A Jolt.....

Today I want to touch on a variety of subjects which will probably bring some blood oozing/gushing out from the guilty ones or it will bring a lot of joy to the down-trodden/faithful/unfortunate ones. Well, you've guessed it. I prefer to make the "silent" majority happy for this time. For years now, I have seen how the influence of money had corrupted the very institution of faith that I believe in and it is not improving as the years go by. Yes, I would be a fool to say that money is not important in our daily lives but at the same breath, I believe that money not spent on the poor, the needy, the widowed and the less fortunate are itself an inexcusable sin that we all have to bear - from the top to the bottom of the food chain. Sure, we shout and use words to lunge/lash out at the congregation for not putting up our monies, gifts and givings in faith but in the same breath, we hoard the money we receive - put in a fixed deposit for future use, konon [ BTW, I am told that God doesn't need our money because His pavement/walkway is made from precious jewels and precious valuable stone! So, does He need our money? I don't think so ! ] and make the congregation pay some more all under the cloak of financial plans to fill up the coffers or to satisfy one individual dream, needs, cronies and extravagant spending. BTW, it is always about money these days, isn't it? This is the pinnacle of my grouse today and by the way, no one's faith is going to be derailed just because I write something which is not in tune with the pompous ears or eyes today! Anyway, I don't give a two hoots too if you want to know! Enough of fence sitting, get out of your bloody chair and start living right before God. Enough of getting guilty inferences for not giving, badgering and even character assassination plots. Support what is good by all means but stop making excuses and lame lamentation for inexcusable lavishness on personal empire building and building spending!

Build and affirmed lives - not bank accounts! You can start by spending on God's ministries and stop cutting budgets and move the monies elsewhere. From my observation and discussion with various individuals from different churches, this is what I found out. If a ministry is given an allocation of RM 500 a year, I see no reason at all for any ministry to progress or even be motivated to work and shoulder responsibilities! I dearly hold those people at the top of the food chain responsible for any failings because you won't even feed your mom or dad with a RM 500 budget a year, would you? [ Mathematically for those of us who are not so sound in our figures, that comes to RM 41.67 per month! ] lest giving out such paltry sum for the leaders in ministry to work within this budget! When are we going to wake up and start building lives? Please, people & leaders, splash some cold water on your faces and WAKE UP!

Like I have said many times in my writings, it is more blessed to give than to receive but then again, we need to be aware of what is going on. Blind allegiance and blind submission are just some instances of happenings that are hindering our walk with the Father. This is rampant, ridiculously & down rightly inhumane! Why would you support something or decision which is not right and call it right? Just call your shots - let you 'yes' be 'yes' and let your 'no' be 'no'! That's what my Bible says - I don't know about yours, anyway. There is a major trend of building family empire at the top and big bucks spending on making the place of worship such a posh place while serving the purposes of God has taken a back seat. Armed with big buildings, mega congregation and a big fat layer of fixed deposit account in the bank(s), the people of God had turned arrogant, proud and lost our focus on His purposes and HIM. We get sucked up and caught up in so much hype that we constantly say to ourselves, " Never mind, we will always have the poor among us. The Word says so,mah! So, it is okay if we throw a few dollars or loose change into the bag and we have done our part!" What nauseating sacrifice we bring onto the altar of God and this is not even helped by the people at the top who are supposed to guide us through! No wonder, we see no miracles, do no miracles and even feel no miracles. What we have is the artificial flavouring of " feel good" channel and a world of make believe and plenty of make-up and make-up artists!

Imagine this scenario, if God, in all His glory and splendor , trades in the splendor to rag clothes and filthy stench, walk on the street today as a pauper, no one would know him lest give a two hoots to him. The same is said if he walks into churches today,I would bet my very last dollar that he would be asked to sit at the far end corner or even asked if this was his first time in the church. He would probably be asked if he would come again or worst, he would be asked to leave the place and get a shower too when the stench is unbearable. Who will actually take the trouble to take this pauper to the toilet, wash him up and get him back into our place of worship? I pose this question to you and may you answer this with all honesty in your heart!

But if a well-dressed man strolls into our institution today even though he doesn't have one dime to his name, people will greet him or even welcome him with infallible open arms because he "looked" proper, a man of stature and he smells nice too! This is not an example of fiction. This is reality. Face it and know that we are so obsessed with how we look each Sunday and dressing up to kill the eyes around us that it has become a norm for all of us. We judged the book by its cover whether you like to hear this or not unless you have the compassion/wisdom that had been instilled in you by God. Search our hearts, thump our hearts and petition our hearts. Does wearing short pants and slippers to our institution unacceptable to God or to us? Does the next person who smells bad offends us or offends God? The list goes on, my friends. Of course, there will be defenders of the universe that says that we are to dress our best and finest, smell good and give our very best to God but isn't it being mentioned that what is on the outside is the least importance to God than what is in the inside? Like I said earlier, that's what my Bible says!

Ah! The other thing is that we constantly proclaimed that we have a shortage of leaders. We speak out like a sore thumb in the middle of our fiery address in saying, " The workers are few but the harvest is bountiful". But we do nothing to raise young leaders but keep sticking to old horses who have probably a few good years in their life to serve or worst still, we punish our old leaders further by pushing them to one corner and never giving them an opportunity to step up the plate. I am no saying that the old leaders are not good but they have served well and if they want to continue, by all means, they should be given every chance to serve but it is the young leaders that I am more interested. A blend of old and new would be ideal. Sadly, we still have the same old horse tightening the rein rather than letting go and training new leaders. My question is simply this:- Have we devised plans to groom leaders or stuff leadership roles down the throats of the people we "think" can work in such roles or plainly "yes man only club". How could leaders ever progressed if their entire limbs attached to their body are being gagged or tied up with instruction and what not rather than progressing from the rank and file and developing creative ideas? Leaders are trained and built from the various ministries. They should be nurtured, built, refined and groomed for leadership. There has to be succession plan for the ministries. Yes, I agree strongly that no one - man or woman is indispensable as it is God's ministry - not an individual right to hang on to power and position. Today, we have people holding on to power like some prized possession. Look, we are all going to grow old an die eventually one day - that's for sure and we should get the young people to take over our leadership roles. That's why plans would have to be devised to ensure this. My grim reminder to all of us is just this : Let us never forget that the world is an ever willing teacher to our children and our youths today. The world's attraction simply outstrips the half-baked bread that we serve in our faith foundation today. We must serve hot bread and proclaim living bread each time or else our youth/youth leaders will fall like snow flakes in the midst of the piranha-infested society we have today. Maybe my readers are thinking that I am writing about a certain organisation but let me tell you that this is not about a certain organisation but it is something happening generally in our faith foundation in our country today. As always, I gained nothing and I seek nothing from expressing what is in my heart. Only the love for God's people.

For goodness heaven sake, stop shifting the blame, own up your mistakes and WAKE UP!~