Articles by

Gabriel Ong

News

“Below 250 participants where possible”: Church leaders respond to latest advisory on social distancing

Most of the churches Thir.st spoke to are making plans to adjust their worship services in response to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s address to the nation yesterday and additional guidelines...

Music

Old man listens to Hillsong Y&F’s “Best Friends” and finally gets it

A few weeks ago I was told by a younger friend that Hillsong Young & Free had recently released “Best Friends“. I mean it when I say that the news was shared with me like the song was...

Sermons

Has the Great Commission become the “great commotion” in our churches?

A story was told of a group of executives who was being showed around a fancy oil refinery. The refinery was filled with some of the most state-of-the-art equipment that would transform crude oil...

Real Life, Real People

I loved heaven more than God

On Christmas Day 2010, I found myself thinking hard about life after a traumatic incident in school. I was involved in a conflict with an old friend, who was connected to some rowdy individuals in...

Mental Health

When suffering doesn’t make sense

In July, I received some bad news from relatives in Taiwan about my cousin. Her cancer had returned and, this time, it was terminal. I was shocked to hear the news, since I had just recently seen her...

Dating

I told my girlfriend on Valentine’s Day: “You’re not as pretty as you used to be”

Before I married my wife last year, we had been friends for 12 years during which we dated for about three. So Cheryl and I had already been going out for a fair amount of time when Valentineโ€™s Day...

Mental Health

It’s okay to wrestle with pain

Several years ago, I found myself lying in pain on the hospital bed, recuperating from a slipped disc. My former cell group leader was about to pray for me โ€“ but he said something which I did not...

Devotionals

Yes, you can still claim Psalm 91 (Just not like the devil did!)

I love Psalm 91. I memorised it when I was a youth and quoted it often as a prayer then. In this psalm, the psalmist declares God to be his refuge and fortress, and he looks to God as: the one who...

COVID-19

If God is real, then how come Christians aren’t protected from COVID-19?

The other day, my son overheard a conversation in the barber shop that went like this: Customer: You heard about the spread of the virus happening in the churches? Barber: Oh yes! Customer: Did...