One of the persons that I have grown to admire and respect as a great man of God (no, not Pastor Joseph Prince lah, even though he is another one of them) is our TRAC President, Rev Wee Boon Hup.
When my marriage was going through a very rough period back in 2002/2003, my dad asked us to see him (he was our PIC then) and his wife, Catherine.
Since then, whenever I have tough spiritual issues to grapple with, I would turn to him for advice.
In January 2007, for example, churchmate Philip Ng and I met him for lunch and shared with him about our spiritual journey during which the LORD had progressively revealed more and more of Himself to us, and how we were feeling like "new wine in old wineskins".
Then on 4 Aug 07, when I was relieved of my leadership commitments in church, I started to struggle with the definition of the word "storehouse", and so I wrote the following email to him three days later at 4.57am...
To: Rev Wee Boon Hup
From: Malcolm Loh [mailto:mloh77@starhub.net.sg]
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 4:57 AM
Subject: Storehouse
Hi Rev Wee
I suppose by now you must have known already about my being relieved from official commitments in PLMC.
Personally, I was hoping to take a sabbatical at NCC (until either PIC changes his mind about grace messages or he finishes his term), but my family is still not ready to move yet.
I am now in a dilemma, which I hope you can help me to resolve.
It was your sermon in Jul 2005 that revealed the truth about bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Even since then, it has been one financial breakthrough after another, which I have blogged about here
http://rootss.blogspot.com/2007/08/making-investments-gods-way.html
Now, the struggle I am facing is the word “storehouse”.
Some have defined the storehouse to refer to one’s local church. Yet others define the storehouse as the place where we draw our spiritual food and nourishment from.
When you were PIC, this was not an issue because both definitions referred to the same thing.
Your advice on this matter is deeply appreciated.
Thanks!
Shalom
Malcolm
http://rootss.blogspot.com
"Reflections Of One That Says So"
- awarded "Best Christian Blog of the Week", 4 Feb 07
- described as having "severely disturbing" content
This was his reply to me, which I found to be so spiritually mature and biblically sound...
To: Malcolm Loh
From: Rev Wee Boon Hup
Sent: Tuesday, 07 August, 2007 11:41 AM
Subject: RE: Storehouse
Hi, Malcolm,
Yes, read about it, and heard about it. And I am glad that you are responding to the Lord’s timing. If there’s anything that our growth in the Lord should help us do is to be a solution, and not the cause, of problems we face in church. The Lord surely, and the church sorely, need Spirit-filled and faith-filled people who can change and influence situations with the power of His love.
Try not to look at the meaning of storehouse too rigidly as you describe below. Remember the storehouse is not something personal. In many cases in the ancient world, it was a communal storehouse. What was stored was for the benefit of the whole community. In fact, the rich man who stored only for himself (Luke 12:13-21) was labeled a ‘fool.’ So don’t think of drawing from the storehouse just for yourself. There are others who need what we can give, and we need not expect to get anything in return for that pool.
And don’t think only about the tithe. The generosity that the NT encourages is of the cheerful kind, and I am sure that means going beyond the 10%. If your membership is still with PLMC, then that is where your tithe should go to.
At the same time, we must remember Gal 6:6 - Let him who receives instruction in the Word [of God] share all good things with his teacher [contributing to his support]. AMP We can give to such of our teachers beyond our tithe. That makes it even more meaningful.
Hope that helps.
Shalom.
wbh
As a result of his email, I decided to continue to tithe to PLMC (as a matter of fact, I am giving more than 10% to my local church). At the same time, I am also sowing into the ministry of Pastor Joseph Prince by getting all his sermons and books, and also by blessing others with his latest book "Destined to Reign".
Anyway, subsequent to taking this step of faith, the LORD addressed my "storehouse dilemma" on 14 Aug 07 in a most pleasant and unexpected way (yet another example of God's ways and thoughts being higher than ours). I wrote to Rev Wee the very next day to let him know accordingly...
To: Rev Wee Boon Hup
From: Malcolm Loh
Sent: Wednesday, 15 August, 2007 1:27 PM
Subject: RE:Storehouse
Hi Rev Wee
Thanks for your most wise and enlightening answer!
I sent you that email at 5am because I was grappling with issues that have been keeping me awake at night.
Anyway, the dilemma about the definition of storehouse is no longer relevant, after I downloaded Pastor Reuben’s debut sermon to listen to last night. :-)
http://www.plmc.org/sermons/TNG11Aug07.mp3
After crying like a baby, I slept like a baby…Psalm 4:8
Thanks again for your love for PLMC…
Shalom
Malcolm
http://rootss.blogspot.com
"Reflections Of One That Says So"
- awarded "Best Christian Blog of the Week", 4 Feb 07
- described as having "severely disturbing" content
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