WHEN WE ABANDON SENSE FOR BRAVADO AND RELIGIOUS ZEAL

So, this blogger goes online and he issues threats for government to stop harassing Muslims or else... ! Making a loose interpretation of the actions by security forces against terrorism to be actions against Muslims and people that practice Islam, the guy loosely and rather carelessly issues what I interpret as instructions for targets to be picked on Christian worship houses for revenge killings. What recklessness for a man his age in the name of faith!!! Our nation has become a nation of paid hands that speak junk and they get paid to do it. It is a nation where confusion reigns and sense is prevailed over.

The Born again Pentecostal church "Balokole" in Uganda do have a couple of weird hallmarks; one of them is that we shout a lot as we worship and pray and many times we go beyond the limits into the privacy and rights of our neighbors in the name of delivering them from the darkness, against their will; in the name of worshipping God, we cast off restraint just as we do neglect respect for our neighbors. How then can we reach them for the gospel? Another hallmark is that we "hear from God" that even when what we heard does not turn out right, we proceed as though nothing wrong ever happened! I have nothing against hearing from God as I believe God still speaks to people even today; but sometimes our own presumptions take the place of God and everything else can stop until “God” is satisfied. If you happen to have lived at a rented one roomed house (Muzigo) with one of ours, you will be lucky if he did not begin a prayer session at 3a.m shouting on the top of his voice. The list can go on and on. Many things get done in the name of God and religion and often these oppose the very theology that they claim to stand on.

This is the challenge we have with people like this blogger. He missed out to address the real issues around religious fanaticism but would rather overly simplify a significantly complex but not complicated matter. The problem with fanaticism is no one has monopoly to it and once that happens the situation is not desirable. History is often forgotten too soon by those that are quick to these modes of fanatic violence - those quick to the deployment of bullying tactics to resolve whatever issues they think they are resolving. A lot of gory stories are told in history of the crusaders as they are of the jihadists of old - there is no need to attempt a repeat of such times. But reckless citizens like these push the envelope in the hope that they will become freedom fighters at the expense of sanity and everyone else freedom. They don’t really care where all this ends up. They don’t even care about their own children. When one is aggrieved it is better to come up with facts and address or challenge status quo with facts; his rant never came up with any except the generic rhetoric that we have all heard one too many times followed in quick succession by threats!

The Baganda have a saying “Omulya mamba abeera omu, navumaganya ekika” translated to mean that one person will breach the code of conduct, but the blame will come to all that sit in fellowship with him; simply put the proverb can be interpreted to mean “one bad apple spoils the bushel” – unfortunately when the well meaning people in the bushel say nothing the loud mouths carry the day. This is not to say that Christians have not been at the helm of atrocities (recall Joseph Kony of the holy spirit movement) – I however would shudder at any Christian cleric or Christian for that matter that came out to defend the wrong acts of Kony. In fact, I recall it was the machine gun preacher, Sam Childers, a former gang biker turned preacher, a Christian, that decided to take up arms against Kony for the sake of saving children from these atrocities.

In spite of the different faiths that we practice, we all need to embrace harmonious living. Your religious leanings whatever they are should not be the cause for other people’s pain and tears. I challenge all leaders in the religious sphere of influence regardless of your faith, reign in your flocks! be responsible with the teachings you fan at the pulpit that you stand in. The challenge with modernity is that lately the pulpit has taken on the online social media dimensions too. But remember the pulpit is a place of building society and not tearing it down; it is a place of demanding responsibility in spite of whatever faith you practice. There is no point in having or practicing a faith that has no value for human life for after all if all the human beings are dead from your teachings, who will be there to listen to you or practice your faith? Matters of faith are matters of conviction; if your faith and the conviction it brews is not strong enough to change a man without killing him, re-examine that faith or its methods of teaching. Conviction means you convince rather than coerce someone to join you in that journey of faith, otherwise it loses its worth for the name.

You will tell me that the ones practicing these methods of violence to achieve an end are aggrieved persons. But one wise man said, "An eye for an eye makes the world blind." If these kinds of violence are not reigned in, if the careless speeches that spur and fan this violence on are not brought to book and as well condemned by society as a whole, then the world will be on fire, and no one will be left to put the fires out.

Let’s say NO to careless speakers in the pulpits and on social media platforms. Let’s walk away from those emotional wreaks that want everyone to follow them to Armageddon. Let’s not tolerate useless speak that will not lead us to any form of development. It is time for Ugandans to render no space for such reckless people who have a will to die at the expense of everyone else. Let’s be on the look out for these careless people that have no value add to our nation. From our national anthem:…United, free for liberty, together we'll always stand. Muslim or Christian or whatever spiritual leaning you have, practice your faith with the understanding that conviction does not call for coercion. Freedom is bought with the price of discipline.

OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB!

 "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" (Sir Walter Scott, 1808).

White lies, blue lies, colorless ones, harmless lies, prudent lies.... whatever you might say to justify your lying, it is all lies! There is no good lie. Ultimately when men first lie there is a looser in this equation; and that looser is often not the beneficiary of this lie.

Integrity is something that is getting increasingly in short supply in our society today. All aspects of life are full of lies, and often many of them are in the name of God! The world is becoming a pretty dangerous world to the truthful man or woman. A lot of what we see as prosperity is laid on a foundation dug on a bed of lies. People even lie right behind the pulpit, in the name of God too.

Problem with lying is that it is often the beginning of a tangled web that keeps growing around the liar. Sometimes its tentacles reach out even many years after the first lie is told. A liar can never live at ease. They live almost each moment looking over their shoulders lest the lies have caught up with them. I have seen lies at the corporate table in the name of prudent corporate politics, I have seen lies in marriages in the name of protecting the marriage. I have seen lies in business in the name of survival and lies in the church in the name of "touch not the LORD’s anointed.” Politicians lie to us for the votes, and the elected leaders lie to us to survive yet another day. Girl friends lie to boy friends to make a living out of one too many men, and men lie to girlfriends to obtain from them their honor in exchange for shame and nothingness.

Lying does not make anyone’s life any better. It only provides a temporary sense of relief, but like morphine, over time you need an increase of dosage to keep the pain at bay until the morphine is no longer enough and then you need a more advanced pain killer, and then another, and another... The threshold for tolerance is not limitless and will often catch up with you. This makes the world right now a very volatile place for people of truth. And yet the world as it is right now needs more people of truth. The tangled web of lies only gets bigger and nastier the longer you stay in it. The biggest deceit in all this is that you will find peace, treading on the floors of the temple of Lies; the is no peace to those that sacrifice at this alter.

Even the biggest tsunamis begin as small ripples in the middle of the ocean, which continue to feed on the external energy of other forces that eventually make them pickup more speed, water, mass and eventually only dissipate in destruction of years of work and investment. This is what telling a lie will do to you and your years of great work. And by the way, you probably will be the last to see the destruction coming!

Living a life of truth is at first grievous, but ultimately breaks out into joyous liberty. A person that makes truth their culture owes no one any obligation, not even themselves. They are at liberty to take on life as it comes and enjoy every moment of it without attempting to control every coming threat to the light of truth. Truth is such a liberating experience that eventually when you get used to it, living through the temporary pain it sometimes imposes becomes but a small price to pay.

Make up your mind to break the cycle of lies in your life and begin a new page. Pick up that "Get out of jail free" card and wear your freedom and liberty and walk free from the temple of lies, lest you be consumed by the very thing you presume to protect.

AND THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER

Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: …”

So, after the death of Joshua Israel is ruled by the Judges. But who exactly are the Judges?

God in His model of world governance systems has always preferred to be in charge and use men and women of His choice to lead as it were with the oracles of God in the lead of all human judgment. Leadership is after all about dispensing wisdom and Judgment.

From examining scripture trends, Elohim (God) starting with Seth (the name means “substituted” in English) the third son of Adam and Eve apparently starts to look for men that can teach their households Elohim’s ways. One only has to study bible from Genesis onwards to see that. God actually says that of Abraham in Genesis Chapter 18 verse 19 where He states, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of YAHWEH (the LORD), to do justice and judgment; that YAHWEH (the LORD) may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” From Adam it is clear that God has been on the lookout for men with hearts after His own heart; the is why in Genesis Chapter 4 God accepts Abel’s sacrifice which was the first fruits of his flock. It was the heart with which Abel sacrificed that drew God to Him.

From the lineage of Seth, He lands onto Enoch (the name means “discipline/Train-up”), five generations down, who the bible says walked with God until he was nought for God took him. Again, you can see a man after God here from the connotation that Enoch walked with God. From Enoch Four generations down, we see Noah (the name means “Quiet Resting place”), whom God chose because Noah elected for the ways of Elohim YAHWEH. What now becomes clearer is that God has always looked for men that are in relationship with Him to promote them.

From Noah we land on Abram (“High Father”) father Terah who I suspect in response to an instruction from God begins to move his family from Ur to Canaan (See Genesis chapter 11 verse 31). He was a Syrian and a Hebrew of Ur (Deutronomy 25 verse 5). He stops in the City of Haran and dies there enroute to the promised land. Immediately God picks on Abram who now walks into a friendship with God, and it grows. The story is quite elaborate from Genesis chapter 11 on wards. Abram get renamed by YAHWEH in Genesis Chapter 17 verse 5 where YAHWEH makes a number of covenantal promises to Abraham. The Journey of Abraham starts to get interesting from the onset as YAHWEH keep intervening in his earthly matters. On the flip side God begins to share secrets with Abraham. Abraham becomes a prince of God on earth feared by kings of this earth! The Bible does not mention even once that Abraham had any other God or idols in his household. When Abraham finally makes a covenant with God, the entire script goes into over drive.

We then have Isaac and Jacob but with a clear and obvious family culture of not mixing themselves with others nor having any other God but YAHWEH in their midst for the sake and apparently at the instruction of Elohim! We see evidence of that clearly in how Isaac gets his wife Rebecca going by the instructions Abraham gives his lead Servant as he send him onto this mission. See the dialogue below from Genesis chapter 24 between them:

Verse 5 - 9 The servant asked, …Should I then take Isaac there to live among your relatives in the land you came from?” “No!” Abraham responded. “Be careful never to take my son there. For YAHWEH, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants.[a] He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son….So the servant took an oath by putting his hand under the thigh of his master, Abraham. He swore to follow Abraham’s instructions.

What is clear is that YAHWEH’s code and mandate became Abraham’s code and mandate. He became a man of mission! Rebecca and Isaac as well passed on this family paradigm, and the instructions to their sons. What is interesting is that when God first comes to Jacob, he refers to YAHWEH as the God of His father! Later he gets his own experience with YAHWEH but not before making a covenant to serve YAHWEH at the site of the ladder to heaven in Bethel! Abraham was a prophet of YAHWEH.  So was Isaac and Jacob too eventually.  In fact, in Genesis 31 verse 53 we see an interesting utterance that show the leaning of this lineage to YAHWEH; He was the God of this household from their forefathers:

The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac.

There is a clear trail of service to YAHWEH in the line of Seth all the way to this point. Somehow there always remained someone in that lineage that Served YAHWEH. Joseph too was one such and YAHWEH used him too!

Many years later on Israel incubates in Egypt and in the fullness of time becomes a great nation.  Moses is raised up by God in a rather curious manner and God uses him to deliver Israel with the apostolic and prophetic anointings and in miracles, signs and wonders; he as well led Israel in judging and teaching. But Moses as well placed leadership structures in place. He gave Israel its first recorded government consisting of the legislature, judiciary and executive. But the executive was prophetic and apostolic assisted by a council of 70 elders and leaders of the people.

Later on in comes Joshua, appointed by YAHWEH himself who operated heavily in apostolic mandate but in the prophetic as well. Exodus Chapter 33 and verse 11 tells us the following about Joshua:

And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

Joshua's exit finally opens up entry to the judges. A close look at these judges reveals men and women who still wanted YAHWEH’s rule over Israel, thereby strictly observing His written law. Most of them were not prophetic or apostolic but very militant and clearly people of the law. For example Israel invited Gideon to become their king and to rule over them, but he refused, telling them that only YAHWEH was their ruler (Judges 8:22–23). The concept of king’s was not in Israel then for some reason. What is curious for anyone is a statement that two kings Gideon assassinated said about him and his brothers in the book of Judges Chapter 8 verse 18:

¶ Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.

And he (Gideon) said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.

What is apparent is that Gideon and his brethren had the countenance of Kings but still refused the title and office and would rather have kept the Judge office that ruled by the written Law of YAHWEH.

Then Israel asked Prophet Samuel for a king, and God gave them Saul, a man that fitted the description of the kings per the paradigm of their time. So, the delay of the office of kingship was not for the lack of the concept. It was just simply contrary to the structure of YAHWEH Elohim’s government. You see kings’ rule by personal charisma, human strength and valour. In fact a close look at Saul reveals he was not a man given to obedience to YAHWEH and that costed his house the throne of Israel to the House of David a man after Gods own heart by God’s own testament! See David was a king that ruled as a judge but also by prophetic and Apostolic anointing; interestingly he also ruled by the Holy Ghost when one reads his writings in the psalms.  He rediscovered the God of relationship. That is why there would lack none on the throne from his house. Solomon his son, inspite of his failures ruled by wisdom given to Him of God. Wisdom is a gift of God we increasingly grow into by all the above-mentioned offices. Solomon was given it by Gods Grace!

In the new testament scripture tells us the order of Gods order of governance going by 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 28:

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

Please note the order; it is first Apostles, then prophets, then come teachers! Earthy government the way we know it today is way below in terms of this hierarchy! The reason the world is in turmoil today is that we have dropped that order around today simply because we do not understand it. We put the church under the earthly governments! The church in the past the understood this secret and actually impacted their world significantly.  The church of the reformation period led by the likes of Martin Luther, John Calvin and others understood this order and enforced it, and today we are still gleaning from their work.

Until the church today cleans up hear leadership act and restores herself to her kingly place and a place of alignment with the Word and principles of God, the world will continue her spiral down. That is not what God wants! The challenge is that there is simply too much disorder and corruption within the four walls of the church that she needs to first do a thorough clean up before she can be given again the responsibility for the world to have dominion and subdue it the way YAHWEH Elohim our God wants it.

Church the time has come! wake up! line up!

For God and my country!

 

WHY GOD WILL STILL USE YOU

I am a very passionate person; a passionate introvert to be exact! What?! I hear someone exclaim. Yes, I am. Now my personality type means that I am very observant, but I will also keep and defend my friends to the death. I also pursue what I love with such passion that standing in my way could be disastrous. That part however I have managed to bring under control by the Grace of my LORD Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit's work in me. 

 This very same passion however often works against me. I am extremely critical and unforgiving of myself. I hold myself to a very high and strict standard of performance and integrity that when I fail I sometimes think the entire world has come to an end. That too, God has worked on over time. I have had my fair share of dramatic failures in life, from which I have learned to get up, dust up, forgive myself and move on. My walk with the LORD has not been an exception to these failures. In fact, my first real understanding of this God of Grace was when many years ago as a born-again person I miserably failed, and I found myself in this place where I could not pray, could not lift up my hands in worship and could not even open my bible to read even a verse.

 In scripture we find a lot of lessons about this. Recently during the lock-down as I meditated on scripture the LORD brought back to me these lessons. Indeed we all know that according to biblical teaching we live in the dispensation of God's Grace; the time when He has both poured out His Holy Spirit upon all flesh and has as well open wide the gates of Grace that we may learn to walk with Him in confidence. God started showing me men of old like Abraham, David, Moses, Jacob and many others. These men who lived in the Old Testament dispensation knew God and pursued Him. One cannot avoid but see the greatness of these men when we read Holy writ. They were Gods “supermen”! I love reading about them because there is a certain depth about their experiences that keeps speaking each time I read. In fact, at times it is overwhelming for me. What the Holy Spirit started showing me about these men was that in our time we live a bigger advantage in God than they had, and yet, they still found Grace in the presence of God at a time when that was a rare gem! They never had the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their time like we do, and yet they can forth in power.

 The other aspect that came through is that these men had serious weaknesses each. Abraham had a major failure in the Hagar episode; David and Bathsheba – that’s another story of lust, adultery, intrigue, murder and cover-up! Jacob was a fraudster. Moses was a man with a short fuse. Yet all these men, despite their failures we also note that they did not allow to live in the shadow of their sin and sinful nature. They never allowed their failures to over shadow them. This is not to say they willfully lived a life of sin. These men seem to have understood that God understood the weak vessels they were but still loved them anyway. They never felt obscured by their weakness to serve Gods purpose.  They walked confidently with and before God. Whilst the demand to be pure still held, they still were not perfect. They still failed but never disqualified themselves. It makes me wonder because we who live today even have a much better place in God. These men understood partnership with God and confessed their sin when they became aware of it, got up and walked forward.

 The bible teaches that we are joint heirs with Christ. 

Ro 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Ro 8:17 ¶ And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Ro 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

 There is nothing temporary or transitory about being an heir! It us a firm place to be. A place of assurance. No one chooses heirs lightly only to change them at the slightest provocation. We are family so. It is ok to make mistakes as long as we are growing in the process and amending where our failures originate from. It is ok to be wrong, as long as we right the wrongs and don’t assume they are an acceptable place to stay at. So, it is ok to be a Christian with weaknesses and mistakes, who is minded towards becoming what Christ wants us to be. God is not about to write you off for that mega failure of the flesh you walked into. Yes, like a loving child you will hurt from that mistake but take that pain and cry for Grace toward that mountain (Zechariah chapter 4 verse 7), get up and walk. My weaknesses do not automatically dis-inherit me.

 If God could use the Abrahams, Isaac, Jacob, David and Solomons' of this world in their weakness and used them mightily, then He will use us all if we are willing and obedient. Yes, you will still make mistakes, but those will not disqualify you. Our relationship with God is not one of a cat and mouse commitment as some tend to think. The fact that you fall today does not mean you stand for the mistakes you have made. Whilst God hates your sin, and He prefers you were maintained in a sin free state, He is aware that Human beings are creatures of habit, thus it takes time to change the things that affect us. What matters most is that you are well on your way.

 “…but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk!”  - Acts 3:6.