Do view this clip (below) from a US ‘live’ talkshow with comedian Bill Mahers which has him facilitating an exchanging of views among representatives from a Muslim, a Christian and an atheist on the documentary movie- Jesus Camp which was shown in our local cinemas recently.

I take my hat off to the US for their liberty and maturity in having such opened exchange over such issues. In Singapore, I think we have to wait for a very long long time for such talkshows to happen. 

Jesus Camp is definitely a controversial piece of film that would even get us, Christians squirming.

But in my opinion, the set up of this exchange session had been planned from the very beginning to put the Christian faith in a bad light by the fact they conveniently seated a woman (Christian) among men with the host unshamingly ‘battering’ her with false accusation. This only limited her from being able to contribute appropriately in this exchange of views as she had to spend most of the time refuting those false claims.  

If you (a Christian) were in Ms Sandy Rios’s position, how would you have responded for the Christian faith?

Feel free to share your comments.

Some time recently, I had a casual exchange with a friend over some Singapore’s socio-political issues.

Despite not coming to any common conclusion, but maybe one that was respectful of each other’s views. At least, the exchange helped to refine my motives and my reasoning towards such matters.

In general, I believe the majority of us take a passive or apathetic approach in regards to this. And not only do I think this is unhealthy for the future of our nation (from a human’s standpoint), but it is also not a correct approach to adopt from a biblical perspective.

Why?

For the reason that we (Christians), the Church, should not be confined by our four walls as we are in the world to serve as a ‘nerve’ to our society. Which means apart from Sundays, Mondays to Saturdays we are part of this world at our workplace, neighbourhood and family to be the “salt and light”.

And being a part in the world, the Church (not referring to the physical form/building)  MUST BE in tune with the going-ons (which includes the likes of politics, socio-economic and international affairs which governs and influences our livelihood), the struggles, the needs and aspirations of the people around us, in order to love, reach and serve effectively for Jesus.

As the ‘nerve’, we serve by being the “voice of conscience”; to prick the conscience of our society by providing godly wisdom in a relevant manner that distinguishes the truth from the lies, and righteousness from evil.

Ultimately, our purpose is that the world may be ‘awaken’ to God and be reconciled to Him.  

During one of my recent CG times, we had an upclose and personal session with fellow brothers, Alan Tea and Paul Tan (co-founders of Decus Consulting). That session left me even more convicted of the gospel of God’s kingdom in me that I was carrying, and not just the gospel of His salvation.

Facing the real world

Which now means, I know without a doubt that I am called to do more with my redeemed life than simply eat, sleep, shit, play, work, contribute to Singapore’s statistics and taxes for nation building before I return to dust again.

In this world that we are living in, we must firstly concede that we are ‘trapped’ (by default) in an endless and temporary world system that demands us to pursue after things that have no true significant meaning or eternal value to our lives. And in most situations, these are things that have been ‘forced’ upon us to the point that we naturally accept as our way of life.

I think it is kinda like the virtual world concept of the Matrix movie, but only in our reality, we need to be awaken to the spiritual world. And this will enable us to see beyond the facade of our world and see the true reality in what harm it is actually doing to us- our souls.

To live is Christ, to die is gain

When faced with the reality, the second logical step is to find a solution- a way out. For some, attempting to escape being trapped is trying not to be a part of our world system, would be their way. Though this may seem like a solution, but unfortunately it is not. In fact, by escaping, one is not truly facing the reality but in denial.

The only solution- way, truth and light at the end of the tunnel is Jesus Christ. It is only when we tap and align our lives with Him, then can we truly free ourselves from this system despite living in it. Cos in Him, we know who we live for and where we truly belong- For Him and His kingdom.

Only in Him, we can overcome and emerged as the head, and not the tail, to influence our world for Christ!

 

BANGKOK, July 25 (Reuters) – Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who took full control of Manchester City on Monday, has arranged trials for three Thai national team players at the English Premier League club.

Defenders Suree Sukha and Kiatprawut Saiwaeo and striker Teerasil Dangda will train with the team in Manchester next week, Thai soccer officials said on Wednesday.

Read full story here>>>

No sooner than a month later after Mr Thaksin bought over English Premier League football club, Manchester City, he has made the headlines yet again. This time with him having 75% ownership of the club, he was able to arrange trials for some Thai football players to have a chance to play football in the Premier League.

Wow… that’s amazing! This is a BIG DREAM come true for these Thai players. And this dream would not be a reality without a Thai football club owner “pulling the strings” for this to be made possible.

Can you imagine if a Singapore businessman was to own one of these English football clubs??

That will be the day when we can see our local boys, Noh Alam Shah, Indra Sahdan or Lionel Lewis pitting against the top players, earning those massive pay checks and putting Singapore in greater prominence!

However, taking it from God’s perspective:

IMAGINE how easy and flexible it would be for us global Christians to move for one country to another through our profession in order to fulfill God’s Great Commission if we had in place strategically many kingdom-minded “Mr Thaksins” in Christdom around the world to pull the strings to advance the work of God?

“With God, it is not so hard to imagine” (Riding on Samsung’s IMAGINE punchline)

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

Romans 12:3-5 (NIV)

In 1982 , when I returned to Sweden from America, where I had been attending Bible School, the first thing the devil told me was, “You can preach faith and healing here but not finances because people will think you are Americanized, so don’t say anything about money!”

Just as I was about to except this thought, I recognized where it came from. The Lord then spoke to me and said, “You need to preach prosperity in Sweden more than anything else.”

……….We, on the other hand, will continue to teach about financial prosperity as we become increasingly dependent on “El-Shaddai.”

~ Excerpt taken from article titled God’s Character- Riches and Abundance by Rev. Dr. Ulf Ekman

The read

I read Harvest Times, a quarterly publication by City Harvest Church recently which presented the article by Rev. Dr. Ulf Ekman. In my personal opinion, it was quite disturbing.

I do not know if the article written represented accurately the totality of the author’s doctrine or beliefs in God, but if it is, then it is worrying what people are receiving from him under his leadership.

With a glance, the article looks very sound and biblical with quoted scriptures to support some of his points about God’s views and character towards being rich. However, in my personal opinion, there is something not right beneath those persuasive words.

My personal viewpoint

In my viewpoint and own understanding about God and His word, God’s ultimate directive has always been to preach SALVATION for the souls of man thru’ Jesus Christ and not prosperity. Even Jesus during His active ministry days didn’t preach a tinge on the subject of financial prosperity.

As recorded in the Gospels, Jesus went from town to town telling people to repent from their sins and live a godly life and nothing about a prosperous life. In fact, there was an instance where He even told a rich young man to give up all the riches He had if he truly wanted to follow Him. So this scenario refutes the claim that God wants us to be rich and in abundance materially because it is His character. God’s main aim is for us to be rich and abundant in Him- full of His love, compassion and holiness (c.f. Matthew 19:16-23).

Nevertheless, I do believe strongly that God wants to bless us in richness and abundance which may include worldy wealth, but it will and does NOT supercede the richness and abundance that springs from our salvation; our relationship with God. We are never complete without God in our lives. With Him, we are spiritually rich with abundance of His blessings walking closely with Him.

Being fully rich in Him

Lastly, Jesus did say in the Gospels that “the poor you will always have with you…..” (c.f. Mark 14:7) so that means not everyone will be rich in this world we live now. It is a fallen world. Then how can we be on a sole mission to preach and pray against financial proverty?

I reckon that the most we can do is educate people on financial management in the light of being a faithful and productive steward. As Christ-followers, we need to grow holistically with our financial intelligence being one of those aspects. 

As illustrated with the parable of the talents, some will have plenty and some will have little (c.f. Matthew 25:14-29). Hence whether we are have plenty or we have little, we need to be content and thankful to God.  Subsequently, fully utilising what we have (plenty or little) with the expansion of God’s Kingdom in mind.

Knowing God in His fullness

We need to know God with His Word as the fundamental basis and framework where we draw our understanding about Him. And it needs to be complete, balanced and in depth.

I just pray that those who receives his message of prosperity would not follow God only because of the strong allure of wanting to be rich financially. But to worship God for who He is as our merciful and loving Abba Father who forgave our sins by laying His life selflessly, and to do His will in preaching the Good News of salvation.

Note: Views are shared on a personal capacity and not targeted at the character of Rev. Dr. Ulf Ekman but the message. Corrections on my views are gratefully welcome.

The latest news screaming in the EPL arena was the stunning swoop by Manchester United in their latest acquisition of new players in the transfer market.

Their latest signings: English midfielder Owen Hagreaves from Bayern Munich, Portuguese winger Nani from Sporting Lisbon and Brazilian attacking midfielder Anderson from Porto.

Personally, these 3 enormous signings speak volumes in terms of the extend modern-day organisations are willing to take just to recruit the best people in order to stay competitive.

It highlights the huge demand of good human resource that organisations are seeking to bolster the strength and cutting edge of their current teams.

Lastly, it also highlights the adopted strategy of recruiting these people- all 3 new players are below the age of 25 years. Organisations seek not only to strengthen their present team, but to build their future team of the next generation in mind. This provides stability when transitions occurs.

His Church today

Similarly, the modern-day Church also faces the same issues.

Sad but true, the state of our Church in our present world is weak (my frank opinion) due to a considerable amount of factors. But the main factor I would insert is that it is man’s failure to appropriate God’s word and power. This is either due to man’s ignorance or arrogance. You decide.

From what I know from the records of the Bible, God has since the Genesis, been on a constant look out for people who are willing to avail their lives for Him to use for His cause. These were some of His early ‘signings’: Noah the Ark builder, Abraham the Father of nations, Joseph the commander of Egypt, Gideon the warrior, David the shepherd King and The Apostle Paul.

From observation, God literally goes all out to reach those people whom He called. He even invest His time and love to mould and train them- from nothing to something. Wow… how honoured that God would call us mere humans (His created) in such a manner.

Today, God is still in search of His people who will deny themselves and take up the cross.  His Church are to be built on lives that are willing to pay the price and who will invest in strengthening His Church instead of the World.

There is still are huge gap to be filled in His Church. Therefore, the challenge is for each one of us to be counted for to give the best- our youth and avaliable resources to Him so that His Church experiences continium growth with stability from one generation to the next.

Man U: A great team

What makes Manchester United a great team that I support?

Cos’ chosen in the team are not simply bought or selected for their skills. But the manager places more emphasis on attitude and character. A Red Devil (Man U player) has to be a team player; playing for more than just himself. Its for the TEAM- players, manager, coaches, youth squad and fans all around the world.

Think David Beckham, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Roy Keane, Jaap Stam and their abrupted departure and you will get the picture.

Making it on God’s team

Therefore, God too looks at the heart of His people, more than the skills and expertise of what we can do in building His Church. He seeks a consecrated life (c.f. 1 Samuel 15:21-23, Psalm 51:16-18).

Would you wanna be signed up for God’s team?

One of the classic stories in the field of self-fulfilling prophecies is one of a computer in England that was accidentally programmed incorrectly. In academic terms, it labeled a class of “bright” kids “dumb” kids and a class of supposedly “dumb” kids “bright.” And that computer report was the primary criterion that created the teachers’ paradigms about their students at the beginning of the year.

When the administration finally discovered the mistake five and a half months later, they decided to test the kids again without telling anyone what had happened. And the results were amazing. The “bright” kids had gone down significantly in IQ test points. They had been seen and treated as mentally limited, uncooperative, and difficult to teach. The teachers’ paradigms had become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But scores in the supposedly “dumb” group had gone up. The teachers had treated them as though they were bright, and their energy, their hope, their optimism, their excitement had reflected high individual expectation and worth for those kids.

These teachers were asked what it was like during the first few weeks of the term. “For some reason, our methods weren’t working,” they replied. “So we had to change our methods.” The information showed that the kids were bright. If things weren’t working well, they figured it had to be the teaching methods. So they worked on methods. They were proactive; they worked in their Circle of Influence. Apparent learner disability was nothing more or less than teacher inflexibility.

* Case study taken from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

MY PRAYER:

Dear God, please help me to be flexible in how I relate with others. I want to be more like you in how you see the true potential of others as seen in the bible with Gideon when You called him a mighty warrior or young King David who you anointed as your king even when he was a shepherd boy.

Grant me the patience and the peace of heart and mind to trust in your good work in the lives of others. And may I be a instrument of change rather than destruction to their lives.

Amen.

“They couldn’t quite describe what was happening, but by 2000 they sensed that they were in touch with people they’d never been in touch before, were being challenged by people who had never challenged them before, were competing with people who they had never competed before, were collaborating with people whom they had never collaborated before, and were doing things as individuals they had never dreamt of doing before. What they were feeling was the flattening of the world.”

Excerpt from The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman

The author’s statement sums up what many of us have been experiencing but can’t best describe. Though we know globalisation has spreaded and is spreading rapidly, but we do not really know the full extent of its affects especially us, being consumers (lowest of the food chain order).

I believe most of us do not realise that we have shifted from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. Or for that matter understand what being in this Information Age means for many of us.

In this Information Age, the playing field has been levelled as information is freely available and accessible. No longer it is just the top people who knows and can decide, but even the lower end. The Information Age has challenged hierachies from below to transform themselves from top-down structures into more horizontal and collaborative ones.

As the author explains, “The genesis of the flat world platform now enables more people to author more content, and to collaborate on that content. It also enables us to upload files and globalise that content- individually or as part of self-reforming communities- without going thru any of the traditional hierarchial organisation/institutions” 

And adding further, he explains that , “we now have access/power to upload/ send out products/ ideas for free rather.”

Personally as a blogger, I have to agree completely =p

The questions that beg to be answered by us:

• What are we doing about it? Are we just ignorant or resistant to change?
• Are we utilising it in the right manner? Or just using it for pleasure and indulgence?
• As Christians, how are we leveraging on it to extend His kingdom in reaching out and connecting others to Him? We can influence many through a global marketplace or cyber communities.  

I have observed thru these sessions of Healing services and workshops on how HOPE Movement operates under divine authority and covering.

For instance, Peter Troung our healing evangelist rose among our Hope International community from Brisbane and has since travelled to many Hope churches in other countries to evangelise and minister from within our international community. I believe this not only a biblical approach, but the right one too.

We have seen many evangelists coming and going where they minister in rallies. However when someone converts or responds to the Lord, there is no proper follow-up or support. The likelihood is that the ‘seed’ will wither and not grow strong.

In our Hope Movement approach, at least we can be assured that converts fall straight into the local church community and those that respond can be discipled effectively.

Wow… that is how God’s love and power truly operates, in divine authority!

“If you track the life of average educated people, the financial script often goes like this:

The child goes to school, graduates, finds a job and soon has some money to spend. The young adult now can afford to rent an apartment, buy a TV set, new clothes, some furniture and, of course, a car. And now the bills begin to come in.

One day, the adult meets someone special, sparks fly, they fall in love and get married. For awhile, life is blissful because two can live as cheaply one. They now have two incomes, only one rent to pay, and they can afford to set a few dollars aside to buy the dream of all young couples, their own home.

They find their dream home, pull the money from savings and use it for a down payment on the house, and they now have a mortgage. Because they have a new house, they need new furnishings, so they find a furniture store that advertises those magic words, “No Money Down, Easy Monthly Payments.”

Life is wonderful, and they throw a party to have all their friends over to see their new house, new car, new furniture, and new toys. They are deeply in debt for the rest of their lives. Then, the first child arrives.

The average well-educated, hard-working couple,  after dropping the child off at nursery school, must now put their nose to the grindstone and go to work. They become trapped by the need of security simply because, on average, they are less than 3 months away from financial bankruptcy. From these people you often hear, “I can’t afford to quit. I have bills to pay,” or a modification from a song from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, “I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go.”

Excerpt taken from The CASHFLOW Quadrant by Mr Robert Y. Kiyosaki

I have been thinking alot about this aspect of finance since picking this book.

Notwithstanding the controversies that surrounds this book, I find this book truly been helpful in terms of educating me in being more financial savvy or intelligent, instead of being rolled over and over in consumer debts and liabilities for the rest of our lives.

And I cringed at the thought of seeing myself embroiled by liabilities that would cripple me from being an effective instrument for God to use where I would be too tied down to be able to fulfill the Great Commission.

Final thought on this financial script: I guess this is how this life has to be (working or slogging hard and all that) as from Adam and Eve’s disobedience, we by default are under the same curse or punishment decreed by God (c.f. Genesis 3:17-20).

However, we can break this curse (especially the need of security on earthy things) with trusting Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Only He can redeem us and set us back to the original state with God and Man walking hand in hand; working smart and not working hard towards His blessings.