Be here for the Refiner's fire

Dedicated to all saints This book is for ............................................ By........................................ The Lord bless you and keep you The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. (Number 6: 24-26) TWIG ALIGHT “FLAME” UPRIGHT January 1, 2003 at 7.15 a.m. I picked up a tiny twig near Dean’s Chair Appreciate it in my regular seat second pew left end, For the unusual shapes and top end sharper than the bottom The morning Sun was shinning on it a divine “fire” of sort came through As my eyes move to the first pew glossy shelf was a shadow of lit candle of the tiny twig a little thing left held in my left index finger and thumb So as we offer our little life left, God will cause the Holy Fire to burn upwards in All Saints Cathedral in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo and afar Joshua Y. C. Kong of Borneo@1st January 2003. (as illustrated by the sketch on the inside page of front) -----------------------------------------All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by photocopying or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. First published 2003 by Joshua Y. C. Kong, Printed in Malaysia ISBN 983-2653-02-9 P. O. Box 11923, 88821 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia -jkong823@tm.net.my; justknock7@pd.jaring.my Content Chapter Page Dedication Poem - Twig Alight “Flame” Upright





 Content
 Introduction
 1 What is this fire?
 2 The history of fire
3 The purpose and usage of fire
 4 The symbol of fire
5 The science of fire
6 The Bible references of fire
7 What is this fire in modern days?
 8 Is fire a sign for the mankind?
9 The Holy Fire for redemption.





Acknowledgement Appendix of 10 poems on fire Isaiah 53 Story of Crimson Worm The Miraculous Molecule: DNA Appendix of 150 New Testament of 600 Bible verses on the word "fire". A prophecy of FIRE titled "POWER OUTAGES" WILL SHAKE GOD'S HOUSE IN 2003! or "TURN THE LIGHTS DOWN LOW. . . I WANT TO ROMANCE MY BRIDE!" by Bill Yount, Hagerstown, MD. Poem - La’burn inside back Introduction. I hope this special book on fire would fire us up to things seen and unseen. This four letter word with so much impact on our lives can only be one of the guide light in our lives if we know how to handle it in the right perspectives. It is like a two edged sword. Like most circumstances, this fire is a building agent and also a destructive one. Many things would need fire to make as in the refining of the precious metals like gold, silver etc. To build or make things or products using fire may take some times, but when something come in contact with unwanted fire, as in a fire accident, much damages would be caused. Some fires would burn very fast and quite unstoppable. This book is not on the physical aspects of fire alone, and if that is so there would not be much to write about, because fire consumes physical things too quickly and easily. Lets this book capture our imagination. The spiritual aspect of fire in two aspects are going to stir us to things eternal. Fire has been a tool since time immemorial to express much unwanted anger or hatred though fire had been as a guiding light in the time of Moses escaping from Egypt. Would fire be the means to an end or an end by itself? Whatever this maybe it is the beginning of mankind in Adam and also it would put out the human race from the face of the earth. Many have been awakened by many fires in our lives but not without much lessons to be learned in each given scenario be it a little timid candle fire that does not harm the moving finger and yet can cause the start of a fire if misplaced. Along the way, many have yet to be awakened over centuries from haunting fire stories of the past, and yet even the biggest and possibly the highest fire seen by the world live online for an hour may still be insignificant for many because the greatest fire of all times is yet to come. I am also trying to help the world to come to term of the inherent message of the twin towers fire so that those innocent souls had not perished in vain, but that the divine message go beyond to heal or break the world in dimensions yet to unfold in the face of war on terrorism. I hope that this book can bring out the expectations of mankind as willed by our Creator God for an eternality because our life is itself an eternal fire. So keep this fire burning generating the type of light in the image of God. Joshua Y. C. Kong



 Chapter 1 What is this fire?

 When we first talk of fire, we would direct our minds to the consequences of fire as in the devastation of properties and people. We may imagine of the heat or the pain or the choking smoke or the red flames sending all sorts of feeling through our minds. So that is of great impact in our lives, more so if those had survived such real experiences. We can experience momentarily paralysis with those nightmarish experiences coming fresh in our minds. What is the basic property of fires? It is the presence of carbon in any ingredient of the burnt materials, hence much gas of carbon dioxide is generated. The fire is normally flames of something burning. Fire is normally depicted as tongues of flames in red with or without smoke attached depending on how is the state of the burning. The flames of fire are always upwards and the outline of a flame of candle is that of a drop of blood as illustrated again in the inspired sketch titled “Twig Alight “Flame” Upright in the inside front page of this book. In any fire, there are the common ingredients of smokes as seen, heat as felt in the temperature, red colour as seen, plus fairly bright light if it is burning in the dark. Sometimes, people light up a match for a light in darkness. Candles are lit to give light although the fire from the candle may not hurt much if the finger just passes through the flame. It would not be so if we were to play with other types of fire as burns to the skin can occur. Fires would burn well any materials if the condition of dryness prevail as in a draught. Massive forest fires are common if fanned by strong winds. The latest report was of a fiery tornado tore through the Canberra suburb of Chapman which was devastated by the unprecedented firestorm on 21st January 2003. The description of a fiery tornado and firestorm is certainly a new dimension of mother nature in the new millennium. Do we think we know much about this fire of various dimensions? May this book bring us closer to the reality of a natural item always taken for granted. 




Chapter 2 History of Fire

 Fires are known to have been started by lightning. Lightning is also another strange scenario of fire per see as not all splashes of lightning are so devastating. The source of lightning from the sky or heaven is not known except the commonly held view that it is from God as lightning normally occurs with thunders. Lightning and thunders have inspired the creation of domestic electricity by Benjamin Franklin in 1752 before he became one of the founding fathers of the Independent United States of America in 1776. What is the origin of fire in mankind history? Is this specifically mentioned after the Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden? It would appear that the first family of mankind consumed their food raw in the fruits, nuts and vegetables until such time that they find themselves in a burnt out jungles, when animals could have "roasted" in the wild fire. Other sources apart from the Bible, there was the legend of the trial by fire as in the trial of honour as in the Holy Roman Empress Cunigunde opted for trial by fire when she was accused of adultery. Watched by her husband, Henry II, she walked barefoot over a glowing grate, aided by two bishops, she passed the test. There were other ancient trials deemed Judgement of God using boiling water or heated items for justice. The infamous Greek fire also known as a flying wall of fire was a secret weapon and the forerunner of the modern flame thrower. It burns furiously and could only be doused by sand and supposedly urine. It was used literally by the Acre garrison to spread terror among the attacking Crusaders. Greek fire was derived from a viscous liquid which burst into flames when it came into contact with water. The substance was first used by the forces of the Byzantine emperor, Constantine IV. The formula was probably based on naphtha and quicklime. The Byzantines packed it into brass-bound wooden tubes and pumped water at high pressure both to project it and to set it alight. An Arab chronicler of the siege of Acre, Ibn al-Athir, describe how pots containing naphtha were thrown at the siege towers. They had no effect on their own, but were followed by flaming pots which ignited the naphtha and set the towers ablaze. Greek fire was widely used by the Saracens during the Crusades. It was eventually superceded by guns, which were easier to use. How early people made fire? According to some ancient records or legend as to how this come about is questionable, it is known that At least half a million years ago, people living in the Choukoutien caves in China knew how to use fire to keep warm, to cook meat and to keep wild animals at bay; but they did not know how to create the precious substance, so they had to keep their fires constantly burning. At last, sometimes around 100,000BC, early people succeeded in making fire, either by two sticks together, or by striking a lump of iron pyrite with a flint to produce sparks. Have you ever thought of that yourself when Mankind actually come in contact with fire, although those mentioned in many encyclopedia as I mentioned earlier may be just legends as when would such records as kept be credible, when papers and similar recording mediums were not available then. It is likely that such experiences had been passed down centuries of generations by the words of mouths, and that may give doubt on the accuracy of the time sequence backwards. As the most popular Bible is considered a reliable book into the origins of mankind, we may have a glimpse into how fire could have been in existence from the day Man came into being. Have you ever thought that when God breath into the nostrils of Adam's dust, it has to be accepted as such for the miraculous beginning of the first Man created in God's image. It is also known that God is the greatest scientist of all time as even the Torah in the Hebrew language is in a hidden text as encoded with a time lock, only to be opened with computer now invented. The code breaker is known as Bible Code - a computer program. As the Bible in the original language is really principally His Story of Mankind as inspired by God and recorded by His people. It is His Story as how mankind had passed more than 150 generations into what we are today, as believers of God. There had been many ups and downs of the history of mankind of all dimension in terms of relationships, developments, conflicts and disbelief of the true God, who declared "I am who I am". As God is Spirit beyond doubt, and in a great Spirit, much fires of all sort are possible. God the great Spirit can create and destroy by using divine fire within that incredible and invisible Spirit. Generally, it is understood that no one can see God and live. But there may be a few exception, like Moses saw God and live to fulfill God's Will in Moses. Jesus also saw God and lived. The sight of God is awesome as many who sense His presence have to bow down on the ground and the floor as in complete worship for His holiness. As in a great Spirit, there would great burning light yet bearable for us for God is love. It is quite normal to see very bright light in visions of closed eyes. Yet, our eyes would not be burnt. Such momentarily experiences would only bear witness to the God we all love. Some people may not understand why God is Spirit and in an extended dimension a great Spirit would release very powerful heat and light. So such people tend to liken the great God as the Sun. The Sun is hot but human beings can still survive under the hot Sun for reasonable hours. The Sun is bright and the human naked eyes cannot see the Sun directly without losing the precious eye sight. So we cannot see God and live hence God is more prominent than the Sun, which is not really comparable. The Sun is there for a specific purpose, whilst God is unpredictably capable in all things.




Chapter 3 The purpose and usage of fire

 Can we now imagine that when Adam was created out of dust, it was sort of baking process that had gone through as the dust became a living being by a process agent called the LIFE from God. So we were nearly half baked as in body (Bake Over Dust Yields) so to speak and that was the mystery that would not be explain by science till today. Science would tell us that we have a constant body temperature of 37 degrees Centigrade or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit as a standard property of LIFE. Till today, science cannot explain what is this LIFE and how it came about. Science is still not prepared to accept that Man is created by a supreme God. Many still want to argue out over the theory of evolution, that our origin is from the apes. Other creatures have different body temperatures for example chickens at 117 degrees F , dog and cat at 101 degrees F. With this only nearly half baked product patterned by God in Adam and then Eve, initially housed in Garden of Eden, they were naked covered by a veil of light which is visible to God only. According to recent findings, that mosquitoes can see the infra red rays from the naked portion of the human body. That is the reason why mosquitoes can rest on us even in the dark so quickly in the open. Adam and Eve were not aware that they were naked until the serpent caused them to be driven out of the divine Garden, the heaven on earth. After the original sin, they had to find leaves to cloth themselves. Sadly many today are too poor to find decent clothing and some are naive to stay naked in certain public places like strip tease activities and nudist camps. . A relevant impression is to identify this word LIFE as Light Invisible Fire Eternally. LIFE has light, temperature (fire) yet invisible but eternally with the Creator. The existence of the body or (Bake Over Dust Yields) in useful form is dependent on this unexplainable LIFE. Life is technically known as the "energy" and fire gives lots of energy. Our cells are made up of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) being the molecules of amino acid of the chromosomes and genes. Another interesting recent finding by science is DNA of the material body. Actually most of your DNA isn't unique at all. Nearly all of it is the same for all of us, but the little bit that changes is what ensures that you are you and not me. In fact, most of you is just substance as in dust. Only 2% of your DNA actually “codes” - controls your body. The rest is just evolutionary detritus. That could explain why human DNA is 98% the same as that of monkeys. (Internet). So is this 2% of distinctive codes be assumed to be the LIFE of each different individual. This can always explain why we are not from the monkeys or apes, as human beings are really special in God's creation. As each one of us have distinctive identity features including different finger prints, we are even more special in such minute distinguished features although there are more than 6 billions living souls around the globe. If many people share the same finger prints, facial features and similar DNA imprints, many people would be tormented over common shared identities by the people in authorities investigating crimes. Hence, what can be attributable to the differentials of DNA? The two percent of special coded DNA capable to accommodate all those distinctive variations is certainly another great mystery of the ONE and only great Designer. Read about The Miraculous Molecule: DNA at the appendix of this book. It is also a common saying that we keep the fire burning within us for our faith in God. With this fire burning, we are actually keeping our original identity as in a refiner's fire. We are daily renewed in our living out of our precious gift in a LIFE. When that fire stops burning, LIFE is gone. For those who have lived a life according to the directions of God's Word and divine Laws, we would retain with us the original light as in the LIFE given by God. Such light was visible to God as in the original veil of light over Adam and Eve. So when we meet our Creator at the end of a temporary fruitful journey on earth, we would carry with us the same veil of light. But be warned that for those who have sins both for the original and self inflicted, the fire within us would be under par in performance as in burning out those "obscenities" of sin, hence we may carry with us a less bright veil and for some even black veil. But Jesus Christ can restore us perfectly. Look at these words "veil" and "evil" with the "e" in interchanged position. With evil on us is like a veil of darkness over our only nearly half baked bodies. We can only have veil of light provided we comply with certain spiritual conditions, which would be dealt with in later chapters. According to the New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of Bible, there are about 590 words on fire with only 85 of that in the New Testament. Nevertheless it is very interesting to note that there is only ONE word "FIRES" in Isaiah 24:15 as "Glorify ye the Lord in the fires" based on the Hebrew word meaning "perverteth the face thereof". Just for comparison sake, in the Bible there are 4,420 words of God; David 1,105; Jesus 935; Father 935; Egypt 595; Holy 595; Spirit 510; burnt 680; sacrifice 340; and Heaven 730. If we go through the Bible, there will be thousands of references to fire and things thereof like in heat, burnt sacrifices, and hell. So it would appear that fire does play a very significant role in the lives of biblical peoples. The Bible is also the History or HIStory of mankind of His creation. Though it may look very complex in the lives of the people through millenniums, with all those frightening stories played out over and over again most of them in the Old Testament. It is also the maturing of the body in Adam as nearly half baked as finally baked by the Holy Fire in the Holy Spirit to enable us to go to heaven. The perishable body become imperishable in the Holy Spirit. If this spiritual comprehensive baking is not done whilst we are on earth, some of us most likely to be half of the inhabitants of the world would be in need to be fully "baked" by the hell fire eternally too. Sadly some choose to “bake” themselves prematurely by suicides such as set themselves on fire or by powerful explosives attached to their bodies (Z0ephaniah 1:17) resulting in “over burnt” physically.. Another striking observation is that there are so much lesser words on fire found in the New Testament and even then the word fire is more in the reference to the spiritual fire in the Holy Spirit. That is the fire that transforms spiritually and invisible or intangible although some gifted persons may see such fire in the visions. This would be dealt with in later chapters. The solitary reference of God in Fires in Isaiah 24:15 is definitely another tremendous indication that the true God in the Spirit is the Source of all sort of Fires of various physical and spiritual dimensions which I thank God that I can mention them in this book later. The fire that can create Adam and never leave us as long as we have this divine LIFE easily connoted by Light Invisible Fire Eternally, is also the originator of the fierce fiery flames that burn every thing combustible in the path and the Holy Spirit or Holy Fire that can sanctify His creation of people of the original sin and sins acquired, like a refiner fire. The silversmith would sit with his eyes steadily fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured." The silversmith would only knows when the process of purifying was complete, by seeing his own image reflected in the silver. When Christ shall see His own image in His people, His work of purifying will be accomplished. God is also known as the consuming fire when He unleashes His wrath. Who can stop unchangeable God doing that although our loving God is full of grace and mercy? We need this so useful fire to do so many things for us in most basic application as in cooking of our food and boiling our water. Just reflect this that at the beginning the water was so pure for consumption without the need of boiling. Nowadays nothing is safe without filter and just to be sure of that by boiling the drinking water. In some cases, drinking water is also distilled water. So fire is so essential in this procedure as the environmental ecology becomes so polluted by human exploitation. There is so much need for fire to prepare our foods that the natural goodness in some vitamins and minerals can be lost forever. Have we got a choice? Some people have to resort to costly vitamins and mineral in manufactured forms, when ironically much had been lost to heat in the processed foods. Obviously there is another natural choice to consume fruits, some vegetable and nuts raw as in salad. There are also cases that fire can add cooked flavour or aroma to the food items. That maybe good for the taste buds, but food values may be lacking. Let reflect how coffee beans are fried into black ones then grounded or crystallised also using heat to produce the popular drinking coffee again using boiling hot water. So a single item like coffee needs so much fire and heat to become a drink in great demand. I can still have fond memory of the days I was in London for the first winter doing some shopping at night when the aroma of roasted chestnuts could be detected quite far away as carried by the breeze or wind, hence make it so tempting to taste them. The make shift or mobile stall of burning charcoal for chestnuts could be traced by walking and making some turnings in the direction of the aroma. In the medical terms, at one time it was perfectly safe to reuse needles and surgical tools by sterilisation using boiling water. In recent years, sterilisation is found to be inadequate to rid such used items of contamination of viruses like that of HIV and AIDS. Maybe fire can do the job, but such precision items maybe ruined by the heat for reuse. Incineration and cremation using intense fire and heat are deployed to ensue that such tough strains of viruses are destroyed from contagious effects. In the agriculture sectors, fire is applied to clear the field of weeds and pests as the most effective mean at minimal costs in the shortest time possible. Such slash and burn methods for dried bushes and grasses in a few hot spots may be acceptable. In any region, there is always a season for such practices that too many hot spots would be found to generate another set of air pollution in the smoke resulting in dark haze, which is retained in the atmosphere for quite some time. The poor air quality can give rise to health hazard. Even the composting of leaves and vegetable wastes and leftovers do generate gases and much heat. There is also a Chinese tradition to treat certain illness like wind by using small doses of fire from an oiled flint over certain parts of the body. Surprisingly, when such doses of fire are applied at the right spots, some cracker noises of different levels are heard, yet the skin is not scalded except like pinch with some momentary redness. It is also very popular until recently to let off fire crackers for special occasions. Such luxuries as liken to burning of money are now banned due to the smoke pollution in those explosive ingredients. The consumption of such harmful habits and addictions of cigarettes, tobacco and illicit drugs also need the fire but somehow our bodies get over burnt too for an adverse reason hence degradation. Nowadays, there are less visible fire being used at homes due to the direct supply of electricity through the wires. There are still a lot of people still using fuel oil, gas, kerosene or paraffin for cooking and heating purposes. At the turn of last century, fire from wood and charcoal were in great demand every where, although nowadays such methods are still widely used in rural areas. All these methods still pose fire hazards if not careful in handling such energy agents. Some of our foods are roasted by visible fires like in the practice of open air barbecues. In cold countries, the lounge fire place complete with the old fashion chimney is still popular although central heating had been given more priority for convenience sake. The old fashion fire places do present nostalgia. Without a fire, all energy raw materials would be useless, and the fire must be kept burning all the time to generate the heat and energy that can be transmitted by pipelines and circuits. I believe electricity is still the most reliable and safe energy amongst the various options. Most equipment and appliances are manufactured to be operated by electricity. It is so easy to take such energy items for granted as we do not see that original fire except that we know that our electrical tools work quietly without any fumes, smokes and smells. The fire of such system is so remote that we lose the natural instinct of appreciating the goodness of such utility fire. Our minds may sometimes be in great slumber of fire, as it is out of mind and out of sight. But fires do come in other forms such as when a car, a tool or a house catches fire in our midst or neighbourhood that we are awakened by such natural threats so real. We may read or hear about them in the mass media and see them in action in the communication medium like Television. Our senses may then be alerted regularly to such menaces occurring regularly. But we do not know whether such incidences occur by accidents or deliberate means by some quarters. In any launching of rockets to the outer space, much fuel is utilised resulting in massive pollution of smokes etc. over a great area . Let have a good look of the Sun, though not with direct look as blindness may occur without protective glasses. Only eagles can look at the sun directly as an eagle can fly directly toward the sun! They have a protective membrane which comes down over their eyes (like sunglasses) and enables them to peer intently at the sun. So when threatened by archers, the eagle flies toward the sun thus blinding its enemy. The Sun is the perpetual sources of energy at least until now, and that energy can burn us if it is nearer to us. At the moment it is comparative to that of the candle, if we move a finger across a flame of candle.0 The Sun as the source of unusual energy that allow all other living things and plants to survive A car needs to warm up before it can go full fledge. When the engine of the car is not functioning properly like jerking or stalling regularly, some may call that misfire or not firing full force. There are many reasons for that and any motor mechanic would understand the physical dysfunction. A car can also be non functional when other parts of the whole single entity go wrong like punctured tyre or the body structures rot away to rust, a slow death due to the silent chemical reaction of the exposed iron over time. Even this silent rusting also give rise to unfelt heat and this heat as part of fire is unknown to us and occurring all the time. Can we now link this up to the human body and medical doctors or any biological scientists would tell us how our body malfunction? Amongst the early indicators are in the eyes, the temperature, the pulse, the body pressure and even in the skin as in the colour and the sweat scenario. Can it be that someone feel unwell when we have fever, an indicator of rise of the body temperature or the fall of that? There are cases of burnt out when some people are below par. In most treatments, it is restoring our body temperature and blood pressure dependent on the heat within the body back to normal. Why do we have a change of temperature? Is it due to the misfiring within our body physiological system as most likely due sickness of some sort. What had been the causes of that is obviously still unknown. Maybe, we have to address this issue of fire within us to restore the health of sick people. We were only nearly half baked as in Adam, hence venerable to all sort of shortcomings as God matures us in His image through His Word in the Bible. Sin was the first attack on the perishable body of dust, made alive in the Life of Christ. So God has every prescription for our sicknesses beyond the written Word as God's Word incarnates into Christ as flesh. What about that some creatures are known as cold blooded meaning they have no life or no heat. Then how do they function, although in them may be cold heat and yet so powerful and sustainable in environment not possible for warm blooded creatures. Do anyone have the answer for this? Isn't it that cold war is as effective as hot wars? Some powerful countries had also collapsed during certain era which is known as "cold war" but the resultant consequences had been as dramatic too almost occurring over night so to speak. Was the rot internal aided by external positioning of so called known and unknown enemies? So it follows that in cold war scenario, the unseen fire was also burning silently, but the devastation was obvious in the end. We are also conscious of so many natural fires in the jungles due to prolonged droughts, in built up premises, vehicles and air crafts and ships due to malfunctions of fire prone items or sheer carelessness or neglect in maintenance. Such inevitable incidences are very disastrous and costly without possibly any quick rescue. Some dry jungles or forests can burn for weeks aggravated by strong winds. We had been witnessing more of these kinds of fire in recent years. I wonder if such forest fires serve any purposes as in alerting the inhabitants to any bigger pictures except that the world climate is getting hotter and possibly drier as well. Are the world's desert areas getting worse and bigger as well? Those fire occurrences in facilities may serve to warn us to attend to such properties as in fire prevention. Whatever this maybe, we cannot have an non caring attitude towards our greater environment. Whatever lost in natural habitat cannot be replaced easily. A few illustrations of recent threatening fire as reported may draw us to some awakening of the environmental consequences. Rampant Blazes In Bolivia Aug. 24, 1999 — Fires fueled by strong winds have destroyed at least 500 homes and more than 350,000 acres of cropland in Bolivia. The fires have burned out of control through farms and forests in the tropical lowland area north of the city of Santa Cruz. Much of the city of Ascencion de Guarayos, a farming community located 530 miles east of La Paz, has been destroyed. The town's hospital was burned to the ground and thousands of residents have been left homeless. Thick smoke has covered more than half of the entire country, and schools were closed on Monday due to the threat of breathing problems created by the fires. The city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra was engulfed in the smoke, forcing airport officials to restrict flights. An ongoing drought in Brazil and the eastern lowlands of Bolivia has worsened the fire danger. Fire skies encircle city PORTO - 25/03/2000 Fire fighters around the city have been on red alert this week after the skies around the Oporto region were filled with clouds of smoke. Unseasonably hot summer-like days in the north have been marred this week by the billows of black smoke which have hung in the skies and carried ash and dust for miles around the northern region. Dozens of forest fires have destroyed hectares of plants, trees and vegetation and fire fighters around the region have reported having had barely a minute to relax before the next call out. Areas of countryside in almost every direction around the Oporto city limits have been struck by forest fires this week, the worst hit area being in São Pedro da Cova in Gondomar which involved 20 fire fighting units and more than 80 firemen. Fire brigade emergency call-out sirens could be heard throughout the whole of last weekend and although the rains mid-week cooled the situation, fire fighters feared that the promise of more hot weather would continue to keep them busy throughout the week. A fire service spokesman said the fire fighters were exhausted: "Since last Thursday we have not stopped. As soon as we arrived back at the station headquarters we were going straight out to another fire." Fires Burn in Calif., Nevada Aug. 25, 1999 — Firefighters continue to battle northern Nevada wildfires that have forced the evacuation of 60 homes and an exotic animal shelter. At least 4,500 acres of dry sagebrush and juniper have been burned; 40 percent of the fire has been contained. A vehicle fire near the animal shelter sparked the fire, which burned through the shelter. Whiskers and noses were singed, but no animals were seriously hurt. And in northeastern California, fires ignited by more than 100 lightning strikes are blazing. One woman was found burned to death in her car Tuesday. Approximately 30,000 acres have been charred. Wildfires have damaged more than a million acres in the Nevada-California area since early summer. Whilst some can recover losses by insurance claims against fire and damages, the greater intangible losses of non quantifiable items like labour inputs and the ecological disasters in many instances are beyond computation. Even in Malaysia, for the first nine months in 2002, the damages amounted to RM500 million. In some rare occasions, Cease-fire in battles may be declared for festivals or period of negotiation for settlement of disputes which had earlier created an armed conflict between the two opposing sides most likely to be the Government and the rebels or freedom fighters.


Chapter 4 The Symbol of fire

 The Bible tells us that Hell is a furnace of fire (MT 3:12) and also Hell is an "outer darkness" (Mt 8:12). At a first glance, the impression is that it may be contradictory. It is to be argued that in a fire logically there will be light, and yet hell is darkness. Furnace may be heated by fire yet without light as it is the spiritual darkness of those occupants there. A simple illustration is that of an oven today, there won't be any light when the door is shut. Spiritual darkness is akin to a blind person. I believe even a blind person can see even without the faculty of a normal eye, if God in the Spirit allows such persons to see as I had been seeing so many visions and vibrant colours of all dimension with eyes shut. It is proven that God is Light and in the absence of God, there is no LIGHT. Also true believers of God after refined by Holy Spirit and Holy Fire, after redemption in Christ, we are given back the original light as in the first naked Adam. As we draw nearer to Christ, such original light becomes progressively brighter and wider. Wish God had not created Hell and Fire? What is this hell? What is so prominent in this world that we live in that is so hot and enclosed as well? Don't we hear and see all those volcanic eruptions of hot and burning lava so high up in the sky? Sometimes we see lots of dusts too like that of a mushroom over the erupting mountains. Can we think that what goes up must come down and so what is spilt out must be refurbished with some thing? Can we assume that some things must go into that type of momentarily vacuum, although that may be burning hot inside? If it is just air that goes in, it would not be meaningful for such force that had been thrown up. Is this another coincidence that there are volcanoes around the ring of fire of the world? Can these volcanoes after the eruptions suck in all those lost souls into such enclosed captivity to be akin to Hell. Surprisingly, the Raelian cult had its birth at a volcano. Such eruptions or earthquakes do cause instant deaths and victims could perish and be buried instantly too. Maybe, it is really hell and it is foretold in the Bible that when the end comes, there would be such crazy abundant eruptions too to release such held lost souls for final Judgement by God. All who had rested would be awoken for the final Judgement as souls are indestructible. Some of these recent fires could have been engaged for evil purposes as in any activities with intention to destroy is always accompanied by fire which is as destructive as wild fire. Fire is accompanied by any explosion as the main ingredient is force, heat and combustion. Destruction by explosion is limited by the range of the target whilst accompanied fire can proceed to cause wider and greater destruction by burning. Such deliberated fires started by arsonists are expected in any society today as of old. How much the impact of such fires is dependent how quickly the firemen get to dampen such occurrences. There are times fires are put off by sudden rain. There are also cases when flags of nations and effigies of leaders are burned as a demonstration of venting much anger and hatred as in opposition of the disagreement of policies. Some people prefer to burn tyres in public to blacken the atmosphere for a longer period. Obviously such ill intended practices are not to be encouraged, but most offended foreign Governments are quite helpless to act against these flags burning. All they can do is to protest against such burning, but it would be more meaningful if such flag burning though ethical undesirable is quite meaningless as it is the piece of cloth be it a flag that is destroyed or some useless substances in those effigies as burned. Is this a way to let off anger and hatred? As it is a fire that is involved, it is either to fire up some thing or just a futile exercise as in those vanishing smoke and light. Who is actually madder than it is thought to be so? A more serious adventure is the deployment of guns and cannons which can deliver explosives over a great length of distance to cause grievous impacts. Isn't it that it is to fire a gun although we may not see the instant split second fire within the guns and the cannons? Some smoke can be seen after the trigger is clicked. Then we have missiles that can be fired from launchers to hit a moving targets resulting in fires and destruction. In the major sporting events, it is a tradition that a torch is carried over thousand of miles to be utilised for lighting a great fire in a giant burner at the principal stadium to last throughout the games. Such burning fire is symbolic of the sport spirit as energised and inspired by true sportsmanship and fellowship. Why was that this tradition as started is perpetuated till today? Why was this tradition established in the first place, possibly to warm up athletes in colder weather in earlier times? Nowadays, even in hot climatic host countries, this practice is emulated. Must such practice be continued till today as much costly energy would be consumed and air quality around the sporting venues would encounter more pollution. Some sport people may suffer as a consequence of such prolong burning. Fireworks possibly to enhance the mood of auspicious occasions are so often exhibited at night for most major sporting activities like grand world cups for some major sports and games like football or soccer at both the openings and the closings. What we may enjoy for our eyes only for a few minutes can have another round of adverse environmental impact on the air quality of the already congested venues. The consequences of such pollution may also end up on our crops and the fields if rain occur soon after the fireworks display. Do you think such costly fireworks are really necessary? Except for the colours and the designs, much money is actually burned away, as the memory may soon vanish except captured by cameras and videos. With today's technology, such displays can be reproduced and simulated and thrown onto several major screens to produce similar nostalgia without any environmental damage to our health and the society at large. All the sound and light effects would be there too. Many countries have banned fire crackers for the same reasons and now replaced by replicas and music cassettes to give the mood of the many festivals at a fraction of the costs of just burnt fire crackers. Fire crackers are known to have also caused domestic fires and deaths to some people playing crackers carelessly. Fire had been used in so long ago to burn society icons for whatever offences committed by popular and effective social champions but in the bad books of rulers of the day. Such icons then would become martyrs and haunt whatever authorities involved with such daunting applications to silent certain people for subsequent era. Another common practice is the use of firing squad to execute convicted prisoners for whatever crimes. Some people in war time can be exposed to this kind of execution without appropriate justice. All these would strike much fear in the people who are aware of such actions. Is this a normal thing for some religious symbols to be burned in public? Who are offended by such burning? Is it the religion that is offended? Or is it that the God of certain religion that is offended? The believers of such religions may be offended. Are such offenders punishable under secular laws? Does anyone should think that secular laws should be applied for such offence? Do you think God needs to be defended? If any defence is considered necessary, what kind of punishment is fitting for the crimes if any? As it is a spiritual matter, what kind of secular punishment is deemed adequate? What happen if such offence is not carried out in public but done within certain communes or cult premises? Should the whole commune or cult group be punished? Would any education be adequate to rehabilitate such deemed offenders? Recently, there were two major Buddha statues of ancient times destroyed by fired weapons like guns, mortars, and cannons due to their heights. Were any punishments meted out? Would you think God would instantly punish such people in disbelief? Even if the replica of the Cross of Jesus Christ, the Son of God was burned in full view of the public, what purpose does that serve? Is it that simple as that for the true God's Son who had gone through Crucifixion and Resurrection be offended by such misadventure of some people in disbelief? In actual fact, when the replica Cross is burned, there is no adverse significance to the Truth of the true God except that the Cross as lit thrown up much light symbolic reminder of that as Christ is the Light, the Way and the Truth. The whole episode only thrown dampness on the people who out of sheer hatred had themselves to blame as their names can be blotted out of the Book of Life, meaning Light Invisible Fire Eternally. The fire that burn the Cross was only a short measure. Jesus can give such people eternal Holy Fire or Holy Spirit as He can give the living water. So ponder over who are the real losers? Even the fear that may be generated is also temporary as when the Truth is revealed to the people at large, the fear of the Lord God is paramount. So this fire is certainly a medium to convey all sort of messages both physical and spiritually for our own goodness in this temporary journey to heaven of joy with God's Spirit or hell where more damned unquenchable fire prevails eternally. The burning of the Cross is certainly a worrying matter for the Government of the day as in a disciplinary norm in society. Should we or should we not review the whole process of the secular laws in the handling of earthly justice over such incidences? On the other hand, who is fit enough to punish any perceived wrong doing concerning a religious matter? Any church would not be able to mete out any appropriate punishment except through spiritual encouragement or rehabilitation through scriptural discipleship for those ignorant souls in need of soul-ution (solution) to their spiritual attitudes and actions. The idea that politics can fashion belief and foster morality is bankrupt and in wreckage on the rocky seas of time - God is the Ruler of all the earth and of the heavens above. Seek not the political solution to your spiritual problems, but seek a spiritual solution for your political problems. What some of the Judges had said about this burning of the Cross in the USA as reported in the press. An Intense Attack by Justice Thomas on Cross-BurningBy LINDA GREENHOUSE WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 — The question for the Supreme Court in an argument today was whether a state may make it a crime to burn a cross without at the same time trampling on the protection that the First Amendment gives to symbolic expression. The case, concerning a 50-year-old Virginia law, raised tricky questions of First Amendment doctrine, and it was not clear how the court was inclined to decide it — until Justice Clarence Thomas spoke. A burning cross is indeed highly symbolic, Justice Thomas said, but only of something that deserves no constitutional protection: the "reign of terror" visited on black communities by the Ku Klux Klan for nearly 100 years before Virginia passed the law, which the Virginia Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a year ago. A burning cross is "unlike any symbol in our society," Justice Thomas said. "There's no other purpose to the cross, no communication, no particular message," he continued. "It was intended to cause fear and to terrorize a population." During the brief minute or two that Justice Thomas spoke, about halfway through the hour long argument session, the other justices gave him rapt attention. Afterward, the court's mood appeared to have changed. While the justices had earlier appeared somewhat doubtful of the Virginia statute's constitutionality, they now seemed quite convinced that they could uphold it as consistent with the First Amendment. Justice Thomas addressed his comments to Michael R. Dreeben, a deputy federal solicitor general who was arguing in support of Virginia's defense of its statute. But he did not have questions for Mr. Dreeben, who in any event agreed with him in nearly all respects. The threat of violence inherent in a burning cross "is not protected by the First Amendment" but instead is "prohibited conduct," Mr. Dreeben had just finished arguing. Rather, Justice Thomas appeared driven to make the basis for his own position unmistakably clear. "My fear is you are actually understating the symbolism of and effect of the burning cross," he said, adding, "I think what you're attempting to do is fit this into our jurisprudence rather than stating more clearly what the cross was intended to accomplish." It was a gripping made-for-television moment — except, of course, for the fact that television cameras are not permitted inside the courtroom. Justice Thomas speaks in a rich baritone that is all the more striking for being heard only rarely during the court's argument sessions. His intervention, consequently, was as unexpected as the passion with which he expressed his view. He referred to an opinion he wrote in 1995, concurring with the majority that the City of Columbus, Ohio, had no basis for refusing permission to the Klan to place a cross among other Christmastime displays in a downtown park that served as an open forum for religious expression. In that opinion, Justice Thomas said he was joining the decision despite his belief that the Klan's cross was not a form of religious expression but rather "a symbol of white supremacy and a tool for the intimidation and harassment" of racial and religious minorities. There was a suggestion in his remarks today that perhaps he now regretted his effort in that case to meld his own views into the court's jurisprudence and, after 11 years on the court, no longer felt obliged to try. Afterward, Justice David H. Souter addressed Rodney A. Smolla, the lawyer for three men who were convicted under the cross-burning statute in two incidents. Mr. Smolla, a well-known First Amendment scholar at the University of Richmond, had just argued that the government could make it a crime to brandish a gun but not to burn a cross because a gun has physical properties that make it dangerous while the danger inherent in a burning cross comes from the ideas it symbolizes and not its physical properties. That might have been a winning argument two centuries ago, Justice Souter said, "but how does your argument account for the fact that the cross has acquired potency at least akin to a gun?" Justice Souter called a burning cross "a kind of Pavlovian symbol, so that the person who sees it responds not to its message but out of fear." He added that "other symbols don't make you scared," suggesting that a burning cross might be "a separate category." Mr. Smolla recalled the court's decision upholding a First Amendment right to burn an American flag. "You must concede," he said, that the cross itself "is one of the most powerful religious symbols in human history." As with burning the flag, the act of burning a cross involves "calling on that repository of meaning" to make a symbolic point, he said. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg objected that there was "a big difference" between the two acts. "The flag is a symbol of the government," Justice Ginsburg said, and it is inherent in the constitutional system that "anyone can attack the government." But burning a cross means "attacking people, threatening life and limb," she said. The Virginia law prohibits burning a cross "with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons." Mr. Smolla said it would be effective as well as constitutional to make threats and intimidation a crime without singling out a particularly threatening symbol. "A burning torch and a burning cross — what's the difference?" he asked, evidently intending to emphasize the expressive nature of cross-burning. But Justice Anthony M. Kennedy found a different answer. "One hundred years of history," he said. Mr. Smolla made the best of the moment, saying, "Thank you, Justice Kennedy, and that 100 years of history is on the side of freedom of speech." William H. Hurd, Virginia's state solicitor, argued on behalf of the statute in Virginia v. Black, No. 01-1107. "We have not tried to suppress freedom of speech," Mr. Hurd said. "All we've tried to do is protect freedom from fear." Keep the fire burning, as in a corporate scenario. It is an observation that in any old fashion fire place where charcoal or wood is used, the fire would die off if it is not stirred around because of the ash that has accumulated over the materials. Also if only a piece of wood is used for any fire, it would lose its fire soon and the fire thereof would be small too. If we put a few pieces of charcoal or woods together for a fire, the intensity of the fire would be great and the fire lasts much longer too. So in life, we may want to draw some lessons from this symbolic scenario of working together. But be warned that there was also an unusual incident in the Bible in the challenge between Elijah and the Baal over a fire as in the offering to God. There is the legend of the dragon that would release tongues of fire. Isn't this kind of dragon so powerful that could fly and roam the sky and the world and yet had disappeared from earth? Was there such a physical creature then and now? If such animal or creature exist today and also invisible to mankind, then many forest fires could have been started by it. Strangely this is one of the twelve animals as chosen by Buddha and that the Chinese calendar had adopted twelve signs in a cycle of twelve years. All the other eleven symbols exist today as creatures. Isn't it that the invisible is so influential today as many do worship the dragon as supernatural icon or an idol to a certain extend? I wish we can see this creature in the reality. It is undoubtedly seen by people in their vision as vibrant as described in books. Would this mystery be ever be solved, although this item is mentioned in the Bible too? For some festivals, the dragon dance is offered as an entertaining event as performed by many dancers weaving through the spaces. I have personally seen vision of a dragon of a different dimension as in polygamy and extra-marital relationship, giving rise to the wrath of God. Such kinds of dragon do give rise to lots of spiritual fire within families possibly resulting in families woes of envy and anger. It is quite common that symbols are our daily references every where to go. Like envelops may bear the scissors for the need of a cutting, the symbol of fire may likely be used for indicating danger of things that are hazardous as in heat, dangers, ovens, power generating engine rooms, and the colour of fire in red is itself an indicator of danger. That is so much for the physical warning of fire or dangers thereof. The symbol of fire has a spiritual implication as in the Holy Fire as the Holy Spirit which is also spiritualised by the tongues of fire. Nevertheless, this Holy Fire to be effective, we must be in it as to be differentiated from the physical fire that we have to run away from unless we are fire fighters. Whether we choose to be in the midst of the Holy Fire or we are selected to be in it is uncertain. As the baking of the body is a continuous affairs, can we really avoid that? Many may choose to run into it so that sanctification is available because there is no other way in this eternal affair. We should welcome this Holy Fire lest we may end up in the other eternal fire. Another context of fire is suffering now and in the eternality because of the unendurable heat from fire. Is this a symbol of some supernatural things when we see so much red sunsets or sun rises? In recent years, there have been much occurrences of such scenarios. Would such scenarios warm our hearts or just indicating that the days ahead are warm or hot in the adverse climatic changes that are ongoing? Would such red (fire-like) skies on the horizon be just implying any fore warnings of the mother nature? Would such red skies be in more manifestations of the things beyond us? Would we just let such divine paintings on the wall / skies so to speak as taken for granted, and not allow our spirits to find things to warm our hearts now and forever? As the saying goes, the writing is on the wall, and be it that the paintings on the morning and evening skies be just ignored? Whatever that may be, watching sunsets which last longer than the sunrises is so symbolic that a birth is so sudden and easily forgotten as a child whilst sunsets of lives take much longer with much more enduring to be overcome also as a child again of a different dimension. So let us be reminded by the beautiful sunsets that always fascinate us more than sun rises, that we are going into an area at the end of a phase yet unknown but known to God. So the red sunset are of spiritual values as some times the red skies in the evenings or dusk are so widespread that the whole sky can be in pinkish colours. Do all these varying scenarios days after days of the unpredictable skies in the changing colours mean any thing to us? Do we look up to the sky regularly for awesome forms of colours such as rainbows, cloud formations, halos? Do we then learn to look up to God? Since time immemorial, inhabitants had been fascinated by solar, stars and lunar watching, so much so that at nights the dead moon can have such an impact on us especially during the full moon. We know that the moon has much significance in some major areas of the earth and the universe. Love is fire as depicted in the red heart, although the heart is not red in colour when the blood may appear to the eyes as red. We do symbolise Love with a red heart because in any love relationship there is an element of fire unseen except in the hearts of parties concerned. Red in itself may mean fire. Again this fire can stay or vanish in the case of divorces. What is really the ingredient that is needed to keep this kind of fire burning? Who can do that? We all are told that our hearts are the temple of God, hence God dwell within us to foster this unending Love as God is love.




 Chapter 5 Science of fire

 Some people many think that in marriage there is a glue that keeps on holding is produced by a lifetime love commitment that keeps on stirring. That glue is non other that that is already in built in the spirit of life given to each one of us. How to keep that glue to be sticky is really a secret that God has it hidden within the element of LOVE. In LOVE, there is a light offering virtually eternal. Again in marriage, the Bible tells us that no one should try to break that love sealed in any Holy Matrimony made in Heaven. I have seen some fire flies in my early days yet in Labuan in the hours of dusk. It is quite unexplainable that there is such a tiny creature like a pea that the tail part of the insects would carry a light. Such fire flies are still to be seen in Klias Peninsula in the mainland of Sabah opposite Labuan. There are tourist trips organised to view such fire flies. Normally, they would fly in groups. So this may convey a message that all living things have different levels of lights in certain parts of the body. These fire flies are more visible. It is also observed that animals eye are fiery especially at night as some people shine a light into their heads when the people go hunting in the jungles. This is also applicable to dogs. But from my experience of many years of very close contacts, the dogs' eyes can also be fiery without a light been shone directly on them. There may happen even with the odd weak lights from the street lamps. I have also observed that when I see these kinds of fiery eyes, the dog is actually encountering some approaching evil forces around. It would appear such fiery outlook may deter unwelcome evil darts. That may explain why certain people are haters of dogs for those spoiler roles, when dogs are considered the best friends of man. We are familiar with how bricks are made from the fire or in the oven. Bricks making was already available in the time of Moses in Egypt. Good bricks would need good technique too. In the medical science, sort of fire in the application of X-ray for diagnosis purposes, and this is akin to our effort in soul searching, when a person desires a cleansed life as encouraged in Psalm 51. In both case, fire of some sort is invoked, though without our knowledge. What about the heavenly Stars that seem to shine every night? They may appear small to us on the earth as the famous song in the twinkle, twinkle little stars, when they are also massive bodies in the astronomical universe. That shining light would appear to be fire of sort. There was also the massive star of Christmas during the change of the calendar to the present day of Anno Domini (AD) of two thousands years ago. It is also known as star of Bethlehem which is literally the House of Bread and bread is the works of raw wheat made by hands and baked in oven. Chinese astronomers recorded a nova in the constellation Capricorn that was visible during March-April of 5 BC. It was visible for over 70 days. But Matthew indicates that the star moved from the eastern sky to the south. A nova in Capricorn, some 40 degrees off the ecliptic, would not have moved much at all, with respect to Earth; and it would have remained in the same place with respect to the celestial background. Chinese astronomers also recorded two comets - one in 5 BC and one in 4 BC. The comet of 5 BC had an observable tail; the comet the following year did not. Although the Chinese thought of comets as “broom stars” - sweeping away the old and bringing in the new, and thus, looked upon them with favor, many astronomers, as well as the general populace, in Persia and the Roman empire did not share this view. Comets were felt to be harbingers of disaster; it is therefore highly unlikely that a comet could have been the star that announced the birth of the Jewish Messiah, or that inspired the Magi to make the long journey to Bethlehem. Furthermore, Matthew’s account clearly described a star; it is highly unlikely that he would have mistaken a comet for a star. Another matter of historical significance is that in the year 4 BC, Korean astronomers recorded sighting a bright and previously unknown heavenly star moving in an orbit from East to West toward the Middle East. This was recorded by observers at the Chomsongdae observatory at Kyung-ju, Korea. Their method of observation at this strange observatory is mysterious. The structure still stands and is shaped like a tower. There is, however, a mote of water around its base and the observations were somehow enhanced by viewing the heavens by means of reflections from the water. In the article titled “Was Christmas star a double eclipse of Jupiter?” on December 27, 2001 by Richard Stenger of CNN Sci-Tech it was reported that a U.S. astronomer said he has uncovered the first reference to the star of Bethlehem outside the Bible, in the 4th-century writings of a Christian convert who wanted to hide the astrological roots of the celestial phenomenon. For centuries, scientists and scholars have debated about the nature of the Biblical light that led the Magi to the newborn Jesus. Some have suggested a comet or supernova. But Michael Molnar concluded that the star was actually a double eclipse of Jupiter roughly 2,000 years ago. Whatever uncertainties that are recorded it is still a time of great significance every where more so in the heavenlies, that divine events and miracles are only observed by few people. Whether there was a star or just a bright light in the sky at that time over Bethlehem, it was certain that there was God in great light in the flesh of Jesus who also later on sent His Holy Spirit. Embattled Senate Republican leader Trent Lott on Wednesday promised a home-state audience that he was ''going to find a way for myself, my family, my friends, you, the people of Mississippi, and America to benefit from this experience.'' That is the firestorm that has enveloped Lott since he said the nation would have been better off if Strom Thurmond had been elected president a half-century ago, when he ran on a segregationist platform. Sometimes, strange ugly faces are found on the ways of the smokes of big fire symbolising that evils may find much pleasure in such incidences as their faces are likely reflection of those who perish in the fire and mirror of those faces who had committed such evil acts of setting big physical consuming fire. Science of fire is also identified by a triangle of fuel, oxygen and heat and that is applied in the case of forest fires as the environment compatible for fire to burn over a long time. The heat would activate the ignition. The combustion products are principally invisible namely water and carbon dioxide. When there are condensed substances in the fires, we observe familiar smoke and residual ash. The process of such fire is due to conduction, radiation and convection as in the transfer of heat through gas. After a series of crude inventions starting with the oil lamp and wick still at use today, Thomas Edison invented the incandescent electric light bulb in 1870. All the fire need is a spark and this spark is devastating if all the ingredients of fire prevail. Some of these sparks can come from the sources less easily to be overcome. Not all fires can be extinguished by water. Even some modern fire extinguishers of chemical are not that effective, because of the scale and infrastructure of such fires. I had personally witnessed how electrical fire can be started at the main fuse boxes of electrical supplies. Electrical fire can be started very fast when the wires at the fuse boxes are overheated. Nevertheless, this kind of fire does send out an early warning as the burning smell of rubber can be detected within the building's staircase. So it is important that every office using much power of electricity easily over load their demands, have a fire extinguisher of chemicals ready to be used. But we must know how to aim the limited foam from the jet of the extinguisher at the base / burning part, after breaking the glass containing the powder to react with the acid therein. Also please be reminded that such extinguishers need to be checked regularly so that when the need arises as in a fire the equipment is in working condition for any emergency. In view of the need of effective fire fighting, fire fighting equipment is also to be enhanced scientifically as there is now available a high pressure fire fighting tool called "Infulse guns". Also with modern requirement of fire fighting in more developed areas including super sky scrappers, fire fighting machines are much bigger and sophisticated now, and also the sirens are also much strikingly louder unlike few decades earlier, bells were used as sirens. As society does become more complex and many incidents of fire are possibly ugly with hidden agenda with respect to claims of insurance or even murder. So some have developed some science known as forensic of fire to identify the causes and origins of all fires. In cases when some incidents of fire come to the Courts, such findings of forensic experts are presented in the hearings. A lightning is a spark produced by the discharge of static electricity from a charged cloud to another, or between different parts of the same cloud. It is accompanied by a bright flash of light, and thunder resulting from the sudden expansion of air that has been rapidly heated by the flash. Even there are two types of lightning known as sheet and forked lightning, due to the different formation of the positive and negative ions in the sky. In the evening of 6.20 p.m. of 28th December 2002, there appeared to be a powerful bolt of lightning, yet not visible to the eyes as it was so strangely blinding momentarily as even all the electrical lights around my back garden went off. Then the electrical lights including the street lights came on, only to be followed by a long string of running loud thunders. Earlier in 1827, John Walker invented friction matches when in 1830 Charles Sauria made phosphorous matches. In 1845 Anton von Schrotter discovered red phosphorous and uses it to develop the safety match. During the Spanish Inquisition, there was the harsh practice of doing this thing to some people. With their head shaven and wearing tunics showing people burning in hell, there were tied to stakes on the outskirts of own and burned alive in order to purify their souls and so allow them into heaven. This concept of purification of souls is strange as we will see what the Bible actually tells us to be allowed in heaven. There is a different holy fire, of course. Swords are made from flames that would be used to soften the metal for beating into shape from a mould of wood or stone. Explosives are also much more sophisticated and complex both for commercial, industrial and military applications and the impact of such force had led society in an unusual direction that there is Nobel Foundation for the purpose of awarding Nobel Peace Prizes for over a century, so symbolic of what a destructive force can lead the world towards PEACE and advancement in many fields of knowledge. What is the colour of nuclear explosion? The process does not involve fire as it is initiated by fission of neutrons in a chain reaction generating tremendous heat. The uranium itself is silvery grey. Due to the heat and the explosion, fire would be widespread as the target is achieved. Life is also to be identified by liquid (water), inflation (wind), fire and earth as obvious in the connectivity of the fire in our soul is said to be a combination of such elements in the four forces as earth, water, fire and wind. Such four forces symbolise LOVE, completing the eternally ascending ongoing cycle of creation. The fire of our life is as in LOVE which is in fact theorised by some physicists as the "Universal strong force" of Quantum physics, that hold all things together (via gluons) in the unified universal field. All these are considered to be in Genesis 1 :14-19. In the latest development of the Internet in the maintenance of the securities of web sites, fire walls are built to protect such sites against the onslaught of hackers. In another vein of the same scenario, we need to test the reliability of the systems of the fire walls, some companies have to employ suitably qualified hackers to test such systems using fire against fire. There is another term used in computing is that diskettes or CD-roms are copied or duplicated by a burner. The batteries dry or wet, when the connection of the negative and positive is done, electricity is generated and so this is also a spark of fire to initiate the generation of energy.




Chapter 6 Bible verses

 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma ... Genesis 8:20-21. ... He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. Genesis 19:3. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the Lord out of the heavens, Genesis 19:24 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering" Genesis 22: 7b. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. Exodus 3:2. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day and night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. Exodus 13:21-22. Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. Exodus 30:7. Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day. Exodus 35:3. They built the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, three cubits high .... Exodus 38:1. If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the Lord a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. Leviticus 4:3. The flesh and the hide he burned up outside the camp. Leviticus 9:11. Nabab and Abihu, however, fell dead before the Lord when they made an offering with unauthorised fire before him in the desert of Sinai. Number 3:4 Then, the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. Deuteronomy 4:12. When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leading men of your tribes and your elders came to me. And you said, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey. The Lord heard you when you spoke to me and the Lord said to me, I have heard what his people said to you. Everything they said was good. Deuteronomy 5:23-28. Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord's house. Joshua 6:24. When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Joshua 8:8. The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire. Judges 20:48. Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire. 1 Kings 18:25 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 1 Kings 18:38 It is a fire that burns to destruction, it would have uprooted my harvest. Job 31:12. "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king." (Dan 3:17) As when fire sets twigs ablaze and cause water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you. Isaiah 64:2. Our holy and glorious temple, where our fathers praised you, has been burned with fire and all that we treasured lie in ruins. Isaiah 64:11. Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: "The Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire. Jeremiah 29:22. I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord's wrath. In the fire of jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth. Zephaniah 1:17-18. But anyone who says, You fool! will be in danger of the fire of hell. Matthew 5:22c. Everyone will be salted with fire. Mark 9:49. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" Luke 9:54. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. Act 2:23. His work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's man works. 1 Corinthians 3:13. Consider what a great forest fire is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, set the whole course on his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. James 3:6 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. James 5:3. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perished even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory or honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:7. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 2 Peter 3: 10-12. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. Revelation 1:14. If anyone tries to harm the two witnesses, fire comes from their mouths and devour their enemies. This is how anyone want to harm them must die. Revelation 11:5 When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, was there ever a city like this great city? Revelation 18:18. NB: There are tens of thousands more verses relating to fire such as burned sacrifices, heat, light, life, love, lamp smoke, explosions, melting and anger. But the appendix B only refer to verses on fire.




Chapter 7 What is this fire in modern days?

 God's calling is not only communicated on a level that is loud enough to hear, but also so that it is clear enough to be understood. In this case it is the explosive fire as we witnessed recently. The incidences of fire in history and now has not changed much except but the destruction as a result of accidental and deliberate fire may be much bigger in size. Many were awakened by the World Trade Centre's Twin Tower Air fire so early in the morning in United States of America, and many in the Western part maybe asleep or just having breakfast. Those in Asia were about to go to bed. I was one of those who received a brief email slightly after 9 p.m. telling me that the World Trade Centre could have a maximum occupants of 50,000 workers and visitors. But to date it is known that less than 3,000 had perished. There are so many implications on this fire so high up in the sky being one of the two highest twin sky scrappers in the world. This tragic mammoth incident is sending all sorts of messages to the world. One of that message can be found in the Bible in Revelation 18:18 also deemed to the Fall of Babylon, symbolic of a great system as the Twin Tower housed some of the major businesses of the world. What a coincidence of that name in Babylon that I had a dream of twin babies, twice falling out of the sky two days prior to September 11, 2001. There was also a prophecy of the Fall of Babylon as circulated in 1999 which was also referred to Revelation 18. Despite so much of under current of the attack, a proper official probe was not instituted until November 2002. Hopefully this official investigation would unearth some myth or mysteries of the successful attacks on the Twin Tower and the Pentagon although another plane landed in Pennsylvania. This is another indicator from my side as I had two poems in a new first book titled "New Wealth Order" inspired by God on 4th July, 1999 coincidentally the 223 anniversary of American independence. New Wealth Order's manuscript completed in 23 days on 27th July 1999 was somehow delayed to hit the street. It was surprisingly published and printed on 11th September 2001. Then that evening an email came through on the attack. It was also unusual to have dreamt the previous Sunday of "twin babies" falling out of the sky twice. The two poems in that book talked of towers and flames and as titled " Globalisation (without New Wealth Order)" and "Superstitchion (with New Wealth Order)". Many were finding themselves so busy especially in the Internet that many emails were despatched immediately with all sorts of strange messages. Even the prophetic symbols of Wing Ding who had designed some special symbols for both the alpha numeric letters, were being circulated possibly with some unknown reasons. It is known that every aircraft has a registration reference with the air authority, but is known to the public. The message in the symbols was uncanny relevant. But there were so many views over the infamous 911 incidence coincidentally 911 is also the emergency call number in the States. So what kind of emergency is this as fire of any sort is normal. With this fire and the ensuing scenario of fear and insecurity, America is not the same as before. Within weeks, a global War on Terrorism was declared and the implementation of that was first effected in Afghanistan in October 2001 to dislodge the network of the alleged king pin of that attack. So like in the ancient times, fire remains a tool of vengeance of sort. This highest incidence of fire resulting in some ugly smoky faces resembling the devils as captured in the films was widely circulated in the cyberspace. So this fire has triggered off chain reactions of sort including more violence every where. In the Middle East, there were a series of suicide bombers causing much damage to properties and losses of innocent lives, in the escalating stand off in the Palestine and Israel conflict, unlikely resolved outside God’s Will. There is even a claim that this Twin Tower Fire is mentioned in a religion book based on the 110 storeys and the date of September 11, 2001. It is not know why this is even being suggested as an interpretation of an event after it had happened. Or was this event being carried out to fulfill an interpretation hence self fulfilling. Whatever this may be, was it a scenario that must take place as a sign of times hence people must take note of such as to learn the likely lessons from time sensitive development in the human race. I will deal with more of this in the next chapter. Since September 11, 2001, there had been small fires caused by explosions here and there around the world due mainly unsettled internal and regional conflicts. But another big one on 12th October 2002 in the Bali Bomb Blasts occurred to cause so much stir in modern days lifestyle of the free travelling public in famous resorts like Bali, Indonesia. The motives were not immediately known as initial facts were puzzling. There were much initial allegations of conspiracy of varied dimensions. As the investigation progressed, suspects were detained and the reasons for that terrorist event killing almost two hundred foreigners became clearer. Certainly it was fire of vengeance although Indonesia was so far from Afghanistan and the United States of America. It was also revealed that many other earlier likely targets of foreigners were botched in South East Asia. Such applications of fire are not new, but the scale may have become bigger. Would such fire attacks solve global woes? Despite the inherent danger of fire, there are people today still worship Fire as Fire is used in poojas for Goddess Adhiparasakthi in several ways. The most common use is in small lamps. Larger fires are used in the conduct of velvis for the offering of special woods and other natural items. The smoke from these fires purifies and heals. Elsewhere, there are other people of different civilisation also worship fire.



 Chapter 8 Is fire a sign for the mankind?

 Incredible as it may sound that we are now witnessing suicide bombers as in the so familiar words of the Bible as "Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth"? Zephaniah 1:17 Haven't we come to witness this in recent years and more so in the new millennium, so much of these grisly pictures in the mass media and the Internet web site? Isn't this another unfortunate scenario conveyed in His Word of the return of the Messiah Jesus as Zephaniah deals with the end times scenario? Again in the same Book, in Chapter 2 :1-2, Zephaniah warned us in the following words as "Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives, and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord's wrath come upon you. (Zephaniah 2:1-2)." Yes, we know that suicide bombers are the manifestation of human wrath of the incredible proportion, as ordinary people of God, for whatever reasons. But beware, we are warned of God's wrath totally beyond our control. What we are witnessing is to be taken seriously for what are to unfold and that day may be getting nearer by the day. In the instances of lightning and batteries, we are told that it is the interaction of the positive and negative charges to start a spark leading possibly to fire. So in the societal scenario, there are lots of positive and negative charges so prevalent in global conflicts leading possibly to so many inevitable explosive fire incidents. Another worsening temperature scenario is the climatic changes of much hotter days and nights. As the climate becomes hotter, further aggravated with a much bigger global population of greater consumption and greater usage of all sorts of air conditioners, fueling hotter environment outside with much less natural forests. Can we blame some people for such worsening heat waves around the world? Aren't each one of us be held responsible for the degrading environment leading to the extreme hot manifestations? Despite a report that the earth was the hottest day on 2nd January 2002 due to the closest proximity of the Sun, Kota Kinabalu in Borneo experienced one of the coolest days all day long due to little rain and clouded sky. Would this natural and more frequent occurrences of volcanic fire be another sign of bad omen for the occupants of the earth? Science may argue that such occurrences are due to the way of the formations of the earth crusts as in the ring of fire. During volcanic eruptions, some hot molten larva may be spilt into the high atmosphere resulting in a sort of hot vacuum within those mountains. So it is logical that in any hot vacuum, something is sucked into such cavities and into captivity of sort so similar to the scenario of hell. So it is logical to imagine that those spirits doomed to hell would be directed to such volcanoes, as it is also known that when the end of the world comes, there would be lots of volcanic eruptions too, possibly setting free these doomed spirits for final Judgment and final damnation. There is another verse in the Bible as "when fire sets twigs ablaze and cause water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you." Isaiah 64:2. Never have any fire in modern history as the Twin Towers in New York City also known as Big Apples City to have such an impact in the global context as in the initiation of massive operations so much so that some of the enemies concerned in this tragic fire are identified and also revealed publicly. With the War on Terrorism as initiated by the United States of America, closely supported by the Great Britain and morally supported by many other nations, aren't other nations quaking before God? Is this another sign of this time and age of what would come to the earth with so much uncertainty in a power struggle of seen and unseen forces? Where would all these lead to? Do we have any answers? We may have glimpses of such scenario in the Bible. However, do we believe that the stars are signs of God’s works; there are several indications in the Old Testament, starting with Genesis 1:14, that God placed the stars in the sky as signs, to make known His wishes and actions. Stars are akin to fire too. The Bible also tell us the earth may face the fire of destruction in 2 Peter 3:10-12 as we are now experiencing sort of similar atmosphere with much anxiety and fear. Would we escape such bleak outlook in the near future? The Bible also tell us of sudden rapture into eternality.




 Chapter 9 The Holy Fire for redemption.

  We all share a common destiny as we are told in the Bible which is the History of Mankind. Although the Bible looks like a defacto historical record of the human race from the start of the earth with the first inhabitants as Adam and Eve, it is actually the story of God in His creation or HIStory. As I wrote at the beginning that Adam was almost nearly half baked with a life. That is a perfect creation as a human being. God had also given mankind the handbook or the manual as illustrated in the Bible as to how stay on course to fulfill God's image in us. So God has created with the fire in the life, as He breathed into Adam and Adam had a light visible to God. As Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, he lost that light over his body as (Bake Over Dust Yields). As it is God's will for His creation, that He even sent His Word as His Word become flesh in Jesus as in the incarnation of Jesus in the womb of Mother Mary on 25th December and the physical birth on 23rd August. On the real anniversary of the Incarnation of Jesus on WEDNESDAY 25th December, 2002, I had the confirmation of at least three special signs of fire too, namely a divine longest cake with an icing on the western sky, the meeting of an Arabic Christian from Egypt, symbolic of the Pillar of Fire and walking under the “on and off” street light apart from meeting a retired fire officer. God is so good that He had given additional facilities that we can have direct access to God in Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit in the Godhead of three persons. Life is sustained by water as burning of fire within us to keep our engines running, Jesus also tells us of the living water. (John 4:10) As Adam lost His divine gift of light as in a veil that made him wrapped up until he became aware of the nakedness after sinning in the Garden of Eden, God has to allow a new plan so that mankind can be restored to Him alone through the coming and the sacrifice of Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross as in John 3:16. This veil is again mentioned in “Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear,” (Revelation 19:8) in the awesome wedding of the Lamb. With the coming of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus, God sent another comforter in the Holy Spirit. God is Spirit and is Light as Jesus is the Light, the Way and the Truth. So in order that the fallen human race after Adam be redeemed so that we can be united with God as we are created in His image, we have to offer ourselves to be sanctified by the holy fire of the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile, as we want to give all Glory to God as God does not share His Glory with anyone else. So there are also such Redeemed Ministry of Pillars of Fire to enlighten others of the need of the Holy Spirit. However, there are also counterfeit ministry by similar name hence deceptive to people. So please be cautioned of such activities of such people who can mislead others in the raising of fund, although such deceptive means is recorded in the Internet as a scam too. It is quite incredible that some people can called themselves as members of the Redeemed Ministry of Pillars of Fire, when they know their hidden agenda, abusing God's truth. The Holy Spirit is also known as the Refiner's fire. A good illustration is how goldsmith utilise fire in the purification of the raw gold in the process to obtain very pure gold so that such product can be used to make fine jewellery. Let me share a special experience on All Saints Day on Wednesday 1st November 1989. At the regular Wednesday prayers meeting, the Dean of All Saints Cathedral laid hands on a fellow member of the church and I was standing at the back with my left hand on the shoulder of my friend. Within a few minutes, I could feel sort of electrical power going through my friend as I could feel the vibration and the heat arising from such divine intervention in a prayer for healing. I had to take my hand off him but continued to stand at his back as in support. So the explanation for such manifestation is the healing fire of the Holy Spirit. With such unexplainable encounter in the physical realm, it is indeed a great spiritual experience to enhance our faith in Christ as we prayed simply to God. We are convinced that God has great power in His Spirit as in a fiery transformation. How Holy Spirit can bring us closer to Christ for redemption. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed with fire, and the fire shall everyman's work of what sort it is. (1 Corinthians 3:10-13.). We have to wait till the Lord comes, He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness. (1 Corinthians 4:5). That the trail of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:7) The Bible also tell us to be merciful to those who doubt, snatch others from the fire and save them; (Jude 22 & 23A), and I hope this small book on the physical and the spiritual fire can enlighten ourselves to be alert of the simple spiritual truth of the eternity of heaven and hell. How this Holy Fire can complete the only nearly bake over dust yield (body) so that we would have the original veil of light, as qualified in Christ to enter heaven? We can learn from the Word of God in the Bible that the Holy Spirit can burn all impurities and sins in us if only we submit to this sanctification. So it appears that the only nearly baked body is in need of a continuous process of burning of a different method as in the holy fire of the perfect Holy Spirit. Jesus said “salted by Fire as salt is normally used to give better taste or flavour to food, salt is also applied to preserve many types of food such as eggs, meat, fish, vegetable. Salt is also used for cleansing purposes. So when salted by fire life can be preserved, purified, cured or transformed for God’s purpose by a divine process of the Holy Fire. How we can avoid going to the eternally doomed baking in the hell fire? As we know that there is the Heaven and Hell, but how do know the way of God to gain heaven? We are told that Lord Jesus Christ would bring us to the Heavenly Father at the end of our earthly journey. The problem here is that how do we avoid hell or hell fire? We are told that at the final Judgment the living and the dead would be separated as sheep and goats. It is also known that we are all destined spiritually depending on what we do on earth. All those destined to heaven would carry with the original light (or veil) as in Adam before he sinned and with the sins we would accumulated darkness on our souls of our life perpetually. So those living souls would come to God with either light or darkness hence as sheep and goats. As it is spiritual truth that God is Light cannot accept darkness and automatically separate themselves into two groups. Those with darkness would be eternally self condemned to hell for further burning. So isn't it better that we now subject ourselves to be burned by the Holy Spirit by accepting Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour? The dispute of whose God is true as illustrated by Elijah as challenged by the Baal prophets over the only true God using the fire sent from heaven should have conveyed the apt message to the world then. Yet today, this issue of the true God of the world is still a sore item as claimed by three major groups namely Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Who do you think Baal prophets represent? Isn't it that this spiritual world is divided into God and Satan? So Baal prophets who failed to receive any response from their god must had relied on Satan to answer their wish. If you reexamine the scenarios today, which major faith group is the successor of the God of Elijah or the God of the Bible? We are told that God had given all authority on earth or heaven to Jesus as under His feet. For Jesus, it is no more the need to use fire to settle any issue, but Himself and the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said "Jesus will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Matthew 3:11) I do see a lot of spiritual beings in the sky since 1990. Such spiritual beings although are of the light but their characteristics are varied. Those looking like the logo of circles with darkness in between moving in stiff and stubborn formations would appear farthest from me and I have yet to see them indoors. There is another groups like the floating silver flakes behaving more gentle are apparently the departed spirits of the saints and angels. There is always the symbolic vibrant worm-like as in Psalms 22:6 moving closely in front of my eyes most of the times comforting me as this single entity can transform into clear manifestation of the position of Jesus on the Cross, yet without the Cross, but revealing the crown of thorn on His head. This is the last of four usual groups namely a dark arc by the side of my vision, never cross my eyes but disturbing at times. Apart from this, I see lots of vibrant colours with my eyes shut indicating that each life is of internal fire of variety. I mention them because such spiritual beings of fire do fire me up in my souls in my daily faithful walk with Christ. Old tradition of sacrifice by burnt offering although loved by God (Genesis 8:20-21) is all fulfilled by Jesus as in "Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. (Hebrews 7:27) As Jesus was and is God and this new covenant is different as a sinless Man and God had to be crucified amongst criminals on the Cross as prophesied in Psalm 22:6 as a Crimson worm and Isaiah 53 which is in the appendix. So as Jesus had fulfilled the sacrifice for mankind, the followers of Christ need not do any more burnt sacrifice, as many other religions still practise that also considered an environmental hazard. Much more than, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Jesus Christ. (Roman 5:9). I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich, and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness, and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. The blood of Jesus is definite more superior as the cleansing and purifying agent than fire as blood is a fuel of life by itself. The basic properties of blood is that it is red as like fire, it is hot, and it passes through the heart the temple of the Holy Spirit. The way the Crimson worm offers its blood for our need bears similarity to Christ demonstrated LOVE. It is indeed good to share this “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it and gave it to his disciple, saying, “Take and eat, this is my body”. Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying “Drink from it all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is pour out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s Kingdom.(Matthew 26:26-29) Isn’t it appropriate to end this story of LIFE in fire with a song? We all wish that we may be touched in our hearts and be cured too of the physical (body), emotional (hatred), mental (attitudes) and spiritual (soul and spirit) capacity. The heart of our present day woes are in our hearts. Purify my heart Let me be as gold and precious silver Purify my heart Let me be as gold, pure gold Refiner's fire my heart's one desire Is to be holy, set apart for You, Lord I choose to be holy, set apart for You; My master, ready to do your will. Purify my heart Cleanse me from within and make me holy Purify my heart, Cleanse me from my sin, deep within. Amen. Keep the fire burning for the passion of God God bless all. A spark A spark is all that need, to start a fire to burn a love affair to begin a life of light to shine how that spark is started given the right scenario of more than one activities in a highly charged state of the icons of the positive and also the negative the striking of ingredients by accidents or incidents a big explosive situation of big sacrifice of materials for binding lessons or lesions of life now and into eternality. Joshua Y.C.Kong of Borneo @December 2002 Great Anger Divide The root cause of anger The expression of terror The slide into poverty Who are angry Why are people angry The slide into curse What led to that attack On September 11, 2001 so sick The slide into vengeance A holy book has mentioned That event as if sanctioned The slide into doom Holy Bible has also reasoned Babylon as sign of season The slide into end times More anger and more fear Wish in vain for peace near The slide into more terrorism One side going all for JIHAD The other stressing for War The slide into much uncertainty Counting the numbers game Courting the powers game The slide into global anger divide There is only ONE race God created the human race The slide of the endangered specie. Joshua Y.C. Kong of Borneo@ January 2003   Globalisation (Without New Wealth Order) 1 Towers of Glass, Narrow all the way upward Transparent for class 2. Standing tall outlook Multi lit colours for show Tapering tall for look 3. Small colourful fishes In narrow columns with bubbles Square-like shaped fishes 4. Fishes up and down only Movements in tower beauty Fishes twist and turn only 5. Occupants appreciate outside world Through the deceiving tower glass Although the border less world 6. A globalised world for all Restricted in scarificial flamboyant Man self-generated cruel all. 7. Some nations lack vision Box themselves in towers ill prepared for world vision 8. Wish a reminiscence Ark of Noah was to save Tower of glass nonsense 9. Tidal waves to come Tower of glass ill-conceived Perishing outcome 10. Tower of Babel Man self reinvent scare God created Man free Joshua Y.C.Kong Borneo@30.4.2000 Superstitchion (With New Wealth Order) 1. New Wealth Order is a flame Burn past for the new millennium The timely Divine and Holy Flame 2. Border less maybe so meaningful Dwellers’ comfort in individualism New World vision becomes bountiful 3. Transparent glass no more barrier Undeceitful for all six billions people Global Power transparency clearer 4. Narrow glass towers obsolete Free flows of all occupants Opportunities plenty to compete 5. Every where sharing abundant Talents and merits encouraged Old wealth disparities redundant 6. Hope now over dubious despair Fear overcome with clear certainty Livelihood likely in good repair 7. Away with nightmarish destruction Global revival outlook uplift Assured comfort in restoration 8. Inspired fundamentals basis No more scarificial tendencies Coincidences are Godincidences 9. Bless Christ and be blessed Salvation deserves daily praise Counting all blessings by facets 10. Look no further afield, Man Seize the hour of humble challenges New Wealth Home for all Man Joshua Y. C. Kong Borneo@30.4.2000 NB: @ Superstitchion is a new word based on “Stitch in time saves nine” or super salvation.   New Greek Fire Some condemn Jesus as satanic Some condemn Islam satanic The battle cry goes on unstoppable the real battle appears inevitable Spiritual warfare since the beginning call it in whatever name heckling Man since Adam and Eve capable Sons of Abraham in double Isaac to be great of all nations Ishmael to be great nation thereafter start the great hatred All mankind to be feared and dreaded The anger has been brewing the fire to cause water boiling Centuries of anger and deception fires had been burning all directions A great fire of great anger consume the great wealth divide of some till eleventh hour Twin Towers fire The global village needs the Holy Fire. Joshua Y.C. Kong of Borneo @13th December 2002 Keep the LIFE burning LIFE is Light Invisible Fire Eternal Man as half baked in Adam initial Man with a temperature of Fire Life is sustained within by Fire It takes suicide bomber's LIFE To destroy this precious LIFE Life gives a perpetual light invisible Light gone in dark terror inevitable Some bake mankind by suicide Fire. God completes baking by Holy Fire The sanctification by the Holy Spirit Almighty God is the loving Spirit The lit silhouette is God’s eternally. Joshua Y.C. Kong of Borneo @14th December 2002 Season Warm Greeting Twin sleek candles burning together within an hour melting Two sons of father Abraham Apart in great hate discord Star of Bethlehem above Star of David in the manger Two thousand two years bring true light of Jesus to mankind and great joy and goodwill in all seasons of Emmanuel. Happy Birthday to Lord Jesus Christ Have a blessed Christmas 2002 Joshua Y. C. Kong of Borneo @December 2002 The Coming Fire The year two thousand AD Anxiety over cyber bug Y2K The year two thousand and one Fear over the twin tower fire The year two thousand two Clarity the battle line drawn Fanning the great anger divide In global terror and terrorism When the truth of extremism Lead us to the fundamental Of the existence of mankind The banging of two thousand years The writing on the wall everywhere Come to the Holy reconciliatory fire The cleansing blood of God. Joshua Y. C. Kong of Borneo @January 2003 The Light Pillar of fire is the great Exodus The red fire and yet a pure light The symbol of red fire is danger Yet the light appears a welcome The light is of so many rays Rays of various frequencies ex Prism the rainbow colours Our eyes are made for colours for the natural intangible light And from the burning of life’s light of the visions external, internal and eternalised by the Spirit of God. Joshua Y.C. Kong of Borneo @ January 2003 Fire Sense You hear the cracking sound of fire You see the rising smoke of fire You see the brightening light of fire You feel the burning heat of fire You smell the choking flames of fire You touch the smoldering ashes of fire You taste the burning passion of inner fire We all appreciate the agent of transformation in life. Joshua Y.C. Kong of Borneo @January 2003 La' burn The island known as Labuan, also a strategic port or harbour corrupted from New Born in Labuan derived or corrupted from Pelabohan of a prominent native language An island of the shape triangle with a chimney very old and tunnel to harvest coal in great demand for burners to fire up maritime carriers so special with such a place also the founding place of first Christian churches for the burning desires in New Born as Borneo of Holy Spirit in Borneo Joshua Y.C.Kong of Borneo@December 2002 Isaiah 53 Who has believed our message And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of dry ground He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, Nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, A man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities And carried our sorrows, Yet we considered him 0striken by God, Smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our Iniquities; The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, And by his wounds we were healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; And the Lord has laid on him The iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, Yet he did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers is silent, So he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? 0For he was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, And with the rich in his death, Though he had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, And though the makes his life a guilt offering, He will see his offspring and prolong his days, And the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, And he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, Because he poured out his life unto death, And was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors. THE CRIMSON WORM Psalm 22, a messianic psalm, begins with these woeful and wonderful words, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Of the seven words from the cross, these words are perhaps the most mysterious. And of these words, the central word is, 'WHY?' Why did the Creator of the world and the King of Glory condescend to be made lowly as man and to offer himsel a sacrifice for the Redemption of men? Lenten Season is past and Easter has been observed another year in our Church, but perhaps we should continue to observe the great promise and meaning of these holy days throughout the Church year. WHY did Christ suffer and die for you and me? Because without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin(Heb 9:22), and that sacrifice must be one without blemish or guilt. Jesus Christ is the one and only substitute who could qualify to be the atoning Lamb whose blood could redeem us. The ONLY one in all of time and eternity. And He was willing to make the uttermost sacrifice for sinful man. In verse 6 of this great Psalm describing the suffering of Christ on the cross, our Saviour makes a rather puzzling statement: "But I am a worm, and no man." As a child I used to ponder those words in disbelief. How could Jesus describe Himself so? A close study of the word 'worm' as used in this text will render a deeper appreciation for what our Saviour is relating. The Hebrew word for worm, used in this text, is TOLA'ATH. The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is 'crimson worm'. The Crimson worm is common to the region of old Israel and was used in the dyeing of garments to scarlet. The natural characteristics and life cycle of this worm are noteworthy. When the Crimson worm is prepared to reproduce offspring (and she does so only once in her life) she rigidly attaches herself to a tree or a wooden fencepost in such a way that she can never be removed without tearing her body completely apart. And when her young ones arrive, they feed upon the LIVING body of the mother - a decidedly painful sacrifice. Then, when the young are able to survive apart from the mother, she dies. And as she dies, she exudes a scarlet dye which not only stains the tree, but her young ones as well. Thus they are colored by the mother's scarlet dye and remain so for the remainder of their lives. How like the blood of Jesus, forever shed as a covering for us! The most important and critical question any of us can ask ourselves is, "Are we covered by the blood of Jesus? Are our doorposts and lintels stained with his redeeming blood(Exodus 12:22)? When others look upon us, do they see the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ?" How about you, my friends? Are you covered by the Blood? PRAISE THE NAME OF JESUS! - by Jerry Ogles Spring 98