Dear…
'…For what can the man do who succeeds the king?- Only what he has already done.'
Ecclesiastes 2:12
'Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool?..'
Ecclesiastes 2:18-19
I was at the Asian Civilization Museum(ACM) on Thursday to soak in the dazzling and lovely jeweleries and other exquisite works that can only be made possible in a cultured and powerful empire like that of the Mughal rulers of India's past. A welcome respite from the oppressive haze enveloping our very being. And now that beside planting palm oil on a commercial scale, a major source of our poor air these past decade, the Indonesian government had just announced their desire to be the food basket for the world, by opening up what is still large tracts of virgin jungle in the more remote but vast Eastern part of the Indonesian Archipelago. The land grab is on globally, as countries look for new lands to feed their not just growing but increasingly demanding population, and opportunists abound in such situations.
Heroes and villains indeed forms an undeniable part of the human tapestry. The Mughal Empire, based in India was no different. In the conquests and subterfuge, especially in between a change of leadership, the law of the jungle rules, and there is no guarantee that the next ruler will be better. Is the lament in the above verses in Ecclesiastes still applicable to the modern but still very much carnal men today?
'Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath. But the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy. For He will make speedy riddance of all those who dwell in the land.'
Zephaniah 1:18
If a surfeit of lovely green emeralds, redder than red rubies, and bluish dark sapphires are your cup of tea, than you must come to the ACM, for a temporary thrill it might be, but it was great to be entranced by the glitter of the finely set precious stones, many on the smooth white surface of nephrites(ie white jades). Before De Beers came along, with their South African mines, diamonds was already in existent in India, long before the rest of the world.
Blood diamonds, some might be aware of, so termed because the funds from the sale of such diamonds were used to fund the modern, but still very bloody civil wars in Congo, but no less blood were shed in the past, in the endless palace intrigues and external conquests, much as the very refined rulers of the Mughal Empire enjoyed their spoils in their luxurious palaces.
Yet, the jewels might still be here, saved for some stolen by Saddam Hussein when Iraq invaded Kuwait back in 1990, and pilfered some of the collection of the royal Al-Sabah family of Kuwait, but other than the obscure history books, who can really remember the once great and mighty rulers of not just the Mughal Empire, but all across humanity, be it the once great empires of Alexandra the Great of Macedonia, Emperor Qin Shi Huang of China, or Caesar's Rome?
Man might strive and strife for posterity, but in reality, memories are fleeting and things of men are temporal.
'Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers.'
Deuteronomy 1:35
Have we entered the age of lawlessness? In every natural disaster, be it in Chile or Haiti or now the distant Hurricane Katrina that battered Louisiana, we read of hordes of marauding looters out to rob, rape and terrorize the survivors, and orderly society gives way to the carnal desires of men, who are no longer restrained by the now destroyed societal structure.
A missionary friend in Taiwan just wrote us that the earthquake in the south of Taiwan was the most powerful in 100 years, and by the grace of God, damage was minimal or we would have witnessed similar scenes like those in Chile and Haiti.
'….Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.'
Hosea 5:15
Not too sure if we can use the Richter scale to measure financial markets quakes, but the recent sub-prime crisis in my limited two decades of being in the business should rank pretty high up on the scale of impact, maybe an 8.8 in the Richter scale. The aftershocks were pretty tremendous, and we could have done a cave-in like that in the movie 2012, if not for the determined liquidity pumping by governments globally, and the wholesale sweeping of the truth under the proverbial carpet for the greater good?
'Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation. Before the decree is issued, Or the day passes like chaff, Before the Lord's fierce anger comes upon you!
Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth. Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden. In the day of the Lord's anger.'
Zephaniah 2:1-3
The mood today is not just upbeat, but very much upbeat, if the property and financial markets are to be believed. Contrary to general perception, Christians are not into the doomsday business. In fact, every day is a joyful day for those who know the Lord, and we look forward not to disaster but for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. But will you be ready when He returns?
Have many of us have lost that opportunity to dwell further into a relationship with God, because we have again let ourselves be enraptured by the lures of the world, now that things have recovered?
'Come, and let us return to the Lord. For He has torn, but He will heal us. He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us. On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight…'
Hosea 6:1-2
The global financial system might still be functioning. But like the columns in the ruins of the Acropolis(and interestingly, that was where the hedge funds gathered in Jan 2010 to purportedly plot, if the politicians who are now barrellling upon them are to be believed), many once strong pillars of our global economy, have been tremendously weakened, and what we see in the mob gangs in Haiti and Chile, we see the same in the financial system, except that these "gangsters or banksters" might wear pin stripes and suites, but their intent is no different, to feed like vultures on the vulnerable, and after Greece, is now UK, and already plans are afoot for Japan to be next.
'Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and you complained in your tents, and said, "Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us…'
Deuteronomy 1:26
In Asia and many parts of the developing world, many of us are first to second generation Christians, unlike our Western counterparts in the developed world, whose population has increasingly left God to be pioneer secularists, the new world religion.
God has indeed brought many of us out of subsistence living, to enjoy the fruits of His material blessings. China, at least in the coastal cities being a recent example, and the same for India.
Our children are even more blessed materially, but can we say the same for their emotions, in a world that is increasingly linked and where merit takes precedence over godly values and instant gratification makes patience and perseverance an oddity.
'Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you, go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you, do not fear or be discouraged.'
Deuteronomy 1:21
The battle field today is for the souls and hearts of our next generation, our children. Just as many are more spiritually aware of their religion or for us, Christians, our faith. There as just as many atheists who are keener on not just protecting but propagating their own beliefs, a new religion, secularism, where men plays god(s)
The Lord placed this thought in my heart. Would our children be not just a lost generation, but the last generation before our Lord Jesus Christ returns?
I have not watched the movie 2012, and I still prefer to follow the Gregorian calendar rather than that of the Mayans. But clearly, the markers as predicted in the Bible are there.
The world is going increasingly nuclear, even in long resistant Europe, and in previously dormant China, now the world's fastest growing energy guzzler. The earth shake not just more frequently but in greater intensity. And the same for all time records in climatic led disasters.The capitalist or rather Babylonian economic model has been the predominant system since the Berlin Wall came down, and the recent sub-prime crisis is not a destruction of the system, but rather a metamorphosis into the true beasts of one global system controlled by the few. Europe will be the first phase of this transformation as Greece, and the other PIGS will likely, in the forseeable future, have to give up their sovereignty for German monies. And the fiercely independent bulldog spirit of the near bankrupt British will soon be exchanged for the smoldering arms of mother EU.
'So I spoke to you, yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the Lord, and presumptuously went up into the mountain.'
Deuteronomy 1:43
The world has for too long lived in a gray world. Christians inclusive. Many of us are symbolically self-righteous Christians on the outward, but much worse than the non-believers in our behavior. The color of the world is changing, pale pallor for those who happened to be caught in the upheavals, be it natural or financial. But a steadily but creeping color is green and pink. In the Financial Times article recently, they showed a map of Iran's tentacles spreading increasingly over the Middle East(ie Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon) and Africa(Sudan, Somalia) and how the Israelite intelligence service has been conducting high level security briefings to the Western powers to forewarn them of the imminent risks. The Mugal Empire might not be resurrected, but a new Persia that once ruled much of the civilized world might re-emerge.
And what about pink, the increasingly color of choice for many in the alternative space? One must not judge or impose, but rather pray for those who choose to have different beliefs or lifestyles, for only God can bring about transformation. The question though is, "would the once discriminated stay within their new found space, or would they begin to propagate and encroached, much as Christians want to lead others to Christ, the same will apply to other interest groups, no matter their disclaimers?
Evolution is the common phrase used in the ongoing discussions amongst various pluralistic groups in society. Today, the traditional family is still valued by the majority of society, but all are aware that in civil society, it is the majority or at least the vocal minority that decides, in the sea of neutrality or passive majority. The battle is now on to transform our children into the ways of the increasingly sinful world.
If we do not awaken to the reality of this very real challenge and continue to be enamored with the world, it is not just a question of lost opportunity, but very possibly that of a lost generation, our children, who will lose a life of eternity with our Sovereign God. And if Christ does returns, we will be talking about a LAST generation.
'Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.'
Ecclesiastes 4:2-3
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(5th Mar 2010)
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