WE ARE THE WORLD!

There comes a time

When we heed a certain call

When the world must come together as one

There are people dying

And it's time to lend a hand to life

The greatest gift of all

We can't go on pretending day by day

That someone, somewhere will soon make a change

We are all a part of God's great big family

And the truth, you know love is all we need

[Chorus]

We are the world

We are the children

We are the ones who make a brighter day

So let's start giving

There's a choice we're making

We're saving our own lives

It's true we'll make a better day

Just you and me

The above lyrics is from the song, "We are the world" made famous by Michael Jackson about twenty years ago. I believe this song will be revived not many days from now as the world is going through the worst economic disaster almost to the level of the Great Depression in 1930s.

Every time there is an economic recession, it is affecting only a certain parts of the world but today, it is a global phenomenon. Nations have come together and everytime, you would hear them say, "Let us come together" or "Let us have a unified strategy" to solve this global problem. This scenario plays right into the prophecy of a one world government, to be headed by none other than the Anti-Christ.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had this dream and he asked Daniel to interpret...

(Dan 2:31-33) "You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue--an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.

(Dan 2:37-38) You, O king, ...... You are that head of gold. (Babylon)

(Dan 2:39) "After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. (Persia)

Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. (Greece - Alexander the Great)

(Dan 2:40) Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron--for iron breaks and smashes everything--and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. (Roman Empire)

(Dan 2:41-43) Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. (THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT)**

(Dan 2:44) "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. (JESUS REIGN ON EARTH)

** This is the last governing super power of the earth headed by the Anti-Christ. As this United Earth government contains partly iron and partly clay, it is only united temporarily.

(Rev 6:2) I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

The bow without an arrow signifies a conquest of peace, the Anti-Christ winning the world's minds and hearts through eloquent words! I believe that he would start to wage war after he found that people will start to question his ways of doing things.

(Rev 6:3-4) When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.

In the end, he will gather nations to attack Jerusalem which he will be defeated by Jesus Himself.

When you see the world coming closer together in peace, false peace that is, then you know the end is near. So, do not be surprised that Michael Jackson's song could be used again to get the world together. People today are looking for peace (without God) and truth be told, there would be no lasting peace without God.

No Jesus, no Peace

Know Jesus, know Peace!

THE RISE OF ANTI-JEWS!

A tennis qualifier from Israel in a tournament in Dubai was stopped from coming into the country. A tennis match in Sweden featuring a Jew was played in an empty stadium due to fears of rioting from demonstrators. In Turkey, where the Jews and people from other races used to live in harmony is now broken apart as Jews are frequently being harassed. One restaurant even put up a sign saying, "No Jews allowed but dogs welcome!"

Lately, the Turkish government, usually quite friendly to Israel, began to link itself more with Iran. And Iran is always thinking of how to destroy the Jewish nation. Now, with Iran, Syria and Turkey getting closer together, we are coming to a scenario of a prophecy predicted thousands of years ago in Ezekiel that a group of nations would align themselves to fight Israel. Strangely, when Ezekiel prophesied that, there was no nation of Israel, large part of the Jewish people were exiled in Babylon (modern Iraq) and it is unthinkable to have think of Israel being a powerful nation.

(Ezek 38:7-9) "'Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes (many nations - see vv 1-6) gathered about you, and take command of them. After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

From these verses we understand that Israel would become a nation again and they would live in safety before the attack.

Jesus said the same thing when He prophesied that Jerusalem would be cornered and attacked.

(Mat 24:7-9) Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me...

(Luke 21:20) "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.

When Jesus spoke during His time, the Romans are the world’s only superpower and Israel/Jerusalem was under their absolute control.

Ezekiel (2,700 years ago) and Jesus (2,000 years ago) were speaking of the end-time war between many nations and Israel. Israel must be a powerful nation to have so many countries declaring war on them. Therefore, the prophecies are not about any other times except for today’s world. With the rise of anti-Jews picking up momentum, and Turkey, Iran (ancient Persia) and Syria ganging up, the race towards that predicted war is fast taking shape. The Bible tells us that a nation from the north would lead the fight (many people think it’s Russia).

As Christians, we must not be anti-Jewish. In fact, we must not be anti-any race. God loves everyone the same. All we do is to reach out to all regardless of race with the gospel of Christ. We cannot stop this future war that is coming but we can stop some from perishing into eternity without God. Time is running out!

OUR WORLD TODAY!

Can I say that this picture talks about our age today?

IT'S SO HARD TO SAY I'M SORRY!

Latest: This article was published in STAR Paper on Sunday (15th Feb. 2009)

Nowadays, as I am growing older, I tend to read more about politics in this country. And the more I read them, the more I feel frustated about the latest happenings. I was just telling my wife the other day, I don't see any politicians, from both the ruling government and opposition parties saying the magical word, "I am sorry. I was wrong." Not one. The most powerful leader in the world, President Barack Obama, just less than a month in office, declared unwaveringly, "I screwed up!". I believe the morals of the younger generation is mostly caught than taught and our so-called leaders have failed them.

Why aren't leaders apologising? The main reason I believe is that to them saying sorry means being weak. They wanted people to view them as infallible so that they could maintain their popularity. Therefore, politicians are constantly weighing the consequences of saying sorry. The worse of it all is to cover up the blunders made or to blame others for their own mistakes.

The ability to apologize says a great deal about a person. It speaks of one who takes responsibility for his or her action. If it's wrong, it's wrong and there are no two ways about it. The admission of wrongs reflects a person with integrity unless he or she does it again and again. How the youth today need this truth, genuinely shown by conscentious adults and especially those who are leading this country forward. Saying sorry is a strength and a virtue.

PS: The above article will be posted to STAR newspapers.

HANDPHONE FEVER!

I read with amusement the other day about the survey done about handphone users in Malaysia. Do you know that there are more handphones that are being used in Malaysia than its population? Which means there are more than 27 million handphones being used currently and some of you guys are holding more than one handphones! Extraordinary! No wonder the telco companies are laughing their way to the bank! Imagine, more than 30 million smses circulating all over the country per day. If we calculate 1 sen per sms sent, it is a whopping RM300,000 everyday, vanished into thin air (to the pockets of telcos, of course). And I am not counting the pre paid fellas (like me) who paid more for smsing.

I remember reading about a country which was brought down by smses alone. The Phillipines government that day was brought down by people smsing each other to rebel against the ruling party. And many rumours sprouted like wildfire through this unseen wave in the sky. And Barack Obama fought like a child to keep his blackberry handphone while serving now as the President of the United States so that he could sms his close friends.

Why can't we live without handphones?

I believe today we are the moving generation and we love to go places. We don't like so much staying home for long. My wife sometimes tells me that our house is like a hotel where we come back to sleep and that's about all. We are moving so much that without a handphone to me is an unimaginable nightmare (unless I don't want anyone to disturb me). AirAsia gets everyone's flying and they make handphones even more precious. Those days, you call me at home and you bound to get me. Today, I don't even have a house phone.

In the future, you don’t need to be a prophet to know that computers will shrink into handphone size so that we can do our work while we are on the move. For some companies, they don’t even need to rent office because their workers work everywhere they like. Of course with a tiny computer in their palms.

When that day comes, I hope we don’t have to pay for smses anymore. It would be taken care of by high speed Internet to our handphone sized computer, with a very low cost per month subscription.

GIRLS CAN'T GO TO SCHOOL!

In Pakistan, girls going to school are threathened with death, kidnapping and bombs by the Taliban in Swat Valley, near the border with Afghanistan. Some called the place, "Pakistan's Switzerland" for its beauty but the extremist Talibans "dirty" it. The neighbouring nation, Afghanistan has had girls going to school being thrown with acid on their faces, disfiguring their beauty, created by God. The Talibans are extreme in their interpretations of the Islamic teachings. They want all the ancient laws found in the Quran (most of them from Old Testament Mosaic laws) enacted in 21st Century world. That includes cutting off hands and legs for certain sins and stoning to death. Fortunately, crucifixion is not part of the teachings, Whew!!).

But girls going to school??? What does this got to do with religion? You mean when God created Adam and Eve, God wanted Eve and all girls to stay dumb! This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

I think the Talibans are afraid that women one day climb over their heads and ordered them around. This is weakness to the core (and they think they are macho men just because they carry guns) and as a man, I am ashamed. Bullying school going girls are cowards and should be condemned by real men as sissies. To the Talibans, if you want to be better than girls, then go to school, study hard and get your PHDs. At this moment, you are having PHD, that stands for Permanent Head Damage!