AI = Anointed / Awesome Intelligence

Friday, 23rd October 2026

Artificial Intelligence ("AI") seems to be a very hot topic nowadays.

I recently attended a breakfast talk conducted by Citibank, and noted that practically every speaker made a constant mention of it.  In fact, they even put the word AI in the title.  

OpenAI and Anthropic, the organisations behind ChatGPT and Claude are planning massive billon-dollar valued IPOs shortly.

We accountants, the boring, bean-counting, archaic, book- and ledger-keeping "dinosaurs", are not exempted from AI either.  The Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants ("ISCA"), the professional body that local practicing accountants are associated with, have kept up with the times by partnering relevant experts to come up with learning content to equip her members to become conversant with AI.

AIxAccountancy, the AI Fluency Programme by ISCA-AINexus seeks to prepare us "for the future workforce".  I just completed the online training today and received the relevant badge and certification, and have duly shared it on Linkedin :-)

Well, any invention by mankind can be used for both good and bad.  After all, God is the source of innovation, while the devil is the source of counterfeiting.

In my previous post, I used AI to discover a free platform to host Rev Reuben Ng's anointed sermons.  They have been uploaded onto Spotify.

And just today, I used Google's Gemini to come up with 2-paragraph summaries for each of his sermons!

This is what it generated for his first sermon:

The maiden sermon "(001) I Shouldn't Be Here" by Pastor Reuben Ng from Paya Lebar Methodist Church (PLMC), preached at the "The Next Generation" (TNG) youth service, is a raw and moving testimony centered on the unconditional love of God. Reflecting on his personal journey and his new assignment as a pastor, he uses the phrase "I shouldn't be here" to capture the deep humility of being selected by God despite feeling entirely unqualified. The core message unpacks how divine grace completely overrides human error, flaws, and past mistakes, turning lives around in ways that defy personal merit or human expectation.

The sermon delivers a profound, fresh revelation of the parable of the Prodigal Son, specifically focusing on the overwhelming depth of Abba Father's love. Through the lens of Luke 15:20, Pastor Reuben highlights how God runs to embrace us with open arms, regardless of where we have been or what our past looks like. The ultimate takeaway is an encouraging declaration of hope for the listener: your past does not define your future capacity to be utilized by God, because His grace is bigger than your history.

Awesome ya?

That is why I am titling this post, ANOINTED intelligence and AWESOME intelligence.  Hallelujah!

Here is the link to the podcast again:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1hvLLyamh26v9FSmSaFr3R

A Collection of Anointed Sermons on Podcast

Wednesday, 21st October 2026

Regular readers of my blog will know that the main reason why I stayed on in Paya Lebar Methodist Church ("PLMC") despite being made to step down as the Treasurer and a CG Leader by law-based Peter Koh back in July 2007 was because the then-TRAC President, Bishop Emeritus Wee Boon Hup had posted grace-based Rev Reuben Ng (a then-MOT who just graduated from TTC) to replace law-based Barnabas Chong as her Youth Pastor on 1 August 2007.

Rev Reuben's sermons are always focused on Jesus and His finished work, so I would listen to him on Sundays (whenever he preached) and then purchase Ps Prince's sermons to listen to when it was made available the Thursdays that same week.

I was quite the "fan-boy" of his, and bought all of his sermon recordings, and even compiled the 1st 100 of them onto a DVD-R, which he so graciously autographed.

I was de-cluttering my stuff recently and came across that autographed copy, which is definitely a collector's item haha.

I caught up with some PLMC members recently, and the common lament is that they miss Rev Reuben's preaching. He is the current TRAC President, a role that is largely administrative, so he hardly gets the opportunity to stand behind the pulpit nowadays.

As part of that de-cluttering, I also chanced upon a Samsung portable disk, on which I had stored in a folder all 121(!) sermons that he preached at PLMC before moving to Toa Payoh Methodist Church ("TPMC") on 1 August 2012.  I also have some of his TPMC sermons, but unfortunately, not all of them.

Here is a screenshot of that folder:

I did an AI search, and discovered that Spotify actually allows one to maintain an audio/video podcast channel totally free-of-charge!

They have an app known as "Spotify for Creators", where their familiar logo is coloured purple rather than green.

So dear PLMC members (and everyone out there in blogosphere), your wish is my command :-)

It will take some time for me to upload his entire 121-sermon library archive, so please bear with me.

For a start, you can listen to his 1st 25 sermons by clicking on the following link:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1hvLLyamh26v9FSmSaFr3R

Recalling the Year of Hesed Wisdom

Monday, 19th October 2026

Hesed Wisdom was the theme for 2018, the year my wife and I officially moved over to New Creation Church.

Besides de-cluttering cupboards, shelves, drawers, wardrobe, etc, in anticipation of the move to our condo, I have also had to do de-cluttering of data that were backed up on CD/DVD-Rs, thumb drives, portable hard disks, etc.

While looking through a particular thumb drive, I came across photos and videos that were snapped in 2018 that are worth watching, and have uploaded them here for everyone's viewing pleasure :-)

This photo was taken using a drone. It was at a gathering that I hosted for fellow drivers serving in the Logistics & Transport Ministry and their immediate family members:

L&T gathering

These are videos of the Hesed Wisdom flashing label affixed to a t-shirt:

            

Video recording of 《大胆宣告》 performed by the Merry Band of the Chinese Ministry at MBS:

Here are the lyrics to the abovementioned song:

Chinese Characters	Hokkien Pronunciation	Mandarin Pinyin	English Translation
岁数越大	Hui-soo lú tua	Suìshù yuè dà	The older I get,
力量越大	Lat-liang lú tua	Lìliàng yuè dà	The stronger I get,
全是耶稣祝福我	Cuan-si Yey-soo ciok-hok wa	Quán shì Yēsū zhùfú wǒ	It is all because Jesus blesses me.
我脚也有力	Wa ka ya u lat	Wǒ jiǎo yě yǒu lì	My feet have strength,
手也有力	Ciu ya u lat	Shǒu yě yǒu lì	My hands have strength,
全是耶稣祝福我	Cuan-si Yey-soo ciok-hok wa	Quán shì Yēsū zhùfú wǒ	It is all because Jesus blesses me.
血路都通畅啊	Wa hueh-loo long-zhong hor	xuèlù dōu tōngchàng ah	My blood circulation is entirely smooth,
身体又硬朗	Sing-ku ya yong-yong	Shēnti yòu yìnglǎng	And my body is robust and strong.
我眼睛明亮	Wa eh bak-jiu kim	Wǒ yǎnjing míngliàng	My eyes are bright,
脸又漂亮	Bin ya Swee	Liān yòu piàoliang	My face is beautiful,
[我人弗皱弗缩水] 一看就是年轻样	Wa lang bo jiu bo sok cui	Yī kàn jiùshì niánqīng yàng	One glance and you can see a youthful look.
我能吃能睡真辛福	E-ciak e-kun cin hok-ki	Néng chī néng shuì zhēn xingfu	Being able to eat and sleep well is such a blessing.
出入平安感谢祢	Cu-lip peng-an kam-sia li	Chūrù píng'ān gǎnxiè nǐ	Safe wherever I go, thank You!

Drone footage golfing with then boss Gary and sales colleague Desmond. The 4th ball was supposed to be my dad, but he backed out at the very last minute.

What the Hack

Friday, 16th October 2026

The renovation of our "matrimonial" home has started in earnest.  The condo is 22 years old, and we were already the 4th(!) owner when we bought it back in 2012.

When we inspected the place sometime at the start of this year (together with our appointed Interior Designer), we noticed the tiles looked rather aged and there were several that were chipped here and there, so we decided to retile the entire place. Also, there was a bathtub which is something anyone hardly uses nowadays, so that was to be removed too.  All the built-in cabinets and kitchenware looked rather dated, and the walls needed a fresh coat of paint.

The tenants handed over our place on Wed 7 Oct, and we had an onsite meetup with the ID on Thu 8 Oct to finalise the carpentry, electrical and lighting.

I have lost count how many times we have met the ID (at least a dozen) even before the actual work began, so I can understand why Josh Lee gave it up after a year. It is definitely not something a one-man outfit can handle.

Oh by the way, the ID so happens to also be from New Creation Church! We had shortlisted 3 and my wife felt most comfortable with her because she comes across as someone who is sincere, does not oversell, but most of all, very calm and collected.

And that steady composure of hers is important, because everyone around her also remains calm and does not get anxious or "gan cheong".    

Upon appointing her as our ID, the first thing I did was to give her a Much More car decal :-) 

The work commenced on Mon12 Oct (which I will refer to as Day 1).

All major renovations start by getting rid of the old, so as to make way for the new.  So the very first step involved hacking away the old floor tiles and wall tiles, and removing the built-in wardrobes, etc, leaving rubble and debris everywhere.

And indeed, that was what I saw when I went to inspect the place on Day 2.

Rubble upon rubble in the bedrooms

Debris upon debris in the hall and kitchen

On Day 3, I went to check out the place again, and noted all the rubble and debris were duly removed...

We will be popping over this weekend, and I will be providing regular progress updates, so stay tuned 😁

From Patrimonial to Matrimonial

Thursday, 15th October 2026

Regular readers of my blog will be aware that we will soon be moving out of my "patrimonial" home (ie. the one that my dad bought way back in 1978, and in which I have been staying for more than 80% of my life), and into what my wife calls our "matrimonial" home.

Why matrimonial home?  Read on.

When I was courting my then-girlfriend (now wife) in 1989 and into 1990 and 1991 (we got married at the end of 1992), dad decided to do some minor additions and alterations, which involved expanding the existing bedrooms, and creating a brand new bedroom where a side yard used to be.

While decluttering, I came across some architectural drawings dated April 1990.

In particular, shown below is the 1ST STOREY PLAN:

As one faces the entrance into the house, the new bedroom (as indicated by the green square) is on the left, towards the back of the house, while all the other bedrooms (including the master bedroom that my parents occupied) are on the right.  The red lines represent where the original walls used to be, and the green arrows pointing outwards indicate how the bedrooms were to be expanded outwards.

Note how all the other bedrooms are on one side of the house, while the newly-created one is on the other.

Note also there is only a single storey.  Mom was very adamant about this, because she did not want us kids to treat the house like a hotel.  Even if we were to retreat into our rooms upon coming home from school, we would still be within earshot whenever she announced that it was time to gather at the dining table for our dinner :-)

So, what was the purpose of the new bedroom with its own attached bathroom?  Let me explain.

All along. my mom had wanted me, being her only son, to continue staying with her and dad, even after I got married, so she asked him to specially construct a proper bedroom for my wife and I to stay in.  So sweet of her, ya?

And the timing could not have been more perfect.  Renovations were completed sometime towards the end of 1991 and beginning of 1992.  Very shortly thereafter, my bedroom became my matrimonial bedroom, when my wife moved in after we had our wedding dinner on 22 Nov 1992.

As you can imagine, I was rather the mummy's boy, so this arrangement suited me just fine.  It also meant that our future kids would always be in the good hands of their grandparents, allowing us to focus on our careers and not be worried about having to find them daycare or babysitters.

The side yard was rather huge, so they could build a bedroom of considerable size (about 15m² /160 sq ft), large enough to fit a queen-sized bed, wardrobes for my wife and I, a dresser, a couple of cabinets, a baby cot and even 2 mattresses to be placed on the floor.

The cot was used by our kids, before they progressed to the mattresses.  And that room was where the 4 of us (my immediate family) stayed in for a good 5 years until the mid-2000s.

In conjunction with my sisters moving out from their bedrooms, the kids took a room each.  So this house is very much their childhood home as well.

Anyway, back to what my wife calls our matrimonial home. The condo we are moving into is exactly that -- a place that we can finally call our very own :-)

When mom went back home to be with the Lord in Jun 2012, we went house-hunting for a place very nearby. Just in case dad asked us to move out, we did not want to be too far away from him. 

He didn't (chase us out), so we happily stayed on.  Our own place (which was purchased with tenancy) has been rented out to 3 different sets of tenants since.  Initially to an Indian family, then mainland Chinese, and then, most recently, Malaysians.

The latest tenants just vacated the place last week, and we commenced renovation just this week.

We are targeting to move in sometime early next year.  I am not at liberty to reveal the exact location.  Suffice it to say that Mr Seah Kian Peng will still be our MP :-)