BULLETIN ARTICLE – 1 July 2018
“Unfair, unfair” the boy, Lionel, exclaimed as he banged the desk before him. “So unfair”. The Bible study class was about to start and his frustrated cry took the other boys in the class by surprise. I was the Bible teacher of this class conducted in Changi Prison E Hall for YP (young people). “Why, Lionel – what’s wrong?” I asked. He replied, “Last week you taught us from Acts 16 that in the Philippi prison ‘About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.’ An earthquake resulted and the prisoners were set free from their chains.’” “Yes, that’s what happened”, I replied. Lionel continued, “But at midnight, in my cell when I sang hymns loudly to the Lord the prison guard came and charged me with additional punishment. I was sent to the isolation cell for 3 days to suffer in silence. Unfair, very unfair”. Everyone in the class simply dismissed his comments with much laughter.
Acts 12 describes the lifestyle of the Jerusalem Church during the reign of King Herod Agrippa I who ruled Judea and Samaria from 41-44 AD. At the beginning of the chapter Herod was on the rampage arresting and persecuting the Jerusalem church leaders; at the end he was himself struck down and died a horrible death. The chapter opened with the Apostle James Zebedee dead, Apostle Peter in prison and Herod triumphing. It closed with Herod dead, Peter free from prison and “the word of God continued to spread and flourish.” In the lifestyle of the Jerusalem church in their bold witness for Jesus, there was much persecution leading to prison for the believers, much prayer leading to great boldness by the believers, and much praise and worship leading to great believers fellowship and positive church growth.
The Apostle Peter was put in prison “but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.” The Jerusalem church met in “the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying”. God answered their prayers for the freedom of Peter. An angel of the Lord was involved in his freedom from prison. Peter proclaimed after his rescue: “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.” The believers in their bold witness for Jesus came together for praise, worship and prayers and God answered their prayers. The church witnessed, praised and worshipped and prayed earnestly in those dark times — in the midst of pain, loss, fear, uncertainty, sickness, or death — and God saw their witness, heard and accepted their praise and worship and answered their prayers. He always does.
Today in Singapore, for us thankfully, we do not have to worry about going to prison for our bold witness for our resurrected Jesus. The young boy Lionel was in prison because he ran foul of the Singapore law in credit card fraud. He was further given punishment while in prison because he broke prison rules by singing hymns loudly at midnight. We confidently continue with our Christian witness lifestyle by boldly telling people of our resurrected Jesus and by our worship, praise and prayers. God sees our worship, hears our praises and he will answer our prayers.
