182,000 PINOYS IN SINGAPORE

Rev Dr Jose Lagapa

“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (John 4:35). For us Filipinos, we are used to seeing the rice fields ready for harvesting as golden in colour. When we see that the rice plants are bowing down because of the heavy palay grains, then we need not delay. We must get our reaping instruments and do the work or else the rats will come or the seeds will fall if overripe and dried. There is haste in doing the work. There should be no procrastination, and lazy, slothful and tardy people are of no use.

Last April 6, I read an article in the Straits Times newspaper which highlighted a very high increase of Filipino migrant workers in Singapore. It mentioned that in 2022 there were only 72 thousand of them. However, in 2023, the record shows that there are 182,000 Pinoys (Filipinos) now here in Singapore working! It is even more than a double increase. No wonder, I noticed that when I asked those whom we evangelized, there are many of them who say they have just arrived a few months ago. I was so surprised but also felt a sense of accountability for how little we have done in reaching out to our countrymen here for the Lord Jesus Christ.

We do not have to beat around the bush. The direct question we have to ask ourselves is what does the Lord want us to do about it? We have to pray! We have to labour in prayer and seek ways where we can do the will of Him that sent us! May I propose that we do our prayer sessions again before the worship service so we can pray for ways to know and to do His will. We used to do that in Godhill, and I am guilty that we have missed that time of prayer session. May I encourage you to join us after Sunday School for a 20-minute prayer time (10-10:20 am) every Lord’s Day. We have to do our part. We should rise to this blessed opportunity God has given us. He shows us a greater field to harvest, and we must start working for if we linger, we will lose the privilege He has opened for us.

Moreover, we should also pray individually to seek for opportunities to invite some of them. The increase in the number of Filipinos means we can have more chances to meet them in supermarkets, wet markets, remittance centers, and other places. Let us equip ourselves with our gospel tracts. We can have a pack of tracts in our bags so that when the Lord opens a way for us to talk to them, we can readily pass a tract. Just be careful to do this with their willingness to receive. Do not force them for only the Spirit of God can move their hearts to receive and read the tract.

As the church is praying and planning to go door-to-door evangelism, I pray some of us can join the Evangelistic Band of True Life Bible-Presbyterian Church led by Elder Tan Beng Lee. There is also an increasing number of Filipino workers who brought their families to live here in Singapore. As we cannot see them in Orchard or Toa Payoh Park, the best way to evangelize to them is by door-to-door. This method of evangelism was how the Lord brought us to the doorsteps of some of our brethren. Let us pray some are able to take part in the soon door-to-door evangelism of the church.

TAKE UP AND READ

How Can We See A Return To The Bible? by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Kept Pure Press, 2024. Paperback, 40 pages, US$9.99. Reintroduced and reviewed by Christian McShaffrey.

On October 24, 1961, the late D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones called his church and nation back to the Holy Bible. The call was issued publicly in the Royal Albert Hall in London at a National Bible Rally that had been organized by the Evangelical Alliance.

I personally heard this call over forty years later while reading a transcript of the address in the book “Knowing the Times” published by Banner of Truth Trust. The call truly is timeless and its continued influence upon my life and ministry compelled me to make it more readily accessible to a new generation of Christians.

Thanks to the kind permission of Banner of Truth, “How Can We See A Return To The Bible?” is now available in booklet format. Due to its convenient size, it is ideal for distribution on the literature table at church or for neighborhood outreach campaigns. Case discounts will be available through the publisher, Kept Pure Press.

Lloyd-Jones stated two distinct purposes at the outset: Commemorating the publication of the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible and calling the people of his land back to scripture’s self-attesting and supreme authority.

Early in the address, Lloyd-Jones diagnosed the effects of a century’s worth of humanistic philosophy in the churches, colleges, seminaries, and in society as a whole; concluding that all of the dysfunction and even the wars of the twentieth century could be traced back to a spiritual downgrade in the previous century:

“We must not come to the Bible to find out whether it is true or not; we must come to find the meaning of the truth that is there. That has been the fatal error of this so-called Higher Criticism that has come to the Bible to find which part is true and which part is not. The moment you do that you are already wrong, irretrievably wrong!”

“We do not come to the Bible to discover whether it is true; we come to discover its meaning and its teaching, and therefore I say the only hope is that we preach its message to the people. We must preach it to them as the Word of God.”

Having identified these root causes of the apostasy he was personally witnessing, Lloyd-Jones proceeds to address the futility of different attempts that were being made to “reach” modern man. Particular attention is given to the pseudo-solution of simply updating the language of the Bible:

“Men no longer read the Bible not because they cannot understand its language, but because they do not believe in it. They do not believe in its God; they do not want it.”

“Their problem is not that of language and of terminology; it is the state of the heart. Therefore, what do we do about it? It seems to me there is only one thing to do, the thing that has always been done in the past: We must preach it and our preaching must be wholly based upon its authority.”

This impassioned address concludes with an earnest appeal to take up scripture, to preach it in the power of the Spirit, and to trust God to make it effectual; not only for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, but also for the benefit of society.

Our nation also needs to be called back to the Holy Bible, and we pray that this timeless message from the late D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones will be heard and humbly received by a new generation of Christians.

Kept Pure in All Ages: Recapturing the Authorised Version and the Doctrine of Providential Preservation by Jeffrey Khoo, FEBC Press / The Old Paths Publications, 2nd Edition, 2021, Paperback, 174 pages, SG$27.05. Available at Amazon.com.

There is a battle to be fought today. It is a battle for the Bible. The battle in the last century concerned the doctrine of Bible inspiration. In this new century, the battle concerns the doctrine of Bible preservation. The doctrine of inspiration is meaningless without the doctrine of preservation. The same God who inspired His Word has promised to preserve His Word. The Westminster Confession affirms the twin doctrines of Bible inspiration and Bible preservation: “The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by his singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical.” In these darkening days of apostasy, there is a vital need to return to the divinely inspired and preserved Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words on which the King James Bible is based.

[Postscript: Dr D A Waite (1927-2024), President of the Dean Burgon Society and author of Defending the King James Bible, was called home to the Lord on May 4, 2024. We remember his fellowship with us in the defence of God’s Word since 1992.]