Wednesday, April 6, 2011
PICTURE DURING MY MISSION
----------------making friends
------------------making disciples
--------------------making great journey
----------------------sharing Good News
------------------------sharing Love + Joy
--------------------------sharing End Time News
UPDATE MISSION VIDEO CLIP
Greeting in the Lord's Name!
For almost everyday in recent weeks, I have been getting sleep for about 4 hours or less, as most of my time has been used for God’s work. I feel very tired each day, and so I hope to take a short break soon to re-charge. As with any overwork and stress, one could easily succumb to illness, but I want to praise God that he has so far enabled me to remain physically strong and spiritually uplifted Praise God indeed for that! Each morning and evening, I have helped out in counseling work, as well as prayer ministry, along with other team members from US, UK and Europe.
You can watch our mission video clip done up by Jenny (Before you start the video clip, do stop the Christian Music at the right side below as you can see Media Player).
Take care and God Bless!
Regards,
Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok and Sister Jenny P Kok
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
70 metal books found in Jordan cave could change our view of Biblical history
Could this be the biggest find since the Dead Sea Scrolls? Seventy metal books found in cave in Jordan could change our view of Biblical history
For scholars of faith and history, it is a treasure trove too precious for price.
This ancient collection of 70 tiny books, their lead pages bound with wire, could unlock some of the secrets of the earliest days of Christianity.
Academics are divided as to their authenticity but say that if verified, they could prove as pivotal as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.
Lines of inquiry: The metal tablets could change our understanding of the Bible
On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation.
The books were discovered five years ago in a cave in a remote part of Jordan to which Christian refugees are known to have fled after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Important documents from the same period have previously been found there.
Initial metallurgical tests indicate that some of the books could date from the first century AD.
Revelation: Experts speculate that the tablets could be the lost collection of codices referred to in the Bible's Book Of Revelation
Hidden meaning: Scrolls, tablets and other artifacts, including an incense bowl, were also found at the same site as the tablets
SHEPHERD'S DISCOVERY THAT UNEARTHED A TREASURE TROVE
The Dead Sea Scrolls, counted among the most important archaeological finds of the modern era, were discovered in a cave (pictured) by a Bedouin shepherd in the West Bank.
The scrolls consist of 30,000 separate fragments making up 900 manuscripts of biblical texts and religious writings from the time of Jesus.
The fragile parchment and papyrus fragments have been the subject of intense study for more than half a century by an international team of scholars who are still trying to understand the significance of some 30 per cent of the texts which are not included in the Bible or any other previously known religious writings.
The scrolls include the earliest known copy of the Ten Commandments, an almost complete Book of Isaiah and many of the Psalms.
Some of the texts were damaged by well-intentioned restoration attempts since the 1950s that included the use of Sellotape, rice paper and perspex glue.
This estimate is based on the form of corrosion which has taken place, which experts believe would be impossible to achieve artificially.
If the dating is verified, the books would be among the earliest Christian documents, predating the writings of St Paul.
The prospect that they could contain contemporary accounts of the final years of Jesus’s life has excited scholars – although their enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that experts have previously been fooled by sophisticated fakes.
David Elkington, a British scholar of ancient religious history and archeology, and one of the few to have examined the books, says they could be ‘the major discovery of Christian history’.
‘It is a breathtaking thought that we have held these objects that might have been held by the early saints of the Church,’ he said.
But the mysteries between their ancient pages are not the books’ only riddle. Today, their whereabouts are also something of a mystery. After their discovery by a Jordanian Bedouin, the hoard was subsequently acquired by an Israeli Bedouin, who is said to have illegally smuggled them across the border into Israel, where they remain.
However, the Jordanian Government is now working at the highest levels to repatriate and safeguard the collection. Philip Davies, emeritus professor of biblical studies at Sheffield University, said there was powerful evidence that the books have a Christian origin in plates cast into a picture map of the holy city of Jerusalem.
A 16th century painting depicting Jesus's death. The metal books contain pages with images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion
X marks the spot: The cave in Jordan where the artifacts were discovered
Dr Margaret Barker, a former president of the Society for Old Testament Study, confirmed that a sealed book is mentioned in the Bible
‘As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck,’ he said. ‘That struck me as so obviously a Christian image. There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city.
‘There are walls depicted on other pages of these books too and they almost certainly refer to Jerusalem. It is a Christian crucifixion taking place outside the city walls.’
The British team leading the work on the discovery fears that the present Israeli ‘keeper’ may be looking to sell some of the books on to the black market, or worse – destroy them.
But the man who holds the books denies the charge and claims they have been in his family for 100 years.
Dr Margaret Barker, a former president of the Society for Old Testament Study, said: ‘The Book of Revelation tells of a sealed book that was opened only by the Messiah.
‘Other texts from the period tell of sealed books of wisdom and of a secret tradition passed on by Jesus to his closest disciples. That is the context for this discovery.’
Groundbreaking find: A section of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were unearthed in 1947
Professor Davies said: ‘The possibility of a Hebrew-Christian origin is certainly suggested by the imagery and, if so, these codices are likely to bring dramatic new light to our understanding of a very significant but so far little understood period of history.’
Mr Elkington, who is leading British efforts to have the books returned to Jordan, said: ‘It is vital that the collection can be recovered intact and secured in the best possible circumstances, both for the benefit of its owners and for a potentially fascinated international audience.’
*British scientists have uncovered up to eight million mummified dogs, thought to have been sacrificed to Anubis, the god of the dead, 2500 years ago after excavating tunnels in the ancient Eygptian city of Saqqara.
Monday, March 14, 2011
BIBLE PROPHESY ABOUT RECENT TSUNAMI IN JAPAN
Greetings in the Jesus Christ the Nazareth!
Here is the online news about the Tsunami in Japan on March 11th, 2011 “The quake off Japan's northeast coast was the biggest in 140 years and triggered tsunami waves of up to 10 meters (30 feet) that swept across farmland, sweeping away homes, crops, vehicles and triggering fires” - Reuters. Japan’s recent 8.9 magnitude earthquake already generated a 15 foot tsunami that crashed its coasts - Digital Journal.
Where does the word 'tsunami' come from? 'Tsunami' is a Japanese word meaning : storm ("tsu") and wave ("nami") - Oxford English Dictionary. For the plural, one can either follow ordinary English practice and add an 's', or use an invariable plural as in Japanese.
On Sunday morning, my reading took me to the Book of Zechariah 5 verses 2 – 4, “What do you see?” the angel asked. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied. “It appears to be about 30 feet long and 15 feet wide. Then he said to me, “This scroll contains the curse that is going out over the entire land. One side of the scroll says that those who steal will be banished from the land; the other side says that those who swear falsely will be banished from the land. And this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: " I am sending this curse into the house of every thief and into the house of everyone who swears falsely using my name. And my curse will remain in that house and completely destroy it - even its timbers and stones.”

Then I sought God for an interpretation of Zechariah’s vision. The following is revealed to me.
First, the flying scroll is like the opening of a roll of papyrus or paper and so tsunami or storm waves come like a flying scroll.
Second, Zechariah said the measurement of the flying scroll is 30 feet long and 15 feet wide. This describes pretty closely the March 2011 Tsunami of Japan
Third, the 'curse' refers to the sea waves (tsunami) that sweep everything away.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are indeed living perilously close to Judgment Day or End Time. God 's anger and warnings are clearly prophesized in the Bible. It is entirely up to us to see and interpret this in the reality and happening around us. Ignore and dismiss these warnings of doom, we merely deceive ourselves! Life on Earth is short. Eternity awaits us. But are we ready and prepared to accept Jesus as our only Savior? Have we really followed or obeyed God’s Will and His Commandments?
I remember vividly the following story a friend has shared with me. A wealthy man knew he would be dying soon. He told his son, "Please bury all my money with me ".The son nodded. When the time came for burying, the son said," I am not that stupid to put all the money in the grave because he can’t use it anyway." Instead he wrote out pieces of cheques as substitutes.
In the Book of Matthew 6 verses 19 - 20 we are reminded, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal”.
Another Bible prophesy also deserves our attention. The Book of Revelation 6 verses 12 - 14 says "I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind. The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places’.
Checking the earthquakes statistics in the website http://earthquake.usgs.gov, you will find that earthquakes are happening every second. According to the latest news, Honshu Island has shifted 8 feet or 2.4 meters and we don’t know about other places. Maybe you can start checking the measurement between your house door and the front gate to see if the distance is shifting.!
I believe that the prophesy of the sixth seal on the scroll is already opened and now we will be facing the seventh seal.
Those who wash their robes are those who seek to purify themselves from a sinful way of life. They strive daily to remain faithful and ready for Christ’s return. It is difficult to imagine how blood could make any cloth white but the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the world’s greatest purifier because it removes the stain of sin. White symbolizes sinless perfection or holiness, which can be given to people only by death of the sinless Lamb of God on our behalf. God’s Word assures us that if we are willing and obedient, Christ will forgive and remove our most indelible stains. Amen!
The last word will be God’s, his ultimate sovereignty will be revealed in the end. We cannot predict when that end will come, but we can have confidence in his control over the world’s events. The world’s history, as well as our own pilgrimage is in God’s hands. We can be secure in his love and trust Him to guide our decision.
We just want to share our apprehensions as the stark reality hits us.
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, be forewarned. The End Time is near. Be prepared. And Live!
Blessings,
Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
MISSION - GIFTS - EVENTS
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
CHANGE THAILAND
Shalom All,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Faith comes from trusting the Lord in every way ... for our daily needs ... for the work we do joyfully in His name … that it will bear fruits, and add more to His Kingdom .. How true ... so in Him we Trust and Obey. Hebrews 11 verse 3 says: “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen”. God called the universe into existence out of nothing, he declared that it was to be and it was. Our faith is in the God who created the entire universe by His Word. God’s Word has awesome power.
During the past 2 ½ months, we were extremely busy with all kinds of Church related activities and so we were unable to update our reports regularly. Most of the time, I was only able to update some of our activities in our Facebook wall.
Recently, my home church, Glad Tidings Assembly of God (GTPJ), Malaysia decided to place us as a mission partner in Bangkok, to help GTPJ to start a community centre, church planting and community outreach. As I prayed and looked for a suitable location to start our work, God answered our prayers in a mysterious way ... in no time at all, God provided us with about 20 local volunteers to help us in our planned ministries. Praise the Lord!
We sense that our Almighty God will bring us bountiful harvests in our planned Bangkok planting. So our vision and prayer theme for the coming year will be “Changing Thailand for God's Glory”. Together with existing local churches, we will strive to work hard in unity with them to bring the Good News to the local people. In John 14 verse 6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. We will bring this message to save souls. We will also strive to free sinners of the bondage that holds them back, so that the Love of Jesus will set them truly free!
The Christians in Thailand constitute less than 1% out of a population of 67 million. For 180 years, the Christian missionaries and local churches had tried many ways to spread the Good News but have, by and large, failed to find the key to open their hardened hearts. There has been a measure of success elsewhere, many mission workers have focused on the Hill Tribal people from Myanmar, Yunnan and Laos where more than 40% have been saved. Praise the Lord for that. But we need now to concentrate our focus on the majority of the Thai people themselves, where the needs are greatest. So let us together pray diligently for the theme adopted for next year to come to pass, for the greater Glory of God.
The mission reports;
On September 5th, 2010, I was invited by Rev. Dr. Sinchai, the senior pastor of Mahachon Church to preach the Word of God to his congregation, with Jenny as my interpreter. This church, established here only less than a year ago, plans to build a brand new church building next to a river nearby, to be called the Ark's Church. It will be the first such new modern church building to appear in Bangkok in many years.
The church hopes to cooperate with existing local churches in as many of its activities as possible. Currently, I serve as a partner/mentor to the senior pastor and we work together on the same vision.
“Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. That is only valid for information sharing. Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes” ... Peter Senge.
On September 11th, we celebrated the birthday of Bro. Kiert, aged 86, at the Lumpini Park. About 180 people came to celebrate the event. Brother Kiert is one of the founding members of the Lumpini Evangelism Group and Poukey Service Group together with his wife, also a church worker/evangelist originally from Beijing, as well as two other local Thai - Chinese co-founders. He had been unwell and weak after a recent operation. Let us remember him in our prayers for Jesus to strengthen him.
Usually on every Saturday morning, we will be helping out in the Lumpini Park on fellowshipping and sharing the Word of God with the poor to let them know how much God love them. Some of the poor sleep by the road, some in temples, never taking baths for weeks. Many appear to have lost the direction for living and are in deep spiritual emptiness or darkness. So we endeavor to give them hope and light through Jesus Christ, doing whatever we can with gifts of love and encouragement, including verses from the Bible and our frequent prayers and encouraging them to bring their friends to the park as well. We plan to start a pilot "Adopt the poor" project which will mainly focus on giving them simple jobs like polishing shoes, washing cars etc. This will help them to get some income. Let us pray for God's leading in this project.
Early in October 2010, I went on a short trip to Wuhan, China to meet up with Bro. Stone. A year ago, I had baptized him into the faith in Tianjin, China. We have had a good fellowship and reunion.
From October 29th to 30th, Jenny and I were invited to attend the Thailand Prayer Conference which was held for the first time in Thailand, when churches came together to pray. Unfortunately, many ministers of God were unable to come to the event due to the 60th Anniversary Baptist Celebration. During the conference, I was asked to write down what I thought was needed most in Thailand. I wrote on the big board “Change Thailand for the Glory of God”. Many came to ask me explain how to do that. We shared our thoughts sand plans for the coming year. We said a big “Amen” to that dream, hope and trust with God, “anything is possible”.
In early September 2010, a member from The Hymnsmen asked me to invite the Hymnsmen group to come to Bangkok to do some church events. From November 8 to 12, they came to Bangkok to perform. I arranged for them to sing at various churches. At first, we were not too sure of how they would be received in Thailand, singing in English as they do, and whether their CDs would be sought and bought ... so only about 80 CDs were brought in. After their first performance at the Bangkok Christian Hospital, our optimism soared ... all the CDs were sold and we had orders for more! Despite our little faith, God did great things right in front of us, telling us to trust Him more each day. So when I next preached in Mahachon Church about the “Power of Change”. I was emboldened to make an altar call. About nine people came out and accepted Christ ... Praise the Lord!
In Luke 15 verse 7 Jesus says “In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and have strayed away!” Hallelujah!
Preaching in House of Christ Church on “Healing through Christ”, with the Hymnsmen playing the music in the background, I again made an altar call. The whole congregation came out to seek Healing. One lady unable to walk, then walked, one lady unable to hear then could hear ... truly miraculous!
In Matthew 9 verse 35, Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness ... Praise the Name of Jesus ... what a Miraculous God we serve! All glory to Him!
From November 10th to 13th, we went to the Province of Surat Thani (South of Thailand) to distribute dried foods to flood victims using own funds. We were also able to fellowship with the local pastors and have had a good time together. We traveled by Airasia paying return ticket at THB 300 (USD 10) for two persons and everyone was surprised how we could travel so cheaply! The Lord provides and takes care of our frugal needs so that we may serve Him joyfully. Hallelujah!
On November 14th, 2010 a few churches joined hands to organize a prayer walk and concert in Bangkok. About 3,000 people attended the event, mostly youths. This was the first such event held in Thailand.
We are praying to buy a new small car, a Chery QQ this month so that we will be able to get to places more conveniently. Currently we are taking the public transport and it is hard and time consuming. Our schedule of work has also increased; we have more commitments such as starting a community centre, outreach centre, church planting, public events and working with other local churches.
May God bless each of you wherever you are.

