Went to Roman Catholic funeral on Thursday,
One of the kids' mum died. She is kinda of an alcoholic, her husband left her, and she had an epileptic fit when no one was around. They found her dead. Pretty tragic and so soon after the kids started coming back to the club after a long while. We still keep contact with them because we visit everyone who has ever come to the club to drop them the memory verse sheets. We don't visit, just at the door say hi, chat for a while about school. That is how we found out and thought that being there was the only way we can help. Even if they stop coming we keep visting for up to year. So once a week for a few minutes. Not msuch but over time you do build a bit of a relationship.
It was an experience. It was drizzling and pretty wet. I got soaked through on my way home the rain was so heavy my jacket just couldn't take it.
Anyway at the service, they don't sing any hymms and they talk alot about prayer for dead sort things.
well those kind of things wouldn't be part of my theology. There was a staute of a black saint in that church and I researched that guy Martin de Porres from Peru. Interesting sort of chap. Worked in the humblest jobs like sweeping the monastery at first because he was black he wasn't allowed to a member but his wisdom and compassion and skill as a nurse overcame that obstacle. So he is the patron saint of Black people it seems. One thing about this saint thing is we get to be informed about these servants of God and they are not forgotten, swallowed by time.
But then again people might turn them into idols and direct prayers to them instead of God.

Started reading 'A History of Russia',
Read about the start of Rus kingdoms. What follows is perhaps my imperfect comprehension of what I read but serves my point.
The Indo-Europeans came to Europe 3000 thousand years ago and the last branch to form was the Slavs and they settled in what is Eastern Europe and Western Russia. They mingled with another people also in that area the Finnish-Ugruic people. They were farmers and gathered resources from the forest. Then came the Vikings who at first were there middlemen but later became their masters and collected tribute from them. Now the Viking had iron weapons and were technologically superior and so able to assert control. Later they adopted the Slavic language and consolidated their rule into the Rus kingdom. It was divided among princes but in the end it was concolidated into a kingdom that became the percusor of Russia.
Interesting no? What struck me was how the strong has always bully the weak: exacting taxes, making them work their fields without pay, doing all the hardwork of collecting pelt so their masters can sell it and keep all the profits for themselves. Another example would be the Spartans who conquered the Messenians and made them owrk their fields and do all their chores so they will have time to concentrate on military training and remain in control.
We this going on today. Middlemen who are virtually oligarchs as they shortchange peasants. Think of the petai middle man. How much he gets and how much the Orang Asli fella get?
Anyway as far as I can recall I have never come across a nation that puts the interest of other nations as much as their won. Sort of like a national way of following Jesus' command of loving your neighbours as yourself.
In one of my earlier blogs I have envisioned Malaysia as a missionary sending nation or at least alluded to it. Now I am dreaming of nation that is also humanitarian but then again paradigms must shift. Like its medical schools will no longer produce workers for the private sectors but all gradutes will be channeled to the rural areas and and after which they will spend a few years in one of our not so well off neighbours helping shore up their almost non-exitent healtcare system. If they don't want to do it then choose another field. There are plenty of people out there who are willing to do this. What is the army doing? I guess Indonesia wouldn't might help putting out forest fires or assisatance in the case of floods and disasters would they? More than 2% of the GDP spent in this kind of assistance to our neighbours? Great! Why is it that we must only use the GDP to improve ourselves( infrastructure,economy)..see this as long-term investments! An unstable Indonesia and millions of refugees can't be too good.

If you read what the conservative and liberals write you have no idea who is telling the truth..they can with the same news source twist it to fit their agenda and that includes selective and creative editing...so what can we do I guess we can only go back to the primary source( documents, interviews)....the same goes with history..it is always written by the victors...check your shelf all the WW2 books are written either by Brits or Yanks..seen one by a Kraut( offensive word for German)..events and estimates according to them seeks to fit their agenda..even in the time of the Ancients..this was done....the same goes for the Bible..why not read yourself instead of depending on others for interpretation I must admit we need the cholars but they are not always right...but then again we don't have the time in the world..the Duelfer report is 1000 pages long...I have no choice but to read the review and analysis from someone who views are coloured by the side they belong to..same with history..I can't check all the ancient parchments....I would like to but I don't have the time...so I guess I can only choose one among all the fields I am interested in....but I guess no matter how little time you have..you should and can make time for the most important of all documents..read the Bible for yourself.

You know what they have weddings and receptions,
To celebrate two people coming together in holy matrimony why don't they celebrate when they get a divorce because if they were meant for each other their love would have lasted forever..because true love is suppose to last longer than than stupid stone on the girl's ring right?( By the way diamonds are not forever, it takes million of years, definitely not billions, but in the end it will break down into carbon I think)..so there they are divorced...why should they be celebrating? Well for one thing this means they will be on their way to looking for their true love..you can't be with your true love if you are married to soemone else, right? And just as weddings were originally designed to advertise to the world..hands off this is my wife and I am making a public commitment to take care of her for life no matter what happens..so a divorce celebration whatever you call it should be designed to advertise I am available...
This is a serious issue and I am not parodying marriage but show how ludicrous the idea of divorce is..the slightest sign of trouble people divorce..all marriage can be made to work...and people don't change it is just some people hide their bad-side better than others...can't blame them if you decide to let feelings and lust take over and you don't bother fiding out more about that person? So the way they are making it..very soon we will be celebrating divorce..but I guess it never will be be because it was never meant to be that way.

Goes to show how time I spend on this blog,
But anyway...it is pretty ironic that this blog is called new ideas but there was hardly anything new..politics have always been the same..broken promises and all that but here is definitely a new one....shortage of doctors? Why can't nurses take professional exams that will upgrade them to doctors how about one for paramedical staff...like for accountants you get a basic degree and after that there are a hundred and one course that will upgrade you into a chartered accountant or you can take the profesional route like CIMA and ACCA. SO why not for doctors and if you want to talk about competence and efficiency I can say many nurses with their experience are competent than many doctors.
Somehow I have a nagging suspicion that the doctor's union will be trying to control the supply side. Imagine that if there is suddenly like a deluge of doctors like in Italy, Russia and Cuba where it is not glamourous to be doctors, market forces will cause wages to fall. Now the car loan for the Porsche and loan for the house on the Southside assumes that you have the same level of pay if not more for the next 30 years so if we solve this crisis too soon and fast there may be many defaulters...I don't know this is mere speculation and I don't want to be smearing people's names but I was just wondering why not explore this route..it is not as though there are not precedents.

Just read the saint must walk alone,
Another one by Tozer. Man this guy has inisght though I moght agree with everything he said but he does have a real eye for the human condition. I particularly like the one where he commented that when a Christian complains he is lonely other Christians will say that Christ will always be with you and other cliches. I felt so vindicated as the articles said that at the end of the day loneliness does happen because you carry your OWN cross by yourself and 'no one is a friend of the person who carries the cross'. Even Jesus was LONELY; his disciples were asleep and when He was arrested the ran away. He was surrounded by a crowd on the road to Golgotha but he was not among friends. Other examples were given Abraham was alone when God spoke, Moses...it reflects that they seek God more than other people and because of this they have no peers that can understand them when they talk about the revelations of God. Only Noah could understand why God wants to flood the world.
He points out that the saint is alone not because he wants to be but because his life of holiness leads away from others. True he does not avoid them so he can reach out to them but then again people just drift away from you like when people have stories of how wild their weekend have been and all you have to offer is helping in Kidz Klub which is no smooth paddle down the river and Sunday school. Well people will think that you are boring because of this and well they don't talk to you as much becuase they know your commitment to your Saviour and week in and week out you will be there at the same place.
One thing about that article I can see myself in it, man. They are so few people I can connect to in class at least at a deeper level. Hey I can talk about politics and anything under the sun but there aren't really many people I can share about the Bible verse that spoke to me when I was praying this morning( though I did put it up on my blog, check the one about SOS:)) Now I am not saying I am that holy but it ihow I feel sometimes and I like especially in the end they talk about action. When you pray and remember the poor widow stop praying feed her and then continue. Wow that is the way to go man..Hope I can practise that.

This one is by Tozer,
Yeah Lin Lee sent me loads an dI have to read them I promise a short commentary for each. I must agree with her that rote,rut and rot is a good read. It basically about how the church can get into a rote of doing things. This means that they do it for the sake of doing it and don't mean it, feel that it is true or believe that is true. They may say it but they don't really believe. What does that mean? Well like the precher can preach that Christ is returning but then after church everyone goes home and do secular stuff and forget the message and this happens week in and week out and when that happens we reach rut and if it goes on it becomes rot. So Tozer ends by saying that a dead church like a dead tree will not feel a thing when things like this is told them but a living church like a living tree will bleed when pricked and start questioning themsleves. He illustrates this by saying it is sort of like the apostles when Jesus said that one will betray him, they didn't start pointing fingers but asked is it I and start with soul-searching. So if that happens we are on the right track. Because if not we will be self-righteous, judgemental, andn complacent and then revival will never come.

Lin Lee sent me a prayer,
written by this lady form idop. It was interesting. Basically it is a prayer for persecuted christians and towards the end she also prayed for the persecutors! I would like to wring their necks but that was not what Jesus would do!

Truth,
Philosophers have written books about and yet it s true meaning elude us. What many say is truth may not be at all or it may be truth in certain cases but ceases tobe so in certain and therefore it is not the absolute truth but this is one thing I know truth is. It has may even do harm but the end its good is greater than all the sum of its evil.

My ideals of an intellectual,
Would be one that seeks the truth and backs up with evidence, acknowledges the limit of his knowledge by qualifying that in his statements and beyond reproach in terms of bias but of course in the real world he doesn't exists because no matter how truthful as long as it is against the viewpoint of some people he will be accuse of bias. If people don't like what they hear they won't listen to you no matter how good it is for them. So as Solomon says the seeking of knowledge is futile but then again if we can save that one person I guess seeking knowledge is not that bad.
But then again no one can attain to the ideal intellectual because for one everyone of us absorb all kinds of influence that will inadvertantly colour our thoughts and we can never be as objective as we want. Some people try to do away and reject their beliefs and principle in the hope of achieving objectivity and sometimes at the expense of the truth so in the end instead of serving truth the means become an ends and no one benefits.
Finally no one can achieve this state because we cannot attain all and perfect knowledge. We will never know the real motive for an action and even if that person admits to a certain motive sincerely we can never be sure if he was led subconsciously by something else though in his conscious mind he believes that tht was the motive. So maybe Bush was really out to help the Iraqis and sincere but how are we to know we are not Bush but then even he might not know his subconscious reason or he might not tell us the real motive then it would very premature to judge a man. One can be seriously misled. Maybe John Kerry is really is nice and sincere person who cares for people and you will really like him if you get to know him( I figure this is true for everyone if you get to know them well...come on wouldn't you like someone who live the simple life and always keeps a picture of mum at his bedside? Well that someone is Hitler) so I guess personal attacks on thatperson will not lead him in the right and it might close his ears to you even if you hold the truth that he needs to know.
I guess the Biblical approach is correct. Approach with love, kindess, and gentleness and give him the benefit of doubt that he is seriously misled about 'choice'. This is our best hope. However it doesn't mean we can sit quietly at the side and be passive at the same time there should be concrete action.
So the ideal intellectual does not exist but one that knows what and why he believes and act on it( no one likes an armchair person0 is our best bet.

Just heard about the Gaza pull out,
Correct if I am wrong but wasn't Gaza used to be the land of Philistines and if giving up can secure land that were really under the Israelites on the West Bank( I think there is plenty) then it should go on. Though the Jews won the land when Palestinians choose attack the Jews and spurn the UN-sponsored division of the Holy Land, it is only after they lost the war that they choose to negotiate and all this crap about UN approval and pre-1967 borders but not before trying to invade Israel three times. It is so obvious that they have lost all rights. The land was won and lost with blood that is the way it was, is and to come. They wouldn't have settled there in the first if the Romans didn't chase the Jews out in 70 AD. Now the situation in 1947 was different, the Palestinians ran, they didn't even offered resistance. Now they want Jerusalem back! They can choose to live under Israel which means democracy, welfare and one of the highest standards of living but instead they want to lord it over others even if it means being like all the other banana republics in the Middle East.

I had an interesting chat with guy at CU yesterday,
He is a Syrian Orthodox priest and is studying for his doctorate in UCD. So I got talking to him about the church whose liturgy is Aramaic!( the language of Jesus), its 2 000 year history, his struggle for survival under more than a thousand years of Muslim domination. It was interesting we talked almost an hour SO I will give you a gist of it. OF course I got round telling him about the Malaysian church and well its lack of tradition and hisotry which made it easier to connect with other denominations.
He is an Arab! Now don't be surpirsed but Arabs have been Christians longer than they were Muslims. When the apostles went to Damascus they reached out to the Jews and the Syrians who were there and set up one of the first churches which continued to day as the Syrian Orthodox. Then Arabs were added to the church because they were traders and Damascus was a trade centre. Come on even Muhammad traded in Damascus. Once upon of time Syria was 90% Christian though this must be qualified that modern Syria came from the division of the Ottoman empire but it was called a church of martyr because through the long years they were persecuted and now they are about 10% of Syria.
We talked about the Iraqi war. Now I know I have quite pro-war because of the positive effects in Sudan but yesterday I was shown another side of the coin. Christians are leaving Iraq because under Saddam they were protected. Saddam was in the minority so in effect he also protected the minority..ditto for Syria..now he agrees Saddam is an evil man but now with Shiites coming into power we expect the Christians to get even more persecuted. Why? Take a look at their cousins in Iran and it is happening..sigh..nothing is as easy as it seems....my support sapped a bit listening to that....in the end I guess only God will have the wisdom to know whether there will be net good effect in a war or not.
Talked a bit about The Passion. He also like me didn't like the extra-biblical stuff and illutrated with the scene where the thief who spoke against Jesus got his eye pecked out. Now he said that that didn't reflect the gracious and merciful Jesus who had ask the Father to forgive those who crucified Him! Maybe it was to show that evil will be punished in this life but the effect could be that Jesus was vengeful and yeah he said the Aramaic is bad..sounded like Americans speaking it.
Talked about Syrian orthodox hymms then he had to rush home to finish his Hebrew homework.

Hey finally got my life back in order,
I read the Songs of Solomon this morning and reading it has strengthened my belief that husbands and wives should read the Bible together. So now there is three level: personal devotion then one with the spouse and finally one with the family. IF this deson't strengthen families I don't know what would. Any ideas? My guess that even divorce is creeping up with Christians is well not enough time spent with each other and God. Why not marry your job if you are going to spend more time with it?

Tsk, tsk,
My blogs are so political. It is as though my life have been revolving around politics but to be honest I haven't read the Bible in a week and I have more pathology, microbiology, and pharmacology in me plus the news and election news than the Holy word of God so you can see a shift in ideas that I have in my blogs. Less Chistian stuff more medical and political stuff but I guess that is humans function we take all around us and it shapes our worldview. A person should always have both side of the story so as to have a balanced view though in the end he will only subscribe to one view( You can't be for and against stem-cell research at the same time) but at least he knows he makes the decision in good faith and he can't say had he known at the time the other view he wouldn't have done the same.; well my question is why didn't he find out?

You know my views are very biased really. They are based on what I have read which will reflect the biasness of the authors. Sometimes I wish I can talk to all the people on both side of an issue. Sure most people don't have independent thought but it is the personal reasons that I am interested in and generalised ones. Like the only reason I am for Bush is that I am anti-abortion and though he did nothing and have not the political courage to tackle abortion harder he IS better than John Kerry. So I amsure that people have millions of reason for doing somethings. Some are shallower than others but reasons nonetheless. Peace for israel, land for Palestinians. I am almost for everything actually except the right to kill your own children.

Haha,
You know the world is crowing about Israeli occupation and all that but do they know what they are talking about.
Hey when the Jews first went back they BOUGHT the land off the Arabs. Then too many began going no surprises because of what? Hey it is a free world and no one can say you can't go anywhere right? Problem is the Arabs saw it differently? in 1947 they had a choice go with the UN and have half the land or take the all or none approach. They took the second option and attacked too bad for them they lost. Now there was another dilemma run or stay. Most ran and are still refugees they and their descendants and what happened to those who stayed? Well they currently enjoy some of the highest standeards of living in the world, heck there are Arabs in the Knesset. Name me one Middle Eastern nation that has a Jew in its PArliament if of course they have a parliament and free elections to begin with. The rights of the Arab women? Well we don't see these Arabs dying( literally) to join their brethren. In fact, 19% of Israel's population is Arab.
Hey, it is not that the Palestinians are discriminated. Millions of them work in Israel, they go to Israeli hospitals to see Israeli doctors but the fact that everytime someone blows himself up, you celebrate in the streets isn't goign make them open the borders so you can work to feed your families or your wife go to the hospital to deliver number 8.
Plenty of Jews lost everything( look at the Holocaust survivors and refugees from Iraq, Iran and elsewhere after the Arab defeat) but they didn't stay refugees, instead the built themselves up again. As for the Palestinians 57 years on they are still whining about 'home' and staying in their camps. Just as Germany will never be home for many Jews so live with the fact that you will never get back Israel. Time to pick yourselves up and do something instead of blowing people up. Even your Palestinian doctors don't want to stay and work to help Palestinians and you are hoping that the israelis would given your aim of pushing them into the sea.
And to the rest of the world don't tell Israel what to do until the day you can get Morroco to stop occupying Western Sahara and allow the UN to have referendum there; Sudan, Saudi Arabia to practise the freedom of religion; and fair elections all over the Middle East.

Sorry about the silence,
Bank Holiday on Monday so I can't go online until today. But here are some thoughts and oh yes from now on I will put a new post for every idea so people won't get lost.
My dad made a prediction once that Bush was going to be a one-term president when he started the war against terror and invaded Afghanistan. Now it is not that he is against the conservative Christian agenda of Bush. Hey being in a teacher in Sunday School and the father of four kids, he is as against abortion as one can get but the fact Americans had never shown the stomach to carry the right things through. They are forever in this popularity contest never mind if it means not doing the right thing.
I wasn't too hot for the Iraq myself, not so much it will get Iraqis killed( by the way who has sympathies for guys who torture footballers for reasons not their won making? Plenty of people actually but that is another story) but that the Americans won't be able to stomach the casualties if the Iraqis put up a stiff resistance( I was wrong, the melted away even when they had home-ground advantage). My change of heart came when I met this Sudanese pastor from Khartoum. A question was asked whether he thought what Bush did was a call from God. I liked the way he answered. He said honestly he don't know but the day Saddam fell, all of the sudden the government decided to start negotiating with the rebels in the South because their patron is no more.
Then I realised the only pro-peace people who spend hours marching are those who at the end of the day can go for a pint at the local pub and then drive home in their nice cars to their comfortable homes and couldn't give a damn about the 20 million refugees around the world but to people like the Dinkas and Nuers they don't have the luxury of choice.
Yeah I agreed Bush can do more in Darfur but at least something is done though it is lacking but then again it is much better than what Clinton had done: pulling out of Somalia and condenming it to a civil that lasted up until this month9 that is more than ten years) and let us not go into Rwanda. To him much is given much will required. With all its wealth and might wha thas the US done with it. A little daeth here and there is justified by the means. LIke 50 million died in WW2 but you know what. Hitler and Tojo must be removed. They should have did the same with Stalin but then again this hindsight. The world is better today for what happened more than 60 years ago.
SO my stance pro-war if it is just. Don't remove just Saddam. There is Musharraf, Gadaffi, Mubarak, the Sauds, the ayatollahs..heck all these people came to power by oppression..they all should go...I don't why we are stilln tolerating them...like we tolerated Sddam 20 years ago the will become cancer. Convenience should not be at the expense justice.

You know what I should start posting less cheong hei blogs,
I didn't even realise that some people had commented on some of my older blogs but better late than never. My apologies to those from the Boys Brigade that were taken aback by my ignorant views( from the outside no less) there fore I ask for forgiveness.
Hey thanks to Sieh Jin for his refreshing rebuttals to my points which as always bring so realism to my ideas. Yeah there are Christian unis and selling them idea would be better off but then again they are in far off places like the US. How about one for Southeast Asia! As I always say we are so central! We are poised to send missionaries into China, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Southeast Asia. We are talking about 2.7 billion people and ohh Japan is the least reach nation in the world.. all right at our doorsteps. Yeah I agree with you the Old Testament perception about life after death is at best quite vague becuase the lack of revelation that is why I figure in the Jesus' time there are the Pharisees who believe in life after death and the Saduccees who don't.
Thanks also to Lin Lee for her down to earth comment sot guard against pride and giving some level of orthodoxy to my thinking. Yeah and about the lesser evil thing..Well everything compared to God is nothing and like rags. So we shouldn't even question why things like the Holocaust happen because everything is in God's plan and there is a greater good. However I don't want to end up like the Germans to whom Allied soldiers showed the victims of concentration camps and their only defense for not doing anything is ignorance. There is war and a holocaust happening in our time not just in America but Sudan, DRC, Uganda, Mexico, Myanmar and almost every country. We must do what we can.

I had a weird dream last night but lets hope it is prophetic,
I dreamt Bush wins Florida and the Electoral College count was 274 to 264 for Bush. So hoping for another 4 years.

From the looks of things,
It seems the Republicans will control Congress but lose the White House. It is still dead heat the Presidential elections but I like to give the oppsing team advantage and put myself at a disadvantageous position.
Currently this is how I am praying. If indeed God does not want to give outright victory to Bush I can only say that Kerry is in His plans. Why is Kerry part of God's plans? So that the fullness of a nation's sins will be achieved and punishment can be meted. God is merciful but He is also just so putting Kerry into power would the same as hardening Pharoah's heart. This first few times it was Pharoah hardening his own heart then the last five times was God hardening Pharoah's heart so that all the punishment can sent out. Now I suspect if God didn't send ten plagues the Egyptians wouldn't have let the Hebrews go. God in His infinite wisdom knows that it takes ten not nine not eleven before the Egyptians will let the Hebrews go for long enough so that the Israelites can reach the Red Sea. Had God not hardened Pharoah's heart until the tenth plague but only until the eighth, I think Pharoah would have let them go but not long enough that God can reveal His marvellous power against the Egyptians.
So for the current elections I am drawing the same parallel. First we pray for mercy on behalf of the American nation, that God will not let them reach the fullness of their sins so soon. How is this achieved? If Bush is reelected, chances he will nominate four new Supreme Court judges that will be able to let regulations for Roe vs. Wade to go through. The current injunction against the Partial Birth Abortion Act is pending appeal in the Supreme Court and I don't expect it to be pass the Supreme Court because the majority are Liberals. If you analyse the Old Testaments all nations that got massacred were nations that practise child sacrifice and abortion can be said to be a form but as always there is always a caveat that the fullness of sins must be reached. This is why Abraham didn't get the land straight away.
And if Kerry does win all is not lost. All we have to do is pray that the conservative members of the Supreme Court will have their preserved long enough to survive a Kerry presidency which I suspect will be only one term( given his aversion to work).
In summary. Pray for a Bush victory while praying for God's mercy on America( like Moses did for the Israelites) and if Kerry wins pray for the health of the Supreme Court judges. Though I must remind my readers that Bush is not perfect and had not he become the first president to signed the first legislation to regulate Roe vs. Wade I wouldn't have been bothered about this election and also for the fact that Kerry is over-whelmingly pro-choice.
Onwards to a lighter subject. Currently I am doing a Bible study base on the shorter books of the Bible. They are so shrt there is not excuse not to have read them. In fact some of them are sohorter than an average posting of mine but they are unread and God's inspiration within its letters remained untapped. So this is what I amtrying to do with group. Here is a list of books that can be finished in less one sitting of one hour. Book four of Psalms( remeber Psalms is the longest book in the Bible because it consists of four books.), Ruth, Ecclesiates, Songs of Solomon, Titus, Philemon, Joel, Amos, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Malachi, Haggai, 1 and 2 Peter, 1,2, and 3 John, Jude, 1 and 2 Timothy, 1 and 2 Thessolonians. This is not exhaustive but as my memory serve but this is to illustrate that just doing these books we can cover more than one-third of the Bible! OK not one third but one third of the books.
Nut as you grow more mature in the Word even the Pentateuch will get interesting...seriously. For those of you looking for guidance in ecclesiology, missiology the Pentateuch is the way to go.

Hello all,
I will be having an exam next week so I guess I won't be blogging so much until but still need to unload some ideas.
This is not a new one but it will be the first time I am unloading it on this blog and it has to do with penal battalions. During the World Wars, alot of time tactics include runningas fast as you can across a mine-laden field. To reduce casualties among their trained soldiers they used prisoners and felons in the first so they will clear up the fields. In the Second World war the Germans developed this concept because of the lack of manpower into one where disgraced soldiers( deserters, cowards) can redeem themselves. Now the how many doctors, accountants and professionals have disgraced themselves? Thousands and what happens? They rot in jail when they can be used to logisticians and manpower for humanitarian organisations. Since the aid world is always lacking in manpower why not take advantage of this situation.
Ohh don't worry about them running away. If they don't speak the language, have no idea of the culture and survival skills they won't last long in the trek from the heart of Africa to their homes! Since tax-payers are supporting them why not make them do something useful and make the tax-payers feel good about themselves!
reading about how the Greeks made war. so got history lesson in how people become kings and how other people end doing things for them and how this privileged position will more or less be envied by others and all sorts of power struggle will happen and how in the end normal people will still do everything for them even if they don't deserve it..actually the Bible and how Saul's appointment is very accurate..kind of wonder why people want a king but when there are crisis it does help to have someone unite everyone and to blame if it doesn't turn out well.

Hell; sometime in the future,
Stalin: Never thought I would share the same hotel suite as you?
Hitler: You think I want to. Come on killing 6 million Jews and sending the world into its most violent war ever should have gave me a room closer to Satan's.
Stalin: Child's play. I shoulc have had a bigger room for I've starved millions more to death than you..the very people I had sworned to protect...so not only am I a bigger arse-hole. I am a liar.
Hitler and Stalin: What are you here for?
John Kerry: Responsibility for and connivance in the murder of 30 million innocent babes by virtue of selecting liberal judges that ensured Roe vs. Wade had at least another 30 years of life. I can't say any of them deserve to die except they were an incovenience to their mothers and fathers and their immoral lives. This was as president. I am responsible for more if you count my support for abortion as Senator.
Hitler and Stalin gawked...there was no argument...who was worse....they both took off their hats to Kerry and bowed and pointed him to Satan's inner chamber in the Lake of Fire Hilton.
So for the sake of the nation of America and also John Kerry's soul( you are doing Kerry a favour if you love him so much), vote Bush. Everytime Kerry invokes God's name or says he is a Christian I fell like puking. What do you mean you don't want to impose your faith on others? Just as thinking that the Jews were pigs and the Slavs were subhuman, doesn't give the Nazis the right to kill them so also thinking that foetuses are not humans make them any less so. You kill a chimpanzee and the left-wing liberals will have you by the throat and this because the chimp hshare 99.9% of our genome. Now a foetus is 100% human in genome but that still don't get as much protection as a chimp.
If we use the Holocaust as an analogy, it would like Kerry saying he won't do anything to stop the Nazis because they don't believe killing Jews is murder. Murder is murder: the taking of a life that from a being who when given a choice will not choose to have his or her life taken. Now foetuses can't express their will and want to give a shot at this miserable human existence or a two year old child for that matter but does that mean they want to be killed. You can tell them that life is not worth it and it is miserable and try to discourage them from living ( if there is some way that they can choose and make a decision and make it known to us) but an overwhelming majority will still want to live. That is human nature. Guess why is everyone trying to get federal-funding for stem-cell research? Because they don't want to die if they get a terminal disease like Alzheimer and want to extend the span on this miserable earth for as long as they can. We want to live even if this mean killing another person. Why do adults scramble for life-boats on a sinking ship without regard for children even if they had a fuller life than a child? We want to live. But it is not these people we remember, in fact we revile them but those who rose above the base instincts and gave their place to a child these people we remember eventhough they are no more. Same rule applies to stem cell.
But back to abortion. Abortion is different from all other issues Christians are worried about. Senator Kerry, I address you; global warming doesn't kill quite as much innocents even famine happens because of it, the blame still lies not with emission but with rich nation refusing to open their grain stores and getting enough; war in Iraq, God has used war as punishment and to set history back in the right cause..all peace except the peace brought by Prince of Peace when He is enthroned except willed by God is of a Satanic and demonic nature. I do not claim to know the mind of God and Iraq may not be God's will but one thing I know abortion is definitely not in His will; capital punishment is again can be argued as murder the taking one's life when that person is not willing to give up his or her life. In the magnitude of scale and evil one cannot compare abortion to other issues.
If you are Roman Catholic as you claim, them you would believe that abortion is murder, a man that has no moral fortitude to stop the murder of millions even though he knows AND believes it is murder has no right to be leader of a nation. You will be reviled as the Vatican was for not stopping the murder of Jews maybe not by left-wingers, maybe not in this life..but by the God whom you claim to believe in!
Telling a foetus AND God that abortion is between the woman, God and the doctor, is an insult to both and close to blasphemy as though God will say yes,( Though I believe and again I do not know the mind of God except that which the Scripture reveals and Kerry quotes copiously[ many times out of context] but in the case in which the death of both foetus and mother the mother will be given priority for she can produce many more children yet in the case of either foetus or mother..it will be the foetus as this new life has as much potetial to bring life as themother.) is about as comforting as telling a Jew that is between Hitler, the executioner and God as though will agree to the massacre of the apple of His eye.
Even if the foetus only is one tenth of a human, with the rate of abortions in the USA even by the most conservative( or should I say most liberal because only the liberals will agree to the smaller number in ths case) estimate would mean the death of 80 000 humans in a year. Now this is more than those who died in Iraq, Sudan, floods related to global warming, and inequality in the past TWO years.
Calling all Christian veterinarian out there, in the US and the world who believe abortion is murder and are angered when pro-choicers say the foetus is not a human life. Don't kill abortionist as it will win the more sympathy and our contempt This is what you do. Three of you should ban together. Look for a pregnant animal preferably a very endangered species( like a Black Rhinoceros) because the most endangered the more publicity you will get. Perform an abortion on it( Yes, it is cruel but remember humans have dominion over animals and the life on animal is less important than one of a human and also the communion between God and man[ sacrifice was about this idea]). Then get arrested. Preferably this should be done in some US zoo because it is US laws we are trying to mock. In courts, since you have three vets you can claim that it was done to save the life the animal. As in human abortions, all you need two doctors( who can be paid to say whatever the patient wants). This is to proof the folly of this so-called safety mechanism to prevent trivial abortions. Then you go for the kill. Since the foetus of the animal is not that animal you are not guilty of killing an endangered species and can only charged with breaking into the zoo. This will smash the argument that a human foetus is not human. Always remember to make reference to human abortions so that it will be news to the world. IF the prosecution said that the mother have no choice in this, retort that animal can't speak and because it can't speak like the human foetus it has NO rights. The folly of pro-choicers will be revealed for all to see and the bias media will try to dumb it down but make sure you have a lot of attention-seeking stunts! A few in jail but the lives of millions saved. To those who take up this challenge thank you and when I graduate in a few 2007 my friends and I will support your family monetary-wise and in whatever way we can should be imprisoned. I am not satying thins but this is a bit hard but you can trust my word..if only I can prove it to you...how I wish....
Anyway I wish I was able to finish the whole piece before the lecture started now I seemed to be a bit stuck. Got something about penal battalions that I have been developing and also lamenting the fact that super-long blogs like this don't really attract much readers who are out there.
Oh yes back to Kerry. Senator you once quote this against Bush but I find this more apt FOR you. Faith without works is dead. So what is your faith, Senator? What is it called? Orthodox Christianity according to the Roman Catholic branch or Eviscerated Christianity with only whatever suits you? You can only choose one, sir. If you believe that abortion is murder and do nothing to stop it isn't that faith without works? True Bush too have many other sins like the death penalty, war in Iraq and so on. But again we looking at the lesser of two evils. Millions against thousands and what more all your victims are innocent. Senator, should you be elected president you will break promises and that is fine but one that you MUST break is the upholding Roe vs. Wade. There must be a control to the madness! Just a because my neighbour is upsetting my mental health and destroying my chance of getting a good medical degree, doesn't mean I have right to kill him. unless he is endangering my life. Same for abortion if you can see the analogy, sir. Sir, please before remove the plank from your own eyes before youtry to pick the sawdust off President Bush's eyes. I have thought of supporting you sir but I can't be party to the murder of millions and still call myself Christian though millions of Christians in America seem to be able to sleep well.
Just one note sir. Had not Saddam bribed the French, Germans, and Russians, the war in Iraq would have UN authority then what are you going to use as your platform?
Well the Us elections wouldn't be as an emotional reason if is wasn't fears for the age and health of the 4 Supreme Court judge. Kerry if elected president from the looks of things will be a one-term president. At worse it will be two 8 years but Supreme Court justices are for life, that means 20 even 30 years! You know for such important people who can strike down laws with Senate and House of Representative majority and also Presidential endorsement( you know which on e I am referring to) they should be elected not appointed. Hey if Kerry only appoints Liberal candidates and IF he becomes president also all the other judges of all level( thus the pool for SC appointments)then Roe vs Wade will not have a chance to be contained.
More on abortion. It is illegal in Ireland so then if you are interested in doing Obgyn you can be sure it won't be part of the curricula if you come here to study. So come to Ireland to study Obgyn! There might be the mention though but it won't done as part of the practicals.
Yeah, I just thought of this. If a girl has been taught that abortion is not so much about rights but murder she is less likely to resort to it. This thing about the foetus being not human is part of the ploy to get people accept abortion is OK. It reminded me of the propaganda of Goebbels that said Jews are not humans and cite 'scientific' proofs. If the Nazis cannot have a choice to murder Jews so also people to murder babies! In the case of rape and incest. I know this is hard, but just as giving the death penalty to the offender will not solve anything so also killing the child which is part of you. I can't understand why Democrats would oppose the death penalty but not abortion and the foetus is not even the perpetrator! We can make a video you know where there is this voice narrating( aborted foeutus voice) telling about mum's rape and ending with what have I done? Abortion won't unrape the woman.
In closing I think I have spoken too much. The Democrats were on the wrong end during the slavery issue in the 1860's I guess they are at the wrong end today on the issue of abortion.

Hello all,
I had great if not weird weekend. On Friday night from 5 to 9 and then on Saturday from 11 to 7, I was packing people's groceries into their bags in the hope they will drop their change into the pails marked Kidz Klub. This is to raise funds for Kidz Klub not exactly back-breaking work but humbling at the same time. Got chatting to some people towards the end on Saturday. There was a really friendly lady who asked whether I would follow her home to help her unpack; the guy who host two foreign students and bought lots of bread for them; the guy who had a Malysian friend who went home a few years back; yea interesting people...at the same time there are the scabby ones; those who don't wnat your help,then needs it and then paid nothing; those that got your help and don't put in a cent; those that put in only the 1 and 2 cents..sigh..people I guess. Somehow the more tattoos, the more disrespectable they look the more generous they are..worse of all are those who wish you well and not a single cent....
Was sending a mail to Kong the today. I was telling him that we are at a threshold. We can choose to go in the promise land or continue to wander. The generation that chose to wander got to eat manna( the food of angels), they clothes and shoes never wore out, and other blessings..so in a way those that continued in the wilderness are truly blessed but they did not receive the promise. So we can be truly blessed by God( HE loves us anyway) with a good job, nice,car and house and yet we stilll can be missing out on the promise of seeing His Kingdom come in Malaysia! So what will it be to enter the promise or live off the blessings. It's not going to be easy the day they entered the Promise land the manna was no more and form then on they have to work hard for their food but still the Promise.
Here is a bit of economics. I was reading Proverbs 19:17..it reads" He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done"..so it got me thinking about what lending means. When you buy shares in a company you are actually lending money to the people who set up that company to build a road, to build factory to make more computers and so on. In essence you give them your money and they reward you by paying dividends and if they do the job well you shares will be worth more than you put in. Same thing for a bank. When you put money in the bank you are actually lending money because the bank will use that money and loan it to someone to buy a house and when he pays back the bank interest part of it is profit to the bank and another part goes to paying you rinterest so you actually lending money and getting a reward in interests! In fact most economic activities are just elaborate ways of lending and borrowing money. Same thing with the stock market, bonds, banks, insurance companies( you pay premiums and you are rewarded with the assurance that should anything bad happen you will get some money. Most insurance companies invest the money to get profit and also pay the claims), Government( you pay taxes and the Government give you services as a reward but of course there is a bit of pemakanan). But as with all earthly institution they will fail. The Government might be corrupt or overthrown or conquered, there can be scandals, thefts, bankruptcies, wars, runs on banks, default, burst bubble and all sort of things that prenvent you from getting your 'rewards'. So a word of wisdom to all the rich uncles and auties in the church. Why not lend to God and invest in his Kingdom..that way you can always be sure of your reward and returns on investments if want to look at it that way. So be kind to the poor and being kind to the poor always require some money.
I love reading through the Pentateuch. I use to think that they are the most boring books in the world and why on earth that they are in the Bible but that was when I was 9. Yup I am proud to say at 9 I qualified to called a adult( in the Jewish sense only, you are an adult when you've read through the Torah and do a Public reading; so in actual fact i don't qualify because I never did the public reading or most parts of it aloud but I like to think that I was considered an adult at 9 and also the fact I am technically more senior than a lot of people 4 times my age in church) but that is an aside and blowing of my own shofar. Anyway back to reading the Pentateuch and gaining wisdom from it on how to run the church. It si technically a blueprint, ashadow you may say of the King dom of God, just like the Tabernacle and Temple was a shadow. Laws governing rest, welfare and all are in there and being a person who went through a phase of supporting virtually every political system, I can say the best is a theocracy based on the Bible as a constitution. I was Capitalist, Socialist, Communist, back to Capitalism, Imperialist, in fact I can say I was right to left and back again and all these before I was 17 and now I happily settled in Democratic Theocracy( it is not unbiblical in fact it is the most Biblical because God rules this earth but eventhough He is the boss He gives us a choices, we can outvote Him but when things get too bad He will intervene and set things right again.)
So anyway I was assailed by this question that how do we know that we do not have so many people on the field that we do not have enough people supporting them. My response was that has never happened in the whole hisory of the Christian though it will be nice if it happens because this means Christ's coming will be hasten. And it seems everyone seem to think that they wil be the one doing the supporting with money while they get to comtimue with their comfortable lifestyle..so I had a hard time debating these people because I thought we have no precedence until I realised we did have a precedence in the tribe of Levi. The Levites is a whole tribe dedicated to serving God, they get no land except the commonland of the Levitical cities. SO the number of full-time workers, missionaries, and people ministering in parachurch organisations should be one-twelfth at most because never use a number without reason. All the other 11 tribes give their tithes to support this 1 tribe. SO our tithes is not to build church buildings but to support this 12th tribe known as the missionaries and fulltime workers. But you may say why give so much when they should be tentmaking. True because even the Levites when their lot for doing duties is not picked will be farming but the fact is their farming careers or whatever missionaries give up to pursue the Kingdom of God is hindered because a lot of the time the duties of the temple take up alot of their time so it is very diificult to earn a living. You can only plant wheat at a certain time of the year but what if you have to serve in the Temple at that time? You can't expect the levite to starve. Hey the Christian doctor probably will be so busy manning the free clinic he probably have no time to man the private clinic that was suppose to earn his keep. I am not advocating being a burden but the fact is a lot remain to be done and if the church don't support the full-time workers who will? Even if you pay crap to missionaries at least make sure their kids get to go to college or university. God will provide for them but it will be through YOU! In conclusion how do you know when you reach have enough workers in the field and you are spending the tithes correctly? Tithes is correctly spent when it supports missionaries or some kind of mission work or outreach. THe number should at most one-twelfth of the church so if PPBC has 120 members so we should looking at at least 10 full-time workers and or missionaries. DUMC with 3600 members, 300 but the fact of the matter is I don't see these numbers and what does that mean? WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH IN THE FIELD!!

Ahhhh the world,
I had some friends over the yesterday and I cooked some simple home-cooked Malaysian fare or something that vaguely resemble Malaysian food given the lack of ingredients. We had fried rice, mince beef stir-fried with ginger and spring onions, and of course my signature mince pork steamed omelette. They enjoyed it( I hope).
Anyway enough of that and back to my ideas..hhehehe( so hedonistic).. lots of things in my head.
To all my readers from the US( I don't think there are any actually) please please vote George Bush. George Bush is our one best chance to put some control in this madness called Roe vs. Wade. Even if a Fetus is one tenth of a human, it still amounts to 130 000 a year which more than number of casualties in Iraq and Sudan combined for the pass TWO years! "I won't be sending forces to Sudan because the military is over-stretched" my foot..you only 5 000 to stabilise Sudan that was the numbered they ask for in Rwanda 10 years ago. Pulling out of Somalia condemned Somalia to another 10 years of civil war. So if you Americans can sleep well at night and not get nightmares and still have the gall not to hang yourself or blow your brains for letting this happen eventhough you have the most pwerful, modern and best equipped military in the world then be my guest and vote John Kerry.
I came to realise that David didn't believe in a life after death, read his Psalms and you see what I mean..like why would he say the dead cannot praise God? Rather than seeing this as the lack of unity in theology I see it as God does not reveal all his plans at once so when Jesus came he told us tat there is a heaven and Hell and later John was shown the lake of fire. We will not have all the answers but in due time we will know what will happen to aborted foetuses, babies, and people who have never heard IF we keep the faith. God reveals piece by piece. Even David without hope still cling to God even in his mind the wicked goes unpunished if they are not punished in this life.
I have been thinking about setting up new kind of Christian University. In this uni the entry requirements for courses will not be how well you score though a certain level of aptitude is required but how much you plan to serve. So the person with less than straight A's but has a heart to go to Trashcanistan and serve the poor will get the place over the the straight A's kid who wants be a doctor to finance his Mercedes and bungalow loan. The curricula will also have components in apologetics and theology and skills neccessary for missions. SO basiccaly it is a missionary production line rather than a production line for producing job-market people. Since I am in this line I will outline some of my fantasies for the medical course.
So you have the basic pre-clinical stuff but there will be plenty of missionary skills thrown in and for the clinical( which is my favourite part) we pack our bags and go to some really deprived area like Burundi where the students will have plenty opportunity to practise their skills without the fear of being sued but get thanks not matter how well the job was done because some help is better than no help. In fact given the shortage in Burundi( They have only 1 doctor for every 100 thousand persons!) I don't think they mind 150 greensticks practising their history-taking, suturing and setting skills. Though there might be a problem as they speak French but then again there is always other Commonwealth nations that have a dire need. Better a bone set but not exactly align than totally not set, right? I think some may differ on this point. Haha...even before these kids graduate they are already contributing and getting valuable training and practise at the same time. Oenthing though their lecturers and clinical tutors will also have to be on the field. Given that the previous generation was not selelcted on this criteria we might have more of a problem here. But I am sure we can cobble something together. MSF might help..I hope... you got to have field experience( I don't expect someone with tests always available can learn to improvise so quickly) and you got to be there at least 3 years and after that you can't just leave as by then you will be experienced tutor. Anyway the pay will also suck and I don't know whether the Malaysian government( they get very little benefit except from those who will got o Sabah but people will be posted proportionally according to global need) will support this venture and funding from the UN will take forever so unless some billionaire leaves us a lot of money it will take some time to get going but looking for lecturers will be more difficult. Lecturers in Dublin have their own lucrative practises but not the field MO in Burundi so how do you get the applicant for a job that don't pay well or at all but guarantees the satisfaction improving whole health syatems( 70 doctors going to serve in Burundi will improve the health system there by 100%!) and training future Livingstones.. SO I hope that there will be a new breed of medical lecturers that will staff the medical faculty of this uni.

I was going on yesterday about revamping the Boys Brigade so it will be useful to missions now and provide a pool of leaders for churches in the future. The ideal will be creating guys modelled after Yew Kong and Sieh Jin. Look at them passionate about God, lead exemplary lives, can preach, can interpret the Bible, can do apologetics, can lead worship, can counsel...in the real world they can be managers and teachers...they are a mobile church...they are the church..should all the churches be closed, all they have to do get a group of people in a place( under a tree,in a room) and they can BE a church.
Heard King Sihanouk is abdicating. Personally I don't think he has long to live when people give vague explanations like his is almost certain an euphemism that they have cancer and not given long to live.
Heard that Education TV thing is a failure...like all education fads and trends using fancy gizmo. What people need are not computers but be taught how to read once they can read you will be surprised now fast they learn to use the interent and computer. Anyway these things are not like in the 70's they are getting easier to use all the imte and only the most lazy still say I don't have time to learn to use or I am not skilled. Come one even I can use Word and Excel.. This may be shocking but there people in Form 3 in Sultan Abdul Samad who don't know how to read! I should know I taught them two years ago and they are from the so-called weak classes nowonder poeple have no interest in what they are doing..they can't understand a thing! If I am education minister forget about using powerpoints and multimedia presentations just make sure everyone is FUNCTIONALLY literate be it verbal or marthematical and have a good enough command of the languauge of instruction and should the student not able to achieve this then they must be communicated to in their mother tongue. Gimmicks don't work dedicated and passionate teachers do! Again in Samad I have come across people with excellent Mandarin and high intelligence but because they are not so good in BM and English they lag behind. Mind you Sultan Abdul Samad is not some lousy school in the hinterlands it has one of the best STPM results in PJ which is an urban centre but this is only for the elite few with educated parents. In my experience..I actually thank God I got to teach some lousy class...I know some of my students healp their parents at the coffee shop and also their stalls. One or two might break out of the cycle and the otheres unlcky enough not to it is not because they don't want to or don't work hard. But how do you have time or afford to go to tuition? The system has failed them with its emphasis on the best classes, and prepping up those who already have tuitions and destined for straight A's to the neglect of those in need of more teacher time.
Here are some interesting facts from the united nations development programme report. http://www.undp.org/hdr2003/know_that.html If you look through some of them my interest given my line of study would be health. The fact that more people died of dairrhoel diseases in the past decade than lost in all the conflicts since WW2 struck me. Like what did all the war protests achieve? Nothing. They invaded Iraq anyway which isn't a completely bad thing given the people are now better off though there are who disagree. But if all who protested I figure about 5 million give a dollar each( they are mostly from rich nations with too muc time on their hands) to providing basic sanitation of clean water, they probably will achieve something and save even more lives! And if the use the money they would have spent for their after-protest parties they would achieve even more and save more lives! Seriously sometimes I think of the hypocrisy of things. People do all these protest or take up a cause because it is cool and things that 'aware' people do but none of these people will be willing to give up their carreers and dedicate it to saving all these people. Plenty of irish kids go and protest and for their summer go to Africa to do what? To spend their parents money. Seriously if you want to be involved be involve all the way or not at all. Like what God says be hot or be cold. The most irritating epopel onearth are the lukewarm because the apathetic ones have good arguments for their stands. Like what you will say? Well they can say that all effort only benefit dictatorial regime9 which it true) and so on. But ask a lukewarm person why he can't go all the way and well silence. Really if the people in Europe and the US and their politicians want to make a difference in the world they should give up all the farming subsidies. Africa is actually quite productive but they just can't compete with subsidise farms. Africa isn't that bad actually but it is just like a small shop trying to compete with Tesco. Tesc can afford to lose on some products because it is big enough to gain on others and this will push the small shop out of business. That is what they do it in Europe anyway. Let's be realistic though if a prime minister do away this subsidy, he will lose the next election, hundreds of thousands will be unemployed( but all those subsidy can become unemployment dough) and he will be pariah but he will do the right thing and improve the lives of millions in Africa provided the other nations in the Eu don't take advantage of that and expand their subsidies which will make it a futile exercise. But will these people give up their creature comfort? You have to lead by example in the end and of course it starts with me. I wonder if I will live up to my own ideals. I hope I would and I do hope there is someone out there who will be by my side to help me.

There is an inherent risk in posting wordy blogs and this risk is chances people will be so put off at the sight of so many words that your readership is near nil. I will persevere however as I am too lazy to write and since typing requires less energy.
Latest has it that Blair intends to solve the problem of Africa. I eally do hope he succeeds then there will be less burdens for me. However as far as I know he is not the first person who wants to do something and as far as we can see no one has succeeded. What is the matter? I really don't know. And Africa is not the only one in trouble South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Central Asia, India, ...basically the whole world....poverty, infectious disease, corrupt officials, resistance to the Gospel..there is more trouble than I can list...why is no one making headway?...why isn't more people driven to do something? Sorry this question is unqualified. I think epople wnat to do something but they don't know what to do. No one enjoy wasting their time and resources and so until there is an effective way to solve these issue no one is going to invest either. Anyway enough of depressing stuff.( I am coping out actually thinking too much about these issues make my head hurt)
Anyway I have discussing with some friends about the future of Boys Brigade or whatever you call the Christian version of the Boy Scouts in your part of the world.
Most important we must have an objective, vision, goal, target or whatever you call it because I felt that over the years it has become some kind of social club and ditto that for the church but before I hijack the church I think I will hijack the Boys Brigade. My idea for the new Boys Brigade is that it will train people to lead the end time church and until then be effectively equipped to do missions. I don't think this was the original vision but I don't think I have the time to start another organisation from scratch so just hijack one with its exiting structure and facilities and change it.
So what will we do? Well we know that in the end times the church will be persecited and churches will have to go underground like the house-churches of China so instead of waiting for that to happen before we start training leaders that can lead in house churches style and get all the inherent problems, I say we get ready now. So instead of slogan shouting we have intense Bible studies so that at the end of 5 years all would read through the Bible. Into this mix we put in exegesis techniques, ecclesiology, pastoral care, apologetics. So inessence the Boys Brigade beoce some kind of boot camp for ministers. So at graduation they are all ready to lead a small church should the need arise. In addition to that guitar lessons are geared towards worship instead of cosy bonfire sing-a-longs. They do this in madrasahs and religious schools. So why can't we?
That is for whatever future eventualities. So in addition to swimming badges we have counselling badges, apologetics badges and so on.
Nut for the time and now we must make ourselves useful so we can touch the lives of epople. First Aid is a must, learning to cut grass, build toilets, and all other things to that can help people and at the same time show them God's love. We already have an organisation so now it is. Gotta go now but I will continue tomorrow.

Members of the league I address thee,
Remember the deeds of Che Guevera and many other who are actually men of virtue, who deserve not your contempt should you or had you known them but the fact is they were mislead. However I admire their courage and commitment. For a cause unbeknownst to them then but known to us now, that Communism does not work, they willingly endured many years in the jungle and slept not on soft pillows but the mattresses lined by leaves. Now for a lost cause these men are willing to suffer why couldn't Christians do the same. Are they better men than us or is it that we do not believe God is real, i.e. we are just saying it? Come on after we finished with Cuba instead of enjoying the fruits of his labours he went to Bolivia where in the ned he got killed. Now he is an atheist but believes in Communism to believe that the world needs Communism and he should do his best to spread it. See even non-Christians can teach us something.
Up to know I have been going on and on about Darfur for quite a while and that was long before it appear in the papers. There a plenty of other conflicts that will not make it to the papers. I am currently experiencing fatigue and that is what everyone experience. After a while all these and conflicts just sink to the bottom of people's consciousness. Remember Somalia? Well they are still fighting that civil war after all these years but you don't see it in the papers anymore. It is not as though people have stopped suffering it is just we people who are privileged get blase. So after all those fundraisers our involvement to help goes no further. I can other places that are experiencing conflict that hardly make it to the pages of the Malaysian newspaper: Ituri in DR Congo, Karen rebellion in Myanmar and there still is a communist insurgency in the Philippines. Haiti is back in trouble again but no one cares that 2 000 have died in the recent hurricane and 300 thousand are homeless and certain politicians are taking advantage to seize power. Somethings happen so often they do not shock us into action even the though the death toll it appalling. Every year hundreds die because of the floods in Bangladesh and many more from the infections as a consequence but who cares anymore it seem to happen from year to year. So people will donate stuff to some faraway place in Sudan but our immediate neighbour is forgotten. Sure there are people like CREST but in terms of consciousness of a situation epople don't seem to care. I guess human nature is such that after a while helplessness sets in and all these are some kind of defensive mechanism but I think Christians drawing strength from God's love should be able to continue caring long after everyone else has stop caring.

To all who are listening,
Since the beginning of time men have been able to muster armies to fight for their gain or at least the collective gain of their countrymen. You see the great armies of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Ummayads, Abbasids, Mongols, the Chinese, the French, the British, Germans and finally American. Throughout time there have been people who give up their lives and limbs for the ideals of another. The vanquished nations their peoples and wealth. In each army the sole purpose was expanding their borders or influence so that its wealth will increase. Tell me if the love of money is not the root of all evil. Why are people so nationalistic?
I have a dream of an army ..Not even an army but at least a division of men of all nations...Disciplined and skilled..to do what? Not to conquer or destroy lives but to improve it. William Gorgas needed 1 000 men to wipe yellow fever out in Panama. Romeo Dallaire needed 5 thousand to stabilize Rwanda. With one division (which is different according to nations but my model is the Wehrmarcht) this can be replicated 3-15 times! No nation fights with just a few hundred men but yet when we try to oppose death, pestilence and humanitarian disasters we use this small number. Why can't we raise a Christian army so that we can concentrate our forces and energy and solve some world issues? The current situation in Darfur is helped by 300 expatriate humanitarian workers and 2 000 local staff. Imagine the lack of manpower. Now imagine 1 000 going in (15 000 will over-load logistics unless we have a modern day von Zizendorff). Sometimes it not just about the man-power there is also the resources. In short we invest so many people into armies to build empires that will crumble and accumulate wealth that will disappear but why not build sanitation, feed the hungry, help those affected by natural disasters. Why isn't there a nation in the world that uses its large standing army to help another nation in need? Maybe that nation may fear this is a ploy to invade it but why be independent if you can't help your own I rather be colonised and be helped than be independent and suffer. But to solve this why can't we have a non-military humanitarian army? Don't depend on the UN they are not out to build God's Kingdom, we are. So what if that nation itself doesn't not use its own armies to help their own. Can we standby and look while others die?
My kind of aristocrats are von Zizendorff and Tolstoy who instead of expanding their wealth gave it all up to finance the causes, ideals and principles they hold on to. Tolstoy gave up his serfs and made them free men. Zizendorff used his wealth to finance the missionary journeys of the Moravian brothers. Yes, there places in the army of God for rich men but how many are like Zizendorff or Tolstoy? Where are our modern-day Christian equilavent? To help people we need not only need man-power but resources. To bring food to the hungry you need planes, pilots, buy that food or medicine, fuel for the plane, airport tax. Why can't nations do that? When they fail this is where Christians can show what the Kingdom of God will be like by rising up and filling in the gap where governments fail. Never mind if the corrupt officials are siphoning disaster relief funds but for the sake of lives being lost God's Kingdom is willing to be taken advantage of. By this I mean we spending the money AND also doing the job ourselves..that is the only way of guaranteeing a job well done. Anyway are not the riches of the earth His? Why not give us all of it you may ask God but if we are so scabby with little we have what makes you think that with more you will give more. I have never heard of a billionaire who donated all his wealth except the widow of the founder of McDonald's who gave 1.5 billion to the Salvation Army when she died. God rest her soul. So eat more McDonald's at least you know it won't be going to the church of Satan.
But every cent of wealth that we do not need to survive on that is not spent on building God's kingdom goes to building Satan's that is my believe anyway. So if you need only need 10 million but kept one billion in the bank guess who gained? But I don't know how I will steward the wealth God give me so I will not preach on it too much..just give examples..but in the end one must lead by example. Who will take up my challenge? To raise an army whose sole purpose is not to fight other men but death, poverty, illiteracy, lack of sanitation and whatever that make people's lives miserable. And to use his wealth in the model of Zizendorff, Tolstoy and Carnegie but at the same time sustainably so that future generations will also benefit. Carnegie( this is Andrew the Scottish industrialist who sold his steel factories and gave it all away except for some to live on. Everytime you see a library with the name Carnegie he provided the money) said he who dies rich dies disgraced.

Why are people corrupt? Why do people channel funds for developing an area to their own pocket? Why people rather drive a Mercedes that will rust than use that money and make an impact and be remembered for posterity? I cannot understand. If they be people who care, the world will have no need for humanitarian workers. Africa will be a nicer place to stay in.
Corrupt officials lead to impoverished areas and if it goes on for long enough it will spiral down to high crime rate and finally armed rebellion. Why let this happen so that he can indulge insome lust of the flesh? But when I look at Christians, we too are indulgent. How can bring ourselves to buy a new yatch when we know people are starving. It is fair you don't want your money to go the coffers of corrupt people but why not do something yourself. Ok no need to go to Africa how about your local urban poor outreach. Why are ministries so understaffed and under-funded, why are full-time servants of God under-paid. Don't give CEO salaries but at least afford their children decent education. The next generation must look beyond creature comfort and divert extra resources to building the kingdom. Don't neglect yourself but I find it very hard to justify buying an S-class when an E-class or Wira will do. I guess we say we will not be like that corrupt official but if we placed in His shoes without the love of God we will fall like him.
I was thinking if we can cultivate a service economy at refugee camps people slives will be better but most of the time they have no service to offer except farming which they can't do because they are displaced from their fields. Teach them to be barbers, potters, and allsorts of other things. What will be for currency? Extra food. There must be excess. At long-term refugee camps except the Palestine where they still harbour fantasies of going back( will the Jews give you their high-tech farms and skyscarpers when all they took were your thorn bush farms and mud huts?), you see the development of a primitive economy that as the years goes by develop to a modern. Can't we help that development along so that it will reach a developed point faster and stronger since we have history and knowledge onour side?
In the old days a farmer produces extra and another doesn't but this one can make pots so the potter gets the extra food by selling the pots and he spend this to get mats. Later the food was represented by money. To work there must be different skills, people are willing to spend and food security so they will spend that extra grain. This is how we should approach refugee camps. This skills can used even after they have returned and definitely will decrease reliance on one trade, farming.