My Christian Experiences in Taiwan (1) Freedom in Christ

My Christian and Church Experiences in Taiwan (1)

   I came to Taiwan after I've met my later wife during a trip around the world which was cut short due to some financial problems. While on my last days in Hong Kong I've discovered an unknown little island called Taiwan, around three hours by plane. I've arrived on a polluted and very busy island and decided to leave the capital Taipei as soon as I could. Traveling around the island I've discovered many passionate people, working hard to support and improve their lives.

   On my trip I accidentally took a ship to Orchid Island off the coast and met a kind teacher on her trip to the same island. In 1989 I’ve decided to move to Taiwan, married her and one year later and became a father in 1992. 

Married in Taiwan in 1990

   In the beginning, I was not very passionate about our Lord but, because I thought I should introduce the Lord to my young family we’ve attended a local church.

   When we started to join this church I have to admit that I was not very much a part of it. Of course, my body attended the worship, sang the songs of praise, prayed and I ate the free lunch but my soul was not very much connected to the church, the pastor and the brothers and sisters. Basically, the way the whole church worked and the environment showed a clear discrepancy to the teachings of the Bible but because of my family I tried to fit in…
   The pastor himself was the Christ, much admired and even worshiped by many members. Furthermore, the contents of the sermons were rather focused on earthly things and made for entertainment than teaching Christian education and values through the Bible.

   After some time the pastor invited me to attend a meeting concerning the management and work of the church. I hesitated but agreed and was very disappointed by the attitude of the other attendees. Several times there were senseless arguments about trivial matters which could be simply solved by ‘love’ as taught by the Bible. After the meeting was over I discussed the contents with some brothers and had in my mind the opinion that it is their church – not mine. But suddenly I realized it is neither mine or a Taiwanese church but God’s  'body'. With this ‘touch of the Holy Spirit' my attitude towards the church started to change.

   I took my church service more seriously, volunteered for kitchen work and started with my wife a youth group. But as more as I dived into God’s grace as more I got disappointed and even met resistance. The church was still a one-man show, the entertainment element grew even larger and there was, understandable, no spiritual growth of the church members at all! But as more effort I put into the church as hungrier I got (for the truth of God) as less nutrition I found! Strangely, I was the only one who felt something was going wrong.
   I experienced several very intimate revelations like a fire coming out of a cross or youth, after moving from a room in front of the cross, were singing like angels etc. But as I’ve tried to share these close experiences with the Holy Spirit I did not meet any compassion or interest but rather rejection and suspicion for this foreigner.
   Once I've attended an American missionary team and joined them to spread the Gospel in the south of Taiwan. During this one week long trip, there was one pastor teaching us healing people with the help of the Holy Spirit. On a Friday evening, I had some very astonishing results in healing unseen blisters, muscle pain etc. after their own testimonies. Back in the church’s micro group I’ve tried to share these experiences enthusiastically but was met with disbelief and even warnings! And these reaction despite the clear Bible promise “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion (Romans 9:15).” 

   Simply put, if a church does not teach, follow and act according to the word of the Bible for me it is not a church and, at one point, it was very clear for us to leave. Why so-called faiths like the

- Mormons (The Church of the Latter-day Saints) expect life devotion for their organization 

 from their members or associates

-  FLDS (The Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) have their own militant

 group to ‘protect’ their interests

-  Scientology even split family members into ‘faithful’ and ‘unfaithful’

etc. 

makes me wonder why they have members at all. Because the Bible teaches clearly:

"Freedom in Christ

1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5)." 
The Bible says also: "36 So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8)."

If Jesus Himself assures every Christian that you are free (in Christ) how can anyone including a government, an organisation, a church etc. take this freedom away?
  

(to be continued) 

Growing Up, part 9

A German Youth

Grown up in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s

   With moving up to secondary school came many big changes. As I came from primary school 5th grade I repeated the 5th grade in secondary school. I was one of the oldest students but had some classmates were downgraded from grammar school.
   Secondary school was further away, it took me 15 minutes by bike one way and nearly 45 minutes by bus because I had to change the bus at least once. The school was not far away from my grandmother's house but I've never went there before or after school. She, my mother's mom, lived in Eastern Prussia, before and during the war a part of Germany. But in the winter of 1944-1945, as the Russian advanced, they fled Königsberg (or Kaliningrad as it is known in Russian today) in fear of retaliation. As my grandmother told us they left everything there except for the things they could carry, and were never allowed to return. 
   They fled in a train full civilians which was attacked by the Russians. As she protected her children one bullet shattered her left arm and grazed my mother's back nearly destroying her lungs. My grandmother's left forearm had to be amputated, my mother felt the pain especially after sudden changes in weather in her back for the rest of her life.    
   As I had already two semesters in English I was one of the best in class. My most memorable teacher during the whole secondary school (the next 6 years) had been this  female English teacher. She was very interested in my miserable family life and spend a lot of time to listen and to encourage me. She was the first who recognized that I developed a kind of hump which all of my sisters have too. I did not walk nor stand straight, my shoulders were bent forward. My mother said that we inherited this posture from my father but children without confidence living in a discouraging environment see no reason to be proud about themselves...
   In the beginning of the 1970s smoking was big in Germany. The secondary school had a 'smoking corner' where teachers and students alike could smoke. As my father was a heavy chain smoker I did not have interest in doing so myself. As a truck driver he seldom took shower on the road, as long as I remember he carried the 'aura of cold smoke' with him. In his car he had a real lambskin which he rarely washed, the smoke stuck heavily in the fur.
   The relationship between my parents did not change at all. My mother was still dominating while my weak father drunk his youth and his responsibilities away. Sometimes I wondered how my mother, a real miser herself, could afford coats made of real fur. It was not until my elder sister told me that each time, my father was caught with a girlfriend, he bought a coat to appease her. For a few weeks they tried to get along until the volcano exploded again...
   My father was Catholic and my mother, a reformed Christian. As a child I was baptized but have to attend a confirmation (lat. 'consolidation', 'recognition') in my teens. This means that I had to go to church for class once a week for roughly 9 months. In this class we had been taught in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, had to learn some church rules, the meaning of Christmas and Eastern but also Whitsunday (or Pentecost) etc. I liked to attend the lessons very much; the pastor was also my religion teacher. He was an 'open' Christian, I remember the outrage when he let a band play in church.

Day of confirmation as a full member of the church, 

me standing beside of the pastor 

   From him I've learned not to count on humans but to trust in the Lord. He told us that everyone and everything has a reason, might it seem good or bad in the moment. He also encouraged me to attend the Sunday worship which I did without the consent of my parents. I let them argue at home, my own joy and 'salvation' came from God himself. Many elder church members asked me why I come alone - I did not know how and did not want to answer. Writing this I still believe my foundation of the faith was build right there between God and me, a very lonely teenager in much need of affection.

(to be continued)