The headline-grabbing news that has gone viral first in the alternative media and then the mainstream media the past couple of days is the alleged affair between a guy called Melvin Lim and one of his senior staff Grayce Tan.
Truth be told, I myself had never heard of PropertyLimBrothers ("PLB") before (such a suaku, right?) until this scandal started appearing on my social media feed, and contacts started flooding my Whatsapp with memes on the adulterous couple who are both married (but not to each other).
When I started skimming through some of those articles, what caught my attention most was Melvin claiming to be a Christian, homeschooling his 4 kids, and wanting his organisation PLB to be one that glorifies God.
That piqued my curiosity so I googled "Melvin Tan property agent which church" and this appeared:
My first reaction was "Heng ah, he is not from New Creation Church".
My second reaction was "Faith Methodist Church, heng ah I made the right decision to leave Methodism".
I next did a google search on "Grayce Tan PLB which church" and this was the outcome:
My reaction was, "Heng ah, she not Christian. 臭狐狸精（smelly vixen) must have seduced her boss."
And then it struck me that as far as the world out there is concerned, it does not matter which church Melvin attends. To them, Melvin Lim is a Christian. Period.
Their overall impression of Christianity has been negatively affected because Melvin had not been practicing what he was preaching. He was saying one thing (that he was a family man, etc) yet doing another (fooling around with an external party).
He was to them, for all intents and purposes, a big Christian hypocrite.
Just like the way Kong Hee must have come across a decade ago, or even our very own Olivia Lum more recently.
Also, it is not relevant whether Grayce is a Christian or not. It took both hands to clap.
Just like how both Adam and Eve were both held responsible for partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, even though Eve was the one who engaged in conversation with the serpent and also the one who offered the forbidden fruit to Adam.
What is sad is that Melvin and his co-founder Adrian definitely had good intentions in wanting to set up an organisation based on Christian values to honour God. They wanted to be a light in the midst of darkness.
Melvin was supposed to be a good testimony to Grayce and his other 160+ subordinates. But the reverse has happened. Instead of bringing glory and honour to God's Name, he has instead brought shame and dishonour to our God.
The world may take delight when a Christian falls from grace, but we as sons and daughters of the living God should instead be feeling pain and sadness.
The apostle Paul talks about how we as Christians are supposed to be part of the Body of Christ, and when one part of His body suffers, the rest of it suffers too.. We read in 1 Cor 12
26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Ouch, that hurts. And it should.
Philip Yancey. Melvin Lim. Men of God caught in adultery. They are not the first and will definitely not be the last. So let's specifically keep in prayer all pastors and captains of industry who are married, that God's hedge of protection will surround them and their family like a shield. God, who is in them, is far greater than the devil that is in the world. Amen?
About 2 weeks ago, I blogged about how we as Christians tend to admire certain men (or even women) of God because of how anointed they come across, and may inadvertently end up placing them on a proverbial pedestal.
The danger of doing so is that should they happen to fall (which can happen to anyone and everyone because we human beings are not perfect), we get disillusioned and may even end up getting our faith affected or shattered.
The solution is to keep our eyes firmly on Jesus and Jesus alone, because He will never, ever let us down.
So why the title "of Footstools and Pedestals" you may ask?
In ancient times, the pedestal was used to prop up someone that people looked up to. For example, shown above is the bust of the late, great classical music composer Ludwig van Beethoven being sculpted atop one.
Now contrast this to another ancient object that was used for propping, being a footstool. In Biblical times, the victors of a hard-fought battle would typically rest their feet on the heads of those they had defeated. Here is an illustration of a king using the heads of his vanquished enemies as a footstool.
We read further in Psalm 110:1 (NIV)
"The LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."
an ancient footstool
Although this is an Old Testament passage written by King David, we know it is Messianic in nature and refers to Jesus because it says further in verse 4, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
In the Old Testament, the enemies of God's people were those who prevented them from fully-inheriting the land God had promised them, such as the Philistines, Moabites, Hittites, Amorites, etc. They were actual human beings, but "types/shadows" as examples for us to learn from and apply.
Now that Jesus has established the New Covenant for us, the equivalent "anti-types/substance" of enemies this side of the cross would be what prevents us from fully possessing our possessions and enjoying the more abundant zoe life that He has come to give us.
In other words, the enemies of the Christians of today are the opposite of what Jesus gives to us, viz
What Jesus gives versus What the enemy brings
Life versus Death
Provision and Prosperity versus Poverty and Lack
Health and Wholeness versus Sickness and Disease
Peace and Well-Being versus Worry and Anxiety
In 1 Corinthians 15:26, Paul tells us that, "The last enemy to be destroyed is death". What this means is that we as New Covenant beneficiaries can already claim victory over all the abovementioned enemies. Death, the final enemy, will also be defeated when Jesus comes to take us up to be with Him via the blessed hope of the Rapture and transforms our mortal and corruptible bodies to become like His, immortal and incorruptible.
The point I am trying to make is this. While many of us are doing what we ought *NOT* to do with regards to pedestals, the same in reverse holds true in that many of us are also *NOT* doing what we ought to be doing with regards to footstools!
So let's begin already to put under our feet poverty and lack, sickness and diseases, fears, worries and anxieties. All these enemies are now beneath us because we are much more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen?
What an awesome end to the week it has been!On Friday night, our CG met and we had a wonderful time discussing about this year's theme. I also received the 75 car decals I ordered from the supplier that same afternoon, so I have started distributing them to my CG mates.
This morning before the 1st service, I gave out decals to various pastors of my church. And then Ps Prince preached yet another awesome sermon as a follow-up to last week's.
And to wrap it all up, Ps Mark preached on the theme, and the church has just released the Chinese version, which is "更多更盛". This can be translated into "much more and deeper".
back of shirt
Which means to say I can now proceed to make 2026's T(hemed)-shirt. It will indeed be neon pink.
Hopefully, it can be ready in time for me to wear at our 1st Combined Ministry Service on Thu 29 Jan 2026.
A Monday brother of mine has been pestering me to make one for him too.
But I had to gently explain to him that the shirt is supposed to be unique, a one-of its-kind.
And similar to one's spouse, not meant to be shared with others haha :p
UPDATE 23 January 2026:
The T(hemed)-Shirt for this year just arrived today! Gonna wear it to IZ's baptism tomorrow, to service on Sunday, to Combined Ministry Service on 29 Jan and to the Marriage Seminar Group 11 dinner on 31 Jan!
Regular readers of my blog will know that I am a member of "GUFC" (Grace United For Christ), a group formed by likeminded individuals who are recipients of the wonderful gospel of grace, and respond to it by sharing our faith unabashedly, some via blogging, others by summarising New Creation Church pastors' sermons and yet others by conducting giveaways.
Just like how Jesus had 12 disciples, so too does the original GUFC.
When it was first founded by Terence Yeo in 2007, I was the only one who was still not yet attending NewCre.
So I thank God, that when I faced much hostility and animosity from the 3 then-pastors of my previous church who are against the grace gospel, He provided me with a virtual cell/care group of sorts, and till today, a handful of us still remain in active communication with one another.
I do meet up occasionally with Terence, Tom, Stan and Pearly.
Over the years, we have been giving out many of Ps Prince's resources and materials, such as books, booklets, CDs and DVDs.
In recent times, yours truly has continued the tradition, and have been giving out theme of the year car decals faithfully over the past few years.
This year, I have 15 of these beautiful "Much More" car decals to give out, absolutely free, postage-paid, to anyone residing in Singapore.
You just need to answer 5 simple questions, the answers of which can be found by reading the 3 episodes of The Adventures of Lobang King.
Q1. Why did the author not attend the Annual Servers' Appreciation ("ASA") event in 2017, even though he had joined the Logistics & Transport ("L&T") ministry earlier that same year? [Hint: look at the date he joined and the date of that year's ASA]
Q2: The author won a "MAD" Award during his inaugural ASA event the following year, ie. in 2018. What does MAD stand for and how many awardees were there in total altogether? [Hint: you will need to include the 2 "extra" awards that were given out]
Q3: The author has made 3 themed T-shirts for 2023 to 2025. What did he say would be the likely colour for 2026's and why has he not arranged for it to be done yet at the time of writing? [Hint: it is going to be a colour other than the 3 already used, and what typically appears on the front of the T-shirts]
Q4: Who did the author give the ACS bear to, and what was the significance of his best kingdom friend ("BKF") David Tang being included in the photo that was taken with the recipient of the said bear? [Hint: it has to do with the recipient's profession and the common relationship he has with the author and his BKF]
Q5: The author used to paste all previous year's theme decals on his car's windscreen, but not anymore. Why so, and what practice does he adopt now? [Hint: he changed cars in 2022]
Please DM your answers directly to me via the "Post a Comment" on this particular blog entry. Do also include at least your name when you comment so that I can identify and subsequently contact you.
The first 15 to do so will each receive a Much More car decal!
My earlier car decals were off-the-shelf ones that were produced in bulk.
Then sometime in mid-2020, I discovered on Carousell the existence of 2 separate suppliers, namely sharkfin.stickers and decalstickersupermart that do "customised" individual decals, without imposing any minimum order quantity requirements either. They charge around $20-$25 per piece though, and understandably so because of the absence of economies of scale..
I ordered an Aston Villa, ACS and ACJC decal and have them proudly and permanently displayed on the windscreen of my car, viz:
Shortly thereafter in 2021, I discovered another supplier Myouki who could do 10cm X 10cm decals at reasonable prices of around $5 a piece, if one were to place a small minimal order quantity of say 3-5 pieces.
So I went to our church website to grab all the wallpaper images of the themes of the year that I could find (from 2014) and sent it along for production.
I had them displayed across the front windscreen on both the driver's and passenger's side of the BMW Gran Tourer I was driving then, until there was no more space left haha.
And then in January 2023, BKF David Tang introduced me to this other supplier! I found that the quality of her decals are second-to-none compared to the previous suppliers'. The printed ink remains vivid even after months of exposure to the elements and the vinyl does not crumple or shrink. I strongly-recommend this supplier, so do contact me if you need her details.
After changing to the Tesla Y in September 2022, my wife told me that I could only stick decals on the driver's side of the windscreen.
And so, I now only have the current year's decal displayed, in place of the previous year's.
Speaking of which, I have placed with the supplier an order of 75 pieces of "Much More" decals and expect to receive them by the end of this week.
15 pieces will be part of the annual giveaway, held in conjunction with Tough Questions Seekers Have ("TQSH") and GraceUnited.sg (GU). So stay tuned for the announcement on how you can win yourself a decal, absolutely free!
Continuing from yesterday's episode about me TALKing about winning the MAD Award during my inaugural ASA event, here's concrete proof that it was definitely not keh-long at all.
I was, am, and will always be, not just the Lobang King, but the King of Lobang Kings oK (otherwise known as "KLKK"), hence this episode title haha.
Of course, Tshirts have been my all-time favourite for the longest of times.
Even as far back as 2007, I had blogged about tshirts with a Christian theme.
Over the years, I have collected just too many of them, and have had to do some serious decluttering recently because we have to move out of my late parents' house, latest by the end of the year.
I have also cut down to just the 1 customised t-shirt per year, what I call the "T(hemed)-shirt". The front will show the current year's theme in both English and Chinese, while the back will reflect all previous years' themes. The shirts are deliberately in loud and screaming neon colours so that I can be a walking billboard to be seen from afar haha. In 2023, it was yellow. In 2024, green. In 2025, orange.
the t(hemed)-shirts for 2023, 2024 and 2025 in neon colours
At the time of writing, this year's Chinese version is still not out yet, so I have not gotten it made yet. Will update again when I do so, and am considering a pink coloured tshirt. What do you think?
Meanwhile, the back of that tshirt will look like this...
previous years themes
As indicated yesterday, the Lobang King's repertoire has expanded beyond tshirts to include others such as the following:
ARTWORK
diasec print
I have mentioned in an earlier post that I am currently a business owner.
I set up a sole proprietorship called Akeraios Phronesis in July 2022 and had a piece of hyperrealism artwork drawn up for me by the renowned Patrick Bezalel Lee, who also used to do video illustrations for Ps Prince. Pictured on the right is a diasec printing of the artwork he did.
Do let me know if you want something similar done for yourself and I can get you connected with him.
BEARS
While strolling in International Plaza, I came across a shop that made plush bears with customisable printed cropped-tops.
Pictured below on the left is the one I gave to fellow GraceUnited.sg member Thomas Shalom Liau for his water baptism in January 2020, while I gave the one on the right to Mr Peter Tan in November 2023 as his retirement gift. He was the principal when my son was in ACSJ and then ACSBR, and also of my BKF ("best kingdom friend") David Tang's 2 sons when they were studying in Queenstown Secondary School ("QSS").
Fun fact: Mr Tan was posted to QSS the very same year that David's elder son Justin went to Sec 1 (2018), and completed his tenure the very same year that David's younger son Javen completed Sec 4 (2023).
we bear bears
Unfortunately though, the supplier's website thatcornershop.com seems to be no longer in operation.
CUSHIONS
These huge emoji cushions were all the rave back in the 2010s, and I must have bought more than a dozen of them.
Now that we are decluttering, we have given most of them away. I bought them from a TaoBao supplier through the EZBuy platform, which I believe is no longer around.
emoji cushions decoratively displayed
DECALS
Now this has been, and will always remain, a perennial favourite! So I will be dedicating a separate episode on it, Do stay tuned. In fact, its impact is somewhat similar to the hexagonal-shaped (now defunct) road tax discs and $1-coins that circulated around the island.
EZLINK CARDS
personally-named ezlink
latter rain ezlinks
I was roped into the 2019 L&T ASA Committee and the door gift we gave out was customised EZLink Cards.
Separately I ordered 15 with that year's Latter Rain theme to give to fellow Committee members as a token of appreciation.
This has got to be the most elaborate of them all. David Tang and I saw generic ones being sold in a flea market when we were in Chiang Mai for that Mission Trip. So I searched online to see if there was any company doing customised ones.
Well, indeed there is: Flashion Statement, based out of Maine, USA. I placed an order for 25 panels with the words "Hesed Wisdom", it being the theme for that particular year.
Not only does the LED label flash, you can have it flash in timing with either in-built accompanying music, or to external music.
The label can also be mounted onto the front of a tshirt using velcro, so that one can become a walking (and talking) billboard and the ultimate attention-grabber, haha.
Today marks the launch of a mini-series entitled "The Adventures of Lobang King".
Episode 1: TALK.
I joined the Logistics & Transport ("L&T") Ministry as a driver on 7 May (07/05) of 2017. I recall the date very clearly because it has my favourite numbers 7 and 5 haha.
I could not join the Annual Servers' Appreciation ("ASA") event that was held in August that same year because the church has this requirement that servers must complete at least 6 months before being allowed to attend it.
It was just as well, because I only officially changed church the following year, in January 2018.
Upon doing so, my wife and I quickly signed up to join a Care Group ("CG") (which we did in March 2018) while I also signed up for my ministry's Mission Trip that took place in April/May 2018.
I thank God for that Mission Trip because it was how I got to know others from the "Logistics" side of our Ministry. In fact, I was the only server driver who went on that trip! Here is a photo that Dave Tan took of us at the debrief gathering that was held at my (dad's) place in late-May 2018 upon us returning from Chiang Mai.
We drivers in the "Transport" side typically report for serving an hour earlier and also finish up an hour later. This is because we have to drive the trucks to and fro, and hence hardly are able to fellowship outside of our own team of drivers.
Instax prints
For that year's Mission Trip, we were invited by the Principal of a Primary School to conduct a "camp" to help the children improve their English.
I was given the honour of being in-charge of the "photo booth", whereby the children could have Instax pocket-sized photos of themselves taken by us, which they could then bring back home as a keepsake.
Anyway, 2018 was indeed a very eventful year because it was my first time attending the ASA event. And despite me being a relatively newcomer, I was warmly welcomed by my ministry mates and even won a "MAD" award!
Read on!
That year, the ASA Committee invited attendees to participate in a poll of sorts whereby we vote our fellow servers that had been MAD ("Making ADifference"), viz
MAD announcement
There were 10 categories in all, namely:
Mai Tu Liao: Always On Time
Tok Kong: Always Awesome
Chop Chop Curry Pok: Always Efficient
Yan Dao: Always Handsome
Lobang King: Always Resourceful
Siao Onz: Always Volunteer
Mai Siao Siao: Always Serious
Sayang: Super Caring
Pattern More Than Badminton: Super Creative
Ar Kar Liao: Social Butterfly
Guess who won MAD Award #5: The Lobang King?
MAD awardees
Yep, yours truly.
The All-time Lobang King ("TALK") even found the "lobang" to make a commemorative Tshirt for posterity's sake :-)
TALK shows the front
TALK shows the back
As I mentioned, it was truly God's provision because I was just a newbie. The other award winners were all long-time veterans in the Ministry.
Here's a photo taken at my maiden ASA event:
Lobang's virgin ASA
Some people commented that the results were "rigged" because 8 of the 10 awardees (except for Ps Henry and Randolph) were mission-trippers haha.
In episode 2 of "The Lobang King", I will demonstrate to you that my award was definitely not keh-long hor.
God has been blessing me with being very resourceful, so that I can be a channel of blessing to others.
So besides Tshirts, what other resources does TALK have?
Here's a list from just A through F:
Artwork? Check.
Bears? Check.
Cushions? Check.
Decals? Check.
Ezlink cards? Check.
Flashing labels? Check.
Oh ya, I forgot to mention that the ASA Committee felt that 2 servers had been very enthusiastic in "participating" in the polls, so they gave out 2 additional awards, namely to the Sabo King and Sabo Queen.
By now, most people who follow Ps Joseph Prince's teachings would be aware of the Theme of the Year for 2026, which is "Much More".
He unveiled it today, and the mobile and desktop wallpapers have been made available already.
The theme for 2025 was "Third Day", and I blogged in August 2025 about how God used that particular theme to help me figure out the direction I should take when I was at the crossroads of deciding whether to remain in my current church (ie. New Creation Church) or to return back to the church of my forefathers (ie. Paya Lebar Methodist Church).
I did a Google AI search "Where does 'much more' appear in the bible, and this was the response:
The phrase "much more" appears in several key places in the Bible, most notably in Romans 5:9-10, emphasizing God's greater salvation after reconciliation, and in Jesus' teachings like Luke 12:28, comparing how God clothes flowers to how He will clothe believers, highlighting God's greater care. It's also prominent in Romans 5:20, where grace abounds much more than sin, and in Luke 12:48, stating that more will be required from those given more.
In the Book of Romans (Paul's Letters)
Romans 5:9: "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."
Romans 5:10: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
Romans 5:20: "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."
In the Gospels (Jesus' Teachings)
Luke 12:28: "If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!"
Luke 12:48: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more." (Uses "much more" concept)
Matthew 12:12: "How much more valuable is a person than a sheep!" (Jesus uses this logic)
Key Themes
Assurance of Salvation: In Romans, "much more" builds confidence in God's saving power.
God's Abundant Grace: It shows grace far exceeding sin's power.
God's Provision & Care: It underscores God's greater provision for His people compared to nature.
I refined my Google AI search further by asking how it appears in the original Greek, and here was the response:
In the Bible, "much more" often translates Greek words like περισσός (perissos) (abundant, exceeding) and its forms (e.g., perisseuō, perissoteros), conveying surplus or overflow, and ὑπέρ (huper) (beyond, above) combined with other words (like hupernikaō for "more than conquerors"), adding intensity to concepts like grace, love, or victory, showing a spiritual abundance beyond mere expectation.
Key Greek Words & Meanings:
περισσός (perissos) / περισσεύω (perisseuō): (Strongs G4053) Means abundant, exceeding, to overflow, or to have a surplus in quality, quantity, or intensity, often spiritual.
Example: John 10:10 (abundant life) uses forms related to perisseuō.
ὑπέρ (huper): (Strongs G5228) A preposition meaning "above," "beyond," "on behalf of," or "for the sake of".
Example: In Romans 8:37, hupernikaō (ὑπερνικάω) combines huper and nikaō (to conquer) to mean "more than conquerors," implying overwhelming victory.
How They're Used for "Much More":
Spiritual Abundance: Perissos emphasizes God's overflowing grace, joy, peace, and eternal life, going beyond basic needs or human measure.
Intensified Action/State: Huper adds an intensive "beyond" or "exceedingly" to verbs, showing a surpassing level of achievement or experience.
Contrast: These terms often contrast bare minimums or worldly standards with divine generosity and spiritual victory, encouraging believers to expect more from God.
So, "much more" isn't a single Greek word but a concept expressed through words indicating overflow (perissos) and transcendence (huper), highlighting a greater, more abundant reality in God's provision and blessing.
If you find the above TL;DR, here is my attempted summary:
Much More is a New Covenant concept established upon the person of Jesus and His finished work on the cross.
As beneficiaries of that Covenant, we can and should be expecting the "much more" and not settle for anything less.
People of the world will tell us, "Do not get your hopes too high because you will be disappointed." But we, who are sons and daughters of the living God, should be saying, "Let us raise our hopes even higher, because God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think."
I am excitedly looking forward to Ps Prince expounding much more (haha) on the theme of much more, and will share my thoughts in the coming weeks (and months).
Oh by the way, the theme's video illustration has been released on Youtube too, viz:
What caught my eye in the video was that the captain of the ship was left-eyed (and by extension, left-handed too).
Hmmm, I wonder if the illustrator is left-handed, and thus right-brained and thus more artistic and creative?
Was this the illustrator's subtle way of stamping authorship, like how an artist will include his signature on a painting?
Anyway, a shout-out to all left-handers out there!
I was scrolling through Facebook just yesterday and came across a post shared by Dn Douglas Loh, a fellow NewCreationer, ACS alumnus and great kingdom brother of mine.
"Oh no, not another one", was my response.
In recent times, quite a number of what many would consider "spiritual giants" have fallen: Kong Hee of City Harvest. Brian Houston of Hillsong. Ravi Zacharias the great apologist.
Dn Doug's sharing on Facebook
Just to name but a few.
And now we add Philip Yancey to that list :-(
Over the past 6 months, I have been clearing out stuff that has accumulated in my parents' house for the last 47+ years.
My dad kept a library of several hundred books and at least a dozen titles were written by Philip Yancey. He was my dad's favourite author.
I had no idea of how he looks like because he typically does not include his photo on the cover of his books.
So I did a Google image search and what appeared was photos of a rather unattractive man, no offence.
Hmm, maybe he was much better-looking when he was younger?
So I refined my image search to "Philip Yancey younger photos".
Nope, he was quite the ugly nerd back then too.
Yancey in his 20s
Yancey in his 30s
So what exactly did that other woman see in him, one will never know.
That only goes to show that all men are ready bait and can be tempted to stray, not just the handsome ones.
Anyway, it is a very timely reminder for all of us as Christians not to "idolise" any human being, however moral or dignified they come across, be it Billy Graham, or Watchman Nee, or even Pastor Joseph Prince for that matter. They are all mere mortal men with feet of clay.
We should instead fix our eyes solely on Jesus alone. For He is the author and finisher of our faith.
I am therefore glad that Ps Prince has purposefully raised the next level of his pastors to share his pulpit on an increasingly regular and rotational basis, namely Ps Lawrence Lim, Ps Lim Lian Neo, Ps Gabriel Tan and Ps Mark Ng. And I look forward to Ps Edwin Lim joining that roster of clergymen in the not too distant future.
Sure, the attendance drops whenever Ps Prince is not the one preaching. But it is wise and of great foresight how he is weaning us off him, of him taking himself off that proverbial pedestal quite a number of us may have inadvertently put him on.
Also, many out there who are envious of how New Creation Church has grown so exponentially must be wishing and hoping for Ps Prince to spectacularly fall (the way Kong Hee did).
After all, the enemy's main tactic is to smite the shepherd so that the sheep will be scattered.
So let us all continually keep Ps Prince in our fervent prayer, that God's hedge of protection constantly surrounds him like a shield. Amen?
P.S. You will notice I have entitled this post "of Footstools and Pedestals" and will explain and reveal why so in a future post. Stay tuned!
I purposely entitled today's post to grab your attention, because "raba raba" is the Bahasa Malay word for "grope".
The word was used heavily in the 1980s/1990s to describe what horny teenage boys would do to take advantage of teenage girls at tea dances/functions whenever the DJ dimmed the lights and started playing sentimental music to slow-dance to.
On a more serious note though, "raba" is actually the Hebrew word for "multiply" and it appears twice in Gen 22:17, when God told Abraham that "in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply you". In fact, the word "barak", which is Hebrew for "blessing" also appears twice.
Our church has taught us well. Pastor Prince and Pastor Lian have mentioned in their sermons before about how the Hebrew language is fascinating, in that the way to place strong emphasis on any adjective is to use that word twice, and how we should look out for such occurrences whenever we read the Bible.
We see the double use of the word "mut" appearing in Gen 2:17, when God told Adam and Eve they will "surely die" after they had partaken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, viz:
So too in Isa 40:30, where "kasal" appears twice, in describing how the young men of the world would "utterly fall" (in contrast to those who wait patiently upon the Lord as indicated in the verse following that):
And yet again in Isa 26:3, where "shalom" appears twice, talking about how those whose mind is focused on God will have "perfect peace", viz:
Anyway, back to the topic of "raba raba" and "barak barak". In Ps Prince's sermon last Sunday, he gave us a glimpse into what the theme for 2026 is going to be when he shared on Heb 6:14 (which quotes from Gen 22:17).
I am eagerly looking forward to its unveiling this coming Sunday because it has to do with persistent prayer, and the manifestation of multiplied blessings that God has in store for us as New Covenant believers. Amen?
P.S. Came across another passage! The double usage of the Hebrew word "sama" in Deut 28:1 has been translated into "harken diligently".
At that point in time, I was working in a German MNC and my then-boss asked me what had happened. I had to tell her a white lie: that I made a bet with a friend on the result of a soccer game, where the loser had to shave off all of his hair.
Botug then in October 2007
But the real reason for me doing so was to make a bold (and bald) statement that I was a BOTUG (a play on the word "Botak" which is "bald" in Malay).
BOTUG is the acronym for a Believer Operating Totally Under Grace. This was in response to the extremely law-based, then-PIC of PLMC Peter Koh. He had relieved me of my role as Treasurer and Cell Group leader, disbanding my CG without bothering to even channel me into another one.
He did so because I was actively propagating Ps Joseph Prince's resources such as CDs and books to my CG members, the contents of which he and the other 2 then-pastors of PLMC, Barnabas Chong and Tay Kay Leong, considered to be heretic.
Fast forward to today. Now that I am un- (oops, I mean self-) employed, I can make bold (and bald) statements as and when I choose.
So what better time to do than at the start of a brand new year, right? Haha.
So yes, I'm BOTUG! BOTUG! Again.
Believer Operating Totally Under Grace, Based On Theos' Unlimited Grace.
As mentioned in my previous post, I support this rather unfancied soccer team called Aston Villa (which is based in Birmingham, UK). My dad supported Liverpool but he never "forced" me to support the same team as him.
In the same manner, I also did not "force" my son to support Villa, although I did try to "persuade" him to do so, and even made him wear matching Villa jerseys when he was in Kindergarten, as can be seen in the photo on the above right.
He ended up supporting Chelsea, and it perhaps had to do with what happened in December 1993...
me at the Bridge, Dec 1993
Back then, my wife and I were on our honeymoon. While searching for a recommended fish & chips outlet in Southwest London called Johnnie's Fish Bar, we chanced upon Stamford Bridge (Chelsea's stadium) and she took a photo of me, on very pricey and precious Kodak ISO 200 35mm film, no less.
Looking back, maybe we should have made our way up to Birmingham and had me to stand in front of Villa Park (Aston Villa's stadium) instead. Who knows if the outcome would have been different? :p
Ok, back to the topic of today's post. Circumstances were such that I was closer to my daughter than to my son growing up. As some of you may be aware, my son was born with small kidneys, and by the time he was 3 years old, he had to undergo peritoneal dialysis, whereby he was hooked up to a machine every evening for up to 10 hours. As a result, he was very much home-bound.
Thus, whenever there was any night activities (such as watching a movie or a soccer game) or overnight activities (such as when the company I was working in organised a trip to KL in 2001), my wife would have to stay at home to attend to him, leaving me to participate in such activities with just my daughter.
Thankfully, he received a transplanted kidney in April 2008, when he was in Primary 5. As he progressed into his teenage years, he would naturally spend increasingly more time with his peers rather than with his own parents.
To cut a long story short, it was like history repeating itself. I was never close to my dad growing up, and my son was never that close to me growing up either :(
So I really want to praise God that just as He used a "father-and-son UK trip" to cause me to bond with my dad back in 2015, He used another "father-and-son UK trip" to cause me to bond with my son!!!
It all began sometime in September 2025, when my son asked me whether I was keen to watch Chelsea v Aston Villa, which was scheduled to take place on 27 December 2025. Truth be told, I was initially not so enthusiastic to go there right in the middle of winter, where temperatures typically drop to the single-digits.
I asked a good friend of mine, Chen Meng, who had recently watched a Premier League match with his family, and he recommended me to Matchday Affairs, a local company that has been regularly arranging Singaporeans to go to Europe to watch football matches since 2019.
They confirmed that they could get us 2 tickets! That was when my son and I started planning an itinerary around it, and it was agreed that we would fly into London on 24 December and fly back to Singapore on 31 December.
On 6 December, I happened to be with some fellow Villa-supporting friends who told me that it would be a waste to travel all the way to the UK and yet not visit Villa Park! Then, a week later, on 14 December, an elder from my son's church was preaching and happened to mention about the Cadbury factory (which is situated in Birmingham) in his sermon! It was definitely not a coincidence, but God's way of telling us that this UK trip was ordained by Him.
And if that was not confirmation enough, ever since Pastor Prince and Pastor Lian spoke separately some years ago about the British Museum (and in particular about the Siege of Lachish by Assyria), it had piqued my curiosity about making a visit there to see how archaeology confirms the accuracy of the Old Testament scriptures.
I did not mention the above to my son, yet separately, he had also expressed an interest in visiting the Museum, and while googling "Bible Tours", he discovered that there was one being conducted on 29 December 2025. Not only that, the Museum happened to be just a 10-minute walk from the hotel that Matchday Affairs booked for us. Yet another example of God's fingerprints being on this trip of ours!
It was God Himself who was slowly but surely filling up our itinerary for us, which eventually looked like this:
24 Dec: arrived in London
London-bound ...
... with extra legroom
25 Dec: attended Christmas service, followed by lunch with Aunt Helen, cousin Terry and his family
Christmas service at All-Souls Church
Christmas lunch with the Lees
26 Dec: shopped in Oxford Street
bought this vinyl at HMV, Oxford Street
27 Dec: watched Chelsea v Aston Villa
the raison d'être of our trip
28 Dec: attended Sunday service / had lunch in Chinatown / re-visited Stamford Bridge
Euston Church with its very high ceiling
lunch at Gold Mine, Chinatown
me at The Bridge, Dec 2025
For posterity's sake, my son took a photo of me at Stamford Bridge, 32 years from that earlier photo of me taken by his mom :-P
29 Dec: went on a guided Bible Tour of the British Museum
guided bible tour
Sennacherib bragged about Lachish, but was silent on Jerusalem
30 Dec: rented a car to drive up to Birmingham (check out the car plate number: does it not have God's endorsement on it too!)
the car we rented: a Citroen C3
a third pilgrimage to the hallowed grounds
at Cadbury World learning how chocolate is made
31 Dec: departed London
we upgraded to premium economy for a more comfortable trip home
I really thank God for this wonderful bonding trip with my son, and look forward to more to come.
So why the title Two and a Half Men? Because it speaks of how God mended the relationships of two fathers (ie. men) and their growing-up son (ie. half men) :-)
P.S. Ps Prince preached a sermon entitled "Answers for Dark Nights and Difficult Seasons" on 18 August 2019, whereby he mentioned about the reliefs depicting the siege of Lachish housed in the British Museum. Here is an extract of the sermon notes:
There was a time when Israel was surrounded by the Assyrian army and King Hezekiah was outnumbered.
At that time, King Sennacherib was the king of Assyria, and he was an evil and brutal man. Today, we can see what he did to the captive Jews in his siege of Lachish by looking at reliefs now housed in the British Museum in London. The reliefs show terrible torture.
But there are no reliefs that show Jerusalem being conquered because God stopped it from happening.
When Sennacherib threatened Hezekiah, Hezekiah cried out to the Lord, and the Lord answered Him.
“And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.” — 2 Kings 19:35 NKJV
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