Monday, December 31, 2012

Count our Blessings

As we approach the end of the year, let us count our blessings and give thanks to God. Reflect and think what are the areas you can do better next year. Singapore is a wonderful Home, small but well-maintained so lets keep our Home safe and comfortable for everyone.

Sing a grateful praise to the Lord!

Psalm 100
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas



This is the season of giving, so reach out to someone in need and bless them with a gift. Spread the love messenge of Jesus Christ.

For by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

A Christian's life is a window through which others can see Jesus.

Because og Love God sent His Son from heaven's throne to earth to rescue us from sin and death; A gift of priceless worth!

God's gift to the world is the life-giving Savior.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Don't fear the end of the world; reflect instead

And impact lives!

http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC121220-0000056/Dont-fear-the-end-of-the-world-reflect-instead


Think about the goodness, count your blessings and give thanks to God.
My interest in the Mayan Long Count Calendar started in 1987, when I was living in California during the height of the Cold War.

There was a belief that, by 2012, we would either evolve to a higher state of consciousness or blow ourselves up to oblivion. With Dec 21 marking the end of the Mayan 5,125-year cycle, I think we will live to see next year.

Hollywood has given us an interesting interpretation of the word "apocalypse", which comes from the Greek word for "revelation". And it is understandable that we become frightened when something new is revealed.

In the 1980s, the thought of a nuclear holocaust was horrifying. Today, we fear global warming. But fear also has a good side: It forces us to look closely at ourselves to change what might be self-destructive behaviour.

It has been a good 5,000 years. We received the teachings of the Buddha, Confucius, Aristotle and others. With that foundation, I believe that humanity is ready to go forward, into the new long-count era.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him. 2 John 1:10

God's Spirit through His Word gives wisdom to discern truth from from error.   Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

7 Deadly sin

The number seven is special to God. It took seven days to create the world. A week has seven days in it. God rested on the seventh day. In ancient Israel, they were to rest on the Sabbath and the seventh day was a commanded day of rest and assembly for worship of God and it was the fourth commandment given. The root word for the number seven in Hebrew means “to be full” or “to be complete.” Seven, being full and complete, means that nothing could be added to it or taken away from it. It is a number of completion and perfection. So if anyone has these particular seven sins, they are in a sense, in a complete state of sin as far as God is concerned. What are these seven, or complete and deadly sins that Solomon warned us about in the Book of Proverbs? Solomon was said to be the wisest man ever to live – except of course Jesus Christ Who is both God and man.


The Seven Deadly Sins
Proverbs 6:16-19

“There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.“

1) Lust
2) Gluttony
3) Greed
4) Sloth
5) Wrath
6) Envy
7) Pride

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-12/singapore-caps-year-of-lust-with-parliamentary-affair.html

Singapore Caps Year of Lust With Parliamentary Affair

The resignation of Singapore Speaker of Parliament Michael Palmer yesterday over an extramarital affair came two days after readers of the island’s largest Chinese newspaper called 2012 a year of lust.

Palmer, 44, said he had a relationship with a member of a government agency who worked in a district he used to represent. He’s the second person this year to leave Parliament for private indiscretions.

“Human failings and affairs are common,” said Bridget Welsh, a political science professor at the Singapore Management University. “What is new is the open discussion of these issues, expansion of public sphere and the difficult political navigation of these issues.”

The former heads of the anti-drug agency and the Civil Defence Force were prosecuted earlier this year for obtaining sexual favors in exchange for contracts. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, whose government has cultivated an image of being clean, ethical and efficient, said yesterday that lawmakers in the ruling People’s Action Party must maintain the “highest standards of personal conduct.”

Palmer, who is married with one child, was the eighth speaker of Parliament. He was elected in October 2011 and presided over the sittings by lawmakers, according to the Parliament’s website.

‘Grave Mistake’
“I have resigned to take full responsibility for a grave mistake that I have committed,” Palmer said in a statement. “My conduct was improper and it was a serious error of judgment. I have resigned in order to avoid further embarrassment to the PAP and to Parliament.”

Earlier this year, more than 50 men, including a former bank executive and a school principal, were charged for having sex with an underage prostitute. The former Central Narcotics Bureau chief faces four counts of obtaining oral sex last year from a 36-year-old executive in exchange for assisting her companies Hitachi Data Systems Pte and later Oracle Corp. to win contracts with the agency.

Lee has promised that no wrongdoing will be covered up even if it embarrasses the city, which is rated the least corrupt Asian country by Transparency International.

The Lianhe Zaobao newspaper said this week that its readers chose the Chinese character for lust to describe 2012 over nine other words that included change and integrate.

No Porn
Singapore, where Playboy magazine is banned and the distribution of pornography is an offence, was ranked last month as the least emotional country in the world, according to U.S. pollster Gallup.

The readers’ choice “highlights the many newsmakers who have fallen prey to lust, and that too many events have been tainted by it,” said Goh Sin Teck, Lianhe Zaobao’s editor. “Is this purely a string of coincidences or is this a revelation of how our society has evolved?”

The island’s population has jumped by more than 1.1 million to 5.3 million since mid-2004, driving up property prices and stoking social tensions as the government used immigration to counter a fertility rate that has been below replacement levels for decades.

Other sex scandals in Singapore this year included a university professor who was charged with corruption for allegedly trading better grades for sex with his student. A female teacher was sentenced to a year in jail in October for sleeping with a male student who was a minor, according to the Straits Times.

CIA Scandal
In January 2008, Malaysia’s then-Health Minister Chua Soi Lek stepped down after he was secretly filmed having sex with a woman in a hotel room. An Indonesian lawmaker who helped pass an anti-pornography law resigned in April 2011 after he was caught watching sex videos during a parliamentary debate, according to the Associated Press.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director David H. Petraeus resigned last month following the revelation of an extramarital affair with his biographer. U.S. governors who have stepped down after indiscretions include New York’s Eliot Spitzer and Mark Sanford of South Carolina. Former International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn left the lender after his arrest on sexual-assault charges.

“Singapore is no different from any modern society,” said Terence Lee, who teaches politics at National University of Singapore. “You see it in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, the U.S., the U.K. These things happen, it’s part and parcel of life and people just have to deal with it.”

By-Elections
Yaw Shin Leong, a member of Parliament from the opposition, was expelled from his party in February for “indiscretions in his private life.” The Workers’ Party retained the seat in Hougang district in a by-election to replace Yaw.

The Workers’ Party, the only elected opposition in parliament, said yesterday it’s ready to “offer a choice” to voters as it urged Lee to call for a by-election as soon as possible. Its candidate for Punggol East won 41 percent of votes in the 2011 polls, while Palmer won 54.5 percent of valid ballots cast.

A by-election won’t change the balance of power in government, even after Lee’s party won last year’s polls with the smallest margin of victory since independence in 1965. The PAP has 81 of 87 seats.

In the past year, Lee has cut ministerial pay, accelerated construction of public housing and made permanent a program to provide cash, utility rebates and medical funds for the elderly and low-income households. Still, the country has the highest inflation rate among the developed world’s biggest economies while gross domestic product is forecast to expand at the slowest pace in three years in 2012.

“What is interesting is the continued tests the PAP is facing with another by-election,” said Welsh. “The cases this year highlight the need to remove politicians and civil servants from pedestals and tighten standards for those in positions of power.”   Man are weak that's why they need the Holy Spirit to remind them of their boundaries.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Conduct is the best proof of Character

Scandals and corruption made Singapore government loose face, time to reflect and choose their staff appropriately.

What is integrity? Can it be eaten?


Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Titus 2:6-8

One can only show integrity with character when there is accountability: "Face to face. . ." Being accountable to someone means you sit face to face, look that person in the eye and honestly, openly discuss what is going on in your lives.

"Shoulder to Shoulder. . ." Accountability means standing by your brother's side through thick and thin. One is not above the other; both are equal.

"We'll Strengthen each other. . ." Through vital relationships, we become stronger, as we help each other through struggles, temptations and shortfalls, and as we encourage one another towards spiritual growth. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." (Proverbs 27:17). Did you know that swords can actually get sharper during a sword fight? How? Because, as they come into contact, they knock off the small rough spots on the blades, and serve to smooth each other; thus producing an even more finely honed cutting edge. In the same way, men sharpen one another by coming into contact and "smoothing out the rough edges."

Even a child is known by his deeds, whether what he does is pure and right. Proverbs 20:11

Spiritual words are mere distractions
If not backed up by our godly actions,
And all our good and beauitful creeds
Are nothing without God-honoring deeds.