For a long time, I had wanted to meet the indomitable Canon Andrew White. The stories I heard about him were legendary. The opportunity came one day as my wife and I were having lunch with one of our dearest friends, Canon J John and his wife Killy. I had asked him if he knew Canon Andrew White and J immediately lighted up and told us they were very close and even went on holidays together.
He recounted some amazing stories about Canon White and what God has done through the man in Iraq and I just knew I had to meet him. To cut a long story short, we connected through Canon J, invited him to Singapore and, in just a few days, we’re going to have the privilege of Canon White speaking at our Kingdom Invasion Trilogy on Oct 18 at the Max Atria, Singapore Expo. He’ll also speak at our weekend services.
Meanwhile, I started watching different videos of the man. In one particular video, he talked about how he has lost 176 staff who were killed because of their faith in Jesus Christ. How a man can go through that, I can hardly imagine. We must face the fact that, in some countries, just being a Christian is a death sentence.
When asked why he kept going back to Iraq when his life was on the line all the time, he replied, “How can I sit by and do nothing?” But the real question is not what he’s doing about it; the real question is “What are you going to do about it?” We must not be naïve of the fact that it’s going to be increasingly difficult to be a witnessing Christian in these last days. Jesus alluded to this constantly – that the world will grow darker, far darker. The prophet Isaiah declared that darkness will cover the earth, gross darkness the peoples. This is inevitable as it’s consequential.
In His classic sermon on the Mount of Olives in Matt 24, Jesus said, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
This is written in Scripture and it cannot be broken. Our Lord was speaking as the Prophet of Israel and His Word will surely come to pass. But look at the end goal. It’s the proclamation of the Gospel to every person on this planet; that is the win for us. But before that happens, there’ll be great deception and tribulation such as the world has not seen and our Lord said if He did not intervene, no flesh would be saved.
Mankind has a penchant to self-destruct. I recall Richard Wurmbrand, that amazing preacher who wrote the book ‘Tortured for Christ’, who said, “It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this would receive a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their (the Communists’) terms. It was a deal; we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching. They were happy beating us, so everyone was happy.”
What kind of Christianity is this? It’s unheard of in 21st Century Singapore for sure. We’ve become flabby, soft, and too comfortable. We complain at every little inconvenience. Yet, so many Christians globally are being persecuted. The question is – What are you going to do about it? I’d be an unfaithful pastor if I didn’t warn you that persecution is coming. The whole counsel of God includes persecution, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that the global Church is now facing a dramatic increase in persecution.
It often begins subtly with discrimination that usually leads to loss of rights, property, and freedom – this is happening in many parts of the world right now. Then comes the violence, bloodshed, and finally, persecution in its most brutal form – martyrdom. Is the church in Singapore ready for this? Because it’s coming and it’s unavoidable. And when it does come, we must be prepared for it – mentally, spiritually, and in every other way, or we’ll not be able to go through it.
So why not come and join us at Kingdom Invasion Trilogy and hear a man tell us what true Christianity is really like. It’s not too late to sign up. The Church in Singapore must awaken to the harsh realities of life.
