Joie de Vivre A Wretched Man’s Quest To Follow Jesus Christ

I highly recommend reading it.

The sexual morality ship is fast sinking and taking millions of people with it. If you think the sinking of the Titanic was a disaster, this ship is sinking faster and taking more people with it than the former. And worse, it is also sending many millions to the bottomless pit called “hell”!

Parents in California Break The Law if They Homeschool

In a recent court decision that is, thankfully, still under appeal, the State of California (CA) has ruled that parents can be incarcerated or have their children taken away if they homeschool the latter!

In other words, and this is how I read it as well, it means that parents are not able to educate and teach their children at home. However, if parents insist on homeschooling their children, they will be required to engage someone who has the credentials, or have a parent credentialed to do so.

It gets worse!

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Graham tagged me for this meme (which I have solemnly vowed to ‘repay with kindness’ one day) to reveal seven random and/or weird facts about me. His excuse was that I’d do it to him anyhow if I were looking to tag others with a meme like this.

I’d have to admit that there’s no doubt he’s right about that, but you have my word, mate — you can run but you can’t hide!

Left with Hobson’s choice, I mulled over which random/weird facts I should divulge, and after some consideration, I thought you’d be able to stomach these:

1. When I was in my senior year in high school, I worked as a clown giving out pamphlets promoting a circus in town. Oh yes, kids feared me then, but never be one if you’re trying to impress your female friends, seriously.
2. I have a very short attention span when it comes to drama serials. That’s why TV series like “Lost” are lost on me (pun intended), and I prefer those that have a different plot every week, like House M.D., CSI (with the exception of CSI: Miami which I dislike) etc. I make an exception for historically-correct drama serials though.
3. When it comes to computers, I am an Apple fanboi trapped with a PC (until it’s really time to upgrade). I wish there was a bumper sticker that says “My next computer is the Macbook” that I can stick on my monitor.
4. I was brought up around a lot of women so when I was but just a young boy, I was well-educated in (almost) all things female including the differences between items in the lingerie drawer because my young aunt took me with her shopping all the time. Many a young lass were impressed with my ‘education’ in my teenage years. Alas, I still don’t understand women most times.
5. I do a great mimic of Sean Connery’s voice and accent.
6. I’m a fussy eater and I prefer my meat to come without bones in them, with the exception of barbequed ribs. I guess there are many like me, else those stores selling ‘boneless chicken rice’ won’t be so popular.
7. I was such a major fan of Marine Boy (海底少年マリン in Japanese) as a kid so much so that I’d always buy a stick of chewing gum (back in the 1970’s when they were still legal in Singapore) whenever I was to go for swimming lessons. For those who don’t know who Marine Boy is, he chews a stick of gum or something to help him breathe underwater. Oh, and that plus trying to do the ‘butterfly’ stroke underwater a la ‘Man From Atlantis‘.

Good, I see you haven’t been scared away so I guess I made the right decision in revealing those facts.

And now, for the seven unfortunate souls I shall tag with this meme (don’t look at me, Graham said those are the rules and I trust him):

• Casey at Casey’s Critical Thinking
• Mike at Still A Night Owl
• Lincoln at The Habitation of Justice
• Michelle at In the Life of a Child
• Shane at Caffeinated Thoughts
• Aaron at - a a r o n l j x -
• Chris at Inside the Mind of a Worship Drummer

Shalom Aleichem.

You are now seeing what I’d term the first WordPress theme that I can quite proudly call my own and which I built from scratch.

If it looks familiar to you, yes, I drew inspiration from one of my favorite themes — ‘Minima‘ by Stopdesign which is also one of the many templates available at Blogger.com.

I’ve always liked Minima for its minimalist design and typography, and besides, I tried looking for one that someone has already done up for WordPress but they are either not suitable or don’t fit my requirements.

And so began my personal journey to learn to do up my own WordPress theme.

Now that I’ve got some aspects of creating a theme down pat, it’s time to move on to the more advanced things like 3-column layouts, widgetized footers and maybe experiment with colors and so on.

In time, and when I feel confident enough, I might actually release a few themes of my own and see how they are received.

Hmm… I think I have a new hobby now.

The ’slain in the Spirit’ phenomenon is new and strange to me even though I had spent some time in the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement years ago. I can say for sure that I didn’t witness it before and it was only recently that I’ve been seeing more and more of it being practised in churches.

What is being ’slain in the Spirit’?

That’s when Pentecostal/Charismatic pastors say that they feel God’s anointing and, by touching the forehead of one or even in some extreme cases, a sweep of their arm, people in the congregation fall backwards having being ’slain’ and receive the same power that the pastor has been imbued with.

Sounds a little like those special powers some martial arts practitioners possess in Chinese kung fu movies, doesn’t it?

Now, don’t get me wrong — I am not saying that God cannot do that. Oh, our God can do more than that, but my point is that our God is not a “I’m happy so I wave my wand” God.

There also seems to be no Scriptural basis for this phenomenon from what I have searched so far. Nothing in Acts tells us of the Apostles laying hands on someone to have him ’slain in the Spirit’, nor are there records of how, with a sweep of his hand, Paul or Peter or John or even James did that.

So, if there isn’t any Scriptural basis for this practice, what is it then?

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The great mixer who gets it all politically-correct, emotionally-correct and spiritually-correct!

I have always been a history buff and love watching historical period dramas where the failures, achievements and life of a great king, emperor or warlord is re-enacted in a TV series.

Some of the best ones I’ve watched are productions from China on the great emperors of the Qing dynasty (last dynasty of China when the Manchurians ran China) — Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong.

In ancient China, the emperor was sovereign. He was above the law and the law-giver. At his discretion, the emperor is able to put to death or pardon anyone and even entire clans, betroth persons to be married, bestow or take away accolades, and the list goes on.

In other words, the emperor can rule over all aspects of a person’s life if he so chooses to.

The good emperors did not rule through intimidation or fear though, but wisely. Such emperors were usually merciful, and had the best interests of his people at heart. In return, his subjects loved and revered him, and some were willing to lay down their lives for the emperor’s cause which in their minds was a just one.

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