Food for Thought

Saturday, 31st March 2007

Dear Theophili and Theophilae

Planning to blog on a "heavy" topic -- righteousness -- over the next few days.

So meanwhile, I will spare you guys over the weekend, and blog on a couple of light-hearted topics.

Like food, for example...

I have discovered that "fast food" like McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC and Subway can be found in practically every country.

When my family was in Sydney last year, we saw Hungry Jack stores everywhere (which is what they call their Burger King).

When I was in England and Germany a week ago, I went to McDonalds at Frankfurt Airport, Burger King in Birmingham Airport and Subway at Birmingham New Street railway station.

When in doubt, we tend to stick to the familiar.



However, I did venture by choosing something that cannot be found in the menu here in Singapore. Hence at Macs, I ate a chicken wrap.

At Burger King, I ate some meat burger (sorry, but I forget the name now).

And at Subway, I ate a meatball footlong.

Of course, I also tried the national dish of England (which is Fish & Chips) and the national dish of Germany (sausages).

Shalom
Malcolm

Feeding on His Word (with the Aid of Modern Technology)

Friday, 30th March 2007

Two Sundays ago, I was not in Singapore because I was in England watching a soccer game.

I did not miss out on feeding on the Word of God, however.


Knowing that I would be away from Singapore for a week, I had ripped JPM's sermon series on "Live the Let-Go Life" into mp3 format and loaded it onto my PDA phone.

Thank God for modern technology.

[Actually, there was a "church" called Birmingham Chinese Methodist Church located near to where I was staying. However, the service was at 2pm (and the game was at 1.30pm, so I could not attend it). But I digress... ]

I have also shared with quite a number of you about how I nearly left the church of my forefathers to join 15,000 others. However, God has raised me to be both a cell leader and a member of the church's executive committee. Hence, my season is still here.


The LORD, in His wisdom, has however enabled me to continually feed on the message of the gospel of grace and finished work of the cross, as spoken through His anointed servant, Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church.

Their website allows one to subscribe to ongoing sermons. What this means is that each Thursday or Friday, I will receive in the post the Sunday and midweek sermons that were preached the week before. In this manner, I can remain in sync with the other 15,000.

Meanwhile, I will continue to serve as a cell leader and the treasurer of my church, since God has called me to do so, and remain with the church of my forefathers until such time God tells me otherwise.

By the way, Pastor Prince has been speaking on the topic of righteousness recently. If you want to borrow any of his messages, please drop me an email. I have also just updated the JPM catalogs.

Shalom
Malcolm

Quality and quantity go hand in hand

Thursday, 29th March 2007

Many of you out there would have known by now that my recent spiritual spurt is due to the fact that I have been feeding on the Word of God through one the LORD's most anointed messengers - Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church.

I hear that their congregation has now surpassed the 15,000 mark!

There are people who say that quality is more important than quantity.

I beg to differ. Both should go hand in hand.

I remember RevBarnz saying over the pulpit sometime last year that quality time implies quantity time. For example, how can someone claim to be spending quality time with his children if it is only 5 minutes out of his 24 hours per day?

Reminds me of an advertisement by Malaysian Airlines where this guy was in the garden encouraging his toddler to take his first steps to walk towards him. The next scene shows the poor toddler looking around confused, because his father had suddenly disappeared, apparently rushed off to the airport to catch a flight.

Seems like the term "quality time" was coined by someone as a means to justify the lack of time he was able to invest in his family, because he had many other commitments that took priority (and hence also a large quantity of his time) each day.

If something is important to us, we will make time for it.

Someone who claims to be a child of God cannot set aside only 5 minutes each day for his Quiet Time. Jesus would get up early every morning to spend quality and quantity time communing with His Father.

Back to the topic of church membership. A church with 15,000 members is not to be sneered at.
The LORD says in Matt 7:16 that "by their fruit, we shall recognise them" and again in Matt 13:8 that "seed sown on good soil will yield thirtyfold, sixtyfold and hundredfold". We also read in Isa 55:10-11 that when the Word of God goes forth, it does not return to Him void but accomplishes its purpose. Just like the rain that falls from heaven waters the earth, so that it furnishes seed for the sower and bread for the eater.

The largest church in the world is Yoido Full Gospel Church located in Seoul, Korea and led by Dr. David Cho. It has 800,000 members.

Quality and quantity membership.

The ministry of Dr Cho and Pastor Prince has yielded thirtyfold, sixtyfold and hundredfold in terms of membership growth because God's Word has gone forth and not returned back to Him void.

Quality and quantity go hand in hand.

Shalom
Malcolm

Beware of Counterfeits!

Wednesday, 28th March 2007

Confession time. I have finally succumbed and bought myself one of those slippers/shoes with its trademark holes that provide lots of ventilation.

The fad here is Singapore probably started about a year ago, where the price of these slippers were close to S$60 each. Now a pair costs about S$50 each, so I decided to get one for myself.

The one I chose is called Hydro, and is more formal because it is not open-heeled. I even bought a soccer and smiley button, and letters that form the words "ASTON VILLA".

You must have heard of the phrase "imitation is the best form of flattery". Because of the popularity of this footwear, imitation versions started to spring up everywhere, and you can probably buy a pair at a "pasar malam" for slightly above $10 each. There are however high risks that come with these counterfeit products because the motive of these pirates is purely profit. There is no element of quality control at all. We have read stories in the newspapers about cases where children had their slippers stuck in elevators, and one of them even had her toe nearly ripped off. Chances are these kids were wearing the fake versions, because the real ones would have been subjected to very stringent measures. After all, the head office is in Colorado, USA and we know how strict the legislation in that country is.

I went to their website and here is a write-up on their trademark Croslite™...

Croslite™, a proprietary Closed Cell Resin (PCCR) which is NOT plastic NOR rubber. Croslite™ is closed-cell in nature and anti-microbial, which virtually eliminates odor. It is an extraordinary impact absorbing resin material developed for maximum cushioning. Its closed cell properties resist odor, inhibits bacterial and fungal growth and are non­toxic. This versatile material can be worn next to skin and be cleaned with just soap and water.

Aah.. So that's why it costs S$50 and not S$10...

Which reminds us to beware of counterfeits, and I can think of at least 3 areas for this.

1. The Gospel

The real gospel of Jesus Christ is that of grace and finished work of the cross. Any other gospel is counterfeit. We read in Gal 1:6-9 how Paul admonished the church in Galatia for doing so...

Gal 1:6-9 No Other Gospel
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

I have written a separate blog entry on this topic.

2. Love

Real love is the unconditional one that God demonstrated to us. Any other kind of "love" is not genuine and will not stand the test of time.

3. Intimacy

The real kind of human intimacy is that which is to be shared between a husband and his wife. The devil has perverted intimacy with other forms, such as fornication (between unmarried persons), adultery (between persons not married to each other), incest (between relatives), homosexuality (between those of the same gender), bestiality (between human and animal), necrophilia (with a dead person) etc. These will not bring fulfillment, because sex was created by God for humans to connect at 3 levels -- physically, emotionally and spiritually. The 3rd dimension will be missing if it is not carried out according to God's design.

Shalom
Malcolm

Radio Deo

Tuesday, 27th March 2007

Two weeks ago, at our cell meeting, my co-leader mentioned that there are 2 radio stations broadcasting Christian messages and music at certain times during the day on the FM frequency.

They are as follows:

FM 102.3 - Voice of Grace

This station broadcasts Christian programs from 8am to 10am, and from 11pm to 1am daily.

The programs are in English, Mandarin, Hokkien and Cantonese.

FM 107 - Hope

This station broadcasts Christian programs as follows:

Lifestyle : 8-9 am
Crossroads : 9-10am

KidsConnection : 4-5pm
Crossroads: 5-6pm
Reflections : 6-7pm

Lifestyle: 8.30-9.30pm
RadioYOUth : 9.30-10.30pm

I happen to be tuning in to 102.3FM this morning on the way to work, and heard a message on how to apply "The Five Love Languages" based on the book of that name by Dr Gary Chapman.

Instead of listening to the usual secular stations playing secular songs, maybe we should tune in to Radio Deo every now and then.

Oh, and by the way, Deo means God in Latin. Gloria in excelsis Deo = glory in the highest to God.

Shalom