The Importance of Split Hooves

Wednesday, 11th November 2026

Last week during CG, a fellow member shared about how he and his wife recently attended the funeral wake of one of their former church members.  The pastor had preached from Ps 88, which I reproduce in full below:

Psalm 88 

1 O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You.

2 Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry.

3 For my soul is full of troubles,And my life draws near to the grave.

4 I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength,

5 Adrift among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom You remember no more, And who are cut off from Your hand.

6 You have laid me in the lowest pit, In darkness, in the depths.

7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah

8 You have put away my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot get out;

9 My eye wastes away because of affliction. Lord, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You.

10 Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah

11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?

12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13 But to You I have cried out, O Lord, And in the morning my prayer comes before You.

14 Lord, why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me?

15 I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught.

16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me; Your terrors have cut me off.

17 They came around me all day long like water; They engulfed me altogether.

18 Loved one and friend You have put far from me, And my acquaintances into darkness.

He shared about how tissue paper was being passed around, and how the entire atmosphere was so sad and gloomy, very unlike other Christian wakes they had attended before.

The above is a good reminder to us that not every church in Singapore is the same.  The fundamental litmus test lies in whether we are partaking of animals with cloven feet.  Let me explain.

In Lev 11:3, the Israelites were told that in order for an animal to be considered edible, it must fulfil 2 conditions: 

• have cloven feet (split the hoof) 
• regurgitate their food (chew the cud).

Hence, cattle, sheep, goats and deer were considered kosher, whereas pigs, horses and camels were considered unclean.

In Heb 10:1, the author tells us that the Old Testament laws and rituals were a shadow of things to come, while Paul tells us in in Col 2:16-17 that the substance belongs to Jesus Christ.

In other words, the Old Testament contains types and shadows, ie. hidden truths, the substance of which are revealed in the New Testament when we look at them through the lens of the person of Christ and His finished work on the cross.

I grew up in a Methodist church and for the first 40 years of my life, we were not taught the significance of Lev 11:3.  It was only after I listened to a particular sermon by Ps Prince that the substance of that passage was explained.

• Split the Hoof -- We have to rightly divide the Word (2 Tim 2:15)
• Chew the Cud -- We have to meditate on the Word of Christ (Rom 10:17) 

Let us cover the subject of "splitting the hoof" first.  We will talk about "chewing the cud" in the next post.

What does it mean to rightly divide the Word?  Here are some examples:

(1) God's Healing is NO LONGER Conditional

I recall a sermon by Barnabas Chong when he was at Paya Lebar Methodist Church.  He started singing the song, "I am the Lord that healeth thee, I am the Lord Thy healer," and then telling us "That is such a soothing song ya, but let us look at the context". 

He then proceeded to show us the verse Ex 15:26:

And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

He warned us that there was a pre-condition for our healing, and that was to keep all of God's statutes.

It is humanly impossible for man to do so, so his sermon effectively robbed us of the truth as beneficiaries of the New Covenant.

What Barnabas Chong failed to do was to rightly divide God's Word.  That passage is from the Old Testament, before Jesus came to fulfil God's laws on our behalf. This side of the cross, divine health is our portion because of Jesus' finished work.  

He failed to unveil Jesus to us, which sadly is an area in which many other preachers fall short too :-( 

(2) The Lord does NOT Take Away

Matt Redman has quite a number of catchy songs, including 10,000 Reasons, Better Is One Day and Our God.

But one song that New Creation Church has not and never will sing is Blessed Be Your Name, and I suspect it is because there is one part of the song that goes "You give and take away" based on Job 1:21.

Now the problem here is that Job was under the wrong impression that God was the one who was taking away his possessions from him.  In that sense, he could be excused for attributing his suffering to God.  But we who are aware of the conversation that God had with the devil, should know full well that it was the devil who took away.  

So to quote that verse today is not only negligence (in failing to rightly dividing the word) but doctrinally unsound because it paints a wrong picture of a good and generous God who spared not His own Son, but gives to us exceedingly, abundantly, over and above what we can ask or think.

(3) The Holy Spirit is Here to Stay for the Believer

I recall another pastor talking about the importance of repentance and confessing one's sins, and how King David had to plead with God "not take the Holy Spirit away" from him in Ps 51:11.  That psalm was written by David just after the prophet Nathan had confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba, and arranging for Uriah to be killed in battle.

For context, under the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would only come upon the anointed, ie. kings, prophets and priests.  He then left once His assignment was over.  In the New Covenant, however, the Holy Spirit dwells within us as believers, and will never leave nor forsake us. So to ask God not to take His Holy Spirit from us reflects ignorance and a failure to rightly divide His Word.

Going back to that wake mentioned earlier.  The pastor preaching from Ps 88 was all well and good because that is part of scripture.  But he should have followed it up by bringing Jesus into the picture.  Because he did not rightly divide God's Word, the audience was placed under a dark and hopeless cloud, instead of being encouraged with the  assurance of a blessed hope with a glorious future.

What is great about AI is that we can use it to split hooves whenever we come across a passage that appears to not line up with Jesus' finished work on the cross.  

That was what I did right after that CG member's sharing, and Gemini's response is reproduced below:

In the light of Jesus’ finished work, Psalm 88 transforms from a dark, unresolved cry of despair into a profound picture of what Jesus endured on our behalf and how He permanently answered the psalmist's deepest fears.

While the New Testament does not directly quote Psalm 88, Christian theology sees a striking, prophetic correspondence between the experiences of the psalmist (Heman) and the passion of Jesus Christ. [1, 2]

1. Jesus Drank the Cup of Psalm 88

Every harrowing description of suffering in Psalm 88 matches the literal reality of the cross: [1]

• The Weight of Wrath: The psalmist cries, "Your wrath lies heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves" (v. 7). On the cross, Jesus took the full, heavy weight of divine judgment against sin in our place. [1, 2, 3]
• Total Abandonment: The psalmist Laments, "You have taken from me my closest friends" (v. 8) and says "darkness is my closest friend" (v. 18). In Gethsemane and on the cross, Jesus' disciples fled, and He experienced true, judicial forsakenness, crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?".[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• The Lowest Pit: The psalmist speaks of being "set apart with the dead... whom you remember no more" (v. 5). Jesus did not just fear the grave; He voluntarily stepped down into the dark "pit" of death and burial for us. [1, 2, 3]

2. Jesus Answered the "Unanswerable" Questions

At the heart of the psalm, Heman asks a series of rhetorical, despairing questions that, in his time, seemed to have no answer (verses 10–12): [1, 2]

• “Do you show your wonders to the dead?”
• “Is your love declared in the grave?”
• “Are your wonders known in the place of darkness?” [1]

Through His resurrection, Jesus answered each of these with a definitive yes. Because of His finished work, God’s wonders are shown to the dead, His love is declared in the grave, and death has been swallowed up in victory. [1, 2]

3. The New Reality for the Believer

Because Jesus fully absorbed the absolute darkness of Psalm 88, the nature of suffering has changed for those who trust in Him: [1]

• You are never truly forsaken: Because Jesus was forsaken in the dark on Good Friday, He can promise that He will never leave you or forsake you. Your darkness might feel deep, but it is no longer penal; God's face is never permanently hidden from you. [1, 2, 3]
• The ending has changed: Psalm 88 ends in the dark ("darkness is my closest friend"). But the overarching narrative of the Gospel ends in the light of the new creation, where there is no more death, crying, or pain. [1, 2]

In short, Heman wrote a song of a man drowning in a pit. Jesus entered that exact pit, allowed Himself to be overwhelmed by the waves of wrath, and used His resurrection to pull us out. You can read more about this whole-Bible connection on Church Anew's Cruciform Faith Reflection or look at the gospel parallels in the Christina Fox Analysis of Psalm 88. [1, 2, 3]

This was confirmed when I opened up the Bible in the Gospel Partner app, where Ps Prince cross-references Ps 88:1 to Lk 22:66 :-)

Connections that Result in Synergy

Saturday, 7th November 2026

As I look back upon my 30+ years in the corporate world, one thing I realise is of great importance is connections.

Even before officially embarking on my career, I had done some part-time work at Noel Hampers while waiting to enlist in the Army in 1986, and that opening came about through my JC classmate Gerald Ang.  He had joined them just after the A levels and when asked whether he knew anyone who wanted to earn some pocket money, he pulled me and another JC batchmate, Tsae Juan, into the company.

Then in my 2nd year as an Accountancy undergraduate in 1990, it was through NTU lecturer/tutor/mentor (and churchmate) Mrs Wendy Foo that I interned at Price Waterhouse, which then led to working there full-time upon graduation.  When applying for the Internal Auditor role at Singapore Island Country Club in 1994, I put her as my referee in my CV, and it was also she who helped me enrol for the MBA program at NTU, despite missing the deadline for application.

Mrs Foo continued to be my referee when I applied to join Solomon Software in 1997, and again when I went back to PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2000.

In my previous post, I blogged about how the recruiter Orion Consulting had put my name forward to Walton as a candidate for the FC position in 2008.  While decluttering my home recently, I came across a copy of the "Candidate Report" they had drawn up for me, which is basically my CV reformatted into their standard template so that they can give their clients a somewhat like-for-like comparison of candidates.

But it is the "Reference Check Report" that they prepare for candidates being offered the role that lends weight to my earlier point.

Shortly after my 2nd interview with S and G, Orion contacted me and asked me to provide the names and contact details of 4 persons I used to work for/with, namely 2 superiors, 1 peer and 1 subordinate.  Wow, I was used to providing the names of ex-bosses in my CV, but this was the first time I was asked for the names of a peer and a subordinate.

For bosses, I gave the names of TCC (my PW manager), HLG (my Tricor boss), Siew Beng (a peer at SICC) and Irene (an Infineon staff).

While de-cluttering, I came across the Reference Check Report that Orion did on me, and especially felt moved by what Mr HLG had said about me.  As you all may well know, I had quit Tricor in 2004 and joined Infineon in 2005 on a contract basis because my working relationship with him had deteriorated to the point of it becoming unpleasant (for him) and untenable (for me).  He had to micro-manage me because the project he had put me in charge of was not progressing at a pace that was acceptable to him.

Read for yourself what he said about me :-)

He did tell Orion that I had an area of improvement but the way it was put across was very professional and constructive, saying I was too "nice" and needed more "tough love".

And that is similar to what Jesus told His disciples in Matt 10:16, that they needed to be shrewd as serpents and not just innocent as doves.

Truth be told, in the earlier part of my career, from 1991 to 2006, I was 100% dove and 0% serpent.  It was only from 2007 onward that I started to exercise more shrewdness and by the time I left RPG, it was 50:50 and that inspired me to set up my sole proprietorship Akeraios Phronesis :-)

As one climbs higher up the corporate ladder, the importance of connections becomes even more pronounced.  I had sent out dozens of job applications upon being asked to leave Walton in 2010, but nothing came about for 6 months.  I only managed to find a job in my dad's friend's audit firm because of my mom (yup, connections).  I rejoined Walton in 2011 because of existing connections with the CFO, and even joining RPG in 2019 was because ex-colleague Victor Poh (the one who introduced me to the grace gospel) recommended me to Mr K (yup, connections again).

Of course, it is God who is the one behind everything, as He orchestrates circumstances and brings the relevant people into our lives to be our connections.  Rom 8:28 tells us that God works together all things for our good.  The Greek word for "works together" is συνεργεῖ (synergei) from where we get the English word "synergy".

P.S. If the chef in the above AI-generated graphic resembles Ps Prince, it is deliberate ;-)

P.P.S. I also discovered that recruiters like Orion earn a hefty fee for successfully placing a candidate, typically 2 to 3 months of that candidate's compensation.  

P.P.P.S. I received a message from KW of Orion sometime in December 2011 congratulating me for rejoining Walton.  How did he know? Because concurrently, he was recommending candidates to them.  By re-employing me, Walton actually saved the money they would have had to pay Orion had they selected a candidate they had shortlisted :-)

The ALMighty's Answer to ALMost

Monday, 2nd November 2026

"Hi Malcolm, this is KW.  You almost got the job.  You were shortlisted, but eventually they selected someone else who has the relevant real estate experience.  Thank you for your time, and all the best in your job search."

That was what the headhunting recruiter from Orion Consulting said to me over the phone, sometime just after Chinese New Year, February 2008.

It was meant to be words of reassurance and comfort.

That I came so, so, very, close.  

But it had the opposite effect.

It was like telling someone that they almost struck the lottery, or an Arsenal fan that they almost won the Champions League last season.

According to Webster's, the word "almost" is most commonly used as an adverb meaning, "very nearly", "not quite", or "not completely".

Back to that phone call.

Sometime in January 2008, Orion had sent my CV to Walton for their Financial Controller, Singapore position.  My interview with S, the CFO, went very well and lasted nearly 2 hours long!  He then brought me to see G, the MD, and that encounter lasted less than 3 minutes.  All I recall was G saying to me was, "You ACS boy?  I was from SJI." and then shaking his head and ushering me out the door of his huge room.

I thus had received mixed signals, and told my wife that while it went excellently with the CFO, I was not so sure how it went with the MD.

KW, the headhunter was supposed to get back to me on the outcome, but CNY was coming up so he told me he would only be able to do so after that.

I remember being crestfallen when he told me I "almost" got the job.  But I thank God for prompting me to send S an email that same evening thanking him for the interview, and informing him that should any opportunity arise in future, I would be most interested and he could let me know accordingly.

Well, guess what? KW unexpectedly called me the very next day!  Initially I thought it was for another job opening, but he told me that "Walton changed their mind, and wants to see you again! Oh by the way, their office is no longer at One Fullerton, but they are now at Republic Plaza."

I went to their new spanking office, and S asked me when I could start. I told him 1 April 2008.  He then showed me the org chart, gave me an overview of the dynamics of the Finance department, and also a brief background of each of the 19 staff!  And yes, he also pointed out the potential of vfs to me, even though she was just a junior accountant then.

After doing so, he brought me to G's room. This time around, G was much more warm and friendly, shook my hand, and even put his arm around my shoulder, telling me he was just teasing me about my being from ACS.  He told me he was a big Man U fan and did not like Liverpool, so as a Villa fan, I did not need to worry.  He asked me what my expected salary was, and I replied that it was totally up to him. He offered me 10% higher than what Infineon was paying me, and that was sufficient for me to accept his offer on the spot.  He told me that Orion would get in touch with me.

Subsequently, I discovered why S "changed" his mind.  That email to him did influence his decision to a certain extent, but it was only because the candidate they had initially offered the job to (the one with real estate experience) declined it because his company had counter-offered for him to stay on!

I was actually their 2nd choice, but in life, that is how God shows that He is ultimately sovereign.  

For that matter, David was Samuel's 8th choice!  He had considered Jesse's 7 sons before finally anointing David. 

And that my friends, is the LORD ALMighty's answer to ALMost :-)

When God opens a door, nobody can shut it. And when He closes a door, nobody can open it.

He opened the door for me to join Walton in April 2008, closed it in August 2010 when the environment became too toxic, and then re-opened it in December 2011, only to close it yet again in October 2019, so that I could join RPG in December 2019 after taking a month's break to brush up on my golf.

Hallelujah!

TRAC (The Reverend's Anointed Collection)

Sunday, 1st November 2026

In my 2 previous posts, I had blogged about how Spotify provides a platform for hosting audio and video podcasts totally free-of-charge, and that I will be making available all 121 sermons that TRAC President Rev Reuben Ng preached during his 5-year tenure as the Youth Pastor of Paya Lebar Methodist Church ("PLMC"), from Aug 2007 to Jul 2012.

Here is that link again

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

121 sermons over 5 years translates into an average of 24.2 sermons per year, or close to a sermon every other week.  That regular feeding on God's unadulterated Word was sufficient sustenance for my wife and I to continue staying on in PLMC.

I did up a Pivot table, and what is pleasantly surprising is that he preached at the Main/Adult service as often as he did at The Next Generation ("TNG") Youth Service!

In fact, after Rev Dr Jonathan Seet was posted into PLMC in 2010 to replace Peter Koh as her Pastor-in-Charge, he made Holy Communion Sunday (ie. the 1st Sunday of every month) Service a combined one (ie. there would not be a separate TNG Service at PLMGS, but the youth would instead attend the Main service.

Rev Seet would also share the pulpit with his 3 fellow pastors, which meant Rev Reuben ended up preaching more regularly at the main service, and the numbers bear this out:

I have now uploaded 55 of his 121 sermons, together with AI-generated synopses.  Happy feeding!

Oh ya, those who are sharp would have noticed that I have renamed the podcast to TRAC (The Reverend's Anointed Collection): Sermons by Reuben Ng, in acknowledgement of how God has fast-tracked him from a Member-on-Trial in Aug 2007 to President in Nov 2024.  May God continue to lengthen his cords and strengthen his stakes.  Amen?

When he become Bishop of the Methodist Church in Singapore, maybe the podcast will be renamed MCS (Marvellous Collection of Sermons) accordingly :-)

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 trillion-dollar valued IPOs.

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 Rev Reuben Ng, preached at Paya Lebar Methodist Church (PLMC)'s "The Next Generation" (TNG) youth service, is a raw and moving testimony centred 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, Rev 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