PILGRIMAGE BLESSINGS

Again the Lord be praised for another blessed pilgrimage to the Holy Land—FEBC’s 20^th (18–30 November 2018). The Rev Dr Timothy Tow, FEBC’s founding principal, had organised pilgrimages to the Holy Land since the 1980s. It may be said that FEBC was a pioneer if not the first to organise such pilgrimages from Singapore.

Since my appointment in 2008 to lead in the pilgrimages, I have done eight thus far by God’s grace with much help from Jemima who took care of all the administrative work, and Guiding Star our trusted travel agent in Israel.

We had a total of 40 pilgrims from 12 churches (Baptist, Bible-Presbyterian, Independent, Methodist, Presbyterian, and even Roman Catholic) this time. During our visits to the many biblical sites, Leslie Eli our expert guide was a wealth of knowledge on the history and geography of the land and country. The theology was given by me along the way and during the daily devotions. Without the Bible opened, the pilgrimage would be in vain for it is precisely the Bible that makes the land alive.

How to have a blessed pilgrimage? For a pilgrimage to be a blessed one, pilgrims must go with a mind to bless others and a heart to give to others. As much as God has lovingly given us His only begotten Son to suffer and be sacrificed for our sins, so must we return thanks and gratitude by serving Him and blessing others with our giving and our gifts, for as Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive: “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35).

Blessing the Ethiopians

We flew Ethiopian Airlines—our very first time. Since last year, Ethiopian Airlines have been flying out of Singapore, and direct to Tel Aviv from Addis Ababa. They have very new planes. The only catch is the long layover at Addis Ababa. Our first leg required us to stay at Addis Ababa for 10 hours (arriving 6.35 am and departing 4.20 pm). Since the transit was such a long one the Airlines put us up in a hotel near the airport. The plus was that we could see a little bit of Ethiopia visa free, but the minus was we had to get a yellow fever jab.

Nevertheless, the long layover worked for us because we had fellow brethren in Ethiopia viz FEBC alumni—the Rev Ephrem Chiracho and his wife Gete, and preacher Engida. Ephrem is pastor of Gethsemane Bible-Presbyterian Church in Alem Gena (about an hour from Addis Ababa), and Engida is in charge of a branch church in the capital city itself. They have a Bible institute and needed books for their library. We took this opportunity to carry 120 kg of books for their library. The books came from FEBC’s Timothy Tow Memorial Library—duplicate titles were removed from the shelves and donated to them. With 40 pilgrims, this was not a heavy burden. The Bible-Presbyterian church and missions in Ethiopia come under the supervision and support of the Rev Dr Das Koshy of Gethsemane in Singapore.

Our return leg saw us back in Ethiopia, this time the layover was longer—16 hours (6.25 am–midnight). Since there was time to spare, we hired a bus to take us to the church in Alem Gena. We had an evening service together with our Ethiopian brethren after a tour of the church premises. They have a church building that can accommodate 300 easily, a classroom block, and a kindergarten cum dormitory block. The books we brought had already been placed on two handsome wooden shelves in the library. They should prove useful to the 28 full-time students. After the service, the pilgrims hosted a buffet dinner of local cuisine to be enjoyed local style (with hand) which made the food tastier. We had a blessed and pleasant time of fellowship that night. An offering was collected for the work there, plus a designated love gift from the pilgrims.

I was especially glad to see Daniel (Ephrem & Gete’s son) now 14 years old. I last saw him when he was just a few months old. He was smiling then and is still smiling now. He says his favourite subject in school is Chemistry and says he would like to be a pastor when he grows up. Above is a picture of him wearing a Guiding Star cap and a cross medallion—souvenirs from the Holy Land I gave him.

Blessing the Palestinians

Baraka Bible Presbyterian Church in Bethlehem was founded in the 1950s by Dr Thomas Lambie a medical doctor and Bible Presbyterian missionary. He founded a hospice and a church. While the hospice Beit El Baraka has been closed for some years now, the church continues and is pastored by the Rev George Awad and his son Danny. The church consists of 20–30 Palestinian Arab Christians.

As usual, we would spend the Lord’s Day with them. Their worship service starts at 10.30 in the morning like ours. The Rev Wee Eng Moh was given the privilege to be the Lord’s messenger and he spoke on the faith of Abraham. After the service, all worshippers were invited to a lunch fellowship. We had Palestinian chicken rice—a real treat over warm fellowship on a rather cold day.

The pilgrims gave a designated offering to the church to show our appreciation for their hospitality. They also bought olive wood products from the church’s gift shop. The proceeds go to the work of the church.

During this trip, I took the opportunity to invite the Rev and Mrs George Awad to our church camp next year. Pray the Lord to open the door for them to join us for camp.

Blessing the Jews

Israel is God’s chosen nation. We do well to bless Israel. The Lord says, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 12:3). Despite Israel’s unbelief, God is still dealing with them. Romans 11:25–27, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”

And so as Christian pilgrims we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. When we were on the Mount of Olives overlooking the holy city, we sang Psalm 122 (to the tune of Hatikvah) and prayed for the peace of Jerusalem. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.” (Ps 122:6–9).

Interestingly, we were Christian pilgrims who had a Zionist Jew as our guide and an Arab Muslim as our driver. Surely a formula for disaster you might say. No way. We had a most successful pilgrimage and our guide and driver were excellent. I am sure they heard the good news shared and sung along the way. We pray that they believing in one God will also believe in Jesus Christ the only Saviour of the world. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6). JK