Lee Kuan Yew's birthday

Today is Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's 87th birthday. In an interview done earlier this month (1 September 2010) with Seth Mydans for the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune, he spoke on what happened after death. "Well, what is next, I do not know. Nobody has ever come back."

This is not true. One person did come back. He is Jesus. The Bible testifies that "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (1 Corinthians 15:4 KJV)" The resurrection of Christ was recorded by all the four Gospels in the Bible and also by Apostle Paul in his epistles.

Jesus is the most unique among the founders of religions. The other founders were born without warning, without giving us advance notice, born of a father and a mother like me, then they preached their religion out of the blue, and then they died, like any ordinary men.

The coming of Jesus was predicted in the Old Testament before He was born. The Bible declared that "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God (Hebrews 10:7, quoting Psalm 40:7 KJV)."

He had a forerunner, John the Baptist, to herald His coming. Even the birth of the forerunner was predicted. "Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 45:3 KJV)."

He was born of a virgin, and after preaching His religion, He died. "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (1 Corinthians 15:4 KJV)".

He was the only Man who died and rose again. He walked about for forty days "and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; (1 Corinthians 15:5-7 NASB)." Last of all, He appeared to Paul the Apostle.

He will be coming again. "And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away." (Acts 1:9-12 NASB)." Jesus will come back again and "On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward (Zechariah 14:4 ESV)."

So the Aramaic phrase, "Maranatha", means "the Lord is coming", refers to this coming event. It is not some sound for meditation, like what some "devoted" Christian claimed. "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. (1 Corinthians 16:22 KJV)" or in a modern translation, "If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. Our Lord, come! (1 Corinthians 16:22 NLT)" Anyone who does not love Jesus is "Anathema", or cursed. Maranatha is a blessing to those who love Jesus, but a curse (Anathema) to those who don't.

"If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. Our Lord, come! May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 16:22-24 NLT)"