, one of the kidnapped South Koreans in Afghanistan, speaks to the media after watching a television report about his son, in Seongnam, south of Seoul on Tuesday. Taliban kidnappers shot dead a male South Korean hostage on Monday, accusing the Afghan government of not listening to their demands for the release of Taliban prisoners. Shim sung-min is believed to be the victim./REUTERS Fifty minutes after the initial deadline passed, a man who claimed to be a Taliban commander told the Afghan Islamic Express by phone that negotiations had failed completely and they would shortly kill Korean hostages. Ahmadi had earlier told AP, “It might be a man or a woman…We may kill one, we may kill two, we may kill one of each (gender), two of each, four of each,” unless Taliban prisoners were released. Arabic news channel Al Jazeera reported that Afghan and U.S. forces were gathering near a highway where the Koreans were kidnapped. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai is to meet U.S. President George W. Bush at the presidential retreat Camp David on Aug. 5 and 6.

Source

This is absolutely fantastic.

Janice we normally don’t watch our local TV stations .. but becos of U, we will watch 8TV tomorrow!!

Can’t wait to see Trippin on 8TV tomorrow. So does this now make u a TV CELEB? Coool yay!!

More on Janice Yap – here

More on 8TV Trippin – here

It was a great celebration in Indonesia in 21 to 23 June 2007, where thousands and thousands of young people gathered at the Istora Stadium and celebrated God’s greatness. APYAC is organized by Youth Alive Malaysia but of course with the help of Youth Alive Directors from the Asia Pacific Region.

 Istora Stadium … with thousands of young people for ONE Purpose

Thanks to Daniel, check out the wonderful pictures below. 

There are over 200 pictures for APYAC 2007,

Click here to view more.

This is rather cool! The Dance Ministry of our church has started a Blog.

I think the Blog Address is rather cute : http://dancing-aunties.blogspot.com/ 

Now its not all aunties that’s in the Dance Ministry .. hmmm.. but i do wonder why that name was coined up?

I especially like the fact that they video their Tambourine Dance Steps. I think it will be a good learning and exchanging Training Tool for various churches, when they wanna work out steps and cheorograph moves on various Worship Songs.  I think its cool! To view the videos, Click here!

Anyway … be blest! Go Visit their blog for more info!  

Influence Conference

20 – 21 July 2007

WE are called to influence the marketplace with kingdom principles. We are to be a generation who is strong, faith-filled and refusing to compromise. When you honor God, rest assured that God will honor you. It is time we rise up and become an INFLUENCE!

Influence Conference is organized by Youth Alive Malaysia and will focus on addressing the Young Adults.

Plenary Sessions include

• Show Me the World
• Show Me the Money
• Show Me the Ladder

SPEAKERS:

• YB Dato Dr Lim Thuang Seng
• Rev Dr Vincent Leoh
• Rev Clement Wong
• Rev Julie Khoo
• Rev Lisa Chin
• Wong Hong Meng
• Dr Goh Chee Leong
• Michael Tang
• Jeremy Tan

NIGHT CONCERTS

Free Night Concert with Intone Band from Australia (MySpace)

20 July (Fri) – 8.30pm

21 July (Sat) – 6.30pm

An explosive and dynamic band from Australia, the Intone Band is a live performance that is not to be missed. With original songs wirtten from personal life experiences, they capture harts of the listener by their music.

Watch the Intone Band’s Video below, or click here 

Download the Influence Flyers

Malaysia’s best known Christian convert, Lina Joy, lost a six-year battle on Wednesday to have the word “Islam” removed from her identity card, after the country’s highest court rejected the change.

The ruling threatens to further polarize Malaysian society between non-Muslims who feel that their constitutional right to religious freedom is being eroded, and Muslims who believe that civil courts have no right to meddle in Islamic affairs.

“You can’t at whim and fancy convert from one religion to another,” Federal Court Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim said in delivering judgment in the case, which has stirred religious tensions in the mainly Muslim nation.

He said the civil court had no jurisdiction in the case and that it should be dealt with by the country’s Islamic courts.

“The issue of apostasy is related to Islamic law, so it’s under the sharia court. The civil court cannot intervene.”

About 200 mostly young Muslims welcomed the ruling outside the domed courthouse with shouts of “Allah-o-Akbar” (God is great), but Christians and non-Muslim politicians were dismayed.

“I think it’s a major blow,” opposition politician Lim Kit Siang said. “It casts a large shadow on civil liberties and the constitutional rights of Malaysians.”

Malaysia’s Council of Churches was saddened.

“We still go by the possibility that the constitution allows any citizen of the country to exercise his or her right to choose a religion and practice it,” council secretary Rev. Hermen Shastri said outside the court.

“I don’t think this decision is going to stop an individual from exercising that right for whatever reason.”

…More

 Five facts on religion and apostasy in Malaysia

 WHAT IS RELIGION’S OFFICIAL STATUS?

- Article 11 of Malaysia’s Constitution guarantees freedom of worship but provides for bans on non-Muslims recruiting Muslims away from Islam. The constitution also defines all ethnic Malays, more than half of the population of 26 million, as Muslim.

- Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has developed his own brand of moderate Islam called Islam Hadhari or “civilization Islam”. It stresses that Islam should not be a barrier to new ideas, modern education and economic development.

- Abdullah’s predecessor, Mahathir Mohammed, had first described the country as an Islamic state on September 29, 2001, when under pressure from Islamic groups after the September 11 attacks.

* WHAT ARE THE MAIN RELIGIONS?

- Islam, the official state religion, is followed by some 60 percent of the population, according to the 2000 census. The majority follow Sunni Islam and strains deemed “deviant” are opposed by the government.

- Buddhism is the second largest faith (19 percent), followed by Christianity (9 percent), Hinduism (6 percent) and Confucianism, Taoism and other Chinese religions (2 percent).

- Apostasy is generally considered a sin or a crime by Islamic authorities. Muslims who wish to convert from Islam face severe obstacles. Islamic courts have exclusive jurisdiction in cases of apostasy and generally send them for counseling but, if this fails, they can mete out fines or jail sentences.

- In 2000, an Islamic court sentenced four people to 3-year prison terms for apostasy.

- Leaders of the opposition Islamic Party (PAS) have said that the penalty for apostasy should be death.

* WHY HAS LINA JOY FOUGHT THE CASE?

- The sales assistant was born into a Muslim family but was baptized into Catholicism in 1998. She asked for the word “Islam” to be removed from her identity card, saying she wanted to enter into a non-Muslim marriage and could not set up a home and family without the change. In practice in Malaysia, Muslims can only marry other Muslims.

- A High Court judge first ruled against the 43-year-old in 2001, and reaffirmed a 1999 ruling that only Islamic courts can rule on conversions.

* ARE THERE OTHER RELIGIOUS RESTRICTONS?

- Proselytizing to Muslims, while not illegal under federal law, is outlawed in most Malaysian states. Punishments for those caught trying to convert them include jail time and whippings. 

 - A 2002 ban on the Bible being published in the Malay and Iban languages was later repealed by Abdullah, who said it was over-zealous. But in April 2005 he said copies of Malay-language Bibles must have “Not for Muslims” printed on the front, and could only be distributed in churches and Christian bookshops.

* Malaysia’s tough film censorship laws vet sensitive religious material, nudity and sex. In 2004 Abdullah intervened to allow tickets for actor-director Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” to be sold to Christians, while Muslims were barred from seeing it.

Source

Lina Joy lost her final round of appeal when the Federal Court dismissed on Wednesday her appeal against a ruling that the National Registration Department was right not to allow her to remove the word “Islam” from her identity card. 

Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Federal Court judge Justice Alauddin Mohd Sheriff delivered the majority decision dismissing her appeal. 

Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum dissented. 

On Sept 19, 2005, the Court of Appeal decided that the NRD director-general was right in refusing her application to drop her religious status from her IC on the grounds that the Syariah Court and other Islamic religious authorities did not confirm Linas renunciation of Islam.  

Related Stories:
Crucial decision in Lina Joy case
Commission to study religious- sensitive cases
Court has yet to decide on Lina Joy’s appeal
Counsel: Islam can’t be renounced at will
The Lina Joy case: Right not infringed on
NRD has right to require apostasy order, says counsel

STAR Source   NST Source

Related Post

• Pray for Lina Joy