I Samuel : From Theocracy to Judges to Monarchy
And Modern Democracy?
To answer a question posed to me earlier by another friend few days back: "What do u think of this AHTC saga?" 12/2/2015 Parliament sitting will
be a day to remember. The kind of leaders we have in our countries. What do you see?
Why was this town council issue such a hot topic ?http://therealsingapore.com/content/day-infamy-parliament . (Extract below) U know what is infamy?? {one of the most quoted infamy speech by Late Franklin Roosevelt USA president in dec 1941 - seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infamy_Speech
Indeed the heart of the matter or any matters is lies in the matter of the heart. We have A-star economy , A-star education, have we not? The constant pursuit of material wants - double working parents contributing to surrogate maid parenting at home. Cleaning is left to the maids - even the basic washing of a utensil after a meal. We are also a nation of great waste of leftovers. See the tons of food going to the garbage. No wonder rats are making their own ratatoullie parties. And kids of today being brought up unable to be considerate or to clean their own tables after meal, let alone rubbish! And we become what we eat. No time for home-cooked meals but reliance on hawker food contributing to the 3 Highs : High Blood pressure , High Cholersterol, High Sugar level!and more cancers! Yes, we seemed to have prospered greatly in the BODY but alas losing the soul of the inner man. Prospered Nation. Soul-less nationals? Rich Country - 'Poor" Citizens.I think and I see as what this photo quote presents. It is no laughing matter. It is a dark and cloudy day for red dot. Yet , it is Jubilee year for red dot this SG50. Would our lead pastor heading this Love Singapore reply the same when asked if he prayed for the MPs in this nation? Would he have replied " No, I look at the MPs in our Parliament and pray for the country?" Ummmmmm
The physical manifestation of rats and rubbish and increased tumors of cancer in our nation is coming out of a spiritual decline . Mice (though not RATS!) are mentioned several times in the Bible; Leviticus 11:29 declares them unclean. And of late, we seemed to be plagued by them in our land. Tumors and cancers too are on the increase. Rubbish too. Back in 2009, I have already seen it coming. Each Monday mornings were blues to me as I threaded on vomit and rubbish along the pavements of South Bridge Road. That Boat Quay area had become a place for snookers, 'massages', bars. Bouncers in black tees were a common sight and drunkards literally slept overnight on the pavements ! That area was a place for the elite white collared party animals. On the other hand, Little India catered to the blue collared ones. Some drink to celebrate their millions made while others drink to their sorrow of their meagre earnings. So having to wash personally such vomit outside the office areas for a while back then, this ban on alcohol came a little too late. We are being trashed from all places now.
Reflection
It was with a heavy heart to hear the Parliamentary motion on the AHTC debate in parliament on 12/2/2015. Nations evolved over time and some are more democratic seemingly than others. The fate of politicians can be changed overnight as history had revealed. Like Anwar now back to his prison just like ex Taiwan president Chen Shui Bian. Once a Prince - like a PM or President ruling over a nation - the next moment like a flip of a coin - one can become a pauper, stripped naked of all rights and freedom to a political prisoner.
The Book of Samuel
I decided to read Samuel again. More than 1000 years before Christ came, Samuel the last Judge was raised in Israel. This book recorded the transition of how Theocracy evolved to that of Prophets - Judges and then monarchy.
Samuel - The prophet and last judge
Saul - the First King of Israel
David - The King-elect
Unfortunately, man preferred to be ruled by man rather by the Lord YHWH.
So today, we have so called voting rights. A right to vote for the man and woman we want to represent our voice in Parliament. Does our MPS really love the Nation or the Party? One wonders after seeing the sitting of yesterday 12/2/2015. I did not know the meaning of Infamy until today as written by this blogger. I learnt a new vocabulary. And I learnt about an infamy speech by Roosevelt in 1941. I was not even born yet! But I know about the Japanese occupation as told by my late mum in 1945 and the atrocities they committed which is as bad as the ISIS of today.
Can Red Dot be saved?
I read the rats and rubbish and know personally of many inflicted by the cancerous tumors. It brought anguish , pain and suffering to those afflicted and the next of kin , loved ones and caregivers.
And rats and rubbish is something we are not proud of either for a country once known to be clean and green.
In 1 Samuel4 , after the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, they were afflicted by God with plagues of mice (rats) and of hemmorhoids (tumors) Is the Lord saying something to us in little red dot?
Why Not??
God is still the sovereign King over the nations, including little red dot.
Just as we should de-politicise and re-prioritise our allegiance to the One who is all seeing and all looking at the hearts of men and women. We have to "come clean" before the Lord Almighty in all that we say, do and act. YHWH shall be the final Judge one day to hold us accountable on our life on this passing earth. MPs elect would fall in greater accountability as they hold the highest echelon office in a country. They serve the citizens who elected them into such a prestigious office - Serve and not be served. No lording over the weak and downcast. Huge responsibility. Better not play play.
The Key to Jubilee SG50
A trespass offering we shall bring. ! Sam 6:4
Perhaps not the physical tribute of 5 golden tumors and 5 golden mice! LOL.
But a repentant heart and back to worship of none other than our one and only Prophet, Priest and King - Jesus Christ.
1 Samuel 6:5
"So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that ravage the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will ease His hand from you, your gods, and your land"
Jubilee Prayer
We have just past our 1/2 mark of Jubilee SG50 Celebration today! Life still goes on...expectancy of Jubilee among her citizens here..what is your rating? Well. well....Let us pray:
May we ask the Lord for mercy for this nation. Ichabod we want not. Let not your glory depart from our land. Ease your Hand from the cancer tumors on our loved ones. Withhold your plagues from our land. Clean us up from inside out. Come and heal our land. Forgive us . We shall come and return to the Ark of your covenant. In His Glorious Name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Extract from Blogger : Law will be amended
According to the Straits Times news report ”Parliament: Govt to withhold $7m of grants from AHPETC, change Town Councils Act, says Khaw” (Feb 12) - ”In addition to amending the law to give the Government more oversight and penalty powers over town councils, it will also withhold several million dollars of grants to AHPETC until “it cleans up its mess”, he said.”
Which law allows withholding of residents’ $7 million S & CC grant?
As a resident of Aljunied – I would like to ask – since the Government has to change the law in order to take my town council to task – which law empowers it to take the residents to task – by withholding $7 million of its annual service and conservancy charges (S&CC) grant.
“Fixing” the opposition and voters?
For decades – voters were threatened with “no upgrading”, less funding, taking away the software system when they lost Aljunied, etc – and now using an excuse to fix my town council and indirectly the residents.
Isn’t this unfair and unconstitutional?
Has this Government got no shame – that it would stoop so low to maintain power?
How do the members of Parliament hold their head high when they meet Singaporeans everyday, when they belong to such a Government?
They should be ashamed of themselves. You are a disgrace to the meaning of the word “Singaporean”.
As to “Parliament: Shanmugam says WP took money from man in the street and gave it to their friends” (Straits Times, Feb 12) – Isn’t the withholding of the $7 million S & CC grant akin to the Government taking money from the man in the streets of Aljunied?
De-politicise please for the sake of Singaporeans
I agree with what Mr Low Khia Thiang said – “that in addition to strengthening the Town Councils Act, he hopes that the Government looks at the “de-politicisation of the transition process” when town councils change hands.
The large managing agents that run People’s Action Party town councils in Singapore would not take the WP’s business, he said: “it seems that the managing agents serving PAP town councils are unwilling to serve in non-PAP town councils, and the reason appears to be political rather than professional.”
Detailing the WP MPs’ task of scaling up Hougang SMC’s system for a GRC many times its size, in the face of previous Aljunied GRC contractors terminating their services abruptly – all within a stipulated 90 days transition period – Mr Low said:
“Under our current system, it seems to be that any opposition party which aspires to be elected in a GRC will have to build a town management team to train hundreds of staff officers first, (then) start shopping for an off-the-shelf accounting software.”
“If an opposition party aspires to be the next government, it may need to build an army of civil servants first,” he said. “This is a strange political situation for any functioning democracy to be in.”
Mr Low emphasised that the AGO report did not find the town council to be engaged in corrupt practices nor any money lost.” (“Parliament: WP chief Low Thia Khiang calls for town council transfer to be de-politicised“, Straits Times, Feb 12)
You may appear to be winning the battle of Aljunied now, but at this rate – you will surely lose the war at the end of the day!
Win battles lose war
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