October newsletter

Author

Gerard Seow
October 28, 2013

NEW MEMBERS WELCOME

We are truly blessed to be able to partner with saints from many different nations. By discovering our purpose as individuals, we release the divine order. We bloom where we are planted. His word orders our steps. We are ordained for this time. Peace comes when we hear His voice. Hours, days, weeks and months flow when in divine sequence. It is in this missional order, this arranged progression of spiritual and practical wisdom, in the pursuit of the ways and paths of a holy God, that I welcome you, on behalf of and for the edification of the communities where our associates are active, among the street-strong, family-focused volunteers, interns and advocates that make us what we are in Christ.

In this edition, I include information about how you can take a victim rescue holiday. The terms ‘victim rescue’ and ‘holiday’ seem to be a contradiction. But if you think about it, taking leave from work or approaching HR for time off**, may be just what is needed to think through mid-stream career choices especially as you approach your second-half and at the same time make a huge difference in someone’s life. Whatever the victories of your first-half, doing a victim rescue holiday may be the kind of ‘locker-room’ experience you need to get your second wind.

You may be surprised to find that there are no pictures contained in our monthly newsletters. This is because of the diversity of locations where our web partner services are rendered, particularly places where download speeds are frustratingly slow. Yes, there still are many places in Asia where our School of Ministry students are serving among the non-wired community. I have created @gbgoikos some digital space for our Twitter graphics but for our longer reports, we are happy to deliver just the news without photographs and ask for your understanding.Contact us to find out :– Frequency of day-track sessions– What you will learn, from whom and how– What you will do to obtain your goals– Where ground-zero will be for you and your team– When your shop will be open and how much it will cost you– What is included in the package in terms of meals, wifi, board, etc– What placements are available and through which agenciesWherever you are reading this from, if you are interested in doing a Victim Rescue Holiday (VRHols), you are welcome to reply to this the address below. Herewith is a short description of the courseware based on the rich and very rewarding experiences of our stay-ins that are currently enjoying our programmes.

Rev Gerard SeowGeylang Bless Godc/o The Oikos Fellowship175 Geylang RoadSingapore 389247Tel : 6-743-6938Mobile : 9-630-9664

Public info sitehttp://shabbat.tumblr.com

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QUICK OCTOBER UPDATEPeek inside the Israeli-designed MegaVoiceRe-imagine the spacial future of GeylangCongrats to the Meyers of Canadian FireDiscuss low-tech, high-yield riceThe Doctrine of HellQuotable QuotesEzer KenegdoRescue victim holidays

QUICK OCTOBER UPDATE

We’ve hosted Carrie Baber, an American missionary serving in KL under Redeeming Roses in Brickworks, a Japanese researcher from Harvard university in Boston, 2 NUS students of architecture, Tiong Li and Dolly Foo, two Rachel’s (Rachel Wong and Rachel Yong), a GCube task force comprising Gavin Lu, Evangeline, Jian Wen, Alyssa Lim representing another NUS initiative from VCF with a inner-city mission focus.

We’ve also had the privilege of marrying James and Janie whose wedding was held on 18th Oct during which we’ve released the teaching on the Ezer Kenegdo (see below) following the water baptism of Judy Neo (Singapore), YanHong (Harbin), Liu Jiange (Jilin), James Sun (Yantai). Brought my beloved Ezer for a birthday treat together with dad George for an 8 volcano tour in central Java visiting with the Warehams in Salatiga (Mountain View International) and also our social impact centre in Jogja (@Mergangsan @Karang-Bendo).

This week in Philippines (29 Oct – 6 Nov) sees our 2nd Canlaon climb under Mighty Man Camps that is also a field trial for the MegaVoice audio Bible (see below). Two climb teams (Cavite and OATH) under DENR supervision commence ascent from both west (Mambucal) and east (Mananawin) to meet on the summit by Sat 02 Nov. Scoring will be based on how well the Israeli-designed media player fares next to the Apple iPhone 5 and other modules in the audio market. It’s a face-off between the high-tech giant iPhone against the small but mighty audio chimp. But let’s not jump to any conclusions!

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Quick October UpdatePEEK INSIDE THE ISRAELI-DESIGNED MEGAVOICERe-imagine the spacial future of GeylangCongrats to the Meyers of Canadian FireDiscuss low-tech, high-yield riceThe Doctrine of HellQuotable QuotesEzer KenegdoRescue victim holidays

PEEK INSIDE THE ISRAELI-DESIGNED MEGAVOICE

MIGHTY MAN CAMPS hosts field trials during upcoming Mananawin-Makawiwilli pastor’s summit this All Souls weekend on the island of Negros in the Black West. I was first introduced to this area through Rev Norman Holmes at ZMI Antipolo campus in the late ’90’s. Since the passing of Pastor Bansoy (Armando Campos, Bacolod), our own Oikos Associates have been actively carrying on the tradition of rural ministries beginning with churches planted by ex-domestic workers returning back to their barrio locations, now aided with portable solar-powered media players.

The MegaVoice vision in the Philippines is to establish media centres with trained pastors recording Bible portions in their own local dialect for circulation especially in non-wired communities were there is plenty of sunshine for the charging of the in-built solar batteries. This one-touch Israel-designed media player is sleek and ultra-portable and a perfect companion for our talking missionaries. How rugged is the body frame when subjected to a mountaineer’s itinerary? There are rivers to be crossed, floods to be overcome, blazing hot and dusty trails. How will the internal circuitry of these media players cope with the tropical moisture, the rough and tumble at different altitudes and the sometimes mis-handling in the mud, sweat, tears of 96 sq miles of wilderness that is Mt Canlaon national park. What is the performance of the unit in an actual field test is going to determine how confident we are in talking to the investor group of partners and ‘angels’ who want first-hand feedback from an independent rating agency that will publish the results online.

One of the amazing characteristics of the Megavoice unit will be the usefulness by listeners in remote access areas that have little or no IT knowledge, among the elderly, the blind or those still without access to bible literacy. The key is keeping the operations as simple as possible but no simpler. The one touch key board has been augmented over the years to improve track selection, pause, play and retrieval. Note to self : Megavoice does not replace the need for troops on the ground who are the real ‘salvation army’ that extend the Kingdom in hearts and minds. No mechanical device can fulfil the Great Commission. Only through the sacrifice of our front-liners can we continue to raise shepherds that will bring about social structure changes in the locations where our associates are active.

Update on Fly-Sail-Hike expedition : Mighty Man Camps (FaceBook)

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Quick October UpdatePeek inside the Israeli-designed MegaVoiceRE-IMAGINE THE SPACIAL FUTURE OF GEYLANGCongrats to the Meyers of Canadian FireDiscuss low-tech, high-yield riceThe Doctrine of HellQuotable QuotesEzer KenegdoRescue victim holidays

RE-IMAGINE THE SPACIAL FUTURE OF GEYLANG

[Editor’s note: Tiong Li is facing a post-graduate challenge in framing his thesis on the spacial future of Geylang and the impact this might have on sex workers in the back lanes. He came together with another student researcher Dolly Foo, also doing similar research with these questions. Perhaps you have some ideas on what Geylang might look like in the next 5 years. If you are an architect that is longing to re-imagine a community reborn, and wish to contribute your ideas for a New Geylang, please do not hesitate to send in your designs for consideration. You might also wish to spend time here in Geylang together with Dolly and other students of architecture.]

Tiong Li : What is your position on the sex trade / sex workers in Singapore, in general? Should sex work be judged based on moral values?

Gerard Seow – Our position upholds the traditional view of marriage, the family based on one Adam with one Eve, it is a biblical worldview but is also the viewpoint of the Women’s Charter – that piece of social legislation carried over from the Brits based upon monogamous marriage. Fifty years ago, this was not the case. Men could, and regularly did, take women from outside the marital union into concubinage, as second, third wives, mistresses, etc For whatever reasons the government may allow sex work to continue, as a church we beg to differ. We see a maturing view where prostitution will eventually die a natural death even as polygamy faded off the social radar. What was enacted by law 50 years go reflects properly the priority of the family as the basic unit of society and any thing that tampers with these source codes as essential dangerous to the public good (in the long run)

Tiong Li : What is your motivation to want to reach out to sex workers? How are you involved? What are your goals? Have you been met with any difficulties while on the ground?

Gerard Seow – Essentially our calling as a church is to respond to the cries of the needy as a willing and able change agent. We cannot do anything unless the girls come to us requesting for help. Like in the underground railway during the American civil war, we can only provide solutions and deliver timely aid only when the girls approach us for counsel. Our role is to advise them that there are answers, alternatives if they want to come out. Like Boaz in the bible, we only act when the girl runs under our umbrella for shelter, counsel, hope and direction.

Tiong Li : Are all sex workers victims of human trafficking? Do you think that if she has made an informed decision to do sex work, for whatever personal reasons (think red umbrella campaign), then it should be respected?

Gerard Seow – Any decision to go into sex as an occupation is mis-informed. It is not a job a father would recommend his daughter unless he has already been compromised. If men insist on reducing themselves to monkeys then we have effectively reversed all the gains of human evolution. This cannot be the basis for progress and cannot be justified on any grounds. Poverty can be easily resolved if governments have the will to tackle it. We do not sell our daughters for any price as the human body is not for sale. Neither should we allow the daughters from other parts unknown to be subject to such inhumanity. To do so under any other circumstance would be considered an act of war. There is no good reason why Singaporeans should permit such violence against women to be perpetuated in our modern era.

Tiong Li : What is the proportion of sexual services in geylang that are rendered by licensed brothels, as opposed to streetwalkers, even massage parlour girls / ktv girls? Are there illegal brothels in geylang? Are there any Singaporean sex workers in geylang?

Gerard Seow – Sex work in prostitution has been a promised land for women falsely led to believe the lie that it is a temporary solution to address a cash flow issue, that the brothel is a stepping stone to a brighter better future after the immediate crisis is over. This is where the deception begins and the illegitimacy of pimps / operators / syndicates is generated usually upstream in a ‘talent-drain’ sourced from remote village locations. Once the girls are lured into the big cities there is a compounding of error between “boyfriends”, “uncles”, the police, drug-dealers and governments. Every part of the sex industry is compromised and there is not one righteous element in the whole. This includes hotel owners that charge hourly-rates for rooms to be used as informal venues for transactions to take place, to food vendors that serve customers that are clearly perpetrators of injustice. Money makes the sex industry go round and the love of it is at its root.

Tiong Li : Where do these sex workers stay? I imagine there is a distinction between licensed sex workers and illegal ones? What are their general living conditions? I was in contact with project X, and learned that those at desker road are almost inhumanely pathetic.

Gerard Seow – As in any industry, there are winners and losers. Those at the top of the pile are highly paid and highly favored. The losers suffer at the hands of the winners in every respect, including accommodation, food, allowances, tips, etc Human nature when it has sunk into pure animal fear and mass hysteria will control the outcome. Like in the sinking of the titanic, there are never enough life boats and the few lucky enough to secure places always pay the heaviest price. Pride, greed, laziness and a total disregard for the poor becomes a self-organizing disease that sucks the good out of persons – a dog eat dog world where basic human decency, societal order and mercy is unknown.

Tiong Li : Are there any differences between those (street walkers) who work in the day and those who only solicit at night?

Gerard Seow – Traditionally, there are four vices/addictions that accompany the sex trade: gambling, drinking, drugs (opium in the old days) and prostitution. So sex work is integrated with a much larger network of vices. This is further compounded with the issue of cyber-narcotics, sodomy, “escort” services, KTV lounges, online prostitution rings and the casinos. Each play a part and what you see on the streets in Geylang is only a small part of a greater “architecture” of vice, crime mixed in with willful blindness on the part of society. Certainly tourism plays a part, and sex tourism continues to be a source of income with sorrow for both buyers, sellers and middle-men. The street work itself is just the tip of the iceberg.

Tiong Li : How is the sex trade in geylang organised and run (legal and illegal)? I read that each lorong provides a particular nationality of girls, and that apparently secret societies control the various turfs? But surely it isn’t confined to just between the smaller lorongs up till 24? (beyond that I found the lorongs to be rather clean and quiet). I saw many sex workers hanging around in coffee shops even in the odd number lorongs though.

Gerard Seow – In addition to all these traditional retail outlets, with the advent of mobile, the availability of paid sex has followed the trend of the Internet. Finding sexual services everything from pedophilia to the exotic is a matter of the Google search engine. Prostitutes are better organized in their CRM and keep far better records than before including pictures of clients with their coordinates. Many prostitutes do cold calling to increase sales and the coffee shops are technically houses of assignation (meeting places) where face to face meetings take place though these technically are not needed anymore. The street retail system of girls being paraded in public is generally for the uninitiated, while regular customer bases are kept and milked by pimps who keep databases that are also known to the police.

Tiong Li : What is the government’s position on the sex trade in geylang? Why is it not possible to eradicate / fully regulate this industry?

Gerard Seow – Containment is a useful policy to keep an eye on the bad hats and allows some free play to criminal organisations. Pimps are routinely picked up and questioned for information. Better “the devil you know” is their thinking.

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Quick October UpdatePeek inside the Israeli-designed MegaVoiceRe-imaging the spacial future of GeylangCONGRATS TO THE MEYERS OF CANADIAN FIREDiscuss low-tech, high-yield riceThe Doctrine of HellQuotable QuotesEzer KenegdoRescue victim holidays

CONGRATS TO THE MEYERS OF CANADIAN FIRE

[On the occasion of your 25TH year of faithful service to the Lord Jesus Christ]“Bradley and Kimberly Meyer, Canadian Fire : What a remarkable couple you are and congratulations from Singapore. At a time when so much is being challenged in the secular media about the witness of Christianity in the post-modern era, here we have a couple from the West, the Meyers, who have consistently factored in Asian missions into their year’s work plan. With a focus of coming alongside local pastors and missional agencies, Brad and Kim are leading the way for others to follow. Through their leadership at Canadian Fire, other local leaders at various levels are catching the fire for global influence as the Body of Christ expands into the back lanes, up remote mountain passes, into the hard to reach areas where God’s voice is heard small. It is not the gifts that they bring so much as the leadership and moral example that this couple demonstrates in the little conversations they start with our church elders and ministry ezers who ultimately have the burden of carrying on those conversations in hearts and minds of their hearers. It is brave thing, for pastors these days to travel across the world to share their burden for missions. It is braver still for them to allow themselves to become vulnerable to the sights and sounds of issues such as corruption, poverty, trafficking, etc that is endemic to this area. The Meyers are walking in partial fulfilment as non-residential missionaries in S.E.Asia including Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and other parts. You play a strategic role in the development of our churches. We are very proud to be part of Canadian Fire and also the brethren in Saskatchewan and elsewhere in God’s territories there in Canada. We are praying for you and we love you with the love of the Lord”.

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Quick October UpdatePeek inside the Israeli-designed MegaVoiceRe-imaging the spacial future of GeylangCongrats to the Meyers of Canadian FireDISCUSS LOW-TECH, HIGH-YIELD RICEThe Doctrine of HellEzer KenegdoRescue victim holidays

DISCUSS LOW-TECH, HIGH-YIELD RICEIn collaboration with the Systems Rice Intensification, the School of Ministry (SOM-12) batch has hosted a seminar for 40 farmers in the OATH mission triangle between Catubig, New Lucena and Dumangas in the central and southern part of Iloilo. At the request of Singaporean Mags Teo, who leads this initiative toward higher rice yields, the church at Palocso-ol had the privilege of screening the first SRI video in the region. Part of the programme was a question and answer dialogue between officials at the SRI and the farmers. Next steps include a practical demo on plot preparation and the proper drainage systems required. The SRI method was originally developed by a French priest on the island of Madagascar and has been successful in India, China, Indonesia where similar SRI seminars have been piloted.

Dumangas is our most recent project under OATH (Philippines) where our associates are active in upstream education, building awareness among troubled teens, aiding communities in projects related to clean water delivery, digging of water pumps, bible distribution, building of community libraries, meeting spaces, sports and youth activities among the less privileged in those barrios largely neglected by central government budgets or left behind in the brain-drain. OATH was started in the late ’90’s in Singapore by divine appointment and today is primarily concerned with spiritual awakening by engaging in a fiesta of ideas. Systems Rice Intensification is one of many new pilot projects to engage the rural community at the grassroots where Jesus name is known and loved. Pastor Chris Manzano is the new assignee in Palacsool, together with his ezer Marissa that will be hosting our upcoming Rice mission to be held in early Dec 2013. This will be part mission trip and part research in irrigation techniques and the implementation challenge of growing rice from the perspective of better water management than the tradition rain-fed methods.

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Quick October UpdatePeek inside the Israeli-designed MegaVoiceRe-imaging the spacial future of GeylangCongrats to the Meyers of Canadian FireDiscuss low-tech, high-yield riceTHE DOCTRINE OF HELLQuotable QuotesEzer KenegdoRescue victim holidays

THE DOCTRINE OF HELL[Editor’s note : At the invitation of the Central Iloilo Ministerial Fellowship on the island of Panay on 8th October 2013. It was an opportunity to open up this awesome subject with over 40 pastors related to the CIMF many of whom are respected community leaders and mentors. The OATH mission at Catubig (Rev Rafael Esposa) hosted this pastor’s lunch and it was good to meet many pastors again working under this umbrella network of ministers. Opening with 3 quotations from Jonathan Edwards I proceeded to outline a 9 point manifesto for the biblical doctrine as I understood it, illustrating how even righteous men can escape sin from the portion in Matthew 19 on the rich young ruler followed by a charge to the Man of God (see below**). Here are extracts from that meeting.]

Opening quotes from Jonathan Edwards from a 1728 sermon on Matthew 10:28

– “God will be the hell of one and the heaven of the other”

– “Hell is a spiritual and material furnace of fire where it’s victims are eternally tortured in their minds and in their bodies by God, the devils, and damned humans, including themselves. Their memories and consciences as well as their raging, unsatisfied lusts torture them. In hell, the place of death, God’s saving grace, mercy, and pity are gone, never for a moment to return”

– “Figuratively speaking, the wrath of God is a consuming fire. Dives, in torment spiritually even before the resurrection of his body, was described as existing in fire, begging to have Lazarus wet his tongue to relieve the pain (Luke 16). The metaphor points to the all-over prevalence of the anguish and it’s intolerable severity. Divine wrath will be far more terrible than its symbol. Actually, the furnace is figurative so far as the soul is concerned, literal as it pertains to the body. There is nothing impossible about its being literal, and Christ’s words in Matthew 10:28 require it. After all, it takes real fire to burn the heavens and earth in the great conflagration, which is hell

Nine Reasons why you should believe in hell

One. Heaven and hell is open to both the poor and the rich. God is no respecter of poverty or wealth. Regardless of your tax bracket, your entry will not be on the basis of whether you have or don’t have. The haves don’t necessarily go to hell neither must the poor go to heaven. God is no respecter of persons. Heaven is open, hell is open and all are welcome.

Two. The poor do not own heaven and neither the rich hell. In fact, Jesus shifts our focus from how much (or little) a mans owns, to what impact a man makes for His sake. For Jesus, what matters is where your heart lies: how much you give to God is one thing, how much you keep for yourself tells another story. Travel light that is the central idea behind making ‘Aliyah’ or mounting up to the holy city. Wesley’s tip: “earn as much as you can, save as much as you can, give as much as you can”.

Three. The tithe maketh a man rich. The rich young ruler said, “all these I have kept since my youth…” The best time to teach structured giving is in Sunday school. Young minds accept new ideas quickly. They are curious about themselves, curious about God, sin, righteousness, heaven, hell. Tithing maketh rich, but giving makes fortunes for Christ.

Four. Jesus is the way to heaven: “come follow Me” (cf. “come unto Me…”) and this excludes a “works salvation”. We are saved from wrath when we walk up rightly. The Boaz in heaven admits only one type of Ruth on earth, those that come to him on the threshing floor of faith. Faith is the front end of salvation. The process of fresh bread begins at the threshing floor. We are his harvest, and he is either All or Nothing to us.

Five. Jesus is the way to hell who unveils the reality of and the the awesome wrath upon sinners who refuse to change their ways. The list of sins in Matt 19 is a reiteration of the Decalogue (adultery, lying, theft). To this is added the failure to honor mother and father – those who have brought us up and illustrated either heaven or hell on earth.

Six. Jesus unveils the glories of heaven, the destination prepared for all who make Jesus Lord, who live out their promises made on oath, as loyal Ruth’s to their Boaz. This picture of salvation is based on hearing the heartbeat of God for the world to return back to pilgrim ways, a world of simplicity described as “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”.

Seven. The Spirit has a will (James 4:5), in line with God’s will and often in opposition to man’s will that runs amok (Hiligaynon ‘amo’ = “monkey”) with the money God had intended to be a blessing. Instead, it becomes the root of so many evils mentioned and we are reduced to animal fears and hysteria, distracted from the principle purpose of prosperity, which is to be a blessing to our fellows.

Eight. God alone is both your source of as well as your protection against wealth. From Him all blessings flow and it is wisdom to allow Him to assign your percentage to be returned back. The same God who gives you the ability to create wealth also delivers you from its grip. If you trace back to the root, money has been an unseen influence for both good and evil.

Nine. If you were previously monkeying around with God’s money, there is good news. The good news is that a fool needn’t remain in his foolishness. The bad news is the wise man may not continue in his wisdom. God can make monkeys out of men as easily as he can turn a man into a monkey. Let the unclean remain unclean and let the pure remain pure. Note to self: give according to your age.

Man of God : “You are a man among monkeys in this world, half-men really, mutants in the evolution of our species. As a full-bodied man, you are the perfection of what heaven had in mind before the foundation of the world. Before, you were running amok in disorder. In Him you are now called to attention, to stand upright in a generation of fools. If those who mock, ridicule, deride, patronize and muffle your voice were to come to His light, they would have the hope, as you have had, to turn foolishness into wisdom. No monkey no matter how clever can come even close to the lowliest saint on his knees. Gentlemen, we are not four-footed. Rather do we stand tall because of the image of the Son of Man. The same Judge who sends monkeys to the eternal scrap-yard of hell, sends the upright to heaven. Let’s wait and see who has the last laugh at that end.”

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Quick October UpdatePeek inside the Israeli-designed MegaVoiceRe-imaging the spacial future of GeylangCongrats to the Meyers of Canadian FireDiscuss low-tech, high-yield riceThe Doctrine of HellQUOTABLE QUOTESEzer KenegdoRescue victim holidays

QUOTABLE QUOTES

“Nature’s grand book, which stands continually open to our gaze, is written in the language of mathematics. It’s characters are triangles, circles and other geometric figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it; without these one is wandering around in a dark labyrinth” (Galileo Galilei, 1623)

“There must be some worthy men in the world of the same mind as myself. Until I meet such I will go on with such support as I have” Howell Harris (1714 – 1773) was the pioneer of Methodist field preaching and the first to form a number of Societies and link them together in a permanent organisation. Wesley’s work was patterned after him, and Whitefield was deeply indebted to his stalwart example.

“He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words and sentences so perfectly, that he might be heard and understood at a great distance, especially as his audience, however numerous, observed the most exact silence. I had the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard, by retiring backwards down the street towards the river; and I found his voice distinct till I came near Front-street, when some noise in that street obscured it. Imagining then a semi-circle, of which my distance should be the radius, and that it were filled with listeners, to each of whom I allowed two square feet, I computed that he might well be heard by more than thirty thousand. This reconciled me to the newspaper accounts of his having preached to twenty-five thousand people in the fields, and to the ancient histories of generals haranguing whole armies, of which I had sometimes doubted.” (Benjamin Franklin on mass evangelism as George Whitefield preaches his first sermon at the Old Courthouse in Philadelphia.)

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Quick October UpdatePeek inside the Israeli-designed MegaVoiceRe-imaging the spacial future of GeylangCongrats to the Meyers of Canadian FireDiscuss low-tech, high-yield riceThe Doctrine of HellQuotable QuotesEZER KENEGDORescue victim holidays

EZER KENEGDO

Ezer Kenegdo is an absolutely lovely way that combines elements of Jewish life into contemporary relationships between husbands and wives, showing rather than teaching, suitable for renewal of marriage vows, aiming higher for newly-wed couples, going further for desperate moms and hungry dads as the church grows deeper into bible-based revelation.

The setting: in the context of a traditional candle-light dinner, there are broths to be served up along with homemade breads and delicious cup-cakes, recovering the meaning of home, a sort of cross between The Great British Bake Off and an Shabbat service. There are readings from the Psalms, blessings over the wife, blessings over the husband, blessings over the singles and blessings over the sons and daughters

At the centre of Ezer Kenegdo is the Lord’s table, just 2 candles – one to remember and one to observe at a table dressed with the simplest of things even a young marrieds on the most modest salary could afford – one or two stalks of flowers, a simple table cloth, and your best china (even paper plates are fine), whatever the couple can afford.

Practiced regularly, the benefit to society will be rapidly seen as the husband participates in honoring his wife before God. This not only brings joy in the city but also secures the children against the evils of secularism in schools, social media, etc and highlights the role of that particular family in a much bigger picture of God’s redemption.

Ezer Kenegdo is a return of the Family to the wider community, it is as much an education for the church as it is for the family. And it doesn’t matter if the home is whole or broken, the time-honored principles are the same, restoring the family as the backbone of society, strengthening it’s pillars and plugging the leaks so to speak.

Charge to the Groom (extracts from wedding exhortation October, 2013) “Sir, remember this one thing: Only God can provide you a wife and only God can protect you from her. She is your perfect helper and your perfect enemy. Her address is: “Eye of the storm”. Live with her and there is perfect calm. Go outside and enter the perfect storm. Go outside the marriage for satisfaction and she will be the devil and hell and your worse nightmare. Then, to you, she will be the angel of death, an epidemic of SARS, swine fever, 911 and the Asian tsunami all rolled into one. You will buy her flowers every Friday because she will teach you how to live upright. Resist her ways and she will cut her hair, put on a heavy metal jacket, call in the Army, Navy, Air Force. If you live right and walk tall and stop monkeying around with God’s money, she will cause the sun to shine, the sky to clear overheard, the mountains to break forth before you and the trees of the fields to clap their hands. Step out of line and she WILL not hesitate to use every Harry Potter spell, garner public opinion against you, publish your name, face and passport in all major news agencies, freeze your accounts, cut you off from the land of the living until you pay the uttermost farthing. This woman, like the SAS, has been sent to accomplish a mission. This woman, like the elite French Foreign Legion, is on a sacred mission that must be accomplished at all costs. The ezer you marry, will “make a man” out of you….”

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Quick October UpdatePeek inside the Israeli-designed MegaVoiceRe-imaging the spacial future of GeylangCongrats to the Meyers of Canadian FireDiscuss low-tech, high-yield riceThe Doctrine of HellQuotable QuotesEzer KenegdoRESCUE VICTIM HOLIDAYS

RESCUE VICTIM HOLIDAYS

On victim rescues for anyone who wants to make a difference on the front lines of social structure change, a take-home to tell others about, consider taking a victim rescue holiday or apply to HR dept to ask for time off. Many larger companies these days are giving time off to employees to explore new areas of learning that are related to the exercise of human compassion and social structure change. If your company has not yet developed such a policy, why not approach your HR manager with just such a proposal?

What is involved?

1. IDENTIFY victims – which girls are ready? Contact phase is necessarily a search for missing persons, development of solutions from left-field to rescue the perishing, to safely ID the “needle in the hay-stack”. This is perhaps the first and most important step working alongside our regular volunteers and developing relationships of trust, enablement and abandon.

2. OPEN doors : befriending through gift-giving. Candidacy phase reviews data collected during street-strong outreach and requires short-listing to just one candidate per rescue, extending hospitality at our on-site ER shelters near Lor-3 (above Ban Hoe Lee Hardware). Given the restrictive nature of a holiday, setting your sights more realistically, there is more than often only one door opened for rescue at a time.

3. NARROW it down : one rescue at a time. Concentration phase requires intensification with pin-point accuracy, one single rescue to the exclusion of all others and not necessarily on a first-come, first-served basis. There will always be that one face that stands out from the crowd. You make a command decision and must often trust your intuition.

4. SOCIAL impact : think long term. Collaboration phase works existing networks of agencies on standby to “follow the bird” back to its nest (country of origin) to dig wells, start libraries, distribute bibles, come alongside local community in talent capital management.

How to prepare for the long haul.

Projected costs per girl per rescue should be factored in from the moment she steps in the door to her return back to her country of origin. This may involve quality time at our rescue base, air-tickets and initial training as an educator for when she gets back to her country of origin. Preparing with the end in mind insures you against false expectations. Although many agencies are involved in a rescue, there is certainly one upon whose shoulders recovery must be principally borne. This is the challenge to maintaining an upfront understanding of post-rescue intervention back in the country of residence. Additionally, each subsequent month after rescue, she receives assistance in terms of a monthly stipend to continue within her home community where a food pantry is set up in her home village for maximum impact to her neighbours and friends. Besides the weekly feeding in her community, is also an annual support fee per child to send her kids to proper neighbourhood schools that lifts the burden from her shoulders regarding school fees, book, uniforms, pocket-money etc

For a more detailed estimate of costs involved

Rescue starter kits : purchase one today

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CONTACT INFORMATION

About Geylang Bless God

Geylang Bless God Mission is an outreach effort of The Oikos Fellowship, Singapore which seeks to bring God’s blessing of hope and healing to the red light district of Geylang

About the Reverend Gerard Seow

Gerard graduated in 1984 from Oral Roberts University (B.A. Theological & Historical Studies) where he met His wife Lianne, a Rafflesian, who also graduated from ORU in 1985 with a double major in Mathematics and Computer Science. Together they serve The Oikos Fellowship, their home church and code-share the School of Ministry in Geylang with street-strong partners from all ages and ethnic backgrounds.

An adult Third Culture Kid, Gerard has studied in six schools on four different continents before the age of 18 years: Cambodia, Australia, the United States, Switzerland and Scotland where he topped his class in Engineering Science. After receiving the Spirit under the ministry of Church of the Living Saviour, Geneva, Switzerland, Gerard volunteered with St. Peter’s Church (Tavistock Ave) during his National Service days at Pulau Tekong and was a licensed lay reader during his term of office at St. Matthew’s Church, (Neil Road) under the Rev. Dr. John Tay and Bishop Moses Tay.

Gerard was ordained in 2003 by the Rev. Dr. Michael Wieteska (clsgeneva.org) and has been developing missional links into the Geylang community for the past seven years through a mission of love to the women and girls trapped in prostitution in the vicinity of his Lorong 3 ministry centre. Geylang Bless God seeks to provide a shoulder to cry on and a listening ear, with a simple message: “Abused? Mis-treated? Want a better life? Try Jesus. He loves and cares for you.”

GBG is a collaborative inter-faith work reaching the lost and lonely in the back lanes of Geylang. Opportunities abound for volunteers to spend 8 to 12 weeks on the front-lines of Christian service with hands-on practical training in street work in the context of an inner-city mission that provides an alternative to the street and brothel communities where GBG associates are active in direct assistance to victims.

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