Dear…
'Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.'
Colossians 3:13
With the ex-Thai Prime Minister Khun Samak being ruled out of office, on a technicality, for receiving payment(notwithstanding that it was a stipend rather than a largess), for displaying his culinary skills on television, the entire episode has brought the term "cooking up a storm" into a new dimension.
So for all aspiring political wanabees, the next time you toss your salad in public, do bear in mind that you could soon be tossed out of high office, if your fair weather political friends do decide to bring out their kitchen knives and go make a meal out of your political ambitions.
Politics is a process upon which a group of people make decisions. It involves social relationships involving authority and power. Though generally associated with institutions be it government, civil or even corporate life, political interplays or more like human machinations cut across all spectrums of society. Robinson Crusoe would have gone stark mad fighting his own shadow, if not thankfully for a savage he saved from the cannibals' cooking pot and named Friday. At least old Robinson had someone to talk to, but not with. Put two homo sapiens together and before long, they wish that they were all alone. Add one more to the equation and the only thing less complicated than their relationships would be a Rubic's cube
'Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways..'
Haggai 1:7
Men did spent umpteem hours thinking about their ways. The Apostle Paul was suitably struck by the length of efforts the Athenians spent in philosophying about life. They even have a tablet to the "unknown god." besides their own potpurri of Greek gods like Zeus, Apollos, and many more as long as there are suffice marbles to put them up. The Chinese recent extravagant display of their centuries old history is not without cause. The Chinese philosopher Confucius(551-471 BC) was one of the first thinkers to adopt a distinct approach to political philosophy. He believed that only a morally upright ruler should be able to exercise power and that the behavior of an individual ought to be consistent with their rank in society. By the time China turned communists, seeking that egalitarian dream of a classless society, clearly, quite a few less than ideal Emperors of China were confused about what Confucius mean't for many confused upright for sole right.
For the history buff, if you were to throw in the names of other great philosophers like Aristotle( "man is a political animal or more like natural sinners), Machiavelli('man is manipulative'), Karl Marx("a classless society"), there are indeed plenty of willing cooks who have come up with some great delectable thoughts. But what is reality?
'For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?'
Matthew 16:26
Some mainstream religion do acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ, but only as a minor prophet, not the the Son of God. Some others just ranked him alongside the great philosophers above and would just be happy to cast him in an alabaster cast, while they search for the next great thinker. And some think that Jesus Christ is just a myth, no different from that of the Holocausts and the only thing the Nazi Germans put in the steaming gas chambers was a Jewish kosher meal.
But who truly is our Lord Jesus Christ? The one and only Son of God, who came into this sinful world, to be like us, yet He is perfect, while we are not. Who died for our sins, by his sacrifice on the cross. Yet, by His resurrection, has broken the grip of death upon all, and we no longer need to have our whole life and emotions evolve around the need to "keep alive." For what grips many of us is this need to be on top of the world, so we can partake in its sweet temptations, and the need to not just stay with wealth, keep healthy, and seek the adoration of the fickle world.
God has given us peace and joy on Earth, and eternity with Him thereafter. Is this a philosophy or a Divine promise?
Is this possible or just one of those concoctions cooked up and sold as the proverbial cure all "snake oil" that was hawked by itinerary salesman of old in the West, but now repackaged and re-tweaked for eg in the present Western financial system, the end result is the present coundrum that the world find itself in.
'….Yet once, it is a little while and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.'
Haggai 2:6-7
As one recommitted follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, I have tried to live my faith, albeit not with near perfection. And I have answered God's call to share His journey with me on the public forum.
Like the magician who have just tried for the umpteem time to pull the missing rabbit out of his hat, the sometimes, rather distracted audience that I have been placed with in my journey must be questioning, when is God going to do a couple of convincing acts in my or their lives, so that they can want to believe Him?
'That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.'
Zephaniah 1:15
Expectations of the unbelieving might never be met, for our Lord will answer prayers asked in His will, not ours, but trepidation and fear is what we are about to enter or have entered and will pick up speed the next few weeks. But God is good. With my change of employer as announced in the papers today, God has taken myself and many faithful colleagues out of the hurricane's path. The hurricane will now move on to the next series of financial institutions, and the shakeout in the lives of many will intensify as more financial institutions comes under the radar of the vultures who will test the resolve of the Central Banks to rescue more institutions down the line.
That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.'
Joshua 4:24
God wants to bring all of us back into His fold. The cauldron is about to boil over, but instead of the negative implications of the proverbial from the frying pan to the fire, if one truly look unto God, the fire that many are about to be tossed into will not char them, but refine them. Being out of the path of the hurricane does not mean that there will no new storms. For this is hurrican season. But it matters not, for God is faithful and we must stay faithful, by coming and staying unto His presence. The world will see the difference between the faithful and the faithless and know that truly there is a Sovereign God, and prayefully, will want to know Him.
'For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosover will lose his life for My sake shall find it.'
Matthew 16:25
'Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed….with us,is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles'
2 Chronicles 32:7-8
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(15th Sep 2008)
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