Benedict XVI Explains How to Truly Worship

Considers Pauline Concept of Praising God

VATICAN CITY,(Zenit.org).- It is only in communion with Christ that Christians can offer God true worship, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope explained this today during the first general audience of 2009, in which he resumed his catechesis on St. Paul.

Speaking in a hoarsened voice after days of intense schedules during the holiday season, the Holy Father offered a lengthy explanation of the Pauline concept of "true worship," as it is explained in three passages of the Letter to the Romans.

Referring first to a reference Paul makes to a rite in the Old Testament, the Pontiff noted how the sacrifice of animals as expiation for human sins could never be sufficient.

"A more real contact between human fault and divine love was necessary," he said. "This contact has taken place with the cross of Christ. Christ, Son of God, who has become true man, has assumed in himself all our faults. He himself is the place of contact between human misery and divine mercy; in his heart, the sad multitude of evil carried out by humanity is undone, and life is renewed."

St. Paul speaks of this fundamental change in worship, explaining that "with the cross of Christ -- the supreme act of divine love, converted into human love -- the ancient worship with the sacrifice of animals in the temple of Jerusalem has ended," the Pope said. "This symbolic worship, worship of desire, has now been replaced by real worship: the love of God incarnated in Christ and taken to its fullness in the death on the cross.

"Therefore, this is not a spiritualization of the real worship, but on the contrary, this is the real worship, the true divine-human love, that replaces the symbolic and provisional worship."

Nevertheless, this spiritual worship has a prerequisite, the Bishop of Rome explained, and it is union with Christ.

"Paul," he said, "always supposes that we have come to be 'one in Christ Jesus,' that we have died in baptism and we live now with Christ, through Christ and in Christ. In this union -- and only in this way -- we can be in him and with him a 'living sacrifice,' to offer the 'true worship.'"

By taking on human nature, Christ is able to do for man what sacrificial animals could not, Benedict XVI affirmed.

"The sacrificed animals should have substituted man, the gift of self of man, and they could not," he said. "Jesus Christ, in his surrender to the Father and to us, is not a substitution, but rather really entails in himself the human being, our faults and our desires; he truly represents us, he assumes us in himself.

"In communion with Christ, accomplished in the faith and in the sacraments, we transform, despite our deficiencies, into living sacrifice: 'True worship' is fulfilled."

God's "wild fire"growing in China

Picture of a 10 foot ancient 8th century limestone "Stele [Recording] the Spread of the Religion of Light [Christianity] from Rome to China. Nestorian Christians first arrived in China in the 600's A.D. It is also known as the Hsi-an Monument, It was erected on January, 781 at the imperial capital city of Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an). The Stele reveals that the Christian church had received recognition by the Tang Emperor Dezong. Read translation of this Stele, here

God's fire has been kindled in China. It is now beginning to blaze up there. Soon, Christianity will be taken by Chinese Christian missionaries to the nearby strongholds of paganism, to confront the Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim nations with the Picture of a 10 foot ancient 8th century limestone "Stele [Recording] the Spread of the Religion of Light [Christianity] from Rome to China. Nestorian Christians first arrived in China in the 600's A.D. It is also known as the Hsi-an Monument, It was erected on January, 781 at the imperial capital city of Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an). The Stele reveals that the Christian church had received recognition by the Tang Emperor Dezong. Read translation of this Stele, here - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/781nestorian.html

God's fire has been kindled in China. It is now beginning to blaze up there. Soon, Christianity will be taken by Chinese Christian missionaries to the nearby strongholds of paganism, to confront the Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim nations with the Gospel of Jesus. Chinese Christian leaders have longed believed that God saved China for now, to begin His "end run" spread of the Gospel of Jesus, from China - all the way back to Jerusalem, where it all began. When the Chinese say "Back to Jerusalem," they're talking first of all about a geographical advance of the gospel throughout history. Some estimate that as many as 30,000 Chinese a day are becoming members of the Kingdom of God through the Gospel of Jesus, every day. Some estimate that as many as 80 million Chinese have become Christians, within their Communist nation. It hasn't been easy along the way. But strangely enough, the Chinese Christians who have come through the "fire" of Communism, are like the earliest Christians - baptized with a spirit that will never be extinguished.
Gospel of Jesus. Chinese Christian leaders have longed believed that God saved China for now, to begin His "end run" spread of the Gospel of Jesus, from China - all the way back to Jerusalem, where it all began. When the Chinese say "Back to Jerusalem," they're talking first of all about a geographical advance of the gospel throughout history. Some estimate that as many as 30,000 Chinese a day are becoming members of the Kingdom of God through the Gospel of Jesus, every day. Some estimate that as many as 80 million Chinese have become Christians, within their Communist nation. It hasn't been easy along the way. But strangely enough, the Chinese Christians who have come through the "fire" of Communism, are like the earliest Christians - baptized with a spirit that will never be extinguished.

No Communion for divorced Catholics - Pope

On visit to France, he says 'irregular unions' of remarriage outside church can't be recognized.
REUTERS NEWS AGENCY
LOURDES, FRANCE–Pope Benedict said yesterday the Roman Catholic Church could not recognize "irregular unions" of Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the church.
"Initiatives aimed at blessing irregular unions cannot be admitted," he said in an address to French bishops in the shrine city of Lourdes.
Throughout the developed world, the church has been struggling with how to administer to Catholics who have divorced and remarried without an annulment – an ecclesiastical declaration that their first union is null and void – but want to remain fully active in the church.
The church does not recognize divorce. It considers the first marriage still valid and teaches that those who divorce and remarry cannot receive communion unless they abstain from sexual relations with their new partner.
While bishops in several countries have been pushing for some opening on the difficult issue, the 81-year-old Pope said the church could not change its teachings on the indissolubility of marriage because it was instituted by Christ.
In other remarks, the Pope ordered bishops to make space for traditionalists who use the Latin mass. A papal decision last year to allow a much wider use of the old-style mass – a move that traditionalists demanded for decades but which was opposed by liberals – has met with resistance in some countries, particularly France.
"Everyone has a place in the church. Every person, without exception, should be able to feel at home and never rejected," the Pope said, referring to those who preferred the Latin mass instead of the new liturgy in modern languages introduced after the Second Vatican Council ended in 1965.
On a pilgrimage yesterday morning to the shrine where the faithful believe the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant girl 150 years ago, the Pope told a crowd love can be stronger than all the evil in the world. He said a mass for nearly 200,000 people near the sanctuary built over the spot of the apparitions.
Pilgrims flocked from dozens of countries for the Pope's three-day visit, his first to France. Many were in wheelchairs or stretchers.
When he arrived on Saturday night, Benedict prayed in the grotto where Bernadette Soubirous said the Madonna appeared and spoke to her 18 times, and he drank water from a spring that believers say has healing powers.


Pope warns against laity performing functions of priests


LARA MARLOWE in Lourdes
FRANCE: POPE BENEDICT XVI yesterday spoke out against lay people performing the functions of priests, writes Lara Marlowe in Lourdes
"Priests are a gift from God for the church," the pontiff told French bishops.
"Where their specific missions are concerned, priests cannot delegate their functions to the faithful," the pope said.
The problem of priestly vocations is especially acute in France, where one northern diocese has only one priest to serve 27 parishes. As David Rice, a former Dominican priest, wrote in this newspaper in July 2008: "In essence the lay people have taken over the local church and run it for themselves."
The pope also spoke of his concern at the deteriorating institutions of marriage and the family, which he described as "today experiencing real turbulence".
The pontiff singled out those who are divorced and remarried, saying: "The church, which cannot oppose the will of Christ, firmly maintains the principle of the indissolubility of marriage . . . Hence initiatives aimed at blessing irregular unions cannot be admitted."
On Saturday, the pope warned 260,000 worshippers in Paris to "shun the worship of idols". Our modern world has created its own idols, he said. "St Paul explains to the Colossians that insatiable greed is a form of idolatry, and he reminds his disciple Timothy that love of money is the root of all evil."
After the candledlit procession in Lourdes on Saturday night, Pope Benedict recounted how 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous "saw a light, and in this light she saw a young lady who was beautiful, more beautiful than any other . . . Lourdes is one of the places chosen by God for his beauty to be reflected with particular brightness, hence the importance here of the symbol of light."
The pope dedicated his homily yesterday to the cross. "The instrument of torture which, on Good Friday, manifested God's judgment on the world, has become a source of life, pardon, mercy, a sign of reconciliation and peace," he said.
In his autobiography, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote: "I am convinced that the crisis of the church which we are living through today was largely caused by the disintegration of the liturgy."
The pope's preference for traditional liturgy was obvious this weekend. He has replaced the 1960s silver papal pastoral staff with a gold Greek cross dating back to the mid-19th century.
He asked that communion wafers consecrated for his visit be stored in ciboriums of precious metal, not earthenware, as had become the custom.
© 2008 The Irish Times
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

A PROFOUND MESSAGE

History of the Eucharist:

Thesis: The Eucharist is a sign of Jesus' death; how He
sacrificed himself for us and how we experience Him through
His body.

History of the Eucharist:

The Eucharist is a Jewish Ritual of worship. It dates back
to the Last Supper, where Jesus celebrated a typical Jewish
community meal with His friends. Sharing a meal with
family, (very important to the Jews) also dates back to the
Passover Meal. This is called the Liturgy of the Eucharist,
and the early Christians added Jewish synagogue service and
then it became the Liturgy of the Word.

The Eucharist is a sacrament, and is also a ritual. It is a
repeated sacrament, and is the most frequently used among
all sacraments. It is "a way of remembering" and a daily
reminder if God's love. Jesus at the Last Supper shared
bread with us, and said "Do this in Memory of Me." This is
why we have bread, because it represents Jesus' body, and
how He gave Himself up for us. The first little while of
the Church, the "Mass was celebrated as a friendship meal
called agape." Christians shared brought food to the house
where they were assembled, but as the numbers increased,
the meal was cut down to bread and wine. Today, the
offertory collection echoes the early years of the spirit
giving at the Eucharist. It is living bread that came down
from heaven. Whoever believes has eternal life.

Rituals of the Eucharist:

The Eucharist, breaking of the bread, sharing the wine,
eating and gathering are the earliest form of rituals.
These rituals are a sacrifice meal. They are sacrifice
meals because they take time, and are enjoyed, so therefore
it is a meal, not a routine. The sharing of the meal is
important, and it is a time of experiencing each other.

The word Eucharist means giving thanks, and the ritual of
the Eucharist is like a "Thanksgiving every day of the
year".

Symbols of the Eucharist:

The Eucharist is a symbol of God's love for us. It
illustrates Jesus's body, and welcomes others to
participate in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is an unfilled
Celebration and receiving the Eucharist on Sunday, makes
the rest of the week more meaningful. It symbolizes the
unified body of Christ, and the church symbolizes a
community as we celebrate the presence in Christ in the
Eucharist. The bread symbolizes giving thanks, and is the
basic food for most people and is closely associated with
nature and work of human hands. Sharing the Cup represents
that drink is essential to life and both bread and wine are
symbols of Christ. It also symbolizes how we can go forty
days without water as opposed to five days without water.

Proclaiming the Word of God means that Jesus is present in
the Gospels and He comes alive for us in hearing the words
and stories of his life. We stand to welcome Christ into
our living word of God.

Vestments

The garments worn during the Eucharist at Church are either
Black, White, or Purple. These are for different times of
the year. Black symbolizes death, purple illustrates
Advent, and white portrays ordinary time.

Words, Statements, Responses

There are many different expressions used in the Mass, all
with important meanings. First, the priest prepares the
gifts, to make them Holy. We respond "Blessed it be God
forever." Another one is "Do this in Memory of Me." This
means that Jesus gave Himself up for us, and wants us to
remember what He did for us. It reenacts the closing events
of Jesus' life on earth. This is followed by the Eucharist
Prayer "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord..." then ensued by "Lord, I
am not worth to receive you, but only say the word, and I
shall be healed." This means to clean yourself of sins, and
get ready for the body of Christ.

To ask God if He welcomes you to receive the Eucharist.

Bibliography

Cook, Bernard, The Eucharist, "Mystery of Friendship".
Centre of Studies in Religious Education. Ohio, 1969.

DON'T LOOK BACK AT 'SODOM' ONCE WHAT YOU'VE DONE HAS BEEN CONFESSED, CLEARED

When we convert -- when we actively go to Jesus -- we leave worldliness. We leave transgressions.

The spiritual blinders lift.

We see "backstage" in the dynamics of life and there is no going back -- or shouldn't be.

Too often, however, a part of us remains stuck in history. Are you hung up on the past? Do you spend time hovering over what you once did (before conversion) -- past mistakes? Do you have trouble forgiving yourself (even after correcting the impulse that led to the misstep)?

If so, you need to rectify this. It's a dark cycle. You need to clear your conscience.

Like Lot fleeing Sodom, there is often the temptation for us to stop and review from whence we have come (or see what is happening there), a temptation to dwell on what we have fled. We hover over past hurts, past bad judgment, even past "disasters." This is detrimental. Like Lot, there should there be no looking back.
"As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, 'On your way! Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of Sodom,'" says the Bible [Genesis 19]. "When he hesitated, the men, by the Lord's mercy, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city. As soon as they had been brought outside, he was told: 'Flee for your life! Don't look back or stop anywhere on the Plain.'"

To dwell on the past is to drive with mirrors. It's to see things in reverse. When we look in a mirror things look like they are but are not quite as they seem. Past upsets? Hateful things? Are you still on the plain? Attach yourself to His Story, not history.

Otherwise, you become stuck. You become trapped in your past. You risk becoming a "pillar of salt." Or perhaps "ice" is the better way of saying it, since you can become "frozen" in time!

Now, it's often said that to forget history is to condemn oneself to repeat it. And there is certainly truth to that. We shouldn't forget lessons learned by past mistakes. Too, we must expiate.

But once we've done that, once we have brought each one to the Lord, we need not obsess on them. The devil is the one who wants us to do this, and as the saying goes, when the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future.

Once the motive -- the sin -- has been removed (through Confession and expiation), it should be erased. Leave behind past transgressions and relationships (especially when the tie was sin). Enjoy not sinful memories. Take anything that still hangs you up to the Eucharist and break each bond when the Host is raised. Neither be curious about the world and worldliness you left.

You are not who you were but who you are. When we look at the negative side of our personal histories, what happens? Think about it. We are tempted to relive past lusts, past waywardness, past sins. The devil buries us in guilt. We hover over what we should not have done -- endlessly. We don't forgive ourselves (even if God has). We hash over hurts and aggravations and insults that weigh and weigh on the spirit. Things that should be forgotten but have not been forgotten become little hooks that can still cling to us -- bricks in a sack on our backs. We may even luxuriate in evil.

After you have prayed to heal whomever you may have hurt (going through your own life in prayer), once you are reconciled, once you have purged, allow God to brighten your horizon. If you have corrected a fault, forget it and move on. Pray and fast to have any hurt you caused remedied and then begin healing your own spirit.

Have the angels lead you (as they lead Lot).

Jesus told us to take our ploughs and not look behind us and that's what the aim of conversion -- total conversion, which lasts a lifetime -- must be: looking forward only to the future and Him (especially eternity)! He doesn't want your life to be a broken record.

This is the quick and only sure entry into Heaven: a focus on the radiance of Jesus (not the dark of the past).

Get over it -- not under it. Don't let your past trap you. Live forward, not in reverse. Pray. Fast. Would you drive down an interstate backwards? Set your eyes on the highway to Heaven.

For when you are free of past guilt you are free to rise to Him.

[resources: The God of Miracles, Father DeGrandis books, and Freed and Healed]

Does God use sickness to teach or discipline us?

Job 1:21: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I shall depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken; May the name of the Lord be praised.
In this case, God allowed Satan himself to test a believer, through trial, tribulations and sickness, notice that Job did not do what this youth movements/prosperity teachers do. He didn't declare his own health or wealth into being but put his fate squarely in God’s hands.

He didn’t quote Isaiah 53:5: “And by his stripes we are healed.” While it is true that God can and does heal, the Bible is clear that it is not His will in every situation. Paul suffered a ‘thorn in his flesh’ which God refused to remove in order to keep Paul humble and rather than chide himself from lack of faith Paul rejoiced! II Corinthians 12:7-16. God used on illness to Paul to bring the gospel to the Galatians, Galatians 4:13 and he probably suffered from poor eyesight Galatians 6:11. Timothy was sick frequently, I Timothy 5:23, but rather than telling Timothy to ‘claim a healing’ or ‘rebuke the devil’, Paul instructed him to add wine to his diet. Paul also left Trophimus sick in Milieus, without healing him, II Timothy 4:20.

Some sicknesses are from God. “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf or serving or blind? Is it not I the Lord? Exodus 4:11. God made the disable and infirm. Some have illnesses that last for years. While it is unexplainable according to our human logic, it is all port of God’s sovereign plain.
Some sicknesses are from Satan, Luke 13:11-13, God may allow Satan to inflict illnesses for his own sovereign purposes, Job chapter 1.

Some sickness are God.Chastisement for sin, Numbers 12, Deuteronomy 28:20-22, 2 Kings 5. “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep the word” Psalms 119:67.
Other examples includes God trouncing the Egyptians with skin boils, Exodus 9:8-12, inflicting King Jeroboam with leprosy II King 15:5, and striking Saul with blindness, Acts 9:1-9. Further in Acts 5 Ananias and Sapplima were judged by God for lying to the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t Satan that killed them. In Psalm 119:75: “In your faithfulness you have afflicted me”. David altitudes his affliction to God’s hand not the devil’s.

The Bibles also tells us plainly that God disciplines the church through sickness, hardship and even death. I Corinthians 11:28-30, Hebrew 12:7; Acts 5:1-11 and that we should joyfully accept trials of many kinds because God uses them to make us matinee, James 1:2-4; Psalm 119:71,75, clearly God allows sicknesses for his own sovereign purposes.
Joyfulness in trials? Not according to prosperity teachers. They say we should disdain trials as a sign of lack of faith. The truth of the matter is that God does allow testing, discipline and trials-which includes among other things sickness. To test and build up our faith.

Sometimes He even brings people to salvation through sickness, as in the case of Paul, Galatians 4:13,14. Apparently they haven't read the word of God in full. This is because what they are teaching is unbiblical, unsenptural, heretical and downright the doctrine of demons.

Thulani Nkhambule
MPAKA (http://www.times.co.sz/index.php?news=9014)

Teaching on False Prophets

Who are the false Prophets?
Beware of Profiteering Preachers.

Those seducers who under an appearance of virtue and honesty lure innocent, simple souls from the right path, and lead them to vice and shame; who by
sweet words, such as: "God , is full of love, and will not be severe on sin, He does not require so very much of us, He knows we are weak, and if a
person sins, he can be converted," seek to steal from souls all modesty and fear, of God. Guard against such hypocrites, for they have the poison of
vipers on their tongues. By the false prophets are also understood those who propagate error, who by superficial words fade the true faith, who speak
always of love and liberty, and who under the pretence of making people free and happy bring many a soul to doubt and error, depriving it of true faith
and peace of heart.


How can we know the false prophets?

By their works; for evil, corrupted men can produce only bad fruit. If we look into their life we will find that at heart they are immoral hypocrites
who observe external propriety only that they may the more easily spread their poison. The false teachers and messengers of error may be known by
their lives, but especially by their intentions, Which are to subvert all divine order, and to put the unrestrained lust of the flesh and tyranny in its place.


Who else are understood by the false prophets?

Those who under pretence of making men happy and rich, induce the credulous to make use of superstition, of wicked arts, deceit, and injustice;
especially those who under he deceiving appearance of liberty and equality, independence and public good, incite them to open or secret revolt against
civil and ecclesiastical authority.

Be not deceived by these so-called public benefactors who look always to their own advantage, but trust in God, support yourself honestly, live like
a Christian, and you will find true liberty and happiness here and hereafter.

Why does Christ say: "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire?"
He warns us that faith without good works is not sufficient for salvation; and he therefore adds; Not every one that saith: Lord, Lord (who outwardly
professes himself my servant, but is not really such) shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who, (by the fulfillment of the duties of his state
of life and by the practice of good works), does the will of my Father, merits heaven. Strive then, Christian soul, to fulfil God's will in all
things, perform your daily duties with a good intention, and you will certainly obtain the kingdom of heaven.

Eucharist!

You can go on 'rebelling' against the STATED wishes of the Lord if you like. Me, I just turn my back to this "Jesus really didn't mean what He said nonsense." If you go on teaching against His wishes--I pray the Lord has pity on you for derailing young Christian souls. There is nothing symbolic about it. Jesus was adamant and He even repeated it twice. Even after his Apostles "grumbled" over this hard saying (must eat His body & drink His blood)--He stuck to it. The first Eucharist which took place at the Last Supper established the New Covenant. "Do this in remembrance of me" was the stated wish of our Lord. There is nothing symbolic to it. In carrying out Christ's commandment, being fully conscious of the great significance of the Eucharist, the Apostles performed that Mystery. It was the gift of the Eucharist that united and equalized ALL the early Christians -- be they lords, slaves, rich or poor, man or female, or child. 

 The word 'Eucharist' means to give thanks. It was Jesus Himself who designed and deliberately instituted this sacred rite (mystical partaking of His Body & Blood really) that was to be practiced by the Christian community "till He comes again." The Good thief is a good example of being saved based on ones Faith in Jesus and a good example of our sweet Lord's unfathomable good graces. It is also an example of the Lord's absolute authority --just as is the fact that the Lord forgave sins in His own name. This has absolutely nothing to do with Christ's desire that Christians celebrate Him via the bread and wine communion "of saints". Paul and Jesus both told us that the bread and wine really become the actual body and blood of Jesus, by the miracle of God's grace. ALL the early church fathers--some who walked and talked and listened to the Apostles preach also told us that the Eucharist is really the Body of Christ in a mystical way. It's a Gift of God. In 1 Corinthians 10:21 St. Paul contrasts the "table of the Lord" (trapeza Kyriou) on which the Eucharist is offered, with the "table of devils", or pagan altars. "Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." The Early Christians actually took the Real Presence for granted. It doesn't even seem as if there was much debate. You will not find anyone who denied the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament before the year 500 A.D. 

Read some of these: here None of this language (hard saying) is symbolic! Jesus meant what He said. Just as He meant it when He said we must be baptised. The Apostle Paul in explaining this, speaks directly and also NOT symbolically also! Paul was warning us that if we eat the Lord's Body and drink the Lord's blood unworthy; "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." There is nothing metaphoric or symbolic about Paul's statement here either. It's a warning as clear as can be. 1 Corinthians 11:27-29. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 

Below from "The Martyr’s Cup" at Touchstone Magazine: In the first generation of Christians it was easy to spot a Christian. There were several unmistakable signs. St. Luke tells us that the first Christians, one and all, “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communion ( koinonia), to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42). One phrase especially—the breaking of the bread—recurs in many of the scraps we have from those first centuries, and it always refers to the Eucharistic Liturgy, the Lord’s Supper. Our first Christian ancestors devoted themselves to the Eucharist, and that is perhaps the most important way they showed themselves to be Christians. No Christian practice is so well attested from those early years. No doctrine is so systematically worked out as the doctrine of the Eucharist. It was when they gathered for the Eucharist that all this—their common life, their charity, their fidelity to the teaching of the apostles—happened most clearly, directly, intensely. They experienced fellowship with each other and together heard the apostles’ teaching, and they broke the bread in the accustomed way, as they said the customary prayers. So it was in the newborn Church. The Church took its identity from its unity in belief and charity, which was sustained by the Eucharist. Well, what has Jesus done in the Eucharist? He has given himself to us, and he has held nothing back. He gives us his body, blood, soul, and divinity. He gives himself to us as food. And that is love: the total gift of self. That is the very love the martyrs wanted to emulate. Jesus had given himself entirely for them. They wanted to give themselves entirely for him—everything they had, holding nothing back. If Jesus would become bread for them, they would allow the lions to make them finest wheat for Jesus. The Eucharist helps you get as close as possible to Jesus: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you" John 14:27 "The nearer to Jesus, the nearer to the perfect calm of heaven; and the further from Jesus, the nearer to that troubled sea which tosses with the continual unrest of the wicked. There is no peace to the man or woman who doth not dwell constantly under the shadow of the cross; for Jesus is our peace, and if he be absent, our peace is absent too." 

 HOW 2nd-3rd GENERATION CHRISTIANS VIEWED THE EUCHARIST: Justin Martyr was born at Flavia Neapolis (near today's Nablus, Israel) in about A.D. 100. He converted to Christianity about A.D. 130. Justin taught and defended the Christian religion in Asia Minor and at Rome, where he suffered martyrdom about the year 165. JUSTIN MARTYR TELLS US ABOUT THE EUCHARIST IN HIS 1st APOLOGETIC WRITING: THE EUCHARIST — After baptism and the offering of prayer, the bread and wine mixed with water are brought to the president. He again offers prayers and thanksgivings, and the deacons give to those present bread, and wine mixed with water, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion (I. Apol., c. 65). But the bread and wine are not received as common bread and common drink, but ‘as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and by which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh’ (I. Apol., C. 66). 

 THE HOLY EARLY CHRISTIAN MARTYRS LONGED TO TAKE COMMUNION (The Body & Blood of Christ): So convinced was the early Christian community of the essential value of Holy Communion for their life and faith that the records are filled with its practice in Christian martyrdom. At one time in early church history the Christians were forced with the decision to say either, "I confess," or else to apostatize (abandon their religious faith). For the Christian "Confessors" who awaited execution in the imperial prisons, the Church Fathers took it for granted that Holy Communion must be smuggled in and practiced insofar as possible. Christian bishop Cyprian (of Carthage) arranged such a service for the elder Lucian. As Lucian was lying with his legs wrenched wide apart in the stocks of the prison at Antioch, he celebrated Holy Communion for the last time as best he could. He celebrated the Body & Blood of Jesus Christ with his condemned companions lying equally helpless in the dark around him. This was during the Sixth Persecution, Under Maximus - around 235 A.D. During this persecution, by the Roman Emperor Maximinus, numberless Christians were slain without trial, and buried indiscriminately in heaps, sometimes fifty or sixty being cast into a pit together, without the least decency. artist depiction Early Church martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas (Felicity) Perpetua was beheaded after being mauled by wild beasts while defending her belief in Christ. Read the real prison diary of an extraordinary young woman martyred in Carthage (North Africa) On the evening of March 6, A.D. 203, at a prison in Carthage, the martyrs of the next day, Perpetua and Felicitas, and their companions, were given a free meal by the authorities. This meal they converted as far as possible into an Agape [love-feast]. Holy Communion was the first consideration of the Christian and the Church in times of persecution and imprisonment. To the early Christians, Holy Communion was more precious than their lives. Holy Communion was their ultimate concern because their hope of eternal life was in remembrance of Him who loved them and gave Himself for them . . . . 

 Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, wrote: "At first they drove us out, and alone we kept our festival [Communion] at that time also, persecuted and put to death by all; and every single spot where we were afflicted became to us a place of assembly for the feast [Communion] - field, desert, ship, inn, prison; but the brightest of all festivals was kept by the perfect martyrs, when they feasted in heaven." Just to read these accounts makes one ashamed of our apathy toward the passion of Christ in the celebration of Holy Communion. The Christian who is indifferent to the practice of Holy Communion in complacent twentieth-first century churchism has no place beside the first-century Christians. Just perhaps these 'rebels' against Christ's stated wishes have no place in the Church, nor in the Kingdom of God either! Worse are those who teach against the Holy Eucharist, something first century Christians would think of as blasphemy. 

 Read more about this extraordinary true story of courage & faith here Collateral sources on the importance of the Eucharist and against your type of heretical teaching: Ignatius of Antioch (also known as Theophorus) (was the third Bishop or Patriarch of Antioch and probably a student of Apostle John. Ignatius was Bishop of Antioch after Saint Peter and Evodius, who died around AD 68. Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica, II.iii.22) records that Ignatius succeeded Evodius. Making his apostolic succession even more immediate, Theodoret (Dial. Immutab., I, iv, 33a) reported that Peter himself appointed Ignatius to the see of Antioch. Early in the second century (perhaps around 107 Ad, during the reign of the Emperor Trajan), Ignatius was arrested by the Imperial authorities, condemned to death, and transported to Rome to die in the arena. By thus dealing with a leader, the rulers hoped to terrify the rank and file. Instead, Ignatius took the opportunity to encourage them, speaking to groups of Christians at every town along the way. When the prison escort reached the west coast of Asia Minor, it halted before taking ship, and delegations from several Asian churches were able to visit Ignatius, to speak with him at length, to assist him with items for his journey, and to bid him an affectionate farewell and commend him to the grace of God. In response he wrote seven letters that have been preserved: five to congregations that had greeted him, en masse or by delegates (Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Philadelphians, and Smyrnaeans), one to the congregation that would greet him at his destination (Romans), and one to Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna and disciple of the Apostle John. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, Chapter 6, 110 A.D.: Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God ... They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes. 

 Justin Martyr, Apology, I.66-67, 2nd century: Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ It is allowed to no one else to participate in that food which we call Eucharist except the one who believes that the things taught by us are true, who has been cleansed in the washing unto rebirth and the forgiveness of sins and who is living according to the way Christ handed on to us. For we do not take these things as ordinary bread or ordinary drink. Just as our Savior Jesus Christ was made flesh by the word of God and took on flesh and blood for our salvation, so also were we taught that the food, for which thanksgiving has been made through the word of prayer instituted by him, and from which our blood and flesh are nourished after the change, is the flesh of that Jesus who was made flesh. Indeed, the Apostles, in the records left by them which are called gospels, handed on that it was commanded to them in this manner: Jesus, having taken bread and given thanks said, ``Do this in memory of me, this is my body.'' Likewise, having taken the cup and given thanks, he said, ``This is my blood'', and he gave it to them alone. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, [5,2,2] 180 A.D.: If the body be not saved, then in fact, neither did the Lord redeem us with His Blood; and neither is the cup of the Eucharist the partaking of His Blood nor is the Bread which we break the partaking of His Body . . . He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be His own Blood, from which He causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, He has established as His own Body, from which He gives increase to our bodies. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 180 A.D., 4,17,5: Again, giving counsel to His disciples to offer to God the first-fruits from among His creatures, not as if He needed them, but so that they themselves might be neither unfruitful nor ungrateful, He took from among creation that which is bread, and gave thanks, saying, ``This is My Body.'' The cup likewise, which is from among the creation to which we belong, He confessed to be His Blood. He taught the the new sacrifice of the New Covenant, of which Malachi, one of the twelve prophets, had signified beforehand: ```You do not do my will,' says the Lord Almighty, `and I will not accept a sacrifice at your hands. For from the rising of the sun to its setting My name is glorified among the gentiles, and in every place incense is offer to My name, and a pure sacrifice; for great is My name among the gentiles,' says the Lord Almighty.'' (Mal 1:11). By these words He makes it plain that the former people will cease to make offerings to God; but that in every place sacrifice will be offered to Him, and indeed, a pure one; for His name is glorified among the gentiles.'' 

 Tertullian's The Resurrection of the Dead [8,2] A.D. 208-212: The flesh, then, is washed, so that the soul may be made clean. The flesh is anointed, so that the soul may be dedicated to holiness. The flesh is signed, so that the soul too may be fortified. The flesh is shaded with the imposition of hands, so that the soul too may be illuminated by the Spirit. The flesh feeds on the Body and Blood of Christ, so that the soul too may fatten on God. They cannot, then, be separated in their reward, when they are united in their works. 

 Tertullian [ca. 200/206 AD] in his treaties on Prayer [6,2], quotes John 6 in connection with a spiritual understanding of the Lord's prayer "give us this day our daily bread." In a spiritual sense Christ is our daily Bread, presumably because of the practice of the daily reception of the Eucharist. Later in that same treatise [19,1] he writes; Likewise, regard to days of fast, many do not think they should be present at the sacrificial prayers, because their fast would be broken if they were to receive the Body of the Lord. Does the Eucharist, then, obviate a work devoted to God, or does it bind it more to god? Will not your fast be more solemn if, in addition, you have stood at God's altar? The body of the Lord having been received and reserved, each point is secured: both the participation in the sacrifice and the discharge of duty. 

 The Didache or "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" is a manuscript which was used by 2nd century bishops and priests for the instruction of catechumens. Many early Christian writers have referenced it making this document relatively easy to date. "Let no one eat and drink of your Eucharist but those baptized in the name of the Lord; to this, too the saying of the Lord is applicable: 'Do not give to dogs what is sacred'". That the early church under the direct guidance of the inspired apostles observed the Lord's Supper on the first day of every week is the testimony of all biblical scholars and church historians of every denomination. Mosheim, in his celebrated Ecclesiastical History, volume 1, Pages 46 and 85 says: "The first of all the Christian churches founded by the apostles was that at Jerusalem; and after the form and model of this all the others of that age were constituted. That church, however, was governed immediately by the apostles, to whom the presbyters (or elders) and the deacons, or overseers of the poor, were subject. Though the people had not withdrawn themselves from the Jewish worship, yet they held their separate meetings, in which they were instructed by the apostles and presbyters (or elders), offered up their united prayers, celebrated the sacred supper, the memorial of Jesus Christ, and the salvation he procured . . . . The Christians of this century assembled for the worship of God and for their advancement in piety on the first day of the week, the day on which Christ reassumed life; for that this day was set apart for religious worship by the apostles themselves, and that after the example of the Church at Jerusalem, it was generally observed we have unexceptional testimony." For the first three centuries, then, the church observed the Lord's Supper each first day of the week. Testimony to this fact comes from Justin Martyr, one of the earliest church fathers. To those who were sick and unable to attend the assembly, the communion was carried to their homes. It was not till the fourth century that the church became careless and began to lose her first love. John 6:53-57: Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

Tithing

Question: "What does the Bible say about Christian tithing?” Is it mandatory?
The first thing we as Christians need to understand is that the Lord Jesus released us from the "letter of the Law", which no man or woman could possibly have kept entirely. No Jew could fully keep the Old Laws. If they broke even one they were worse off in the world of "damnation" then before. Christ freed us from the shackles of this Old Testament Law. A Christian has complete freedom in Jesus; because of what Jesus did.

2 Corinthians 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Tithing is an issue that many Christians struggle with. In many churches tithing is over-emphasized. At the same time, many Christians refuse to submit to the Biblical exhortation in regards to making offerings to the Lord.

Tithing or giving is intended to be a joy, or a blessing.

We know we are not saved by "works" and gifts such as "tithing"!

Scripture is adamant that you can never buy your way to heaven this way. We are only saved by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And, we can't get to first base to receive this grace without Faith. We are therefore justified by Faith alone. We need a relationship with the Lord Jesus our Savior.
Speak to Him constantly from your heart to His.

A person who is "in the ball game" will exhibit fruits of the Holy Spirit which most likely will include giving to the poor and helping others. If they are not financially capable of giving they will help other in other ways. Perhaps they'll help others with their time or with their caring...

Tithing is an Old Testament concept. The tithe was a requirement of the law in which all Israelites were give 10% of everything they earned and grew to the Tabernacle / Temple (Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:26; Deuteronomy 14:24; 2 Chronicles 31:5). Some understand the Old Testament tithe as a method of taxation to provide for the needs of the priests and Levites of the sacrificial system.

Nowhere in the New Testament is there either a command or recommendation that Christians submit to a legalistic tithing system, or even a mandatory day of worship (like Saturday) for that matter.

Paul states that believers should set aside a portion of their income in order to support the church (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).

1 Corinthians 16:1-2
1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

The New Testament nowhere assigns a certain percentage of income to set aside, but only says it is to be “in keeping with his income” (1 Corinthians 16:2). The Christian church has essentially taken the 10% figure from the Old Testament tithe and applied it as a “recommended minimum” for Christians in their giving. Although the New Testament does not identify a specific amount or percentage to give, it does talk about the importance and benefits of giving. They should give as they are able, in keeping with his income, or as Paul says; "as God hath prospered him". Sometimes that means giving more than a tithe, sometime that may mean giving less than a tithe. It all depends on the ability of the Christian and the needs of the church. Each and every Christian should diligently pray and seek God’s wisdom as to whether to participate in tithing and/or for how much he or she should give (James 1:5). “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

2 Corinthians 9 6-7:

6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

A Ladder with Missing Steps: From Struggle to Blessing: Gerard’s Journey

From Struggle to Blessing: Gerard’s Journey
By Calvin, 1997

When I first met Gerard, life had not been kind to him. A failed business had left him struggling to make ends meet, and providing for his children often meant skipping meals or going without new clothes or shoes. The old Ford Cortina he drove seemed to have a personality of its own, constantly needing repairs. Sometimes he would attend prayer meetings on an empty stomach, partly fasting, partly saving what little money he had.

Gerard once shared with me something deeply humbling: when he prayed in church, he avoided kneeling because he was ashamed for anyone to see the worn soles of his shoes. He had only one pair—the shoes he wore on his wedding day, now five years old. His prayer was simple and heartfelt: God, please bless me with a new pair of shoes.

As he grew closer to our congregation, Gerard confided in our pastor about his struggles. One day, during a prayer session, the pastor shared a vision: he saw Gerard climbing a ladder, but some steps were missing. The pastor interpreted it as a message—Gerard had to discover what those missing steps were.

A few weeks later, the Sacred Heart Cathedral hosted a charismatic revival gathering, attracting delegates from around the world. It was here that Gerard was to meet a man who would reveal the missing steps.

Gerard recounted the encounter:

"One of my best friends, John Pelly, drove me to the convention. After the meeting, John arranged supper with some delegates. We split into two groups, and in our car rode a Pakistani man named Anwar, a youth leader from a charismatic group in Pakistan. I had never met him and had no expectations.

At the coffee shop, Anwar repeatedly told me, 'God has a message for you. I ignored him at first, thinking it impossible, but later, at Simon Ray’s house, he sat beside me and shared the word from God. He revealed the missing steps of the ladder: 'You have to die to your own desires—to self—and walk behind Jesus. 'I finally understood."

That moment marked a turning point in Gerard’s life. Over the next five years, I watched a remarkable transformation unfold. The man who once struggled for basic necessities could now provide abundantly for his family. They went on vacations, traveled to other cities, and bought toys, a new car, and even a truck for his business. Gerard engaged in sports, recreation, social clubs, and learning new skills like computer and internet use. He organized bicycle races and flourished personally, professionally, and spiritually.

Gerard himself testifies: God blessed my life. Through faith, perseverance, and guidance, he discovered the missing steps that led him from struggle to abundance, and he continues to give all glory to Jesus Christ for the remarkable transformation.

10 Most Important Things

LOVE: The special Feeling that makes you feel all warm and wonderful.

RESPECT: Treating others as well as you would like to be treated.

APPRECIATION: To be grateful for all the good things life has to offer.

HAPPINESS: The full enjoyment of each moment. A smiling face.

FORGIVENESS: The ability to let things be without anger.

SHARING: The joy of giving without thought of receiving.

HONESTY: The quality of always telling the truth.

INTEGRITY: The purity of doing what's right, no matter what.

COMPASSION: The essence of feeling another's pain, while easing their hurt.

PEACE: The reward for living the 10 most important things.

Peter Sondakh - "The key to success is to keep yourself humble and to continue to improve yourself."

It's the last week of a stay at his Beverly Hills vacation manse before billionaire Peter Sondakh returns home to Jakarta. Rather than loll by a pool or play golf, he pays a George Washington University psychology professor a hefty sum to come into his gated home and assess his strengths and weaknesses. After ten hours and countless cigarettes, Sondakh has laid bare his background, values and experiences. The professor then interviews Sondakh's petite and elegant wife, Eve.

Later he will send detailed questionnaires to 20 of Sondakh's 29,000 employees, and within six months Sondakh will have the results of his assessment.

"I did this because I want to improve myself," says Sondakh, 57. "I want to know what's wrong with me. Unless you know your weaknesses, how can you improve?"

In this exclusive neighborhood in Beverly Hills known for housing the most powerful celebrities and executives, including Denzel Washington and Rod Stewart, Sondakh is perhaps one of the least recognized faces. Yet his $1 billion fortune probably makes him the richest.

Sondakh's Rajawali Group owns a stake in two publicly traded companies, including 25% of Indonesia's largest cementmaker, Semen Gresik, and 56% of the international cigarette producer and distributor PT Bentoel International. The sprawling conglomerate also owns eight high-end hotels and resorts and manages Indonesia's second-largest taxi operator, whose business model was made into a case study for developing countries by the United Nations. Among its key innovations, Rajawali's Express Taxi is credited with creating an ownership scheme where poor taxi drivers have access to credit so they can eventually own their taxis.

Sondakh's quest for learning from weaknesses has helped him not only survive the current economic crisis but also build his fortune. "The first rule in life is to know what you do not know; never assume," says Sondakh. "Get professional help. If you don't know, ask."

Sondakh considers himself a spiritual man, saying that "divine intervention" plays a significant role in his accomplishments. He reads the Bible each morning at his office before focusing on the three computer screens that face him. Inside his office he is surrounded by paintings, busts and statues of eagles. (Rajawali, the name his father originally gave his company, is the Indonesian word for eagle.) Most are gifts he received from foreign visitors. One sharp-edged eagle by his desk is made entirely out of discarded Coca-Cola cans that kids collected from the street. Sondakh paid $200 for the kids' art, part of a charity project.

Sondakh's father started a business producing coconut oil and exporting timber in 1954. When Sondakh dropped out of dentistry school in 1971 to join his father's business, it was against his dad's wishes. His father grudgingly put him to work collecting timber in his fields. Eventually, with his father's money and some of his own savings, Sondakh started building low-income housing for the poor. The venture flopped, but it served as Sondakh's introduction to property management and taught him the importance of knowing his target market.

In 1975 his father died of a heart attack at age 64. Only 22, it was up to Sondakh to take care of his mother and four sisters. Sondakh immediately took over the company, inheriting 20 employees, whom he called "uncle" because of the age differences.

Sondakh's father, who had always dreamed of opening a hotel, had been in the process of building one with several partners in Surabaya, where Rajawali was headquartered. So Sondakh and his father's well-connected friends partnered with Hyatt to build the hotel, which was completed in 1977.

From that point on Sondakh focused on managing the hotel and making new property deals, for the most part in Singapore. But in 1982, when Singapore experienced a property crash, he lost much of his money. To avoid bankruptcy, he sold his share of the hotel to Hyatt. "That's when I realized I can't rely on property," said Sondakh. "That's when I learned about diversification."

So in 1984 Sondakh started the Rajawali Group, expanding his father's old business. He developed a tourism company and started a joint venture with an opportune partner: Bambang Trihatmodjo, the second son of Indonesia's notoriously brutal and corrupt dictator, President Suharto. "They called me because they needed a partner who knows about property," says Sondakh. "People associate me with the family, but they're wrong. We did a joint venture--so what am I, part of their clan?"

Regardless of the extent of his relationship to the family, the partnership had its advantages. In 1986 the duo, with other partners, opened the Grand Hyatt in Jakarta. Three years later, with Suharto's permission, they partnered again to build Indonesia's first privately owned television network, Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (RCTI). The partnership ended in 2002, however, when a dispute among the partners made Sondakh decide to sell his stake in the network.

All the while Sondakh kept building up other branches of his business. In 1989 he founded Bank Pos in a separate partnership. Two years later he gained international recognition when the government asked Rajawali to take over the cigarette manufacturer PT Bentoel Group. Originally founded by a Chinese immigrant in the 1930s as a family enterprise, Bentoel had just shocked investors by revealing $700 million in debts divided among Indonesian and foreign bankers and a negative net worth of $350 million.

The Rajawali Group stepped in, attempting to restore foreigners' confidence in the Indonesian market. Sondakh replaced senior management, hired 65 accountants and retired Philip Morris employees and consulted with kpmg Australia. By 1999 the company was posting modest profits, and a year later it became a publicly listed company. Today Bentoel boasts a market capitalization of $280 million.

The ride wasn't easy, though, especially when the Asian financial crisis battered Indonesia's economy in 1997. Rajawali, weighed down by debt, took a significant blow, along with some of Indonesia's largest conglomerates. With over $105 million in debt, Sondakh was forced to unload 30% of his businesses and assets, including Bank Pos, which eventually merged with Bank Danamon Indonesia.

Rajawali overpaid its equity, says Sondakh, so the government later returned less than 1% of Bank Danamon as compensation. Sondakh keeps this in mind as the lesson of the Asian financial crisis: Always have cash reserves.

One of the businesses that Sondakh chose to save during the crisis was his budding telecom, PT Excelcomindo Pratama (XL), which he'd bought in 1993. In the mid-1990s, Rajawali invested heavily in XL's infrastructure and billing system, making customers pay up front rather than billing them. XL eventually became a pioneer in the realm of prepaid cellular phone cards and became a publicly traded company in 2002.
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In 2005 XL's shares hit a historical high of $0.27. As competition in the industry intensified, Sondakh felt that he would need to invest heavily in technology and infrastructure to stay competitive. Instead Sondakh decided it was time to say good-bye. That's when he sold an initial chunk of his stake for $314 million. "Never get emotional with business; if you think you've maximized your profit, it's time to get out," says Sondakh. "The most difficult thing in life is selling--the easiest thing is buying.

Two years later, in what turned out to be remarkable timing, Sondakh sold his remaining 16% stake in XL to United Arab Emirates mobile operator Etisalat, pocketing an additional profit of $438 million. Since the deal took place, the telecom's stock took a 49% plunge (not including the declining Rupiah), closing at $0.09 on Feb. 13.

The cash came at an opportune time. The cementmaker Semen Gresik, which the Rajawali Group bought from Cemex for $337 million in 2006, is today worth $450 million, the bulk of Sondakh's fortune. But with commodity prices and home-building supplies in free fall, the stock has plunged 40% since reaching an alltime high in November 2007. Sondakh says he doesn't worry when it comes to building supplies or commodities, that the prices for them will eventually rebound.

Today he is sitting on a pile of cash reserves of more than $400 million, with the ability to buy up some of the bargain-priced assets. He is wary of "bottom fishing," but this is not to say he hasn't been fishing. He sees a bright future in Indonesia's natural resources industries. The group is building palm oil plantations in South and East Kalimantan. He is bound by a nondisclosure agreement but says Rajawali will probably make a tender offer for a foreign mining company sometime in 2009.

Sondakh is also a believer in Indonesia's tourism industry, which last year generated $7.5 billion and has been growing in the double digits in the past few years, according to Indonesia's Ministry of Culture & Tourism. The Rajawali Group has been expanding its reach in high-end hotels, such as the elite Starwood resort in Bali that just opened in September and charges between $800 and $900 a night.

What about the psychological dissection he submitted himself to? The results of the analysis have yet to come back, but the psychology professor has suggested that Sondakh write a book about his experiences.

Rather than becoming an author, Sondakh prefers to live among the famous faces in anonymity. "What I'm most of afraid of in life is pride," he says. "The key is to keep yourself humble and to continue to improve yourself."

Taiwanese business tycoon Wang Yung-ching: “Do useful things, speak useful words”.

Every year since CommonWealth Magazine launched its Most Admired Company Survey in 1994, Wang ranked high among Taiwan's Top Ten Most Admired Entrepreneurs, enjoying high esteem among industry peers and experts across the board, in the service, financial and manufacturing sectors alike. "No matter whether you were poor as a church mouse or came from a wealthy family, no matter whether you had a grade school education or held a PhD, everyone could learn something from him," notes Wang Chung-ping, head of human resources at BES Engineering Corporation, in explaining why people were fascinated by the Formosa Plastics Group founder.

Mastering His Own Destiny, Never Blaming Others

Wang was born in 1917 into a poor farmer's family in the Jhitan area of Sindian, in Taipei County. It took him three hours every day to walk to school and back home. Before leaving for school in the morning, he was required to fetch enough water for his family to use for the day. After returning home he had to help feed the pigs. Hit by poverty and disease, Wang's father even once considered hanging himself out of desperation.

At the age of 15, Wang left his hometown and went to Jiayi in the south to work in a rice store. The following year he opened his own small rice store with NT$200 that his father had raised from friends and neighbors. While the Japanese-owned rice store next door closed at 6 p.m., Wang kept his store open until 10:30. While his Japanese neighbors indulged in hot baths, Wang, covered in rice chaff and bran from head to toe after a day's work, took only cold showers even in windy cold winter nights. But this allowed Wang to save three Japanese sen a day (long out of circulation, a sen was worth one-hundredth of a yen), and as he once revealed in a speech at the Wharton School of Business, those three sen would buy him three pecks of rice.

When he was 38 Wang founded the Formosa Plastics Corporation starting with a daily output of four tons of PVC powder, which was delivered to customers by ox cart. Half a century later Wang's plastics business had grown into the world's third largest petrochemical conglomerate with an annual turnover of NT$2 trillion and almost NT$3 trillion in assets, easily surpassing established industry giants in Europe and North America. The two largest U.S. chemical makers, Dow Chemical and DuPont, view Formosa Plastics as a fierce rival and have even pulled out of petrochemicals altogether.

The Formosa Plastics factory in Kaohsiung City's Cianjhen District has preserved Wang's old office up to today. In front of it stands a large banyan tree that Wang used to illustrate his business philosophy. Pointing out that tree, Wang would often admonish employees that the Formosa Plastics spirit was to get to the root of the issue. He used to say that once a tree blossoms and bears fruit, people notice the lush foliage and lovely fruit, but ignore its most important part, the roots. Therefore, he argued, a business must be grown from its roots. The entrepreneur also used the banyan's intricate prop root system to explain how all problems are intertwined.

Wang would not allow this small house from the Japanese era to be remodeled or sold. Wedged between high-rise office buildings, it quietly witnesses our changing times.

During his long life Wang took control of his destiny, racing against time in the hope of completing a never-ending mission within a finite span of life.

In favorable circumstances Wang spared no effort to expand his business. When facing adversity he steered around the obstacles and moved forward again. And he would never cast blame elsewhere for his problems. During the martial law period, Taiwan's government did not want Wang to expand his business, and after the island became a democracy, he ran into resistance from the environmental protection movement. He was like a general denied the chance to battle.

In the 1980s he resolutely decided to invest in the United States. But since no one was willing to sell him a factory, Wang decided to build his own – not just any plant, but the largest ethylene factory in the entire country. Today, the huge pipes of the petrochemical complex in Point Comfort, Texas, whose output almost equals that of the Formosa Plastics Group's Sixth Naphtha Cracker Project in central Taiwan, sparkle golden under the Texan sun. The Group's three major petrochemical complexes in Texas, in Ningbo in China's Zhejiang Province, and in central Taiwan complement each other, mutually exchanging experiences, talent and goods.

Thriving on Adversity

It was not money that Wang fussed about most, but time.

Having interviewed Wang many times over the past three decades, I learned to read the habits of this influential business leader. Once Wang had settled into his seat at the outset of an interview, his secretary would bring him a cup of water. If he developed an interest in the interviewer's questions, he would ring the bell for his secretary and bark, "Coffee," a clear sign that he was ready to spend time on a longer conversation. If he didn't call for a cup of coffee, the interviewer had better excuse himself or herself as soon as possible. But even if he had begun drinking coffee, he could get impatient during an interview and suddenly get up and leave.

Whoever came to see him needed to be well prepared and take care not to waste even a second of his precious time. Usually grandiose entrepreneurs and politicians would become timid and cautious in front of Wang's office, like grade school students summoned by the principal.

Controlling one's destiny means being completely autonomous. Therefore, Formosa Plastics very rarely formed joint ventures with other companies. At most, the conglomerate bought technology, paying patent royalties while researching technological improvements on its own, thus bolstering its technological prowess.

Even though Forbes magazine estimated that Wang's personal fortune was worth US$2.8 billion, he firmly believed that the strong should help the weak and the rich should aid the poor. When it came to charity, he was also convinced that people should be helped to help themselves, and that those who obtain help must be able to control their own destiny.

In the late 1980s, for instance, helping child prostitutes escape their predicament became a social issue. At the time, indigenous or socially disadvantaged teenage girls were often tricked or forced into prostitution. Civic groups began to stage rallies and demonstrations to draw attention to the problem and founded support groups.

But Wang thought that prevention was better than trying to fix things after the fact. So he founded a five-year nursing course in 1995 for students from indigenous groups at the Chang Gung Institute of Nursing, which is funded by the Formosa Plastics Group. The students do not need to pay tuition, room or board and are even granted a living allowance.

After graduating from the institute, the students have gained special skills that improve their chances of earning a living without having to resort to prostitution. They even have the opportunity to become nurses at one of the Chang Geng Memorial Hospital branches. Wang also met personally with the students every year to help solve their problems.

God or Common Man?

People liked to call Wang "the God of Business Management." Attaining such celestial prestige seems to be a mission impossible for ordinary people. Yet a closer analysis shows that Wang combined various leadership traits in himself. Everyone can learn something from him.

He had foresight. In the 1980s he became the first Taiwanese entrepreneur to massively invest in the United States. An antique English map of the world hangs on the wall right opposite Wang's desk at his old office at the Formosa Plastics factory in Cianjhen, underscoring that even back then, his ambitions did not stop at Taiwan's shores.

He practiced what he preached. Wang liked to admonish his subordinates and family members to "work hard, be down-to-earth," principles that he personally implemented rigorously in all spheres of his life. When Wang drank coffee, he would dip his little cream container into his coffee to make sure he had used the last drop. He would stick soap leftovers onto new soap bars to use them up completely. And he would even consider a NT$120 necktie expensive.

He demanded discipline from his employees, but even more discipline from himself. For more than three decades he got up at 3:30 in the morning and did exercises. At the annual shareholder meetings he would show up ahead of all other Formosa Plastics executives to greet shareholders. In a five-minute address at a Formosa Plastics Group sports festival, he spoke for four minutes about the virtue Chinese people ought to cherish most – working hard without complaint.

Forty years ago, when even American management gurus had not yet invented the term "corporate culture," Wang was already busy establishing a distinct Formosa Plastics culture. Wang would personally train and lecture every newcomer to the company. Formosa Plastics Corp. chairman Lee Chih-tsuen still remembers that after joining the company, he had to work on Saturdays until 9 p.m. Then he would jump on a night bus to Taipei to attend training sessions on Sunday.

Wang was harsh on his managers, because he wanted them to be as tough as roaring tigers on their subordinates. He argued that only tigers could train tigers, and only a business led by tigers could be sustained for generations. If lambs take leading positions, they are not only unable to train tigers, but will also eventually turn tiger personalities into lambs.

Wang required his children to work hard without complaint like anyone else if they wanted to become members of the successor team. He regarded his offspring as subordinates, hiding his own paternal feelings, and demanding a lot from them from childhood on.

When Wang's eldest daughter Susan Wang, who now serves as deputy chief executive of the Formosa Plastics Group, headed Formosa Plastics Corp. USA twenty years ago, she kept driving her car to the office and working overtime even when she was pregnant. When doing an internship at a Formosa Plastics plant during her studies, Wang's second daughter Wang Jui-yu worked so hard that she even skipped breakfast and lunch.

But in addition to his demanding strictness, Wang also had a soft side. Amidst his stubborn persistence, Wang also showed flexibility.

Whenever the Formosa Plastics Group set up a factory in a new place, the company would first build employee accommodations. Wang believed that people needed to settle down to be able to work happily.

When the business group built its plant in Texas, it couldn't find a Chinese cook. Consequently, Wang transferred Chef Hsu, who worked at the Kaohsiung factory, to Texas for two years to cook Chinese meals for the Taiwanese workers there. Wang believed that only Chinese food could satisfy a Chinese person's stomach.

He also arranged a technology transfer, this time of culinary skills. Chef Hsu trained Mexican immigrants to cook Chinese cuisine. That's why up to today the cafeteria at the Texas plant offers various traditional Chinese dishes such as rice porridge, stir-fried eggs with vegetables, braised prawns with soy sauce, and steamed fish head.

A Lonely Giant Passes Away

After a life full of hardships and triumphs, Wang liked to say in his old age, "Nothing is easy in this world, but nothing is impossible."

For instance, when Wang came up with the idea to collect kitchen waste for composting, even his closest subordinates wondered behind his back whether he had gone crazy. Wang knew that he was up against many obstacles and that it would not be easy. But he worked to realize his idea step by step, first buying machinery, then researching technological improvements and negotiating with local government leaders.

Today, the Formosa Environmental Technology Corporation produces nearly 300 tons of organic fertilizer and grows more than 400 tons of organic vegetables per year. Meanwhile, kitchen waste is being recycled across the island and street corners no longer reek of rotten food.

During his long life Wang almost never took a vacation, working until the day before he died. Was it worth it? With eyebrows always knitted together and a thin, pinched mouth, Wang did not exactly look like a happy man.

"Of course he was happy," believes Wang's friend Wen-chang Ko, chairman of the WK Technology Fund. "Whatever idea he had, there were people who did their best to help him realize it. His life was full and magnificent. He did things the rest of us could never do."

Each era runs its own course. Now that the lonely giant has left this world, his era fades away. How much of his legacy the coming age will carry on, and how much it will discard, we can only quietly wait for time to tell.

Translated from the Chinese by Susanne Ganz

The success of a company must depend on the unity of all its employees.

Robert Kuok Hock Nien's notes on the past sixty years


(On the occasion of Kuok Group's 60th Anniversary 10 April 2009)

(1) My brothers and I owe our upbringing completely to Mother. She was steeped in Ru-Jiao – the teachings of Confucius, Mencius, Laozi and other Chinese sages. Ru-Jiao teaches the correct behaviour for a human being on his life on earth. Mother gently, and sometimes strongly, drummed into the minds of her three boys the values of honesty, of never cheating, lying, stealing or envying other people their material wealth or physical attributes.

(2) Father died on 25 December 1948 night without leaving a will. Following the Japanese surrender, he had re-registered the firm as a sole proprietorship. We went to court to get an appointment as managers, permitting us to continue to manage Tong Seng & Co. The judge said that, as there were two widows, the firm and the estate should be wound up.

(3) We decide to establish Kuok Brothers Limited. In mid-January 1949, five of us met at a small roundtable in our home in Johore Bahru. Present were my MOTHER, cousin number five HOCK CHIN, cousin number twelve HOCK SENG, my brother HOCK KHEE nicknamed Philip (a.k.a. cousin number seventeen), and myself (a.k.a. cousin number twenty). We sat down and Mother said, "Nien, would you like to start?" I said, "Fine, yes I will start." To cut the long story short, we got started, and commenced business from a little shop house in Johore Bharu on 1 April 1949.

(4) As a young man, I thought there was no substitute for hard work and thinking up good, honest business plans and, without respite, pushing them along. There will always be business on earth. Be humble; be straight; don't be crooked; don't take advantage of people. To be a successful businessman, I think you really need to brush all your senses every morning, just as you brush your teeth. I coined the phrase "honing your senses" in business: your vision, hearing, sense of smell, touch and taste. All these senses come in very useful.

(5) Mother was the captain of our ship. She saw and sensed everything, but being a wise person she didn't interfere. Yet she was the background influence, the glue that bound the Group together. She taught my cousins and my brothers and me never to be greedy, and that in making money one could practise high morality. She stressed that whenever the firm does well it should make donations to the charities operating in our societies. She always kept us focused on the big picture in business. For example: avoid businesses that bring harm, destruction or grief to people. This includes trades like gambling, drugs, arms sales, loan-sharking and prostitution.

(6) We started as little fish swimming in a bathtub. From there we went to a lake and now we are in the open seas. Today our businesses cover many industries and our operations are worldwide but this would not have been possible without the vision of the founding members, the dedicated contributions and loyalty of our colleagues and employees, and very importantly the strong moral principles espoused by my mother.

(7) When I hire staff I look for honest, hardworking, intelligent people. When I look candidates in the eye, they must appear very honest to me. I do not look for MBAs or exceptional students. You may hire a brilliant man, summa cum laude, first-class honours, but if his mind is not a fair one or if he has a warped attitude in life, does brilliance really matter?

(8) Among the first employees were Lau Teo Chin (Ee Wor), Kwok Chin Luang (Ee Luang), Othman Samad (Kadir) and an Indian accountant called Joachim who was a devout Roman Catholic and who travelled in every day from Singapore where he lived.

(9) I would like on this special occasion to pay tribute to them and in particular to those who were with us in the early days; many of whom are no longer here. I have already mentioned Lau Teo Chin (Ee Wor) and Kwok Chin Luang (Ee Luang) and Othman Samad (Kadir), there are others like Lean Chye Huat, who is not here today due to failing eyesight, and Yusuf Sharif who passed away in his home country India about one and a half years ago and the late Lee Siew Wah, and others who all gave solid and unstinting support and devotion to the Company. It saddens me that in those early difficult years these pioneers did not enjoy significant and substantial rewards but such is the order of things and a most unfortunate aspect of capitalism. However through our Group and employee Foundations, today we are able to help their descendants whenever there is a need to.

(10) I have learnt that the success of a company must depend on the unity of all its employees. We are all in the same boat rowing against the current and tide and every able person must pull the oars to move the boat forward. Also, we must relentlessly endeavour to maintain and practise the values of integrity and honesty, and eschew and reject greed and arrogance.

(11) A few words of caution to all businessmen and women. I recall the Chinese saying: shibai nai chenggong zhi mu (failure is the mother of success). But in the last thirty years of my business life, I have come to the conclusion that the reverse phrase is even truer of today's world: chenggong nai shibai zhi mu. Success often breeds failure, because it makes you arrogant, complacent and, therefore, lower your guard.

(12) The way forward for this world is through capitalism. Even China has come to realise it. But it's equally true that capitalism, if allowed to snowball along unchecked, can in many ways become destructive. Capitalism needs to be inspected under a magnifying glass once a day, a super-magnifying glass once a week, and put through the cleaning machine once a month.
In capitalism, man needs elements of ambition and greed to drive him. But where does ambition end and greed take over? That's why I say that capitalism, if left to its own devices, will snowball along, roll down the hill and cause a lot of damage. So a sound capitalist system requires very strongly led, enlightened, wise governments. That means politician-statesmen willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of their people. I don't mean politicians who are there for fame, glory and to line their pockets.

(13) To my mind the two great challenges facing China are the restoration of education in morals and the establishment of a rule of law. You must begin from the root up, imbuing and infusing moral lessons and morality into youth, both at home and from kindergarten and primary school upward through university. Every Chinese needs to accept the principle of rule of law; then you have to train upright judges and lawyers to uphold the legal system.

(14) Wealth should be used for two main purposes. One: for the generation of greater wealth; in other words, you continue to invest, creating prosperity and jobs in the country. Two: part of your wealth should be applied to the betterment of mankind, either by acts of pure philanthropy or by investment in research and development along the frontiers of science, space, health care and so forth.

Tan Sri Robert Kuok Hock Nien (born 6 October 1923, in Johor Bahru, Johor), is an influential Malaysian Chinese businessman. According to Forbes his net worth is estimated to be around $10 billion on May 2008, making him the richest person in Southeast Asia. He is media shy and discreet; most of his businesses are privately held by him or his family. Apart from a multitude of enterprises in Malaysia, his companies have investments in many countries throughout Asia. His business interests range from sugarcane plantations (Perlis Plantations Bhd), sugar refinery, flour milling, animal feed, oil and mining to finance, hotels, properties, trading and freight and publishing.

The Coming

The land of pointed star, the number of points delivered in League of Nations, partner with a crescent colored with their king's favorite and seven stripes in red and white added although there are thirteen heads will have their masters who bears the balance weights will loss their power in the year 2011 in the last term of their school. Their people was considered more supreme than the minors while many lowly still want to hold to their brand of prince of the earth in the east now oppose the new. 6/8/09 By Gerry Perry